Sabbats

SAMHAIN

Samhain (/ˈsɑːwɪn, ˈsaʊɪn/; Irish: [sˠəuɪnʲ]) is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. Traditionally, it is celebrated from 31 October to 1 November, as the Celtic day began and ended at sunset.

Why do we celebrate Samhain?
 As October turns to November, thousands of Witches, Wiccans, Druids, and other Pagans across America, Canada, Europe, and elsewhere observe the sacred time of Samhain. Samhain is a festival of the Dead. ... Originating in ancient Europe as a Celtic Fire festival, Samhain is now celebrated worldwide.

What is the Samhain ritual?
It's considered a liminal time when the veil between life and death grows thin. Food is set aside for ancestors and protective spirits, and rituals honoring the dead take place.
Autumn has arrived, and with it comes the advent of Samhain, a Gaelic holiday celebrated by Pagans and Wiccans, which is the year’s third and final harvest festival.  Samhain is celebrated from sunset on October 31 to sunset on November 1, almost halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice.  Some modern Pagans consider it the “witch’s new year,” though other traditions simply recognize Samhain as the end of the year, says Kelley Harrell, the author of ‘Gift of the Dreamtime.’  Rituals surrounding Samhain include bonfires, healing, dancing, thanksgiving, and honoring of the dead.  It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals along with Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh.  Samhain is one of the original festivals behind the holiday we know as Halloween.  As it was believed that faeries, witches, and demons roamed the earth on Samhain, food, and drink was customarily set out to placate them. Later on, people began dressing up as these creatures and claiming the goodies for themselves, sometimes performing antics or tricks in exchange for food and drink. This practice evolved into trick-or-treating.  Some of Halloween’s most common traditions are rooted in Samhain’s harvest festival roots, such as the carving of pumpkins and bobbing for apples.  Some celebrate Samhain with a ritual to guide the dead home by opening a western-facing door or window and placing a candle by the opening.  This is the time when the veil between our world and the spirit realm is thin, so it's the perfect time of year to make contact with the dead.

Samhain Magick, Divination and Spirit Work
For many Pagans, Samhain is a time to do magic that focuses on the spirit world. Learn how to properly conduct a seance, how to do some Samhain divination workings, and the way to figure out what a spirit guide is really up to!

In most modern Pagan traditions, plants and their folklore are an integral part of belief and practice. In particular, many of the Sabbats are associated with the magickal properties of different plants. Below are seven plants that often correspond with the season.

