Wicca and  neo-pagan groups embrace a wide diversity of beliefs. This is as it should be, for Wicca is not one of those religions  which demand that you leave your brain on the hat rack along with your hat as you fall into your circle. In fact, one doesn't even have to have a circle.
  What follows is an elementary "101"  or even an "00l" (non-credit!) I hope I don't offend anyone by some crucial omission.
  The Old English word "wic" meant to bend or to have wit or wisdom. This might be the derivative of the word WICCA.
  I see Wicca as a religion which pays homage to this globe on which we dwell.

  The ever-turning wheel of the seasons is crucial, for with these seasons we sow and we reap.  With these seasons we live and die (at least, for the time being, symbolically!)
  This is very important now in the 21st Century when our political leaders are making a mockery of the good stewardship without which our earth will eventually cease to provide viable life.
  Wicca celebrates fertility of our crops  as well as fertility of all living species.
  This is very important now in the 21st Century when our political leaders are making a mockery of the good stewardship without which our earth will eventually cease to provide viable life.

  Some Wiccan groups include both male and female members, feeling that this is the best way to incorporate the diverse energies of the different sexes.
  Yet, if a person is truly integrated within oneself, one will encompass both male and female energies  within one's own spirituality.

   I cite the World Dancer, the last card of the Major Arcana of the tarot. The figure is usually considered an androgine. There is a merging into the All.
  Some Wiccan groups  focus mainly on the female energies, the Goddess.
  It is the Goddess who produces  new life, new seed. The Goddess  is the nurturer, the symbol of growth and fertility.  (Logically, if the Goddess is the nurturer, she can also be the withholder: If one has the power to give, one also has the power NOT to give!)

   The Goddess is often viewed in her 3 main aspects,  all representing various stages of a woman's life:
   1.The Maiden-pure, virginal, the innocent young girl. (The new moon.)
   2.The mature, fertile woman (the Empress in the Waite tarot); Venus, goddess of love; the giver of life (and, yes, sometimes the withholder).  The full moon.
  3. The Crone- the older woman, past child-bearing age, yet so wise, holding  so much knowledge; a teacher for those who would learn;  the bearer of the history of the culture.  The waning moon.
  (A fourth aspect of woman is that of the enchantress, the seductress.)
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  Just as you don't have to go to church to consider yourself a Christian, you don't need a coven/circle to consider yourself a Wiccan.
  Think of a solitary person who has reverence of nature.

  This person's "church" might be the beholding of a sunrise, the mystery of the seasons, the daily awakening of nature- perhaps a glimpse of the waning crescent moon, rising just before daylight.
  One might notice the morning dew, the angular beams of a winter sunrise, the first scurrying about of the squirrels, the first chirping of the cardinal  in spring, the urgent cawing of the crow  in the bleak of winter.
   My theoretical Wiccan might make note of the time of sunrise and track the monthly perambulations of the moon. If  she (he) has access to land, she might garden. Other people would be treated with respect (and harm to none, do what you will).  Our Wiccan would notice the solstices and equinoxes, perhaps feel the special energies of these seasons.

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Lesser feasts-Esbats. Celebrating the full or new moon.

The 8 Wiccan holidays  - Sabbats

 (What MIGHT Wiccans actually DO on these days of special power?  I certainly can't tell you what all Wiccans do! I would venture, tho, that most are having a jolly good time: getting together in circle; performing some rituals relating to the intent of the specific holiday; perhaps a bit of positive spell-casting, followed by consumption of lots of good food. The Wiccan belief that anything nasty you do comes back to you three times over would not encourage the performance of negative spells!)

  Older legend points to the sacrificed king, who has been ploughed into the earth so that the next year's crops might be fertile.  At Samhain, the veil between the living and the dead is thought to be at its thinnest, so that one might be able to communicate with the dead. (Christian holidays  got superimposed on many of the Pagan holidays, as early Christianity tried to win converts by placing a Christian holiday atop an existing Pagan one. Christians celebrate All Saints Day 1 November and All Souls Day, 2 November.

  The light has returned. The Sun starts to wax. To celebrate the Sun's return, a Yule log might be burned. This is a holiday of rebirth, including our own spiritual rebirth. Yule is a time to ponder what personal seeds we want to plant within ourselves so that our own lives will re-seed us into the person that we desire to be.  To paraphrase something that Carolyn Myss once said, if you are seeking a best friend who is (loving, caring, sensitive, intelligent, stimulating, vibrant, etc. etc, etc) --  then you have to build up in yourself the characteristics  that you seek in the other.

  Imbolc/Candlemas 2 Feb.   The Sun Reborn.  Brigid's Day
  Wiccans celebrate the renewal of the earth. The Goddess has recovered from childbirth, and her child is young. Whereas the trees and plants looked dead in January, the foliage is now beginning to burst forth if the roots were strong.
  This is a time for germinating ideas, as well as clearing out whatever needs clearing--making room for new things to come. It is a time for making sure that our own roots are strong-meaning the roots of our personal integrity.  Christians celebrate Candlemas, "The Presentation of Our Lord," by blessing candles.  The Christian holiday is also known as the Purification.  Who got purified?  Women were seen as IMpure 40 days after having a baby. Now, Jesus was 40 days old and his mother, Mary, was able to present herself to the temple. She was purified.  She could re-enter society!
  1 Feb. is also the Christian celebration of  Brigid of Ireland. Little is known about her life.  (Christians deny that she "evolved" from a pagan goddess cult).

