Tag Archives: sabbats

Twenty Ways To Celebrate Ostara

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This is what Ostara looks like where I live
  1. Plant plants. Depending on where you live, this may or may not be a good time to plant plants outside. You can also start seeds inside if it’s too cold outside to plant anything yet.
  2. Dye eggs. Eggs have been a symbol of death and rebirth for over 60,000 years. However, dying them is one of the few traditions that do have Christian origins. It was the early Christians in Mesopotamia that dyed eggs red to symbolize Christ’s blood. Though there are a few sources that link it to Germanic Pagan practices as well. Either way, you can still enjoy dying eggs. There are many online tutorials explaining natural dying methods, or you can get a kit from the store.
  3. Have an egg hunt. Whether it’s plastic eggs with toys or candy inside or actual eggs, this can be a lot of fun, especially with kids.
  4. Balance an egg. I know that this seems weird, but it can be done! Supposedly this is one of two days a year where this is possible.
  5. Go for a walk outside. No matter what climate you live in, this is a great way to connect with nature and whatever Ostara feels like where you live.
  6. Decorate your home or altar with flowers. Flowers are another symbol of the fertility of the season.
  7. Go flower picking. Many areas have flowers that grow naturally. Go for a walk and find them!
  8. Make flower crowns or necklaces.
  9. Make foods related to the time of year. Make and eat foods with eggs, baby greens, veal, rabbit, or any foods that are in season for you right now.
  10. Plan a garden. This is a great time to plan a garden, unless the planting season has already begun.
  11. Decorate a tree with wooden painted eggs. Many people decorate outside trees with plastic eggs, but wooden eggs are an environmentally friendly alternative.
  12. Decorate your home with symbols of new life. Bunnies, chicks, baby animals, seedlings, flowers are all fun things to decorate your home with.
  13. Have some intimate time. Fertility is a big part of this holiday, though there are some superstitious people who don’t do it during this unless they’re trying to conceive.
  14. Bake. Challa, hot cross buns, bunny or egg shaped cookies are all things that are appropriate for this season.
  15. Read stories about the season. Read about the Green Man or Persophone. There are many stories about this time of year.
  16. Do animal magic. This can be anything from pretending to be an animal with young kids to doing actual shamanic work.
  17. Go bird watching. Birds tend to be more active this time of year. You may want to learn some nice calls as well.
  18. Dance. Find some music and let yourself go!
  19. Do an Ostara ritual. One of these days I will get around to writing some rituals for each sabbat. When I do that, I will post the link here.
  20. Dress in new clothes. This is an old custom for this time of year.