1.  Rosemary
Rosemary is associated with remembrance, and during the Samhain season, many of us are taking the time to honor the memories of our ancestors and other lost loved ones. Use rosemary on an ancestor altar, or blend it into incense for use in your Samhain rituals.  Roman priests used rosemary as incense in religious ceremonies, and many cultures considered it a herb to use as protection from evil spirits and witches. In England, it was burned in the homes of those who had died from illness and placed on coffins before the grave was filled with dirt.
2.  Fall Flowers
Autumn flowers like marigolds and chrysanthemums are always appropriate at Samhain. Often associated with protection, particularly of the metaphysical sort, chrysanthemums come in handy when working with the spirit world. In some traditions, they’re a centerpiece for funeral decorations or grave memorials, most likely because they’re blooming around Samhain. You can dry the heads and use them in loose-leaf incense blends for fall rituals.
3.  Apples, Branches, and Blossoms
Apples appear in a number of belief systems as being sacred to the gods. During Samhain, the apple-picking season is winding down in many areas, and in many early agricultural societies, a good apple harvest meant that the gods were showing the community their favor. You can use apples in a number of magical ways, including a few different methods of divination.  If you’ve harvested the blossoms from an apple tree and dried them out for storage, be sure to incorporate those into your workings as well. The apple was considered a symbol of immortality. Interestingly, it's also seen as a food for the dead, which is why Samhain is sometimes referred to as the Feast of Apples. In Celtic myth, an apple branch bearing grown fruit, flowers, and unopened buds was a magical key to the land of the Underworld.
Apples appear in a number of belief systems as being sacred to the gods. During Samhain, the apple-picking season is winding down in many areas, and in many early agricultural societies, a good apple harvest meant that the gods were showing the community their favor. You can use apples in a number of magical ways, including a few different methods of divination.  If you’ve harvested the blossoms from an apple tree and dried them out for storage, be sure to incorporate those into your workings as well. The apple was considered a symbol of immortality. Interestingly, it's also seen as a food for the dead, which is why Samhain is sometimes referred to as the Feast of Apples. In Celtic myth, an apple branch bearing grown fruit, flowers, and unopened buds was a magical key to the land of the Underworld.
4.  Pomegranates
Pomegranates feature prominently in the story of Demeter and Persephone. Associated with the realm of the underworld, pomegranates can be used in rituals involving communication with the dead.  Interestingly, pomegranates are also associated with fertility magic in the fall. The Practical Herbalist says, “[The] fruit is filled with seeds, not just five or six or even ten or twenty, but 840 seeds. Pomegranate’s fertility magic is about diversity. Pomegranate teaches us to cast our seeds far and wide, to send out many branches, to find strength in a diverse or wide array of creative pursuits. Uncompromising in its environmental requirements, pomegranate’s fertility magic is about protecting the diversity we sow. Pomegranate won’t fruit if the conditions aren’t right, although very few would call pomegranate tender or delicate. Pomegranate reminds us to be aware of our environment, to choose where and when we sow our seeds wisely, and to be uncompromising in the conditions we require for our own growth.”
5.  Squashes, Pumpkins, and Gourds
Squashes – and this includes pumpkins and gourds – are typically associated with the abundance of the late harvest season. In many areas, by the time Samhain rolls around, the squash crops and pumpkin patches are beginning to dwindle. However, squashes are fairly hardy and store well in the right conditions, they can last several months, providing sustenance for your family even when the fields are bare and covered in snow.  Some traditions associate the squash family with psychic awareness and development. Others connect it to protection – you can carve sigils and symbols of protection into a squash and place it in a window or doorway to protect from metaphysical attack.
6.  Mugwort
Mugwort is found in some magickal traditions that associate it with divination and dreaming. If someone has overactive dreams, they can be balanced out with a ritual bath made from mugwort and indulged in prior to bedtime. Bald’s Leechbook, an herbal from around the ninth century, refers to the use of mugwort to cast out demonic possession. The author also recommends heating a large stone in the fireplace, then sprinkling it with mugwort, and adding water to create a steam for the patient to inhale.
7.  Rowan Trees
Rowan branches and berries were used – and actually, still are – in Scotland and parts of northern England as a way to keep evil spirits out of the house. The berries are associated with good health, but if you plant a bush near a grave, it will keep the dead from rising. Much like Beltane, six months away, Samhain is a night when the spirit world sees an awful lot of activity. You can hang rowan branches around your home, or a sprig of berries over doors and windows, to keep the spirits at bay.

YULE

The Winter Solstice - Yule Lore

The date of this sabbat varies from December 20 to December 23 depending on the year in the Gregorian calendar.  The winter solstice is celebrated at this time in the northern hemisphere but it is now time to celebrate the summer solstice (Litha) in the southern hemisphere due to the seasonal differences.

Yule, (pronounced EWE-elle) is when the dark half of the year relinquishes to the light half. Starting the next morning at sunrise, the sun climbs just a little higher and stays a little longer in the sky each day. Known as Solstice Night, or the longest night of the year, the sun's "rebirth" was celebrated with much joy. On this night, our ancestors celebrated the rebirth of the Oak King, the Sun King, the Giver of Life that warmed the frozen Earth. From this day forward, the days would become longer.

Deities:  All Newborn Gods, Sun Gods, Mother Goddesses, and Triple Goddesses. The best known would be the Dagda, and Brighid, the daughter of the Dagda. Brighid taught the smiths the arts of fire tending and the secrets of metal work. Brighid's flame, like the flame of the new light, pierces the darkness of the spirit and mind, while the Dagda's cauldron assures that Nature will always provide for all the children.

