It is interesting to note that each of the four original festivals falls close to or upon the peak of a fixed sign: Imbolc (15° Aquarius, fixed air), Beltane (15° Taurus, fixed earth), Lammas (15° Leo, fixed fire), Samhain (15° Scorpio, fixed water). These dates are movable (like the solstices and equinoxes), but for me setting the date based on the stars makes more sense than using the calendar. Besides, it seems to me that the correlation works too well for it to be accidental.

Several years ago, I noticed another correlation that seems too pretty to be accidental. In Raven Grimassi’s first book, Italian Witchcraft, there’s a line in the lore that goes, “For there are three mysteries in the life of man which are: birth, sex, and death (and love controls them all).” Each of these mysteries corresponds to an original festival: Imbolc : birth, Beltane : sex, Lammas : death, and Samhain : love. Love, in this context, must be understood in its transcendent sense; I think the word “ecstasy” is a good functional equivalent, and it fits with the festival, which is all about crossing between the worlds.