THE EIGHT SABBATS & WHY WE CELEBRATE THEM Teacher: jwaters Date: 9/10/95 Note from Ilana: I removed the jwaters form the start of the lines. It is Julie speaking throughout, unless otherwise tagged. Typos have been fixed when I noticed them, and I have done some formatting, to make it more readable. Session Start: Sun Sep 10 20:56:28 1995 The topic is a basic overview of Wicca, what it is, why the holidays, and why the moon celebrations with an emphasis on some training I received this summer at a English Village Workshop. It was an incredible workshop, and we are allowed to share the information, no vows of secrecy were sworn. Okay, I need to make a few announcements before we get started. Okay, this summer I was privileged to be invited to a select gathering of witches from many different traditions. There were Gardnerians, Alexanderians, family trads, eclectic, Dianic, you name it. The purpose of the workshop was to give out information. The woman who taught the workshop actually was allowed to go to the village and study their ways ... this is an English village that really does exist and has practiced magic for over 1000 years. So wicca did not start with Gardner no matter what you may have been told. They do not call themselves wiccans, nor what they practice wicca, it is simply a way of life ... a life of following the gods, and the cycle of the seasons. A lot of what I have to share is based on that, and my own work as a witch for 14 years. If you have any questions about specifics, ask me later. What wicca/witchcraft/craft is, is thus .... a way of being in tune with the gods, and the earth, a celebration of life. That is what we do. The wheel of the year that we celebrate is about the fertility of the land, and we as the guardians of the land. We "wiccans" chose a life of learning to be in tune with those cycles, of the magick that is life. That is why we say we have "magick" in our blood. When you are in tune to the cycles, your magick works.... The cycle begins with the Source, that being that is beyond human comprehension ... the light of the divine that is within all of us. From that Source there are two archetypes for lack of a better word ... the God and the Goddess. The cycle of the year celebrates the birth of the God, his growing to adulthood to mate with the Goddess and impregnate her with himself, so that he may be born again. For us, the year starts at Samhain, which is celebrated traditionally on 10/31, or if you are into astrology, when the Sun is at 15 degrees of Scorpio, which is a psychic gateway. Samhain is a bitter sweet time ... the God has died and gone into the underworld, the Goddess is lonely, she is pregnant and heavy with life, but alone. It is the dark time of the year, winter is upon us, a time to reflect on what we want in the coming year. At Samhain it is traditionally to "scry" for your upcoming year. There are many methods to do that, and it will be another class at a later time. It is also traditionally at this time to make peace with anyone that has passed over in the last year-as the veil between the worlds is very thin then. Traditionally you do not do magic from Samhain till Yule ... as this is Considered a time of rest. As the wheel turns, we come to Yule, traditionally celebrated at the winter solstice, when the sun reaches 0 degrees Capricorn, around 12/21 or so. At Yule the God is born again to the Goddess, the sun (son) returns to the east, the days start to get longer, and we can see that yes indeed spring will come again and bring with it light. (As a side note it has always been interesting to me that the xtians stole this holiday for the birth of their "son") Yule is a tiMe of celebration, in England, the stone circles were used to show the alignments, certain stone circles marked each one, the most well known of course is Stone Hedge which marks the summer solstice. With Yule we also have the Goddess somehow becoming younger. *laugh* I wish I had her secret! That's a joke folks *grin* Traditionally in the Village, every January the people got a new pair of shoes, no matter how poor they were, and their old ones were burned in the fire of 12th night. This was so any bad luck or misfortune of the passing year would not follow them with the return of the God. Just a nice little tradition that you may want to use ... up to you, you do not necessarily have to bum your shoes though, just give them to GoodWill or something, so they are no longer in your possession. The next holiday is Imbolc, traditionally celebrated on 2/2 ... of if you are an astrologer when the sun reaches 15 degrees of Aquarius, another psychic gateway. At Imbolc, this is the time when the God has been weaned, and is starting to become a young man. Its a Sabbath that is sacred to Brigid whom many of us here serve. *sigh* I hate net splits ... oh well. It is the time of weaning of the young animals as well, and we definitely know spring is here. Traditionally if you want some recipes, I have some ... lots of milk products are used at this time. Imbolc for me personally is very significant. It is a time of "light". Traditionally we are now back in the times of being able to use our magick to its fullest potential. The dark time of the year has passed us by once again and we have survived the harsh grasp of winter. Imbolc is often used as a time of initiations into covens for that reason. Of personal initiations into higher degrees... The wheel turns again and we are at Ostara ... Spring Equinox.. traditionally