Symbolism:  Rebirth of the Sun, The longest night of the year, The Winter Solstice, Introspect, Planning for the Future.
Symbols:  Yule log or small Yule log with 3 candles, evergreen boughs or wreaths, holly, mistletoe hung in doorways, gold pillar candles, baskets of clove studded fruit, a simmering pot of wassail, poinsettias, Christmas cactus.
Herbs:  Bayberry, blessed thistle, evergreen, frankincense holly, laurel, mistletoe, oak, pine, sage, yellow cedar.
Foods:  Cookies and caraway cakes soaked in cider, fruits, nuts, pork dishes, turkey, eggnog, ginger tea, spiced cider, wassail, or lamb's wool (ale, sugar, nutmeg, roasted apples).
Incense:  Pine, cedar, bayberry, cinnamon.
Colors:  Red, green, gold, white, silver, yellow, orange.
Stones:  Rubies, bloodstones, garnets, emeralds, diamonds.
Activities:  Caroling, wassailing the trees, burning the Yule log, decorating the Yule tree, exchanging of presents, kissing under the mistletoe, honoring Kriss Kringle the Germanic Pagan God of Yule
Spellworkings:  Peace, harmony, love, and increased happiness.

Other Deities:  Goddesses-Brighid, Isis, Demeter, Gaea, Diana, The Great Mother. Gods-Apollo, Ra, Odin, Lugh, The Oak King, The Horned One, The Green Man, The Divine Child, Mabon.

Bonfires were lit in the fields, and crops and trees were "wassailed" with toasts of spiced cider.  Children were escorted from house to house with gifts of clove spiked apples and oranges which were laid in baskets of evergreen boughs and wheat stalks dusted with flour. The apples and oranges represented the sun.  The boughs were symbolic of immortality (evergreens were sacred to the Celts because they did not "die" thereby representing the eternal aspect of the Divine). The wheat stalks portrayed the harvest, and the flour was an accomplishment of triumph, light, and life. Holly and ivy not only decorated the outside but also the inside of homes, in hopes Nature Sprites would come and join the celebration. A sprig of Holly was kept near the door all year long as a constant invitation for good fortune to visit the residents. Mistletoe was also hung as decoration.  It represented the seed of the Divine, and at Midwinter, the Druids would travel deep into the forest to harvest it.

The ceremonial Yule log was the highlight of the Solstice festival. In accordance with tradition, the log must either have been harvested from the householder's land or given as a gift... it must never have been bought. Once dragged into the house and placed in the fireplace it was decorated in seasonal greenery, doused with cider or ale, and dusted with flour before set ablaze by a piece of last years log, (held onto for just this purpose). The log would burn throughout the night, then smolder for 12 days after before being ceremonially put out. Ash is the traditional wood of the Yule log. It is the sacred world tree of the Teutons, known as Yggdrasil. An herb of the Sun, Ash brings light into the hearth at the Solstice.

A different type of Yule log, and perhaps one more suitable for modern practitioners would be the type that is used as a base to hold three candles. Find a smaller branch of oak or pine, and flatten one side so it sets upright. Drill three holes in the top side to hold red, green, and white (season), green, gold, and black (the Sun God), or white, red, and black (the Great Goddess). Continue to decorate with greenery, red and gold bows, rosebuds, cloves, and dust with flour.

Many customs created around Yule are identified with Christmas today.  If you decorate your home with a Yule tree, holly or candles, you are following some of these old traditions.   The Yule log, (usually made from a piece of wood saved from the previous year) is burned in the fire to symbolize the Newborn Sun/Son.

IMBOLC

Imbolc (Candlemass, Imblog, Imbole) - February 2nd

Pronounced: EE-Molc

Incense: Rosemary, Frankincense, Myrrh, Cinnamon

Decorations: Corn Dolly, Besom, Spring Flowers

Colors: White, Orange, Red

This holiday is also known as Candlemas or Brigid's (pronounced BREED) Day. One of the 4 Celtic "Fire Festivals. Commemorates the changing of the Goddess from the Crone to the Maiden. Celebrates the first signs of Spring. Also called "Imbolc" (the old Celtic name).

