DRUIDIC FESTIVALS MAJOR AND MINOR/THE 8 SABBATHS OF THE WITCHES
The Old Celts and Draoithe(Druids)had only a 3 fold year and only 4 holidays in the beginning but later accepted and inducted 4 more holidays which were the equinoxes and solstices. There is absolutely NO evidence anywhere written or otherwise stating that the solsitices or equinoxes were observed as being of the fire festivals in ANY Irish text, be it early or later.
INCENSE ASSOCIATIONS: BASIL
COLOUR ASSOCIATIONS: PINKS RED BROWN
GEMSTONES ASSOCIATIONS: AMETHYST BUT ALSO ONYX AND GARNET
INCENSE ASSOCIATIONS: JASMINE ROSE SAGE
COLOUR ASSOCIATIONS: PALE GREENS PINKS YELLOWS AND GOLD
GEMSTONES ASSOCIATIONS: JASPER BLOODSTONE AMETHYST
March 21st ~ Marking the first day of spring. Known by almost every religion and path as a time for new beginnings and rebirth. The night and day are of equal length, and so now is a time of balance, and for long-term plans ~ for making plans and magick now that will come to fruition in the future. Also known as the "Vernal Eqinox" and the "Festival of the Trees". Many paint eggs and place on their altar as magickal talismans, and also tread carefully through meadows to harvest wild flowers (when taking anything from nature, please ask permission, take only what you need, and leave a token of thanks). Noting carefully the plants you have chosen to pick will reflect upon your inner thoughts and desires, by arranging them by magickal properties
INCENSE ASSOCIATIONS: LILAC ROSE (SOMETIMES FRANKINCENSE)
COLOUR ASSOCIATIONS: DARK HUES OF GREEN
GEMSTONES ASSOCIATIONS: ALL DARK GREEN STONES
May 1st ~ traditionally a fertility festival. As with Samhain, this is a time where the two worlds between the living and dead is breached, so acts of joy and hi-jinxs are apparent with carnivals and faires. These festivals are to show our appreciation of the warmer weather and enjoyment of the world around us. This signifies the beginning of Summer, and flower petals are strewn about the house for good luck and to welcome warmth and emotion of this season into our homes. This is also a time to celebrate unions and marriage. Maypoles are traditionally erected and the Queen of the May Dance is performed by taking in hand the ribbons of the Maypole and Dancing Deosil (clockwise) around the pole. Second of the Celtic Fire Festivals. This day was the day of the joining of the god and goddess and symbolic of fertility, but moreso for crops and the like and NOT actually concieving children on this day, as that is purely the concept of Neo-Pagan misconception. To be honest if you thought about it if a child was conceived on Beltine, the child would be born in the middle of the winter which would not be a wise idea to ancient celts. Besides the fact that documentation shows that Lughnasadh was the time to enter contracts and marragie IS indeed a contract and a rite of senuality and sexulaity as well. Hence, alot of traditionally performed rights of passage WERE preformed on this date but not the marraiges and sensual romps that are put out as factual information. Upon the 1st May, according to the Leabhar Gabhála, the Tuatha de Danaan landed in Ireland. Other key events also occur at that date.
INCENSE ASSOCIATIONS: ROSE LEMON MYRHH
COLOUR ASSOCIATIONS: BLUE GREEN GOLD RED
GEMSTONES ASSOCIATIONS: ALL GREEN AND YELLOW GEMS INCLUDING: JADE EMERALD YELLOW CITRINE AND YELLOW TOPAZ
June 21st ~ the longest day of the year. A classic time for magickal workings of all kinds. It is believed that whatever you dream of on this night will come true. It is a celebration of passion, sexual love, and success. Also, at Midsummer, for just a few days the sun appears to be at a standstill ~ setting in the same place in the evening sky each day. Many Pagans keep vigil on the night of June 21st, leaving their homes at dusk to travel to a place that is sacred to them, and awaiting the sunrise to welcome the dawn. It is said that this day is sacred to the Sidhe. At Stonhenge in Salisbury, England the Stones are set up in a fashion that pays specific attention to the moon (outer stones) and also aligns with the Midsummer sun as well (inner stones).
INCENSE ASSOCIATIONS: ROSE SANDALWOOD
COLOUR ASSOCIATIONS: ORANGE YELLOW DARK RED
GEMSTONES ASSOCIATIONS: CITRINE PERIDOT AVENTURINE GARNET
August 2nd ~ the sun rises further in the south each day, and the nights start to lengthen. Lughnasahd is the festival of the harvest, but specifically grain. Many traditions weave corn dollies, brooms and wreaths with corn stalks ~ these corn dollies are used as a symbolic sacrifice of the corn to assure a good harvest the coming year, and so is for the good of the community. We are reminded as the season changes, that nothing is constant. Also the Holiday in Celtic tradition as the Festival of Lugh, The God of Light. (See my Celtic Deities section). Another of the Druidic Fire Festivals. Also a time for contracts and hence also marraige as well as much as Beltane is a fertility rite it was more for crops than actual marraige. Aug 1-2 (Lughnasadh/Lughnsad/Lughsnaad/other spellings/; Lammas/Loafday/Loafmass; Bron Trogain; Thanksgiving; Harvest Home) The first day of the Trogan month.
