Samhuinn - October 31st
The beginning of the year, and the festival of the dead. For me this is the time that all the people who have died since last Samhuinn are gathered by the God (in such a form as Herne or Gwyn during the Wild Rade, or Anubis/Anpu) on His way to the underworld after His own death. The Goddess goes into mourning for the next six weeks and so we call upon Her as the Crone aspect in Samhuinn rituals.
This is a time for celebration, it is the Third Harvest and we give thanks for the past year and all it gave us as well as for remembering loved ones who have passed on and celebrating the triumph of life (reincarnation) over death. "Honour and glory and power and everlasting joy to the destroyer or the fear of death. The givers of regeneration, death, and what lies beyond".
Divination tends to be highly sucessful at the new year, as are workings related to faery, and meditations on death and the underworld. The acorn, thyme and especially dill are useful herbs to include in Samhuinn rituals.
-Foods : apples, pumpkin pie, hazelnuts, corn, cranberry muffins and breads
-Gemstones : all black gemstones
-Incense : apple, mint, nutmeg and sage
-Candles : black, orange
Winter Solstice or Yule (December 21)
Also known as Yuletide, the winter solstice is the middle of winter - cold and dark.. but Goddess gives birth to God now, the star-child, and with Him comes the promise of summer and new life.
As most of us already feel about this time of year, it is a time for families, friends and community, a time when we cheer each other up to relieve the inactivity and cold contemplation that comes with wintertime.
I believe this to be one of the traditionally longest festivals, originally numbering a full twelve days in length. It begins with 'Mother Night' where the Goddess, in the Underworld, becomes the Maiden once more, on the day of the Solstice She gives birth to God, and the festival culminates at Twelfth Night when God is deemed to have reached His adulthood.
This day also marks the fall of the Holly King in battle to the Oak King, the end of the waning year and beginning of the waxing year.
This is a fabulous opportunity to indulge in storytelling and recalling old myths and faery tales. Group meditations work well at this time as does serious pathworking (in the Wiccan, not Ceremonial, meaning).
-Foods : roasted turkey, nuts, eggnog and mulled wine
-Gemstones : cat's eye and ruby
-Incense : bayberry, cedar, pine and rosemary
-Candles : gold, red, green and white
Candlemas or Imbolc (Febuary 1)
Imbolg (lit. 'in the belly'.. of the Mother), also called Oimelc (lit. Ewe's milk.. lambing season); the bitter cold of winter remains and naturally harvested food* is scarce, but in that dark time there is hope.. the first flowers, like snowdrops, are opening already. Nature stirs from its rest and prepares for spring.
This is the time when the goddess Brigid's (pron. 'Breed') fire, the fire of birth, is burning bright; the pagan tradition of burning a candle at each window until sunrise is symbolic of this.
Imbolg is also a fertility festival, and could be regognised as the pagan valentine's day - so flowers and gifts for your loved one please :)
The perfect time to begin new projects, for long-term magick, and gardening.
*As opposed to out-of-season goods from a supermarket!
-Foods : sunflower seeds, cakes and herbal teas
-Gemstones : amethyst, garnet, onyx and turquoise
-Incense : basil, myrrh and wisteria
-Candles : brown, pink and red
Vernal Equinox or Ostara (March 21 )
This is the spring or vernal equinox. At Beltane, pagans and Witches honor the sexual union of the god and goddess amid the flowers and fruits that have begun to cover the land; but prior to that, at Ostara, we welcome the return of the spring goddess from her long season of dormant sleep. The sap begins to flow, the trees are budding, the ground softens, ice melts, and everywhere the fragrance and color of spring slowly awakens and rejuvenates our own life force... This is a very powerful time to do magic, not only because of the balancing of the earth's energies, but because of the way our own beings echo the earth's changes. We are literally reborn as we emerge from our winter sleep, ready to partake of all the pleasures of the earth, and to meet the challenges we will face as the world changes around us daily. As we greet and celebrate with our pagans brothers and sisters of the Southern Hemisphere (for whom the Vernal Equinox more closely resembles the beginning of autumn, in physical terms!), we remember that Spring is not only a season; it is a state of mind."
