Category: The Sabbats
Blessed Ostara and Happy Spring Equinox 2020
This year Ostara falls on September 22 at 11:30 PM AEST. Spring in the southern hemisphere will last 89 days 20 hours and 30 minutes. As your weather warms up in the Southern Hemisphere let us hope there are no bushfires burning out of control and that number of people who contract COVID-19 stays to very low numbers.
May the Goddesses and Gods who help to bring in the spring smile on you as you sow new things to reap in the fall. here’s a trivia questions for you… Is a tomato a fruit or vegetable and why?
This is a time when the Fea Folk start venturing out of their homes to find tender new growth of plants and flowers to replenish their stock that was used up over the cold months. So be careful where you step when in a grassy place or hike up a hillside for you never know what might be forging in the same place.
This is also the time of rebirth and new birth for all wildlife and domestic animals big and small. Remember the babies of any mammal needs it’s mother’s milk especially in the first 24 hours so they get all the things that come in the first milk to help them live healthy lives.
wheel of the year
Wheel of the year
Crafting Your Own Sacred Schedule – Part 8
How Do You Celebrate?
Now, all this exploration doesn’t mean that every day you note as important must be acknowledged with elaborate ritual. Lighting a candle on your altar, taking a few moments to meditate outside, or preparing a favorite meal of a deceased loved one all work beautifully. If you know a particular day is going to hit you hard emotionally or mentally, then remember to schedule self-care of some kind. That can be anything from taking a cleansing bath to scheduling an outing with friends to dedicating the day to doing community service.
Copyright by Laura Tempst Zakroof Llewellyn;s Witches’ Datebook 2020 Pages 20 to 23
Crafting Your Own Sacred Schedule – Part 6
Local Festivities
Where we live has a huge impact on how we turn the Wheel. The landscape, the seasons, and local culture all affect how we experience the world around us. The community in which you live probably all ready has festivals that honor certain changes, such as a harvest festival, an annual block party, a yearly parade to commemorate an event in the town’s history, or a natural phenomenon that happens like clockwork (monsoons, fog season, second summer, etc.) These modern-day observances can have just as much power as the commonly accepted sabbats — and even more personal meaning for you because the event directly reflects the spirit of where you live. Remember everything has an origin!
Copyright by Laura Tempst Zakroof Llewellyn;s Witches’ Datebook 2020 Pages 20 to 23
Crafting Your Own Sacred Schedule – Part 4
Saint and Deity Days
While certain sabbats may have an associations with specific deities, what if those gods aren’t deities you feel connected to? Maybe the one or ones you choose to work with historically have a special date used to honor them. If you can’t find a specific date or seasons in the records, you might use the day of dedication instead, if you have performed such a rite. Or you could use divination or trance work to determine which day would be pleasing to them.
There’s also a fair amount of folks who have a fondness for saints — whether because they are coming from a Catholic background or they made a connection to that saint via their current path. In some religions, the deities of old became saints because of their powers that be couldn’t squash the belief in them, so they were “legitimatized” instead. In other instances, they can be viewed as the Mighty Dead, or enlightened humans who act as intermediaries to the divine.
Copyright by Laura Tempst Zakroof Llewellyn;s Witches’ Datebook 2020 Pages 20 to 23
Crafting Your Own Sacred Schedule – Part 2
Anniversaries, Birthdays, and Other Important Life Moments
The first category may seem pretty obvious, but we often tend to not look at these dates in a spiritual context. We may even view them as obligations versus observances over time. Birthdays aren’t just about getting older; they are opportunities to reflect on the events that took place in the past year and set goals for the next year. A birthday can serve as a reminder for us to be kinder to ourselves.
Marking the beginnings of a relationship (wedding, union, handfasting, etc.) is a great time to remember what brought you together and what you have accomplished along the way. Similarly, anniversaries of endings can be moments to recall we have come and how we have changed. For example, nearly a decade after the fact, I still remember the date when I finally decided to end an abusive relationship. It marks not only the end but also a new beginning, the new me. Celebrate your moments of strength in dark times as well as your triumphs in the best of times.