celebrated when the sun reaches 0 Aries, around 4/21-4/22. At Ostara the god and the goddess are young lovers ... nothing has been consummated yet, it is that wonderful fresh feeling of young love at its best. *smiles* Why do you think we all tend to fall in love in the spring time? This is the time of the year when you can put into action all those plans you made during the dark time ... the gestation period is over and everything is bursting with new life. Ostara is a very joyful Sabbath, lots of merry making and flirting, as it should be, the sexual tension between the God and the Goddess has begun, and the dance of life has begun yet again. In the village, they had lots of games that they played, highly sexual in nature *blush* but very innocent as well, for those who are interested, I will be happy to share those later. The wheel turns again and we are at Beltaine!!!! Yeah Beltaine *laugh* We *ALL* know what that Sabbath is about! Beltaine is traditionally celebrated on 511, or astrologically when the sun reaches 15 Taurus, yet another psychic gateway. At Beltaine, just like Samhain, the veil between the worlds is very thin. Ack-thin *laugh* Sony for the typos, guess you can tell I am really doing this, no macros! At Beltaine, for those of you who do not know, the God and the Goddess mate *smile* A child is conceived, which the Goddess carries for the rest of the year, giving birth to again at Yule to the God. In the village, A Beltaine maid was chosen to act as the Goddess, and she had her choice of four men in the village to be the God for her. She was always a virgin. The four men would wrestle for the right to be the God. The one who was the victor, was brought to the Beltaine maid, and they enacted the sacred rite of love between the God and the Goddess Hopefully a child would be conceived and thus ensure the fertility of the land. A child conceived of this coupling was called a merry-be-got and considered blessed by the gods ... the whole village usually helped to look after the child. Please realize that the religion that we practice is very sexual in nature, it is about fertility. The fertility of the earth, and of ourselves... Beltaine is a time of the celebration of love. Love between two people, a shared commitment for that moment... sometimes for a lifetime. Some people get handfasted around Beltaine for this reason. The wheel turns again and we are at MidSummer ... or Summer Solstice, traditionally celebrated when the sun reaches 0 cancer of around 6/21-6/22. At Midsummer, the land as at its peak of fertility, the day is the longest day of the year. The Goddess is beginning to show her pregnancy with God, again a very happy time ... but a tad bitter sweet, as we know the days win begin to get ShorterÖ Midsummer's Eve traditionally is a time to see fairies if you have "the sight". however I suspect it could be an excuse for lovers to go off for another night in the woods. At midsummer the Goddess in her mother guise is in her full glory. The land is fertile, and the people will not go hungry this winter. There is a lot of feasting and celebration, as there is at all Sabbaths... There is another theme that begins at midsummer, that of the Holly King and the Oak King, which will be another #wicca 101 class. What that is about, is that this is the time of year when the God begins to change into the Homed God, as he prepares to sacrifice himself for the land. The wheel of the year turns again and we are at Lammas. Lammas is traditionally celebrated on 8/2 or if you are an astrologer when the sun reaches 15 Leo, again, another psychic gateway. Lammas is the harvest time ... More coven break up at Lammas then at any other time. At Lammas is when the God sacrifices himself for the land. If you are squeamish you may not want to hear this next part. Traditionally before we became "civilized"...one of two things would happen at this time... if the crops had done poorly, the Beltaine King would be sacrificed literally! His body would be literally plowed into the fields in hopes that next years harvest would be better. If the harvest had been good ... this was done instead, as a blood sacrifice was required. The Beltaine King was given over to the women of the village ... he was taken to last field to be harvested... he was wrapped in wheat shafts, and a cut was made down his stomach, from throat to groin ... Deep enough to the point that he would bleed. The blood will dampen the wheat that was attached to his body. He would "die" symbolically and be taken away by the priestess. He would be stripped of the wheat, and that wheat would be given to the people to plant in their fields... Later during the evening the person who was the Beltaine King/now Lammas King, would reappear in the village with a jug of wine and a loaf of bread.. the fruit of the harvest ... The people would take a sip of wine and bite of the bread and understand the sacrifice of life that brings more life. So Lammas is a time of harvest ... literally. A time when you can look forward to those things that you began at Samhain ... that gestated until Imbolc ..and that you have worked with to come to harvest time. There is more to Lammas, that could be a #wicca l0l all to itself in my opinion. The wheel turns again and we are at Fall! Equinox ... traditionally celebrated when the sun reaches 0 Libra.. or around 9/21=9/22...this month *smile*. This Sabbath is about the last harvest ... those late crops have been brought in and we have dealt with the sacrifice of the