This is the seasonal change where the first signs of spring and the return of the sun are noted, i.e. the first sprouting of leaves, the sprouting of the Crocus flowers etc. In other words, it is the festival commemorating the successful passing of winter and the beginning of the agricultural year. This Festival also marks the transition point of the threefold Goddess energies from those of Crone to Maiden.

It is the day that we celebrate the passing of Winter and make way for Spring. It is the day we honor the rebirth of the Sun and we may visualize the baby sun nursing from the Goddess's breast. It is also a day of celebrating the Celtic Goddess Brigid. Brigid is the Goddess of Poetry, Healing, Smithcraft, and Midwifery. If you can make it with your hands, Brigid rules it. She is a triple Goddess, so we honor Her in all her aspects. This is a time for communing with Her and tending the lighting of her sacred flame. At this time of year, Wiccans will light multiple candles, white for Brigid, for the god usually yellow or red, to remind us of the passing of winter and the entrance into spring, the time of the Sun. This is a good time for initiations, be they into covens or self-initiations.

Imbolc (February 2) marks the recovery of the Goddess after giving birth to the God. The lengthening periods of light awaken Her. The God is a young, lusty boy, but His power is felt in the longer days. The warmth fertilizes the Earth (the Goddess) and causes seeds to germinate and sprout. And so the earliest beginnings of Spring occur.

This is a Sabbat of purification after the shut-in life of Winter, through the renewing power of the Sun. It is also a festival of light and of fertility, once marked in Europe with huge blazes, torches, and fire in every form. Fire here represents our own illumination and inspiration as much as light and warmth. Imbolc is also known as Feast of Torches, Oimelc, Lupercalia, Feast of Pan, Snowdrop Festival, Feast of the Waxing Light, Brighid's Day, and probably by many other names. Some female Witches follow the old Scandinavian custom of wearing crowns of lit candles, but many more carry tapers during their invocations.

IMBOLC LORE

It is traditional upon Imbolc, at sunset or just after ritual, to light every lamp in the house - if only for a few moments. Or, light candles in each room in honor of the Sun’s rebirth. Alternately, light a kerosene lamp with a red chimney and place this in a prominent part of the home or in a window.

If snow lies on the ground outside, walk in it for a moment, recalling the warmth of summer. With your projective hand, trace an image of the Sun on the snow.

Foods appropriate to eat on this day include those from the dairy since Imbolc marks the festival of calving. Sour cream dishes are fine. Spicy and full-bodied foods in honor of the Sun are equally attuned. Curries and all dishes made with peppers, onions, leeks, shallots, garlic or chives are appropriate. Spiced wines and dishes containing raisins - all foods symbolic of the Sun - are also traditional.

OSTARA

Ostara - Spring Equinox

Ostara: Spring Equinox (Ostara) - March 21st/22nd

Incense: Jasmine, Rose
Decorations: Yellow Disk or Wheel, Coloured Egg's, Hare Decorations, Spring Flowers
Colors: Yellow

This marks the Spring Equinox. This is the Pagan "Easter" - or rather, this is the day that Christians borrowed to be their Easter. It is traditionally the day of equilibrium, neither harsh winter or the merciless summer, and is a time of childish wonder. Painted eggs, baskets of flowers and the like are generally used to decorate the house. It is common to use this time to free yourself from things which hinder progress. As a day of equilibrium, it is a good time to perform self-banishings and also perform workings to gain things we have lost or to gain qualities we wish to have.

The second of the 3 spring festivals, this Sabbat occurs in mid-March when day and night are of equal length. This festival is also of fertility where seeds are blessed for planting soon after. Traditional colors for this holiday are light green, lemon yellow and pale pink.

Ostara Incense

taken from Scott Cunningham's book THE COMPLETE BOOK OF INCENSE, OILS & BREWS

Burn during Wiccan rituals on Ostara (the Spring Equinox, which falls on Tuesday, March 20th this year), or to welcome spring and to refresh your life.

The materials needed are the following:
*2 parts Frankincense
*1 part Benzoin
*1 part Dragon's Blood
*half part Nutmeg
*half part Violet Flowers (or a few drops - like 3 - of Violet Oil)
*half part Orange Peel
*half part Rose Petals
*charcoal block/briquette
*fire-safe incense burner, censer or pot.

