8SabbatsofWitchcraft.pdf

EIGHT SABBATS OF WITCHCRAFT

Eight Sabbats of Witchcraft

By Mike Nichols

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EIGHT SABBATS OF WITCHCRAFT

This file contains 9 seasonal articles by Mike Nichols. They may be

freely distributed provided that the following conditions are met: (1)

No fee is charged for their use and distribution and no commercial use

is made of them; (2) These files are not changed or edited in any way

without the author's permission; (3) This notice is not removed. An

article may be distributed as a separate file, provided that this

notice is repeated at the beginning of each such file.

These articles are periodically updated by the author; this version is

current as of 9/28/88. Contact Mike Nichols at the Magick Lantern BBS

[(816)531-7265, 7pm. - 11am., 300 baud ONLY] for more recent updates,

or to leave your own comments on them.

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The Eight Sabbats of Witchcraft

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by Mike Nichols

<1> Halloween

<2> Yule

<3> Candlemas

<4> Lady Day

<5> May Day

<6> Midsummer

<7> Lammas

<8> Harvest Home

<9> Death of Llew: A Seasonal Interp

ALL HALLOW'S EVE

================

by Mike Nichols

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Halloween. Sly does it. Tiptoe catspaw. Slide and creep. But

why? What for? How? Who? When! Where did it all begin? 'You

don't know, do you?' asks Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud climbing

out under the pile of leaves under the Halloween Tree. 'You don't

REALLY know!' --Ray Bradbury from 'The Halloween Tree'

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Samhain. All Hallows. All Hallow's Eve. Hallow E'en.

Halloween. The most magical night of the year. Exactly opposite

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EIGHT SABBATS OF WITCHCRAFT

Beltane on the wheel of the year, Halloween is Beltane's dark twin. A

night of glowing jack-o-lanterns, bobbing for apples, tricks or

treats, and dressing in costume. A night of ghost stories and

seances, tarot card readings and scrying with mirrors. A night of

power, when the veil that separates our world from the Otherworld is

at its thinnest. A 'spirit night', as they say in Wales.

All Hallow's Eve is the eve of All Hallow's Day (November 1st).

And for once, even popular tradition remembers that the Eve is more

important than the Day itself, the traditional celebration focusing on

October 31st, beginning at sundown. And this seems only fitting for

the great Celtic New Year's festival. Not that the holiday was Celtic

only. In fact, it is startling how many ancient and unconnected

cultures (the Egyptians and pre-Spanish Mexicans, for example)

celebrated this as a festival of the dead. But the majority of our

modern traditions can be traced to the British Isles.

The Celts called it Samhain, which means 'summer's end',

according to their ancient two-fold division of the year, when summer

ran from Beltane to Samhain and winter ran from Samhain to Beltane.

(Some modern Covens echo this structure by letting the High Priest

'rule' the Coven beginning on Samhain, with rulership returned to the

High Priestess at Beltane.) According to the later four-fold division

of the year, Samhain is seen as 'autumn's end' and the beginning of

winter. Samhain is pronounced (depending on where you're from) as

'sow-in' (in Ireland), or 'sow-een' (in Wales), or 'sav-en' (in

Scotland), or (inevitably) 'sam-hane' (in the U.S., where we don't

speak Gaelic).

Not only is Samhain the end of autumn; it is also, more

importantly, the end of the old year and the beginning of the new.

Celtic New Year's Eve, when the new year begins with the onset of the

dark phase of the year, just as the new day begins at sundown. There

are many representations of Celtic gods with two faces, and it surely

must have been one of them who held sway over Samhain. Like his Greek

counterpart Janus, he would straddle the threshold, one face turned

toward the past in commemoration of those who died during the last

year, and one face gazing hopefully toward the future, mystic eyes

attempting to pierce the veil and divine what the coming year holds.

These two themes, celebrating the dead and divining the future, are

inexorably intertwined in Samhain, as they are likely to be in any New

Year's celebration.

As a feast of the dead, it was believed the dead could, if they

wished, return to the land of the living for this one night, to

celebrate with their family, tribe, or clan. And so the great burial

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EIGHT SABBATS OF WITCHCRAFT

mounds of Ireland (sidh mounds) were opened up, with lighted torches

lining the walls, so the dead could find their way. Extra places were

set at the table and food set out for any who had died that year. And

there are many stories that tell of Irish heroes making raids on the

Underworld while the gates of faery stood open, though all must return

to their appointed places by cock-crow.

