This page contains information on the eight pagan festivals known as Sabbats. Clicking on the Sabbats name will lead you to our Book of Shadows where you can select the year of the Sabbats' Ritual.

Samhain  |  Yule  |  Imbolc  |  Ostara  | Beltaine  |  Litha  |  Lughnasadh  |  Mabon

Samhain

Like Beltaine, Samhain (the ‘mh’ pronounced ‘v’ in Gaelic, or otherwise pronounced Sow-een) is a point of the Wheel where the veils between the worlds are the thinnest. Unlike Beltaine, who’s festivities are often joyful, Samhain is a festival of Death and Renewal, of the Dead and Ancestors past; the veils here refer to a closeness to the Underworld, or Spirit Realm. This point of the year is a time of reflection on things past, and darker energies.

Samhain, while believed to mean ‘Summer’s end’, is the Irish Gaelic word for ‘November’, the date when Samhain arrives in the Northern Hemisphere. Samhain is also believed to be the New Years festival in Ancient Celtic cultures; many Witches today celebrate Samhain as the beginning of the Wheel of the Year. In Ancient times, it was the time of last harvest before the winter months, where the imminent death of crops was apparent. Pagans celebrate Ancestral beings and Spirits or Entities of the Underworld in their Samhain rituals.

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Yule

Yule – it is the pinnacle of the Wheel, the pinpoint of momentum, and the raw beginning of outward manifestation. At Midwinter, the Dark Solstice, the Wheel no longer provides the means to animating the natural world; it is an internalising spiral that buries like a methodical serpent into the deep recesses of the Underworld. This process begins at Samhain, however by Yule it has lost itself to the Abyss; to the primal Void that was before time and space. Yule is therefore a time out of time and a space out of space, like the Wheel (“yula” meaning wheel) or Circle that we cast before a ritual. Some are critical of the Wheel of the Year because there seems to be a gap between Samhain and Yule and the transition between Crone to Mother skips Maiden. Therefore, because Wiccans adhere to a naturalist philosophy where the cycles of Nature follow on in accordance, the Wheel can’t possibly reflect the truth of the matter because the design is slightly skewed. However this pitfall in perfection is due, once again, to the superimposition of a Goddess triplicity over a pattern that has four distinct seasonal phases. The cosmic Void that is Yule is not a time of motherhood per se, but a time of raw primordial energies coming together in order to give birth to the Promised One, the catalytic Sun Child who is destined to reign. Who gives birth to this glimmer of hope then? None other but the Creatrix (the Sorceress), she who is the darkening spiral/wheel itself, the Serpent Mother. Her form is present in almost all of Earth’s prehistoric societies and she is all that ever was, is and will be. She is the spark that infuses the continuity of time, but withholds from it for a moment before the dawn of creation, before inspiration, to provide a channel, a pathway for manifestation to take hold. That channel is the Divine Masculine who is expressed as a celestially-marked Child of the Sun. From this moment on the waxing year begins and we breathe a sigh of relief knowing that in the midst of the deepest darkness hope and faith conquer all. Perhaps this is one reason why the Christian celebration marking Christ’s birth was positioned in this part of the calendar. Christ is a symbol of actualised hope and faith to millions of Christians across the world today and his birth into this world as divine king signalled the beginning of a new era, Anno Domini, the Year of the Lord.

In megalithic times stone monuments like the Mound of New Grange (approx. 5 000 years old) were built to align with and capture the first light of Midwinter’s dawn. It is believed that the Stone Age people considered this time of year to be of great significance because it would provide them with an estimation of when the planting season would begin again. It can be seen straight away that once again the contrast between the esoteric and decidedly more astronomically-influenced time-keeping practices of the cultures who kept these holy days gives way to the distinction between the priesthood’s vocation and the occupations of the communities they served. As a modern Witch or Wiccan who continues the observance we have the advantage of acknowledging both, however we are limited by the scope of hands-on experience concerning the vital influence these days and their festivals had on farming communities, and so we therefore focus on the interwoven mystery and enact it within a ceremonial context. In the generic NeoPagan rite one might light a small contained fire (or a votive candle) to spur on the passage of the Sun God and to represent the fire of creation. Our cultural innovation is a largely symbolic one, and one that works for us.