Beginning of Foghamhr, or the 4th quarter of the year. Lughnasadh, the Gaelic for "festival of Lugh" (Some people maintain that the Scots dialect says it "LOO-nah-soo.") Lammas is Anglo-Saxon/English for "Loaf-Mass" or "hlaf-mass", and is pronounced "LAH-mus."
*Interpretations*
* The first day of the harvest season, the first time that you recognize a change in the length of day. The ripening grain heralds the coming of Autumn. It is a festival of plenty and prosperity.
* Celebration of the Sun God.
* An ancient festival associated with Trograinn, the son of Griann, in the areas where They were venerated called Bron Trograinn (the Rage of Trograinn).
* Celebration of the Sun God Lugh's victory over Chrom Dubh and granting Corn to his people.
* It is the feast of the Marriage of the god Lugh, and the time of the Harvest Fair.
* This is the time of the marriage of the Human Consort or the Sacred King to the Goddess of the Land and Sovereignity.
* A time of sacrifices for Increase and Plenty
* The time of recognizing the Earth's sorrowing in autumn.
* To some people, this is a festival honoring Lugh, and the Goddess Aine.
* According to some sources, this is the time of the maiming of the King, as the force of growth is taken from Him. One way this purportedly took place was for the king to be tied by his hair to an Oak tree with one foot on the cauldron, and his other on the back of a Horse or a Sow (Boths are representative of Goddess of Sovereignty). The support of Sovereignity was then driven from him, causing him to be maimed in such a way to destroy His fertility but not His life. In some cases, his life was not taken until the three days before Samhain when his Tanaise, or heir began his reign. The King embodied the fertility of the land, which he had come to be through his marriage to the Goddess of Sovereignty. This fertility, at times had to be stopped to allow ripening to take place.
* A festival representing the great fair of Tailltenn (now called Teltown) dedicated to honor Lugh's foster mother Tailltiu (pronounced Telsha), and established by Lugh Himself, after she died clearing the plain that is named for her (according to some, she is a Goddess of the land and Sovreignity).
* The warriors returned from the fields of battle to begin harvesting the crops. At this time fairs were held (although some fairs were only held once every three years).
* Tailltean marriages; The date of many handfastings, or trial marriages lasting a year and a day. After that time the couple had to return to the same place at the fair the following year to make their contract a permanent one. They also had the right to declare themselves divorced by walking in opposite directions away from each other.
* Tailltean Games: there were many games and races (foot and horse).
* Recitations of poems, genealogies and romantic tales. Music was provided by cruits (harps), timpans, trumpets, horns and cuisig or piob (pipes). Feats of horsemanship were performed. There were also jugglers and clowns. It seems that there were usually three distinct market places; one for food and clothes, one for livestock and another for luxury goods. If it rained during this festival, it was believed that Lugh himself was present.
* Bonfires.
* Gathering on sacred hills, and visiting the sacred wells. Tie red or blue threads onto the tails of cattle, while repeating incantations. This they did for the milk to retain its goodness, a ball of cow's hair or ronag was put into the milk pail on this day. Curds and cheese were specially prepared from that day's milk.
* Driving of horses (the embodiment of the Goddess of Sovereignty) down to the beach and into the sea.
* Closely associated with the common folk and agriculture; "the festival of first fruits"; As the People were still by and large living on the stores of the previous years harvest, this was the time when the stores were at the least. It was a time of looking forward to the harvest time just starting.
* Celebration of the Corn King. It must be pointed out that either the festival is in veneration of Tailltiu or Lugh (in which case it has no connection to any concept of Corn Kings or English harvest festivals) or it's an English harvest festival.
* 'Lammas' was the medieval Christian name for the holiday and it means 'loaf-mass', for this was the day on which loaves of bread were baked from the first grain harvest and laid on the church altars as offerings. It was a day representative of 'first fruits' and early harvest.
* Lammastide was a time of year for medieval craft guilds to create elaborate displays of their wares, decorating their shops and themselves in bright colors and ribbons, marching in parades, and performing strange, ceremonial plays and dances.
* The 'Catherine wheel' was rolled in honor of St. Catherine's feast day. A large wagon wheel was taken to the top of a near-by hill, covered with tar, set aflame, and ceremoniously rolled down the hill.