What other important moments mark significant changes in your life? A college graduation date, the day you arrived in a new place, an initiation or elevation into a tradition, the day you met you best friend, or the day you reconciled with someone — all are possible things you might choose to acknowledge on a yearly basis.
Copyright by Laura Tempst Zakroof Llewellyn;s Witches’ Datebook 2020 Pages 20 to 23
A Very Happy and Blessed Ostara or Mabon
Well, I just learned something new about the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere and the fall equinox in the southern hemisphere. Ostara the spring equinox is on Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 10:49 PM PM CT while Mabon the fall equinox is on Friday, March 20, 2020 at 2:49 PM AEDT in the southern hemisphere. Which means we are experiencing the equinoxes at the exact same time just in different time zones and because of the international date line on a different date.
When I read this I felt it covered more than just a blessing for Ostara and Mabon. I felt it was a blessing to carry with us all through the year.
Northern Brothers and Sisters: May what you sow this spring come to a bountiful harvest in the fall.
Southern Brothers and Sisters: May what you sowed in the spring be bring you a bountiful harvest this fall.
Remember we can sow different things for our own reasons they do not have to be something we plant in the ground and watch grow, they can be something we change in our lifestyle or in our spiritual or magickal path. Then when we harvest them they become part of us and who we are.
Sabbat: NH Ostara Sunday, March 22nd, SH Mabon Monday, March 23rd
All Witches and Pagans are invited to join the Heart’s Spirit Coven as we celebrate Ostara in the Northern Hemisphere and Mabon in the Southern Hemisphere
WHEN:
Sunday, March 22nd, 2020 NH
Monday, March 23rd, 2020 SH
At 6:00 PM CDT NH/ 10.00 AM AEDT SH
Circle starts at 7:00 PM CDT NH/ 11.00 AM AEDT SH- SHARP.
45 minutes will be allocated for a chance to talk to our Brothers and Sisters. Please do not enter the chat room once the circle has started. Thank you!
WHERE:
Beginning the Sabbat with a Universal Prayer
Just before we begin our Sabbat, I would like to acknowledge all that has happened and is happening in 2020, before and beyond. It is a significant time of much change and challenges for both humanity and the Great Earth Mother and all within her. Let us take a minute to pray for the universal healing in this time of need.
“May the Great Mother and Great Father give us strength and refuge in our time of need. Help us to remain calm and strong in the face of uncertainty, help us find compassion without the overwhelming feeling of empathy. Great Mother and Father teach me humility, acceptance and to remember my kindness”
So mote it be……..
Ostara in the NH
You will need (aside from your altar usual set up)
See how to set up basic elemental altar below:
https://covenlife.co/2017/07/06/simple-basic-altar-set-up/
Green Candle
White candle
Yin/Yang Symbol- cut out the wholes specified once printed, or you can draw or paint the symbol.
