The day no wheel turns

8th November 2026

'No woman should spin on that day; no miller should grind his corn, and no wheel should be turned.'

Lady Wilde, 'Irish Cures, Mystic Charms and Superstitions', compiled by Sheila Anne Barry

St Martin's Day falls on Wednesday 11th November, ten days into winter by the old reckoning that ends summer at Hallow's Eve. Wilde writes it up as a day when a certain kind of work was forbidden, and she says the custom was long held sacred and was still kept in the Western Islands when she was writing.

Spinning, grinding and the turning of any wheel are the three bits of work she names, that can't be done. On the same page she records that blood was spilt on St Martin's Day, and that whoever was signed with that blood was safe from disease for that year at least.

She gives no reason for it unfortunately, though it's not her rule for certain an it went far enough to stop the miller's trade for the day as well as the spinning at the fireside.

Personally I'd be thinking that this is a lesson in the value of rest and process as part of the work we all do, so I've designed around that.

This simple Irish spell keeps that day in your own house, with one wheel left still from the time you get up until the next morning.

You'll need a length of wool, string or thread, long enough to tie once around a handle, and one thing in your house that turns which you can do without for a day. That could be the washing machine, the tumble dryer, a sewing machine, a spinning wheel if you have one (don't we all sure?!), or the car if you can get where you need to be another way.

Anything you need to get through the day stays out of this, and that includes a wheelchair, a mobility scooter, the car you drive to work and any machine your care depends on. If there's no turning thing you can spare, keep your own hands off the turning jobs for the day instead, so you leave the wool unwound and the wringing of the washing for Thursday.

Do it first thing on Wednesday 11th November, before anybody else in the house is up and about. It takes a couple of minutes at the start of the day an just a minute the following morning.

Go to the thing you've chosen before anyone sets it going, and if it's a machine, switch it off at the wall. If it's the car, put the keys somewhere you'll see them all day.

Hold the thread in both hands for a moment and think about the work you've done since the start of the year that went round and round and came back to the start again. Then loop the thread around the handle, the door or the key ring, and tie a single knot in it as you speak.

When you're ready, say:

No wheel of mine turns today.

What was spun this year can rest.

What was ground down can rest.

I rest with it until morning.

Beir Bua. (Pron. bare BOO-ah)

Leave the knot where it is for the rest of the day and let the work that wheel does wait until tomorrow. The next morning, untie the thread, put it in the fire if you have one lit or in the bin if you don't, and set the wheel going again as normal.

Pay attention through the day to how often your hand goes to the thing you've stopped, since that's a fair count of how much of your week runs on it. Write it down in the evening if you keep notes, along with what you did with the hours instead.

If Wednesday can't be kept this year, keep it on the nearest day you can manage and change the first line to 'No wheel of mine turns this day.' Next year the working can go back to its own date on the 11th.

That's the working finished for this year.

If you'd like these spells to sit inside a steady daily practice, 'Start Here: Your First 7 Days with Irish Witchcraft' gives you one small Irish practice a day for a week, taught by me from Ireland.

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Slán go fóill

Lora

PS

Whatever that wheel would have done on Wednesday will be waiting for you on Thursday. Do what you can of it on Tuesday night and then sure the day itself goes a good deal easier.