For best results, grind the materials in a mortar and pestle. Take a small amount and place on a burning charcoal block in a fire-safe censer or burner.

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BELTANE

Beltane: (Bealtaine, May Eve, Valpurgis) - April 30th/May 1st

Incense: Lilac, Frankincense

Decorations: Maypole, Flowers, Ribbons

Colors: Green

The Fire Festival of Beltane

This festival is also known as Beltane, the Celtic May Day. It officially begins at moonrise on May Day Eve and marks the beginning of the third quarter or second half of the ancient Celtic year. It is celebrated as an early pastoral festival accompanying the first turning of the herds out to wild pasture. The rituals were held to promote fertility. The cattle were driven between the Belfires to protect them from ills. Contact with the fire was interpreted as symbolic contact with the sun. In early Celtic times, the druids kindled the Beltane fires with specific incantations. Later the Christian church took over the Beltane observances, a service was held in the church, followed by a procession to the fields or hills, where the priest kindled the fire. The rowan branch is hung over the house fire on May Day to preserve the fire itself from bewitchment (the house fire being symbolic of the luck of the house).

This is a holiday of Union--both between the Goddess and the God and between man and woman. Handfastings (Pagan marriages) are traditional at this time. It is a time of fertility and harvests, the time for reaping the wealth from the seeds that we have sown. Celebrations include braiding of one's hair (to honor the union of man and woman and Goddess and God), circling the Maypole for fertility and jumping the Beltane fire for luck. Beltane is one of the Major Sabbats of the Wiccan religion. We celebrate sexuality (something we see as holy and intrinsic to us as holy beings), we celebrate life and the unity which fosters it. The myths of Beltane state that the young God has blossomed into manhood and the Goddess takes him on as her lover. Together, they learn the secrets of the sexual and the sensual, and through their union, all life begins.

Beltane is the season of maturing life and deep found love. This is the time of vows, handfastings, and commitment. The Lord and his Lady, having reached maturity, come together in Perfect Love and Perfect Trust to celebrate the joy of their union. This is a time to celebrate the coming together of the masculine and feminine creative energies. Beltane marks the emergence of the young God into manhood. Stirred by the energies at work in nature, he desired the Goddess. They fall in love, lie among the grasses and blossoms and unite.

Beltane Fire FestivalThe flowers and greenery symbolize the Goddess and the Maypole represents the God. Beltane marks the return of vitality and passion of summer. Another common focal point of the Beltane rituals is the cauldron, which represents the Goddess. The Welsh goddess Creiddylad is connected with Beltane often called the May Queen, she was a Goddess of summer flowers and love.

May Day

May Day has long been marked with feasts and rituals. Maypoles, supremely phallic symbols, were the focal point of old English village rituals. Many people arose at dawn to gather flowers and green branches from the fields and gardens, using them to decorate the village Maypoles.

The May Queen (and often King) is chosen from among the young people, and they go singing from door to door throughout the town carrying flowers or the May tree, soliciting donations for merrymaking in return for the "blessing of May". This is symbolic of bestowing and sharing of the new creative power that is stirring in the world. As the kids go from door to door, the May Bride often sings to the effect that those who give will get of nature's bounty through the year.

In parts of France, some jilted youth will lie in a field on May Day and pretend to sleep. If any village girl is willing to marry him, she goes and wakes him with a kiss; the pair then goes to the village inn together and lead the dance which announces their engagement. The boy is called "the betrothed of May."

LITHA

Litha - Summer Solstice

Litha: Summer Solstice - 21st/22nd June

Litha (Midsummer, Gathering Day, Summer Solstice, Alban Heffyn, Feill-Sheathain)

Incense: Sage, mint, basil, Saint John's Wort, sunflower, Lavender, oak, rowan, and fir

Decorations: Dried herbs, potpourri, seashells, summer flowers, and fruits.