In short this is a day of equal balance, sex and 'gender' magick works very well today. The Goddess has returned to us from Her winter period of dormancy, and now mates with God - conceiving the next year's God and the harvest to come.
-Foods : hard boiled eggs, honey cakes
-Gemstones:amethyst, aquamarine, bloodstone and red jasper
-Incense : African violet, jasmine, rose, sage and strawberry
-Candles : gold, green, yellow
Bealtaine - April 30
A celebration of the Goddess' fertility and the growth & development of living things, naturally a great time for fertility and birth rites. It is also said to be a very active time for the Fae, and old customs such as wearing bells and daisy chains for protection seem to center around this festival as well as Midsummers. One theory about the name 'Bealtaine' is that it comes from an old word meaning 'balefire', and it is widely customary to light a fire on Bealtaine's eve.
The Great Rite should, either symbolically or actually, be performed as part of your rituals for this holiday to symbolise the sacred marriage of Goddess and God. Magickally, this is the festival of purification, and many of us use the ritual balefire to accomplish this and pass our tools through its smoke, and use it to purify ourselves.
-Foods : red fruits, herbal salads, red or pink wine punch
-Gemstones : emerald, orange carnelian, sapphire and rose quartz
-Incense : frankincense, lilac and rose
-Candles : dark green
Summer Solstice or Litha(June 21)
The summer solstice, sometimes named Litha, is my favourite holiday :) We revel in the God's peak of power, the sun is at it's strongest, and so is he; therefore we may consider this the foremost Fire festival. It is also the traditional month to hold handfastings. The annual battle between the Holly King and Oak King is remembered too, where the Oak King looses to the Holly King representing the beginning of the waning of the sun. The Goddess is heavily pregnant, representing the growing bounty on Earth. Most herbs are ready for harvesting and traditionally this is the best time to gather your magickal supplies for the coming year - remember to only cut them with your bolleen. It's also the best time to gather branches and make new wands, staffs, and stangs.
Even more so than Bealtaine, Alban Heruin is a Faery festival and many of us leave food out as an offering. They are said to like dairy produce, cakes, wine, ale, salt and honey.
-Foods : fresh vegetables, summer fruits, ale and mead
-Gemstones : all green stones
-Incense : frankincense, lemon, myrrh, pine, rose and wisteria
-Candles : blue, green, gold and red
Lammas or Lughnasadh (August 2)
Sometimes also named Lammas (lit. loaf mass), this festival honours the Sun God Lugh and gives thanks to the Mother for birthing the First Harvest, "First Fruits". If possible we have a big feast for our friends and family consisting of foods made from the fruits and grain abundant at this time, breads are particularly appropriate. Corn is generally considered the most honoured of the Goddess' gifts to her people, many altars sport a corn dolly to honour deities such as Ceres. It is magickally a time to assert your goals for the near future, and to give thanks for all the good things in your life.
-Foods : homemade breads (wheat, oat and corn bread), nuts, wild berries, apples,
rice, berry pies, elderberry wine, ale and meadowsweet tea
-Gemstones : aventurine, citrine, peridot, sardonyx
-Incense : aloes, rose, sandalwood
-Candles : orange, yellow
Autumnal Equinox or Mabon (September 21
Autumn Equinox, similar in much of its nature to the Spring Equinox, is a time of balance and equality, where negative and positive are in perfect harmony. It is also the Second Harvest, and one of the main focuses of this festival is giving thanks for it. Commonly we offer a libation of food and drink in honour of this.
We also consider the meaning of death at this time when the leaves are changing colour and the Sun God is preparing for his own death. A custom I like is to spend the previous day and night in fast and meditation, using this reflective time to learn and think as the Goddess moves into Her Crone aspect. Typically divination, visioning, and astral travel are practiced now. Pouring red wine into the Earth is another symbolic tradition originating in the old custom of "spilling the blood of a sacrifice that the God may live until Samhuinn".
-Foods : corn bread cakes, breads, nuts, vegetables, apples, cider,
carrots, onions, potatoes
-Gemstones : carnelian, lapis lazuli, sapphire, yellow agate
-Incense : benzoin, myrrh and sage
-Candles : brown, green, orange, yellow
