Wicca has its holidays as well. Collectively, these are called Sabbats. In Wicca, our holidays aren't decided by who died or who did what; they are decided by the earth and the seasons.
The night of the Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year. Now darkness triumphs; and yet, gives way and changes into light. The breath of nature is suspended. All wait while within the cauldron, the Dark King is transformed into the infant light. We watch for the coming dawn, when the Great Mother gives birth to the divine Child Sun, who is the promise of the summer. We call the Sun from the womb of the night. Our Blessed Lady carries in her young womb - the womb which has birthed all things into being. Our Lady turns the wheel once more. Since it is a solar festival, it is celebrated by fire and the use of the Yule log. It is a time to let go of all fears, all doubts, all outworn ideas, all projects finished - anything in our lives that holds us away from the new beginnings that will lead to new growth. It is a time to let go of the past and walk toward the light. Some witches light a gold candle in the cauldron and jump the cauldron of rebirth making a wish for her to be a better person in the coming year. On this longest night, we renew and rebirth our bodies and spirit self. This is when we plant our seeds of change, whether it be truth, love, friendship, etc.
The Festival of Bridget is the celebration of the return of the Maiden of Spring. Now the Crone undergoes her wonderful transformation into the beautiful Maiden of Flowers, Mistress of the Hunt. Imbolic is the festival of light in the darkness, the celebration of rekindled fire. Most witches light as many candles in their house or witch's room to bring on light and warmth and say goodbye to the dark. This is the time of individuation: within the measures of the spiral, we each light our own light, and become uniquely ourselves. It is the time of initiation, of beginning when seeds that will later sprout and grow begin to stir from their dark sleep.
This Sabbat also honors the moon as source of fertility for the months to come. The winter still cold reawakens and first feels the quickening of life. It is a time for changes below the surface of things, when solstice birth first begins to manifest. It is the time of year to make a commitment or recommitment to your spiritual growth. It is a time to look ahead in hope and joy for what is to come. It is a time of divination, looking into the coming year. It is a time for cleaning and purification. Self dedication. It is a time for looking for early spring. Crossroads figure prominently in this Sabbat. This is a night that spirits of the dead are said to walk among the living. The Crossroads also represent an equal-armed cross which is seen as a symbol of balance and protection. On the eve before this Sabbat, go to a crossroad and bury negativity so it cannot escape.
This is the time of spring's return; the joyful time, the seed time, when life bursts forth from the earth and the chains of winter are broken. This is the time when the Goddess Hecate returns to the underworld and Persephone returns to Demeter. Light and dark are equal. It is a time of balance, when all the elements within us must be brought into a new harmony. Now is the time to see how well our own souls are balanced and to plant those things that we are lacking in ourselves. It is a time to look within our hearts to see the empty spaces to be filled.
The Witches' Sabbat of Beltane officially begins at moonrise on May Day eve, April 30th. Beltane is a fire festival and is opposite Samhain on the Wheel of the Year. Samhain is the time when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest, and Beltane is the time when the worlds are furthest apart. On this day we celebrate the May Queen of fertility and passion, a time when the Maiden of Spring comes of age and celebrates the fullness of her sexuality. The Maypole, symbol of the Tree of Life, or Moon Tree, is decorated with flowers and ribbons. The Great Rite is sexual license, "When we act out the lovemaking of nature by loving each other". It is the celebration of youth, of love and fun. It is a time of jumping through the Beltane bonfire. You can also light a fire in your fireplace. If you do not have a fireplace, you might light thirteen dark green candles to symbolize the Beltane fire. Dress in springtime colors.
It is the longest day of the year, the day when the sun is at the height of its power. Like Samhain, Litha is another day when the boundaries between the worlds are thin, when mortals had strange experiences and when fairies trooped across the land. This is because Litha is the intercalary or "extra" month of the Anglo-Saxon calendar, added every other year to bring the lunar months back in line with the solar year. The nature of Litha as a "day outside of time" is vastly different from that of Samhain. Litha has an upside down quality about it; that is, things often reversed or mixed up, i.e., candles are floated on water and wishes made on them. It is a time of festival, merriment, making of wishes and of rejoicing, as the Earth Mother who receives that energy blooms with the beauty that will become the fruits of the harvests. However, the time for waxing is at an end and the time of waning is at hand. The energy of the sun must go into the form of the Mother - the corn, the grain - and die in order to feed Earth Mother's children, to become the seed of a new cycle. It is a time that we must look within ourselves for inner enlightenment and meaning of our times of fulfillment, for without meaning, growth and purpose, fulfillment is emptiness.
As is the tradition to burn nine woods for Beltane fires, it is also customary to throw nine kinds of herbs into the Midsummer fire. They are: St. John's Wort, rue, vervain, mistletoe, lavender, thyme, fennel, plantain and mugwort.