2 eggs colored one darker one lighter
Mabon in the SH
You will need (aside from your altar usual set up)
See how to set up basic elemental altar below:
https://covenlife.co/2017/07/06/simple-basic-altar-set-up/
A wicker basket
Red Apple
Fallen Branch
Seasonal fruit and vegetables
Incense of your choice
Knife to cut apple
Picture of a large pentacle (I use a pentacle disk or you can draw or print one on a piece of paper)
A candle-(the larger the better, one to re-light, whenever you wish to contemplate during the winter months over your magickal and mystical path. If your candle runs low transfer the light to another large candle with love and intent of the energy of the first. Contemplations are done for short periods of time so candle needs to burn for only a couple of minutes at a time, longer if you wish it is purely up to you. Note; DO NOT BLOW OUT CANDLE, SNUFF THE CANDLE INSTEAD)
See how to snuffing candle
Set up for Ritual:
Mabon SH
Sweep your circle with a broom clockwise (use whatever you have on hand, it’s about physically cleaning your space)
Place the wicker basket with seasonal fruit and vegetables in the center of alter
Tree branch to the right of the wicker basket
Ostara NH
Sweep your circle with a broom clockwise (use whatever you have on hand, it’s about physically cleaning your space)
Have your Yin/Yang symbol prepared, holes cut out as indicated on diagram provided ready for ritual
Hard boil your eggs, colour one darker than the other ready to place on symbol
Purify the self and the Environment NH & SH:
Take a shower or bath with your favorite oils
Play your favorite music
Burn your favorite incense
Meditate and ground yourself
Ostara is the beginning of spring, the season for new beginnings and the renewal of life through planting. This is the time we can now plant seeds and nurture them throughout the coming months to bare their fruit. What is it that you would like to plant in your life? What are you willing to nurture throughout the growing season? For this ritual as this season is also a time for re-birth, new life and fertility we will be concentrating on the symbology of the egg. Think of the dark and light as the feminine and the masculine. The Goddess and the God resorting your outer and inner balance.
Mabon is the second of 3 harvest festivals celebrating the equinox and the harvest of apples. On the day of the equinox, day and night is of equal length. For the next 6 months the nights will be longer than the days. This is such a great time of abundance. All the hard work that it takes to collect the harvest, it is now a time to rest, reap what you have sown and take the time to look at you hopes and aspirations and reflect how they have manifested. Most importantly spend it with the people you love. This is a time of giving, sharing and loving.
Cast the Circle:
Hypatia Casting the circle-
To the Guardians of the North:
I call you into our Watchtowers to protect us.
To the Guardians of the East:
I call you into our Watchtowers to protect us.
To the Guardians of the South:
I call you into our Watchtowers to protect us.
To the Guardians of the West:
I call you into our Watchtowers to protect us.
I cast this circle three times three with the assistance of the Great Mother and the Great God.
I call Upon the Guardians of spirit to protect us from above and below. As is above so is below, as is below so is above. May the power of The Great God and The great Goddess join us within this circle now, to protect us and to work with us and allow us to see beyond the veil.
Protect us Great Mother and Great Father for all gathered here and those afar who are unable to be with us. Allow no negative energy to touch us, to harm us and that nothing we call upon will harm us and others. We come together in perfect love and perfect trust.
Greeting:
Hypatia – Merry meet brothers and sisters and honored guests.
Everyone – Respond Merry Greet. Please tell us your first name and state or country you are from.
Ceremony:
Please ALL light your main altar candles (not the Mabon or Ostara candles as yet)
Ritual begins:
Ostara
Place green candle to your left and the white candle to your right. Leaving enough room in the middle to place your Yin/Yang symbol.
Place the Yin/Yang symbol in between the lit candles. Place the darker egg into the hole in the lighter colored side of the Yin/Yang and the lighter colored egg into the hole in the darker side.
When done type in “Ready.”
We offer these eggs to Ostara as all new life grows from an eggs or a seed.
Ostara we ask you to bless these eggs to help us renew ourselves as Mother Earth wakens from her slumber. That we may find new life coursing through us as cleansing energy.
Oak King we ask that your fertilize the hopes and wishes we have written here so they may grow and come to fruition as the year progresses.
As the Spring Equinox is the balance of day and night as equals so is the relationship of all males and females. We ask Hecate and her Consort to bless our relationships with others be they men or women. That we feel equal to them and not above or below them.
Take the eggs and set them on the side. Tape the circle of opposite color into the now empty holes. (Before breaking the eggs to eat them write the same runes on to the circles now in the Yin/Yang symbol. The side you write them on should be the same color as the egg they are written on.
We will take a 2 minutes to complete the Yin/Yang symbol. When you are done type in “Blessed be”.