* Picnics and parties, breaking bread with friends. State Fairs in agricultural areas. Make a corn dolly charm out of the first grain you harvest or acquire. Bake a sacred loaf bread and give a portion of it to Mother Earth with a prayer of appreciation. Make prayers for a good harvest season. Do prosperity magic. Harvest herbs in a sacred way for use in charms and rituals. Kindle a Lammas fire with sacred wood and dried herbs. If you live in or near a farming region, attend a public harvest festival, such as a corn or apple festival.
INCENSE ASSOCIATIONS: SAGE MYRHH
COLOUR ASSOCIATIONS: AUTUMNAL COLOURS: BROWN ORANGE YELLOW DARK REDS
GEMSTONES ASSOCIATIONS: LAPIS LAZULI SAPPHIRE YELLOW AGATE
September 21st ~ whereas Lughnasadh signifies the first harvest, the Grain Harvest, Mabon marks the completion of the harvest, The Wine Harvest. A time for giving thanks for the bounty, but also for meditation. Stones that were gathered from the beds of streams and rivers are now empowered for use in magickal and spell workings. Now is the time for the herb harvest, to collect and dry herbs (seeds, flowers, root, leaves, bark) to not only decorate the home, but also to be saved and stored for use in magickal workings during the winter months when the herbs may be scarce.
INCENSE ASSOCIATIONS: APPLE MINT SAGE NUTMEG
COLOUR ASSOCIATIONS: BLACK ORANGE CRIMSON SILVER
GEMSTONES ASSOCIATIONS: ALL BLACK GEMS, INCLUDING: ONYX JET
The Celtic New Year, the Meat Harvest when herders slaughtered their remaining livestock to prepare for the long, grooling wintery months ahead, the Festival of the Dead and possibly THE most significant festival for Pagans as well as the ancient Celts and Druids. It is said that the veil between the realms is the thinnest during this time of year. When the Dead come back to revisit their living counterparts and the fae come out to play and all sorts of hosts ghouls goblins and the like manifest in this world to wreak havoc. The eve of the Dark Lord and Dark Mother Oct. 31st through Nov.1 is bonfire night in Ireland. Bonfires and masks were traditionally worn on this eve to ward off evil, restless spirits and daemons etc. Also a time when divination is said to be VERY VERY strong. Tribal assemblies were held then, rulers and warriors conferred and laws were made. In the Yellow Book of Lecan, a high medieval text preserving some early medieval tales, it is said that the common people called Samhain 'the feast of Mongfind' instead. Legend made Mongfind a witch-queen married to an early king of Tara, but the fact that the same source states that the people still prayed to her on 31 October indicates that we are dealing here with another goddess. One of THE oldest holidays still celebrated by many many tradition and faiths in the world most people don't even realize they are practicing Pagan traditions. Ancient, arcane engeries abound on this eve so keep the bonfires burning til the next sunrise...or you may not live to see it MUHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA...ok, ok had to throw that in for the kiddies =)
Although the ancient Celts in all likelyhood did not mark these times of year as they were predominantly sun worshippers rather than witchcrafts moon oreinted worship, it is significant in Pagan practices to recognize these times and their meanings.
THE MOON IS VERY IMPORTANT TO WITCHES ~ AS IT WAS TO OUR ANCESTORS ALSO. IT CHANGES THE TIDES OF THE FLOWING AND EBBING SEAS, BUT IT ALSO AFFECTS OUR BODIES AND SOULS. EACH FULL MOON WE HONOUR THE GODDESS ~ HOWEVER WE PERCIEVE HER ~ AS A DEITY FIGUREHEAD, OR THE GODDESS WITHIN OURSELVES. ESBATS ARE PERFORMED AND CELEBRATED DURING THE FULL MOON, FOR THIS IS WHEN THE MOON'S LUNAR ENERGY IS AT THE PEAK OF ITS CYCLE ~ WHEN IT IS STRONGEST. DUE TO HOW THE EARTH TURNS AND REVOLVES THERE ARE THIRTEEN FULL MOONS, ONE EVERY 28 AND 1 QUARTER DAYS. EACH FULL MOON CARRIES A TRADITIONAL NAME, THOUGH THESE NAMES MAY VARY AND CHANGE WITHIN EACH TRADITION OR PATH. THE NAMES GIVEN HERE ARE 'FOLK' NAMES ~ OR OLD TRADITIONAL, WITH EACH NAME BEING GIVEN TO THE FULL MOON MAINLY BECAUSE OF HOW OUR ANCESTORS LIVED, WORKED AND DIED
As the moon shifts, the seeds hidden under the cold, hard ground begin to awaken. It seems as though Nature herself is just waiting for the right moment to show herself. On this night, we light a candle and meditate ~ reflecting upon the future, and plan magick for renewal and cleansing
As the moon shifts, the seeds hidden under the cold, hard ground begin to awaken. It seems as though Nature herself is just waiting for the right moment to show herself. On this night, we light a candle and meditate ~ reflecting upon the future, and plan magick for renewal and cleansing
The Vernal Equinox approaches, seeds are planted and seedlings nourished with care. Now is the time when our ancestors would have to plant seeds to ensure a successful harvest ~ and we also plant spiritual seeds. All seeds need to be visualised to growing strong and healthy. On this night, we perform magickal workings for success and growth ~ spiritual growth
