Coven of the Wise Owl

SABBATS Witches honour nature and have eight festivals, or Sabbats, that mark the year as it progresses. Sabbats are a time to celebrate. To sing, dance, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself. It is also a time to recognize that without the Horned God Herne and Goddess Ceriddwen, we would not be here. Every religion honours special days of the year set aside for celebrations of various events that are important to the specific religion's theology, and Wicca is certainly no exception. The Wiccans annually celebrate eight special holidays, or Sabbats, derived from the French word meaning "to frolic and revel." The purpose of this section is to provide information on each Sabbat, the day it is usually celebrated on (minor disagreements are evident among different traditions and practitioners), various other names of each Sabbat, and what the holiday is actually celebrating. Most of these Sabbats will be familiar to the non-Wiccan, as the Christians have adapted most Pagan celebrations into its own holidays, making a few cosmetic changes in the process. The Roman Catholic Church undoubtedly did this in order to make it easier for the Pagans to be converted to the new religion. Hence, most Pagan holidays have been "Christianized" by the clergy of the Church. All of these holidays encompass the Wheel of the Year (sometimes called the "Wheel of Life" for obvious reasons), a circular symbol used to illustrate the holidays and their effect on the Wiccan consciousness throughout the year. You will notice that each of the Sabbats taken together is symbolic of human existence, as well as every living thing in nature, utilizing the Goddess and God to personify the travel from birth to death to eventual rebirth in an unending, oscillating cycle. It is important to remember and recognise important times of the year. People always remember the birthdays of those close to them, but it is also a good idea to recognise important festivals, and to celebrate the seasons and changes which occur throughout the year. At Coven of the Wise Owl, all Sabbats and full moons are observed with a ceremony to celebrate. We also hold initiations to consecrate new witches to our coven. Major Sabbats IMBOLC is when new life appears and the days start to get longer. The goddess is back into the land. Altars should use snowdrops and candles. White is the colour. This is the time to plan and make first steps towards realising projects. Many describe Samhain as the start of the Wiccan year but some see the first annual festival as the one of new beginnings. Magic is to cleanse and bring about the new. BELTANE is a time of fertility for sure. Sexual energy comes to the fore. May Poles come out and the Green Man/ Jack in the Green appears using his leaves as a disguise for freedom of actions. Altars should use hawthorn and blossoms, ribbons and crowns of flowers. This is a time of the Goddess. Colours are green, white and pink. Magic is unashamedly sexual and about both enjoyment and reproduction. LAMMAS/LUGHNASADH means Loaf Mass which is a Saxon name for the time of baking bread again. So altars should have sickles, wheat, corn dollies and fresh bread on them. The colour is orange. The Celtic name is Lughnasadh where Lugh the God of Light played games to honour his mother in Law, possibly the Goddess. This time involves sacrifice and letting go: accepting change, reckoning with death ahead and an afterlife. In practical terms one should forgive and allow spiritual things (if not material) to begin again. The magic is also about letting go. It is a good time to complete a divorce. The Corn King dies materially but becomes spiritual, so the magic is also about the spiritual realm rather than the material. However, spiritual unions are important, including marriage of soul partners, creating priests and priestesses. SAMHAIN then, because much is past and seen going and gone, is a festival of the dead. Mirrors can be blackened and placed on altars, along with twigs, spirals of apples, crystal balls and cauldrons. People honour the dead and the past. Ancestors are important and should centre in celebrations. Colours are unsurprisingly brown and black. Magic is divination. Minor Sabbats OSTARA/SPRING EQUINOX has more fertility than Beltane. Again it is the time for newness and beginnings, like sowing seeds. So there is seed cake on the altar, catkins, flowers that appear like daffodils and painted green eggs. The colour is green and the magic is about material beginnings. LITHA/SUMMER SOLSTICE is the time for the God. The Solar King produces his energy in the service of the Goddess. Men and women do magic for material good fortune. Altars can be adorned with oak leaves and roses. The colours are yellow, red and green. Magic is male and in this world of material activity. MABON/AUTUMN EQUINOX is also a spiritual time, an inner world time. Some spiritual projects begun at Lammas start to show fruit at this equinox. The inner world is of the mind. We start to think. Altars should contain antlers, apples, fallen leaves and pine cones. The Goddess goes to the underworld. Candles can be floated down a stream as if to wave goodbye to the sun that was. Magical powers can be developed, however, as these are developed in the mind. YULE is the Winter Solstice. It is a risky, dangerous time (people get ill: some die of the cold and poverty and even neglect, and non-human creatures also have a difficult time or are in long sleep). Yet in that risk people should go against it by eating well and being joyous, putting light and colour into where there seems to be so little. The reason for such displays of hope is the simple knowledge that the world has turned and the nights will grow a little shorter and the days a little longer each day. No wonder then that there are many colours: black but white and gold and red and green. Magic is about celebrating, about the health of children and early hopes of conceiving. Samhain (pronounced sa-ween) 31st October Yule 21st December Imbolc 2nd February Beltane 1st May Litha 21st June Lughnassadh (pronounced loo-na-sah) 1st August Mabon 21st September Translate This Page