As a feast of divination, this was the night par excellence for

peering into the future. The reason for this has to do with the

Celtic view of time. In a culture that uses a linear concept of time,

like our modern one, New Year's Eve is simply a milestone on a very

long road that stretches in a straight line from birth to death.

Thus, the New Year's festival is a part of time. The ancient Celtic

view of time, however, is cyclical. And in this framework, New Year's

Eve represents a point outside of time, when the natural order of the

universe dissolves back into primordial chaos, preparatory to re-

establishing itself in a new order. Thus, Samhain is a night that

exists outside of time and hence it may be used to view any other

point in time. At no other holiday is a tarot card reading, crystal

reading, or tea-leaf reading so likely to succeed.

The Christian religion, with its emphasis on the 'historical'

Christ and his act of redemption 2000 years ago, is forced into a

linear view of time, where 'seeing the future' is an illogical

proposition. In fact, from the Christian perspective, any attempt to

do so is seen as inherently evil. This did not keep the medieval

Church from co-opting Samhain's other motif, commemoration of the

dead. To the Church, however, it could never be a feast for all the

dead, but only the blessed dead, all those hallowed (made holy) by

obedience to God - thus, All Hallow's, or Hallowmas, later All Saints

and All Souls.

There are so many types of divination that are traditional to

Hallowstide, it is possible to mention only a few. Girls were told to

place hazel nuts along the front of the firegrate, each one to

symbolize one of her suitors. She could then divine her future

husband by chanting, 'If you love me, pop and fly; if you hate me,

burn and die.' Several methods used the apple, that most popular of

Halloween fruits. You should slice an apple through the equator (to

reveal the five-pointed star within) and then eat it by candlelight

before a mirror. Your future spouse will then appear over your

shoulder. Or, peel an apple, making sure the peeling comes off in one

long strand, reciting, 'I pare this apple round and round again; / My

sweetheart's name to flourish on the plain: / I fling the unbroken

paring o'er my head, / My sweetheart's letter on the ground to read.'

Or, you might set a snail to crawl through the ashes of your hearth.

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EIGHT SABBATS OF WITCHCRAFT

The considerate little creature will then spell out the initial letter

as it moves.

Perhaps the most famous icon of the holiday is the

jack-o-lantern. Various authorities attribute it to either Scottish

or Irish origin. However, it seems clear that it was used as a

lantern by people who traveled the road this night, the scary face to

frighten away spirits or faeries who might otherwise lead one astray.

Set on porches and in windows, they cast the same spell of protection

over the household. (The American pumpkin seems to have forever

superseded the European gourd as the jack-o-lantern of choice.)

Bobbing for apples may well represent the remnants of a Pagan

'baptism' rite called a 'seining', according to some writers. The

water-filled tub is a latter-day Cauldron of Regeneration, into which

the novice's head is immersed. The fact that the participant in this

folk game was usually blindfolded with hands tied behind the back also

puts one in mind of a traditional Craft initiation ceremony.

The custom of dressing in costume and 'trick-or-treating' is of

Celtic origin with survivals particularly strong in Scotland.

However, there are some important differences from the modern version.

In the first place, the custom was not relegated to children, but was

actively indulged in by adults as well. Also, the 'treat' which was

required was often one of spirits (the liquid variety). This has

recently been revived by college students who go 'trick-or-drinking'.

And in ancient times, the roving bands would sing seasonal carols from

house to house, making the tradition very similar to Yuletide

wassailing. In fact, the custom known as 'caroling', now connected

exclusively with mid-winter, was once practiced at all the major

holidays. Finally, in Scotland at least, the tradition of dressing in

costume consisted almost exclusively of cross-dressing (i.e., men

dressing as women, and women as men). It seems as though ancient

societies provided an opportunity for people to 'try on' the role of

the opposite gender for one night of the year. (Although in Scotland,

this is admittedly less dramatic - but more confusing - since men were

in the habit of wearing skirt-like kilts anyway. Oh well...)

To Witches, Halloween is one of the four High Holidays, or

Greater Sabbats, or cross-quarter days. Because it is the most

important holiday of the year, it is sometimes called 'THE Great

Sabbat.' It is an ironic fact that the newer, self-created Covens

tend to use the older name of the holiday, Samhain, which they have

discovered through modern research. While the older hereditary and

traditional Covens often use the newer name, Halloween, which has been

handed down through oral tradition within their Coven. (This is often

holds true for the names of the other holidays, as well. One may

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