This season is the time of the mating ritual of the hare ~ which symbolised fertility for our ancestors. So, this is a time that represents fertility, and the time for planting has come: and showing us that the eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is eternal. Now is a time for growth, for realising and putting into action the fruits of our knowledge and wisdom, but also a time for magickal workings of love
The pull of opposites is at its most powerful ~ now is a time for sorting out our differences and making decisions. Also a time for hard work to realise our dreams and aspirations. A time for unions, breaking bad habits, learning new things. In times of old, people would notice faerie-rings hidden in the grass, and know that faeries would be hidden close by ~ faerie magick is strongest now, and some people may use this knowledge to strengthen their own magick ~ others are wary of the little tricks that faeries can play (all faeries like to have fun)
The bees have finished flitting from flower to flower, gathering their harvest, and now is the time for us to gather the flowers to make mead wine for the following year. On the night of the full moon, drink a toast to honour the ancients, with the previous years' made mead wine. We not only pick flowers at this time to make the wine, but also for drying and storing, so we may use them throughout the year in magickal workings
The time of the Herb harvest, but also to give thanks to the spirits of nature and garden. Give thanks to the bounty we recieve from nature ~ place an offering in the garden to symbolise the thankfulness you feel...perhaps a new plant or bury a token of thanks in the earth. This may also be reciprocated, by drawing good luck into the home. Now is a good time for brewing the mead wine ~ any brewing
Now is the time to harvest the grain planted in March ~ including the grain and plant of the Barley. Magickally it represents a harvesting of the fruits of your labour. It is a good time for spells involving desire ~ but also a time for contemplation rebirth (when we eat what we have harvested, we celebrate and acknowledge the cycle of birth, death and rebirth)
A celebration of the 'wine of life'. A time to toast family and friends and give thanks for the relationships and love we share with them. It is also a time to accept that our goals and dreams may change because of our growing and changing spirit. Further contemplation may be done by the light of the full moon, as you try to capture the reflection of the moon on the surface of a glass of wine. The wineglass should not contain lead, and would preferably be silver or pewter. We harvest the fruits we need to make wine, using the previous years harvest and wine, if we can, in rituals and giving thanks
Some say that this is called the blood moon because our ancestors slaughtered animals during this time, using the hides for warmth, and 'harvesting' the meat for use during the winter months. Others believe that we call this Blood Moon because it is the time of year when the moon appears to become blood red on many evenings, and the sunsets are much more red and deeper. Our ancestors (and we still do so now) use this as a time for the final harvest. Now is a time for reflection, for placing your life and self in order. A time for reminiscing ~ especially about our lost loved ones, and honouring them
The year and the world has become silent ~ the warmer times are at an end and the dark is still ahead. Now it is of the utmost importance to provide warmth for our loved ones. It is also a time of spirit; to search within ~ take care of oneself so we are able to care for others. Our ancestors had much time to contemplate on these things as the nights drew in and daylight hours were shorter. They needed to protect their families against the cold, the snow and the weather...but also the knowledge that they may have to put their lives in order in case they suffered so badly in the winter months that they could not take care of their families
The branches of the oak reach strongly upwards, and the roots are growing just as strongly beneath the ground ~ the oak symbolises a both worlds ~ the earthly and the spiritual. This reminds us that there is more around us than what we just see with our eyes, and we should look beyond the physical world for answers. Now is the time to strengthen relationships, build the yule log fires, and bestow gifts. In the time of our ancestors, this time of year was full of scarcity, so any gift would be precious and special. The Oak was the chosen fuel for many fires. Perhaps symbolizing an ancient battle of legend and myth of the Oak King and the Holly King in which this time of year the Oak King slays the Holly King and thus begins his reign of the Spring Season
This occurs when a month has two Full Moons occuring within it. The second, or latter one, is called BLUE or WITCHES MOON. This is considered a time when the strength and power of our magickal workings is increased, and all Witches must use their energies wisely and with care
This is a name given to the Full Moon that falls closest to MABON, and farmers used the light of the Moon to toil and harvest late into the night. Others also say that a Harvest Moon is when the Moon lay heavy and huge in the sky, and is the colour of the cornfields before harvest