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Imbolc

Next in line we have the Celtic Imbolc (“in the belly”) or Oimelc (“ewe’s milk”) which is known more commonly by its Christianised named, Candlemas, or the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is interesting that the aforementioned Pagan names for the festival highlight both sides of the coin of my argument explicitly. In the belly is an allusion to the stirring of seeds within the womb of the Mother (the Earth, the land), relating to Sun Child’s expansion of consciousness; he is nearing to his self-realisation; awareness. This of course forms the esoteric underlay, while “ewe’s milk” is a pastoral reference to the lactation of ewes during this season and the concurrent lambing. Here the Maiden appears in the form of Brighid, or Bride, as she adorns the winter frost with the emerging gifts of the oncoming spring. Crocuses and other early-budding flowers begin to blossom. She attends to the hearth and home and in past times families would invite Bride in with symbols of the Goddess and in hopes that she would lay her fertile hand upon the home in return for their goodwill. In Wicca, Imbolc is a cleansing time of renewal and it marks the time of year when actualised consciousness of the Self is a thing of splendour. Many who enter the ranks of the priesthood decide on Imbolc for their date of Initiation because of these associations, and many who have already dedicated to the path commit themselves to an annual rededication ceremony in honour of their service.

To the Celtic agriculturalist Imbolc was a time to turn against the melting winter and plan the sowing of the fields. The farmer also needed to keep a keen watch on the sheep-flocks and the newly-born. Bride dances as the Maiden down the hillside and through the meadow casting about a net of relief as she ushers in the tide of spring, and close behind her ambles the swiftly-blooming figure of a young child, his face made red by the slapping of wind and animated by promising lips, full and lush.

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Ostara

To consolidate the rejuvenating energies initiated by Imbolc’s arrival, the first of the equinoxes is celebrated. Sometimes called the vernal equinox, it’s decidedly more Pagan name Ostara refers to its divine namesake, Eostere, an Anglo-Saxon Goddess of abundance and fertility whose existence has recently been disputed by scholars. It is at this time of year that the crops yield a glowing bounty and the effervescence of life begins to take hold. She who coaxed forth the subtle tide of new growth now feeds the land with a green life-force and in answer a carpet of beauty unfurls across the earth. She who is Daughter of Spring, Persephone, born of Grain-Mother Demeter (Mater of Earth/Gaia), ascends into the world of light attended by Hermes, messenger of the Gods, who is as the Magus and traveller between the worlds. He ushers in the winds of promise and potential and the great reservoir of energy that Persephone embodies is unleashed upon the world. Persephone is the life-force and through Demeter, who personifies Earth, the light regains its providence. I refer to Greek mythology here because it is this timeless tale of a mother’s reunion with her yearned for daughter that illustrates the transition from Maiden to Mother. Demeter, the cultivated face of the primal Mother Gaia, is the receptacle that collects the energy of the Stirring (or Quickening) and the wind-sown clarity of Ostara, concentrates its power and channels it into the very Earth. It is as the brilliant white light of the sun shining through the haze of water to emerge as a rainbow, flushed with colour.

