2 "Say to the people of Israel, The appointed feasts of YHVH which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed feasts, are these.
3 Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work; it is a sabbath to YHVH in all your dwellings.
4 "These are the appointed feasts of YHVH, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them.
5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is YHVH's passover.
The Spring Equinox was the time of the celebration of the Passover, the commemoration of the Israelites passing out of Egypt, (materialism). It is celebrated by Christians as Easter and the Resurrection. It symbolizes the passing out of the first born consciousness, the material, and into the more elevated spiritual consciousness. It corresponds to the baptism by water.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to YHVH; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
The Feast of Weeks, seven weeks plus a day after Passover, became known as Pentecost. It originally coincided with the Summer Solstice. It was for this feast day that the disciples of Yeshua were gathered at Pentecost. For the Israelites, it commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments. For Christians it commemorates the disciples receiving the Holy Spirit. It symbolizes the baptism by fire.
7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work.
8 But you shall present an offering by fire to YHVH seven days; on the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work."
10 "Say to the people of Israel, When you come into the land which I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest;
11 and he shall wave the sheaf before YHVH, that you may find acceptance; on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
12 And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to YHVH.
13 And the cereal offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, to be offered by fire to YHVH, a pleasing odor; and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.
14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your god: it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
The third festival, The Feast of Tabernacles, occurs at the Autumn Equinox. It is a festival of ingathering, similar to Thanksgiving. Later, it also came to commemorate the entrance of the Israelites into the promised land after forty years of wandering. They were to dwell in small booths or tabernacles to remember that they had lived in booths and tents for forty years. It is another passing over from one level of consciousness to another.
15 "And you shall count from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven full weeks shall they be,
16 counting fifty days to the morrow after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a cereal offering of new grain to YHVH.
Later, the Israelites added a festival during the month of December, at the time of the Winter Solstice, called The Festival of Lights. It commemorates the rededication of the Temple, when oil which should have lasted one day, lasted for seven days. It begins with the lighting of one candle on the menorah, and on each successive day, an additional candle is lit. This symbolizes the growing light of the Sun as it moves again northward. For Christians it commemorates the birth of the Light of the World.
17 You shall bring from your dwellings two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah; they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baked with leaven, as first fruits to YHVH.
18 And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one young bull, and two rams; they shall be a burnt offering to YHVH, with their cereal offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to YHVH.
19 And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings.
20 And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering before YHVH, with the two lambs; they shall be holy to YHVH for the priest.
21 And you shall make proclamation on the same day; you shall hold a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work: it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22 "And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very border, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am YHVH, your god."
24 "Say to the people of Israel, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.
25 You shall do no laborious work; and you shall present an offering by fire to YHVH."
27 "On the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present an offering by fire to YHVH.
28 And you shall do no work on this same day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before YHVH, your god.
29 For whoever is not afflicted on this same day shall be cut off from his people.
30 And whoever does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people.
31 You shall do no work: it is a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves; on the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your sabbath."
34 "Say to the people of Israel, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the feast of booths to YHVH.
35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work.
36 Seven days you shall present offerings by fire to YHVH; on the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to YHVH; it is a solemn assembly; you shall do no laborious work.
37 "These are the appointed feasts of YHVH, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to YHVH offerings by fire, burnt offerings and cereal offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day;
38 besides the sabbaths of YHVH, and besides your gifts, and besides all your votive offerings, and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to YHVH.
39 "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall keep the feast of YHVH seven days; on the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.
40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before YHVH, your god seven days.
41 You shall keep it as a feast to YHVH seven days in the year; it is a statute for ever throughout your generations; you shall keep it in the seventh month.
42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days; all that are native in Israel shall dwell in booths,
43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am YHVH, your god."
44 Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of YHVH.
Each of the Four Sacred Seasons commemorates major stages in spiritual development; from the beginning of faith to the final Illumination or indwelling Holy Spirit.