Mabon
Your wand in right hand, facing your alter, arms stretched out above head……….
“Autumn Queen and Harvest God I honor Thee. As the change of seasons begins the Wheel has turned once more. A time to reflect, a time to come together in the here and now in this sacred space where all time becomes one. The second harvest has been reaped, now take the time to rest and feel the change as the season passes from one to the next.
My Mother, go now and slumber
My Father go now and dream of re-birth”
Arms outstretched, lower your head and close your eyes, sit in contemplation for 30 seconds.
When ready open your eyes and lower your arms
Pick up the apple and place it on the pentacle
Cut the apple crosswise to reveal the pentagram bringing the elements into your life
Lift the half apple up as in offering and say….
“The year gives way to the next as the season passes and the Great Wheel turns. Ancestors, Guardians and Wise ones guide me. Every begging has an ending and every ending a new beginning”.
Light your Mabon candle now
Take a bite of the apple, put aside to share with nature later
Take the tree branch and shake in each direction, starting with the North, then West, South, East and say…….
“Allow me to remember the summer past as the days grow longer and the days shorter. Memories will warm my soul as the sunlight fades and hearth becomes inviting through this divine light of the candle dedicated to the Mother and Father.
Great Mother calls me forward to rest and lull myself to sleep with her songs as I cling myself to her bosom”.
Face the altar and branch held out in front of you and say……
“May I never forget the summer memories and continue to strive during the colder months. May I take this time to go within and reflect on the Mysteries that lead me to a better understanding of myself, of others and all that is in life and death”.
Put the tree branch back on the altar, take 30 seconds to contemplate about :
The symbols that you have mentally attached to this ritual,
The various projects that you will put in action over the winter months, no matter how small or insignificant they may feel.
After the ceremony please feel free to share the consecrated fruit and vegetables in a beautiful meal with family and friends. Make a beautiful dinner for all to enjoy and be thankful for what is.
CLOSING
Dismiss the circle:
- To the Guardians of the North:
I dismiss and thank you from our Watchtowers and give Gratitude for protect us.
- To the Guardians of the West:
I dismiss and thank you from our Watchtowers and give Gratitude for protect us.
- To the Guardians of the South:
I dismiss and thank you from our Watchtowers and give Gratitude for protect us.
- To the Guardians of the East:
I dismiss and thank you from our Watchtowers and give Gratitude for protect us.
As you leave here tonight may the Lady and Lord bless you with all that you need.
I bid you Blessings and great Joy Brothers and sisters of the Craft
Thank you and farewell
Music for the Fall Equinox/Mabon
Music for Spring Equinox/Ostara
Some Thoughts for Litha
Happy and Blessed be as You Celebrate Litha/Summer Solstice Sisters and Brothers in the Southern Hemisphere
A very short explanation of the Holly or Oak Kings Ruling as the Goddess Consort’
For More Information on the Oak King
Scroll Down For More Information on the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere
I hope these links help you learn more about the different topics.
The Oak has will be born at Sunrise on the Summer Solstice after…
Here the young Oak King fights the tired out Holly King to rule from the Litha until Yule until…
The Holly King is reborn. Now the Oak King is an old man but still fights the Holly king.
The Holly King wins and grows to maturity from the Yule until Litha when the cycle of the battle between the young and older Kings battles repeat themselves for the honor to rule as the Goddesses Consort. The Oak Kings is also in some traditions is known as The Green Man or The Horn God or the God of the Hunt.
I Need Help Finding a Specific Pictures
I have the Goddess with an infant or toddler. What I cannot find is a picture of the Goddess with an infant or toddler. I have this, I think, a cool idea for a post and need both of these kinds of pictures in order to do it.
Thank you so much for your help. It will be much appreciated.
To Our Southern Hemisphere Sisters, Brothers, and Guests…
Beltane blessings from WOTC
Mabon/Autumn Equinox Blessing
From all of us at WOTC we wish you and yours a blessed and pleasant Fall.