Colors: blue, green, and yellow

The Fire Festival of Litha

Midsummer or the Summer Solstice is the most powerful day of the year for the Sun God. Because this Sabbat glorifies the Sun God and the Sun, fire plays a very prominent role in this festival. The element of Fire is the most easily seen and immediately felt the element of transformation. It can burn, consume, cook, shed light or purify and balefires still figure prominently in modern Midsummer rites.

Most cultures of the Northern Hemisphere mark Midsummer in some ritualized manner and from time immemorial people have acknowledged the rising of the sun on this day. At Stonehenge, the heel stone marks the midsummer sunrise as seen from the center of the stone circle.

In ancient times, the Summer Solstice was a fire-festival of great importance when the burning of balefires ritually strengthened the sun. It was often marked with torchlight processions, by flaming tar barrels or by wheels bound with straw, which were set alight and rolled down steep hillsides. The Norse especially loved lengthy processions and would gather together their animals, families and lighted torches and parade through the countryside to the celebration site.

The use of fires, as well as providing magickal aid to the sun, were also used to drive out evil and to bring fertility and prosperity to men, crops, and herds. Blazing gorse or furze was carried around cattle to prevent disease and misfortune; while people would dance around the balefires or leap through the flames as a purifying or strengthening rite. The Celts would light bale fires all over their lands from sunset the night before Midsummer until sunset the next day. Around these flames, the festivities would take place.

In Cornwall up to the mid 18th century, the number and appearance of fires seen from any given point was used as a form of divination and used to read the future.

Astronomically, it is the longest day of the year, representing the God at full power. Although the hottest days of the summer still lie ahead, from this point onward we enter the waning year, and each day the Sun will recede from the skies a little earlier, until Yule, when the days begin to become longer again.

Agriculturally, the crops are in full growth. They are reaching the pinnacles of maturity and coming closer to the harvest time. Most wild herbs are fully mature by Midsummer and this is the traditional time for gathering magickal and medicinal plants to dry and store for winter use. In Wales, Midsummer is called Gathering Day in honor of this practice.

Lithia - Summer Solstice Magickal Aspects

Since this sabbat revolves around the sun, a candle should be lit for the entire day, especially if it is cloudy or raining. The fire represents the sun and is a constant daily reminder of the power of the God. Rituals should be performed at noon when the sun is highest in the sky. The best rituals to perform in Midsummer are those dealing with masculine issues, masculine energies, or issues dealing with solar influence.

Many pagans choose to make protective amulets, in the week before the Sabbat, which are later empowered over the Midsummer balefire. Some witches choose to bury their protective amulets each Midsummer’s eve and construct new ones. Rue, Rowan, and Basil, tied together in a white or gold cloth, is a good protective trio that can be carried in your pocket year round.

Midsummer is the time to formalize any relationship and couples that have been together a year and a day since the previous Beltane can make their marriage final. This Sabbat is also an excellent time to renew wedding vows.

Suggested activities for Litha:

*Re-dedication to the Lord and Lady

*Divination related to romance and love

*Light a white candle in front of a mirror and say your own Lithia prayer over it, then allow the candle to burn out.

*Float paper boats with blessings on a river/stream to bring luck and love to whatever may find it, or to the land.

*Singing and dancing around a bonfire

*Outdoor picnic feasts

*Create crowns out of flowers 

LUGHNASA or LAMMAS

Lammas: August 2, July 31st/Aug 1st

Frey Fest/Lughnasa/Lugnasad/Lammas

Goddesses celebrated around this time include: Demeter and Ceres. 

Trees: Hazel and Gorse 

Herbs: Sage and Meadowsweet. 

Colors: golds, yellows, and orange for the God and red for the Goddess as the mother.

This is an Irish Gaelic name for the feast which commemorates the funeral games of Lugh, the Celtic God of light, and son of the Sun.  In the mythological story of the Wheel of the Year, the Sun God transfers his power into the grain and is sacrificed when the grain is harvested.  So we have a dying, self-sacrificing and resurrecting God of the harvest, who dies for his people so that they may live.  Sound familiar? 

The power of the sun goes into the grain as it ripens. It is then harvested and made into the first new bread of the season.  This is the Saxon hlaef-masse or loaf-mass, now Lammas.  Seed grain is also saved for planting for next year's crop so the sun god may be seen to rise again in Spring with the new green shoots, as the sun also rises in the sky.  There are many traditions and customs all over the country that are still carried on at harvest-time today.