  Ostara/Eostre/Alben Eiler/Vernal or Spring Equinox. Lady's Day 
    21 March (approximately) Spring begins.The Zodiac ushers in Aries.
   This is a time of tremendous life renewal. Day and night are now equally balanced, but the days are moving in the direction of more light (greater clarity!)
   This is a time when we might audit our own lives to check if we also have a healthy balance.  This self-audit might include seeking out areas where we require greater inner clarity, greater self-understanding, For example: What kinds of things motivate us? What makes us feel good? What things make us angry or uneasy? Why???

  In some traditions, the Lord and Lady are young and innocent, amidst all the rebirth around them. They will have their handfasting (marriage) at the holiday of Beltane. (In some pagan traditions Spring Equinox is the time of the sacred union of the God and Goddess. The Goddess conceives.
  25 March is the Christian feast of the Annunciation, in which the angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of God.
(The Virgin subsequently gives birth on 25 December.)

  Easter
  Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, is interlinked to the Wiccan/Pagan holiday.
  Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon of the Spring Equinox.
  The word "Easter" is similar to "Ostara," "Eostre." To drive in the message of fertility, we have derivative words: estrogen; being in ovary, ova/egg. 

   "Estrus" is the condition for animals that are reproduction-ready, well-known to owners of unspayed cats. Egg and rabbit are fertility symbols. The world is ablaze with life; plants pop up; many animals conceive or give birth. 
  30 April, 1  May; Walpurgisnacht.  Beltaine.("Tene" means fire). The Celts counted days from sunset to sunset, so the dates do not totally line up with our calendar. Beltaine is a festive holiday. It is considered by some as the 2nd-most important Wiccan holiday, taking back seat only to Samhein.
   It is a time of flowers, fires, food, drink, dancing and general merry-making.
   Why the celebration?  Because the Lord and Lady unite in a hand-fasting (a marriage ceremony). The Druids lit fires in the hills to bring the light of the Sun down to the earth. People dance around the maypole, a symbol of male fertility. The cauldron is a symbol of female fertility. Just as Samhein allows for easier access to the dead, the night of 30 April-1 May is the time to view faeries.
  Beltaine, Walpurgisnacht
 30 April, 1 May; Walpurgisnacht. Beltaine.("Tene" means fire). The Celts counted days from sunset to sunset, so the dates do not totally line up with our calendar. Beltaine is a festive holiday. It is considered by some as the 2nd-most important Wiccan holiday, taking back seat only to Samhein.
It is a time of flowers, fires, food, drink, dancing and general merry-making.
Why the celebration? Because the Lord and Lady unite in a hand-fasting (a marriage ceremony).
The Druids lit fires in the hills to bring the light of the Sun down to the earth. People dance around the
maypole, a symbol of male fertility. The cauldron is a symbol of female fertility. Just as Samhein allows
for easier access to the dead, the night of 30 April-1 May is the time to view faeries.

Summer Solstice, 21-23 June, Litha,  Midsummer.Alban Heruin. 

   The Wheel keeps turning, and now everything is at its peak. The Lord and Lady are at their personal peaks.  This is the day of longest daylight (and shortest shadows).
  The triumphant sun shines high overhead. Dusk seems never-ending. Although there is not yet a harvest, the seeds are growing. Summer solstice is a good time to commune with the fairies and sprites. Long outdoor rituals could be comfortably performed, since summer has arrived.

  Yet, there is a certain melancholy because, from this day forth, the days will get shorter. The summer solstice, in our life cycle, represents the time of maturity, adulthood, and full growth and power. This could be a time when we survey whether we have strived to reach our full potential; what further work we have to do; whether we are "stuck" as a result of some residue from our childhood that is keeping us from reaching full maturity. Some of us have encountered great trauma in childhood-abuse; severe parental neglect or rejection. We can't just repress these things. But other persons might let themselves be snagged up by a much lesser grievance, real or imagined. Summer solstice might just be the time to say okay, I'm 40 years old, my mother has been dead 20 years, I know she liked my brother better than she liked me, and that's all right because I value mself.
  June 24 is the feast of John the Baptist. The holiday was once called "St. John's Eve."

  Lammas, Lughnassad-   1-2 August.

 |Lammas is the first of the 3 harvest feasts. The Goddess is waxing with the pregnancy of the new God, who will be reborn on Yule. The energies of the old God begin to wane. Lammas (loaf mass) was an old English festival for baking bread.

  Maban, Autumn Equinox Alban Elfed. 20-23 September.

  This is the 2nd harvest festival.  The crops are at their peak. Apple cider pumpkins and chestnuts make an appearance. Day and night are again equal. Appropriately the astrological designation is Libra, the scales of justice, equality. This is the time when farmers would get their crops weighed at the marketplace.
  This is one more time for us to weigh our own strengths and weaknesses; to formulate an action plan to accentuate the former and decrease the latter.

  But now the days slide into increasing darkness. This move toward the darkness, the lengthening shadows, foretells the preparation of the old God to meet his death on Samhein. He will metaphorically die and be plowed under the fields, a sacrifice to assure fertility of next year's harvest.
    So the wheel turns.
                       -(Dorian B)