This is the first of the three harvest celebrations in the Craft. Our Mother Earth has blessed us with her bounty. The Goddess has given birth now, and we celebrate this birth, the fruits of the field and orchard, and garden. The Summer Goddess lays down her cloak of greenery and takes up the dark mantel of the Crone. The Goddess provides but she provides only what we are willing to work for and harvest by our efforts. It is the time of shortening days and ripening fields. The long days of summer are past and we watch our efforts come to fruition. Now is the time of harvest. We celebrate this time of year by celebrating summer. Summer is heat, growth, abundance and the work and play that naturally accompany these themes. Long hours of sunlight, tending gardens, harvesting fruits, vegetables, herbs, canning, freezing, drying the harvest. We celebrate summer with one eye on the winter ahead. At this time of the year, Mother Earth begins offering us some of the early fruits and vegetables. The celebration of Lammas is a pause to relax and open yourself to the change of the season so that you may be one with its energies and accomplish what is intended.
Mabon is the second of the three celebrations of the Harvest Festival. It is the time of the second harvest, the harvest of fruit and wine. The powers of light and darkness are now in balance. This is a time to celebrate blessings of the year. The Goddess is mature now and manifests her bountiful mother aspect. The Underworld Goddess returns. The Year Goddess approaches her Crone time now, as the night begins to lengthen and the days to shorten once more. We feel her bite, the crispness of the air, the brightness of the moon. Demeter yields her daughter to the underworld.
Persephone has descended to the land of Hecate and the dead, and Demeter in despair halts all new growth until her return. It is also the time when Hecate walks the land. (In days of old, the story was told that Persephone each year went to the underworld for teachings from the Goddess of the Crossroads, Hecate, who could see past, present and future. Not until the Titan Goddesses were married off to war/hunting Gods did the story change to Persephone being kidnapped and raped by Hades.) This is the time for both mourning and joy, as we face the darkness and look back over the year we have just lived. For many witches this begins the most powerful time of the year - the dark time when the sun's light recedes to give more focus to the moon and the deep self of the female principle. As Persephone must separate from the world and her Mother for a time for teachings with Hecate, so must each of us undergo this mystery in our lives. Rituals of grieving are appropriate now as well as acknowledging the rebirth and joy to follow. It is a time when the Goddess must say farewell to her Consort. The separation between mother and daughter, and that between lovers is a dominate theme of this time. We are in deep need of rituals that help us through these transitions.
You can take an apple to the cemetery and hold it in front of you and say "Ancient symbol of life, death and rebirth, take away my mourning and assure me that death is not a permanent parting, but a new and joyful beginning" and then placed at a love one's grave for hope of rebirth or if you cannot get to a cemetery, after the prayer, bury the apple in the earth to symbolize your hope for the rebirth of all life. The theme is balancing polarities, so do some thinking about the balance within your life. The female and male elements of your personality - do they have equal respect and expression. This night, when the hours of light and the hours of darkness are equal is a night to honor the balance of the Goddess and the God and the balance of matter and spirit because the Craft religion celebrates not only spiritual life of the next world, but also the physical life of this world.
Samhain is the most sacred and high holiday of all the festivals of all rituals. Samhain combines a number of elements: the agricultural harvest, the wild harvest, the transition of the fall foliage season into the onset of winter weather and the commemoration of The Day of the Dead. It is a time for remembering our ancestors and our departed loved ones, and a solemn time should be set aside for contemplating the mystery of Life and Death as taught by the ancient ways. Samhain is a time of introspection, of emptying the false from the mind, heart, and soul. It is a time to heal the source of our deepest wounds....and those we have inflected on others around us.....before time fails us. It is a time when we can learn to see clearly. The true victory of the self is in the Cauldron. Now we must look at the nature of our motives and at the results of our actions. Samhain is a time to communicate and hear the other side, a time of death, thinking of ancestors and what we are because of them. It is a time of letting go, a time when the veil is the thinnest between the worlds. We can penetrate the veil and get messages from people who have gone .. us to help us in this life. It is a time when we look at death hopefully trying to find meaning in that.
An eerie time, full of power, partaking of both the first and the second half of the year, yet belonging to neither. It is akin to dawn and twilight. Samhain was probably originally celebrated on the full moon closest to the now customary date of October 31. The full moon lends its light to the returning spirits who traditionally revisit the scenes of their lives. Samhain, signifying awakening, letting go, when the seed falls to the earth from the mother plant. It is the CRACK OF TIME, the boundary-point between the worlds, a time belonging neither to the old or quite yet to the new. Any ending is also a beginning of a new phase and at this time, memories and thoughts of the past mingle with hopes and fears for the future. It is a spiritual cleansing of those aspects of our life which we have grown out of or no longer need. It is a time for divination and looking into the future and a link with the dead. We have come to a place of rest and reward, all our labors and harvest complete for the time being. This is a time of Thanks-Giving for all that you have accomplished, been gifted with, brought to completion so far this year. Keep a votive candle lit all through this month as a symbol of the eternal blessings of the Goddess in your life.
Hecate, and none but She, is Queen of all living things .It is through Her that all things live or die. She is the laughing maiden, the living mother, and the black hag of death. She is the three and the one. She smiles and the radiance of the moon, whether it be full or dark, is everywhere for there is no power like Her power and no living thing can withstand Her power. For She is anticipation. She is the fulfillment. She is all death. Hear her words, children, worship and be glad for if you seek Her, She is with you always. She was with you in the beginning and shall be with you at the end.