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Beltaine

Beltaine marks the consummation and climactic interplay between the polar forces of sexuality – masculine and feminine, represented by the Stag King and the voluptuous and sensual Goddess, respectively. It is this sacred union known as the Great Rite or the Heiros Gamos (Great Marriage) in Wiccan groups that brings solid form and manifestation to a previously vibratory ethereal energy, existing on a dawn plane. Coinciding with this, the divine child of the cycle is conceived and the mythic drama is punctuated. According to Celtic folklore, Beltaine is one of two sacred days (the other being Samhain) during which the veils between the worlds thin and the ancestors and Otherkin roam freely between the unseen realms and this physical plane. This association bore deeply into the communal consciousness of the Celtic tribes and ascertained that purification and much revelry should take place. The Druids, whose role (among many) it was to propitiate the Gods, most probably presided over these rites of purification, having the proper knowledge of the sacred woods and placation of the Gods. Akin to this communal service Pagans gather today to help bring on the fertility of the Earth and they do so by drawing upon the dynamism shared between the Sacred Couple (referred to as God and Goddess). They who are green and red and white. The double helix DNA spiral is evident in high spring celebrations, and this is made exceptionally clear in the dancing of the maypole in which red and white-coloured ribbons interweave as dancers create the pattern. This is an act of pure sympathetic Magick.

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Litha

Litha is one of the Lesser Sabbats marking the longest day of the year. It is a time of light, life and happiness. Bonfires are traditionally lit, and lavender is often burned to help ensure safety for the coming year. The Christian faith took this holiday belonging to Jack-in-the-Green and renamed it “The Feast of Saint John the Baptist”. Fresh fruits and vegetables should be cooked and consumed at Litha. This is also an ideal time to reaffirm any promises/vows that have been made to your Gods.

Litha is the perfect time for picnicking, giving food to the faeries and jumping bonfires. The festival is celebrated by eating copious amounts of fruit and drinking mead.

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Lughnasadh

Lughnasadh is celebrated in the Southern Hemisphere at the beginning of February. It marks the beginning of the harvest season when fruits of all shapes and sizes ripen. Lughnasadh also represents the culmination of the union of the God and the Goddess. The fruits of their union (the God) is a personification of the crops that are harvested for the survival of humanity.

Lughnasadh is about sacrifice, the Corn God sacrifices himself so that the people may live and he is reborn later. The Goddess is also revered on this holiday, as she is the giver of life, the bearer of fruits.

The foods associated with Lughnasadh are: Breads, grains, potatoes, summer squash, cider, blackberry pies and jellies, berries, apples, roasted lamb, elderberry wine, meadowsweet tea.

Lughnasadh is a time for revelling, playing games and attending fairs. Witches often make corn dollies from hay to honour the God and the Goddess.

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Mabon

 Mabon is the Second harvest of the season. It is known by many other names such as: The Feast of Avalon or the Festival of Dionysus. The foods associated with Mabon include: bread, corn, wheat, nuts, vegetables, and pomegranates. At Mabon, Witches often gather to make wine or to honour the dead's graves with leaves and acorns, symbols of a bountiful harvest. Mabon is a time for harmony and balance, a time for giving thanks and a time of prosperity and security. There is a myth behind the Sabbat Mabon, it goes:

The three night old boy-child, Mabon was stolen from his mother Modron and taken far away. Modron wept and enlisted the aid of King Arthur and his gallant knights of the round table. They went in search of the Mabon. First they approached the keen blackbird, Ousel of Cilgwri. The Ousel said that though he had worn away the anvil of a smith by pecking it with his beak everyday yet in all that time he had heard nothing of the Mabon. He had sent them to the gracious stag of Redynbyre, who said that although he had remained alive long enough to watch an Oak tree grow from sapling to full strength and die again, he had heard nothing of the Mabon. He in turn, sent them to the silent Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd, who said that though he had lived through the growth and decay of three Woods, yet he too knew nothing of the Mabon. The Owl, sent them to the majestic Eagle of Gwern Abwy who said that even though he had pecked at a rock daily, reducing it from a great height to a mere span, yet he, also, knew nothing of the Mabon. He sent them to the wise Salmon of Llyn Llyw, the oldest creature living and the Salmon said every tide I go up river as far as the walls of Gloucester, and there I have discovered a great wrong. Then the Salmon took two of the knights, one on each shoulder and carried them to the wall. They heard a loud noise of lamenting coming from inside, so Arthur gathered all the warriors of the land and broke through the prison wall and released the sacred child, the Mabon.

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