God at Lammas. It is a time to start looking forward to what we need to make it through the winter, a time of preparation. It is also a time of thanksgiving ... being thankful for all the gods have brought into our lives. The Goddess is getting larger in her pregnancy, and we know that the God will be reborn, The God is preparing to enter into the otherworlds, which he does at Samhain, and... This is the time of the Homed God is all his glory. They had an interesting celebration for this in the Village ... Where someone was chosen to be the Homed God, no one knew who he was ... he had a mask and a crown of hors obviously ... homs that is. The people would all gather for the celebration and the Homed God would walk among them totally naked except for his mask. The people would reach out to touch his privates, ensure luck for the coming winter. One lucky woman was chosen by the Homed God, and he took her off to the woods for ... *laugh*...well you know.. this *IS* a fertility religion. So it is a time to ask the Homed God for his strength and protection of the coming year *smile*. The Goddess is slowly turning into the Crone which she will become fully at Samhain with the God goes to the underworld. And so the wheel returns to Samhain and the cycle begins again. One of the things that will be happening in #wicca l01 is an intense study of each Sabbath, along with incenses, herbals, suggestions for rituals ... Within the cycle of the year, we also have the cycles of the moon, which are celebrated every 28 days roughly .... But as late as it is, I am going to open this up for questions ... and we can do the moons another night ... Please ask your questions one at a time, so I have time to answer them... I would ask you to do something like... * jwaters raises her hand. And we will take them one at a time ... Bear if you will help me keep up with who is next I will greatly appreciate it. One more thing about the Village before I open this up for discussion ... It really did and does exist ... it is *YOUR* heritage as a wiccan/witch ... It is like Camelot in a way ... a place that DOES exist.. where magic is very real, and practiced daily. And no *laugh* I can't tell you how to get there, we were not given that information ... the people of the village like their quiet life... They only shared this information with us as they did not want their traditions to die out, and it was time .... So with that said .... questions? Note from Ilana: I edited the comings and goings, to make this more readable, as questions and answers are also worth reading easily. I also took out the non- Wicca 1O1 related comments, about Julie getting back, and net-splits, and the order of hands. Also, I will be leaving the jwaters-- (and other names) so you can tell the answers from the questions. Highmage- -Julia: it's not a question, a statement jwaters-- Uh oh *laugh* Okay Highmage Highmage-- I'd like to applaud Julia for her wonderful talk * iwaters blushes, Thank you * Highmage applauds Julia * Mimick applaudsH kalic-- why all the trickery at midsummer? I was also told to help anyone who asked on midsummer. especially at night. why? My mother is an herbalist and drops things like that all the time. jwaters-- Kalic: Only because it is a time of change in the balance, the days begin to grow shorter...If you mom told you do that, I certainly would.. Part of *YOUR* family tradition jwaters-- kalic: I help anyone anytime they ask *shrug* DarkLore-- When does Wicca 101 meet? (Always on Sundays?) jwaters-- DarkLore, Always on Sundays ... every other Sunday for now, until some people start volunteering to teach *laugh* ... So send me your stuff folks ... You all have LOTS to share Mimick-- well.. one of the things I find hard to deal with is all the "we must do it this way". I find that the gods don't really care so long as we remember their names in our songs our actions or beliefs. jwaters-- Mimic: Exactly, I am only expressing some of what I learned from the Village stuff .. Some of it I will use in my own magick circles... jwaters-- Arnalthea: You had a question? * Arnalthea nods. Is it possible to reconcile Wicca and a previous existing religion. jwaters-- Amalthea: In my opinion yes, wicca is compatible with most religions, I even know, believe it or not, some christian wiccans, ... a tad different, but it works for them... * Amalthea nods, I have some wiccan-other friends, but I thought it to be a good question. kalic-- how significant do you think tattoos are. Please re your e-mail. jwaters-- kalic: I think tattoos are VERY significant ... what you engrave on your body becomes a part of who you are jwaters-- Any other questions about tonight? There will be a lot more detailed information forthcoming ... my notes are still being written in a cohesive manner kalic-- I have several tattoos and my mother rubbed them with thyme she also said that my tattoos show more and won't say what it can you field what she meant? jwaters-- kalic: Hmmm. without knowing *why* you got them or what they were, I can't say-can we talk about them privately jwaters-- Thanks everyone for being here, and I look forward to the next #wicca 101 .... it will really be on the moon cycles *laugh* Bokki-- Samhein falls on a Sunday night this year.... will there be a Wicca 1O1 that night? jwaters-- Bokki: No, I will be doing a Samhein ritual that night in person... jwaters-- Thanks everyone, hope to see you again Session Close: Sun Sep 10 22:32:20 1995 ------------------------------------------