Winter Solstice Message

And a rebrand

Over the past few years, Wheel & Cross has grown into something much more than I originally imagined. It began as a seasonal publication, a way of exploring the rhythms of nature and tradition through stories, celebrations, and folklore. But as the project matured, I found myself drawn to a more enduring visual identity.

This Winter Solstice, the turning point of the year and the return of the light, feels like the perfect moment to unveil the new Wheel & Cross logo: a symbol that brings together two ancient motifs: the Sun Wheel and the Fern Flower. This design feels like a true reflection of what this project has become.

The Wheel and Cross

At the centre of the new logo is the Wheel and Cross, also known as the Sun Wheel or solar cross. It’s one of the oldest symbols found in human history—appearing in Bronze Age rock carvings, Norse and Celtic artefacts, and even as the modern scientific symbol for Earth. So deeply does this symbol live in me that I wear it always around my neck and beneath my skin.

This simple form, a circle divided into four equal parts, has carried many meanings across time and cultures. It represents:

• The four directions (north, south, east, west)

• The elements (air, fire, water, earth)

• The seasons and solar cycle (solstices and equinoxes)

• The whole Earth as a living, turning body

In Wheel & Cross, the Sun Wheel reminds us that time is circular, that every ending is a beginning, and every return brings something new. It anchors us to natural rhythms and ancient wisdom. It honours the turning of the year and the cycles within our lives.

The Fern Flower

Woven into the new design is another symbol: the Fern Flower, drawn from the rich mythological traditions of the Slavic world.

In Slavic folklore, particularly in Ukrainian, Belarusian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Russian traditions, the Fern Flower is a legendary and impossible bloom, said to appear only for a brief, magical moment on Kupala Night, the summer solstice. According to the tale, ferns (which do not flower in the botanical sense) will burst into bloom deep within the forest at midnight, glowing with otherworldly light. Those who find it are granted a great gift:

• Wisdom and insight, including the ability to understand animals and plants

• Prosperity, protection, or the realisation of one’s true heart’s desire

• A transformation of perception—seeing the world’s hidden language and order

But the Fern Flower is not easily won. It is said to be guarded by spirits or illusions, and those who seek it must face distractions, fears, or tests of character. The flower appears only briefly and only to the worthy.

A Southern Bloom

In the northern hemisphere, the Fern Flower legend is bound to summer and firelight. But in Wheel & Cross, I’ve reimagined the myth for our southern winter solstice, when the earth is bare, the nights long, and the air thick with stillness.

Here, in the forests and hills around the Southern Highlands, the bracken fern (Pteridium esculentum) is a familiar presence. Hardy and resilient, it dies back in winter, its delicate fronds turning to lace and collapsing into the soil. Yet beneath the surface, the fern’s rhizomes endure, alive and waiting, storing the energy of return.

And it is there, among the skeletal remains of last season’s growth, that the story shifts.

The southern fern flower does not blaze into life on a midsummer night. Instead, it rises in secret, pushing up through the cold, damp forest floor just as the wheel of the year begins to turn. At first, it seems like nothing—just a pale spiral rising from the brown. But as it unfurls, it shimmers briefly into form: a luminous blue bloom, delicate and strange, trembling on the edge of sight. Then, in a breath, it flares into golden light before vanishing as if it had never been there at all.

A Deeper Alignment

This rebrand is more than a change of image—it’s a reflection of Wheel & Cross stepping more fully into its purpose. I wanted a logo that could speak across time and culture, one that felt ancient and grounded but also personal and alive.

The Wheel and Cross holds the cosmic and the earthly. The Fern Flower holds the mythic and the personal. Together, they reflect what Wheel & Cross has always strived to be: A guide to seasonal living. A celebration of place and ancestry. A home for folklore, wonder, and renewal.

It feels right to mark this new chapter on the Winter Solstice.

Thank you for walking this path with me.

With gratitude,