Lammas is a festival celebrating the first fruits of the harvest, the fruits of our labors, and seeing the desires that we had at the start of the year unfold so rituals will be centered around this.  Lammas is an early Christian festival, "Lammas" means loaf mass and represented the first loaves baked from that year's crop. These were taken to church and laid on the altar.  It's a time for bread-making and corn-dollies.

Lughnasa is traditionally the first harvest. Look around you and you will see various trees namely Rowan yielding bright red berries and brambles showing ripening fruits along with apple and pear trees. In this day and age when food is mass produced and imported so we get fruits and veg and corn no matter what time of year it is, it is easy to lose touch with the natural cycle of things.

Suggested Activities:

Creating and or decorating ritual items such as a Stang.  Walk through the woods to spend some time meditating in beautiful surroundings.  Making bread, make a wicker man and put all of your bad habits that you want to be rid of inside him and throw him in the bonfire. Making corn dollies.

MABON

Mabon - Autumn Equinox

Mabon: Autumn Equinox - September 21st-23rd

Gwyl canol Hydref or Mabon: (Also known as Harvest Home, Harvest Tide, Fall Equinox, Autumn Equinox etc.), September 21-24.

Decorations:  Indian corn, red fruits, autumn flowers, red poppies, hazelnuts, garlands, grains especially wheat stalks, and colorful, fallen leaves, acorns, pine & cypress cones, oak sprigs, pomegranate.

Colors:  Brown, green, orange, red, deep gold, scarlet, yellow, russet, maroon, all autumn colors, purple, blue violet & indigo

Customs:  Offerings to land, preparing for cold weather, bringing in harvest, cutting willow wands (Druidic), eating seasonal fruit, leaving apples upon burial cairns & graves as a token of honor, walk wild places & forests, gather seed pods & dried plants, fermenting grapes to make wine,picking ripe produce, stalk bundling; fishing,. on the closest full moon (Harvest Moon) harvesting corps by moonlight. 

Incense/Oils:  Pine, sweetgrass, apple blossom, benzoin, myrrh, frankincense, jasmine, sage wood aloes, black pepper, patchouli, cinnamon, clove, oakmoss

Foods:  Cornbread, wheat products, bread, grains, berries, nuts, grapes, acorns, seeds, dried fruits, corn, beans, squash, roots (ie onions, carrots, potatoes, etc), hops, sassafras, apples, pomegranates, carrots, onions, potatoes, roast goose or mutton, wine, ale, & cider

Magicks:  This is an excellent time to perform spells around the idea of balancing out your life. Remove any guilt, and replace it with love and acceptance.

Technically, an equinox is an astronomical point and, due to the fact that the earth wobbles on its axis slightly, the date may vary by a few days depending on the year. The autumnal equinox occurs when the sun crosses the equator on its apparent journey southward, and we experience a day and a night that are of equal duration. Up until Mabon, the hours of daylight have been greater than the hours from dusk to dawn. But from now on, the reverse holds true.

Mabon marks the middle of harvest, it is a time of equal day and equal night, and for the moment nature is in balance. It is a time to reap what you have sown, of giving thanks for the harvest and the bounty the Earth provides. For finishing up old projects and plans and planting the seeds for new enterprises or a change in lifestyle. Mabon is a time of celebration and balance.

This is the time to look back not just in the past year, but also your life, and to plan for the future. In the rhythm of the year, Mabon is a time of rest and celebration, after the hard work of gathering the crops. Warm autumn days are followed by chilly nights, as the Old Sun God returns to the embrace of the Goddess.

The passing of Mabon is inevitable and The Sun God should be mourned. We too must remember that all things must come to an end. So the Sun God journeys into the lands of winter and into the Goddess' loving arms, but endings are a good time to celebrate our successes, thank our selves and those who helped us, and take part in the balance of life!

Table of Autumnal Equinoxes

Year Date Time (GMT) 

2018 23 September 01:54

2019 23 September 07:50

2020 22 September 13:30