Ostara/Spring Equinox Blessing
From all of us at WOTC we wish you and yours a blessed and pleasant Spring.
Can We Help You to Teach Your Children and/or Your Descendants About The Craft?
One of Coven Life’s Elders thought, and I agree, that we should post a survey to help us help you to teach your children about The Craft. If you do not want to put your answers in a comment below please email them to covenlifescoven@gmail.com, please include your child’s age so we can post information by age groups. This whole idea of helping you to help your children learn is in the planning stages any ideas and/or suggestions to make it how you think will help our descendants to learn are very welcomed.
1. As pagan parents, would you like to see children’s activities posted on WOTC?
2. What age groups would you recommend activities for?
3 – 4 years old (mostly coloring pages of the different Sabbats with a small paragraph on what the Sabbat is for)
5 – 6 years old (Coloring pages of the Sabbats and Moon Phases with a small paragraph in wording they can read themselves to bring about a dialogue about what they are learning)
7-10 years old (Printable Information delving deeper into Moon phases. Brief introduction to Sabbat and Esbat rituals)
11-14 years old (Information for considering following a Pagan path building on what they would learned above)
15 – 18 years old (Introductory information on what it means to follow the Old Ways of The Craft including an introduction to Gods, Goddesses, Spellwork, Rituals. The spell work and.or rituals would be geared for the young adult to help their parent, grandparent, or care taker to prepare a spell and how to set up an altar if wanted and what preparation goes into writing and doing a ritual.)
This is a way that a child or young adult can build an understanding of the magickal and spiritual sides of witchcraft/ It will also help prepare them to become a novice in our coven or just to have the knowledge to work better with the adults that are solitary practitioner.
3. What topics would you like to see addressed?
4. What type of activities?
5. What other suggestions would you have for children’s and young adult’s activities ?
Remember you can answer the questions in the comments or email your answers to covenlifescoven@gmail.com. If you have any questions or ideas about this project please ask or share your idea. We are willing to start any child or young adult of any age so please do not think your child would have to start as a preschooler. There is no charge as you will be able to use what we post to teach your child the way you follow The Craft. We are here just to answer questions or help in anyway we can. We will be posting things for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres at the appropriate times for Sabbats.
I am sorry but the phone will not stop ringing this morning….May Eve/Mayday
May Eve/Mayday
May Eve/ Mayday – Beltane Beltane is celebrated on May 1 or April 30. It is also known by the name, May Eve. Beltane is one of the important festivals in the wicca calendar. It is also called the fertility festival.
The accessories used during this festival are blooming flowers, colored ribbons, chaplets and crowns of leaves and flowers, and poles decorated with flowers, leaves, and fruit. The dominant colors are green, white, and pink. It is an excellent festival for rituals of love and sex, and for everything to do with fertility.
In myths, the goddess and the god reach sexual maturity and are aware of their sexuality. The goddess changes from a virgin to a mother. This is the springtime, the time for sowing and planting, and the mating period for animals. In agrarian societies, it was customary to bless the fields, and couples would go out to the fields and make love in the bosom of nature in order to help renew the fertility of the earth symbolically. Witch order to celebrate the new season of blossoming. Sometimes a “May-queen” and a “May-king” are appointed, and they become the representatives of the goddess and the god for a day. They serve as spiritual advisors to the members of the group. Only people who have gone through initiation can be appointed queen or king. In different traditions, there is a custom of exchanging gifts of May baskets along with wishes for fertility and a prosperous summer.
Beltane is a happy festival. Spring is already here and summer is coming. It is also the season for the festivals that take place outdoors in nature.
Source
Day-by-Day Wicca: A complete guide to Wicca from Beliefs and Rituals to Magic and Witchcraft (Astrolog Complete Guides)
Tabatha Jennings
Witches Of The Craft® 
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