Twenty Ways To Celebrate Imbolc

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  1. Make a Swedish Snow Lantern. This is a fun way to enjoy the snow, involve kids, and candles. If you live somewhere there is snow, this is a great way to spend the day.
  2. Make a Brigid’s Cross. The Goddess Brigid is always a big part of Imbolc. This cross is usually hung over or near the entry doorway for protection?
  3. Light candles. Candles are used as a form of sympathetic magic to help bring the sun and the warmth back after winter.
  4. Clean your home. A long time ago, our ancestors that lived in colder climates, virtually spent all of their time indoors. As a result, their homes were well-kept during this time.
  5. Declutter your home. Again, one of the themes of this day is about hearth and home. If you have more items than you need, take the time to figure out what you no longer need and donate, sell, or give it to someone who needs it.
  6. Cleanse your home. Every so often, homes have negative energy build up. Now is a great time to cleanse your home of that negativity.
  7. Do guided meditations. A lot of this day is about stillness as well. Search YouTube and find some guided meditations that you like.
  8. Do inner work. Do lit work. Do shadow work. Learn to lucid dream, astral project, or shamanic journeying. The important this is to improve your spirituality by learning something new.
  9. Unplug all electronics for the day. This should be a day of calm self-refllection. Electronics tend to ruin that. Turn off all electronics. If it’s something that you find difficult to do, you may want to make it a habit. Back when I was learning to meditate, I was encouraged to do it during down time like waiting in line at the post office or grocery store. However, that’s the time when most of us pull out our phones now, robbing us of those opportunities.
  10. Light your home by candlelight for the night. I always loved candlelight. It really seems to make things seem special. It gives enough light for interactions with family and friends, but not really enough for solo activities.
  11. Make and eat foods made with milk and dairy products. This is probably the least-celebrated of all of the Sabbats, historically. I think there were only two cultures that celebrated it, back in the day. Those that did, celebrated it because after a long and hard winter, the goats started to lactate again, giving everyone milk and cheese to eat. You don’t have to go out of your way to get goats milk and cheese, but if you do, my favorite is gjetost, a Norwegian goat cheese. But really anything to do with dairy is great. We have a homemade Mac & cheese recipe we like. Ice cream or cheesecake are also fun options. Here is a link to some other cooking options for Imbolc.
  12. Make your own cheese. Making your own cheese is surprisingly easy. The tough part is finding creamline milk that hasn’t been ultra pasteurized. I am lucky that I have a dairy up the road that sells milk like that! Here is a how-to guide on making simple cheese at home.
  13. Read books to improve your spiritual knowledge. There are so many great Pagan books out there. There is also a lot of fluff out there too. In order to find a good book nowadays I usually go off the recommendations of friends or go to an actual bookstore and flip through the book first. You can also try the inter-library loan system. Unfortunately, where I live, they don’t have a lot of Pagan books, even for inter-library loan.
  14. Feed animals who might be struggling through the winter. Those of us whose ancestors lived in cold climates struggled with having enough to eat throughout the winter. Animals still experience that struggle. If you live in a cold climate, consider leaving out some food for them.
  15. Take a walk in the snow (if your locale permits). Even if you live in a warm climate, it’s still a great idea to take a walk in nature and experience what weather is typical for Imbolc in the climate you live in.
  16. Create a corn dolly. This sounds odd because corn is associated with Lughnasadh, but the husks need to be dried first. Apparently Imbolc was a time they were made, possibly in keeping with the need for fertility for planting at Ostara. Here is a tutorial on how to make one.
  17. Create a protective sigil. Home magic is something that is great to do on this day. Here is a guide to making your own sigil.
  18. Do divination. Divination is something else that was commonly practiced historically. Usually questions were asked about the harvest and community, but feel free to ask what you want to know. Don’t have a form of divination? Now s a great time to learn! Tarot, runes, pendulums, palmistry, tea leaves, scrying, the choices are endless!
  19. Tell stories. Now is a great time for storytelling, preferably by candlelight. Pick stories that teach a lesson, teach about your religion, or traditional stories from your people.
  20. Do a ritual. Spend time honoring your personal God’s and beliefs in a ritual.

Book Review: Sabbats

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Title: Sabbats

Author: Edain McCoy

Pages: 355

Genre: Non-fiction, informational, religious (Wiccan)

After the table of contents, this book starts off with its first chapter “The Pageantry and Meaning of the sabbats”.  It is sort of an introduction and sort of a catch-all for various things the author wanted to include that may or may not relate to the subject area. It goes through the Wheel of the Year and explains which holidays are practiced in which Pagan cultures around the world. It takes a brief detour from sabbats to go into ritual tools, the elements, how to make a robe, the role of ritual and about this book.

After the introductory chapter, there is one for each sabbat, which is about 20-30 pages long each.  Each chapter contains 4-8 pages on the historical context of each sabbat, a few recipes, a few crafts with complete how-to guides, an idea for a ritual, and ideas for activities.  Sometimes there is one or two music suggestions for each sabbat as well.

On page 201, part 2 of the book begins.  It is entitled “Rituals”. It contains 60 pages of sabbat rituals for groups and solitaries.  Finally, we have the appendices. Appendix 1 has an outline for ritual construction.  Appendix 2 has the elements of spell construction.  Appendix 3 has a glossary.  Appendix 4 is a resources and merchants guide.  Appendix 5 contains the instructions for making felt sabbat calendars. Appendix 6 has various correspondences such as other names, symbols, colors, animals, deities, activities, stones, foods, taboos, plants, meaning, attunement teas, ritual oils, and mythical creatures associated with each sabbat.  Appendix 7 has Pagan symbols with their meanings.  Appendix 8 has cross stitch patterns.

At the end is the bibliography and selected readings followed by the index.

Verdict: 10/10

This book actually contains more than you really need in a book about the sabbats, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  It gave a ton of information about each of the sabbats, a bunch of recipes, ways to celebrate culturally, crafts to make, sample rituals for both solitaries or groups.  I was annoyed initially at not getting a generic list of activities and or Gods/Goddesses associated with each sabbat, but the appendices had these in them too!

I actually found this book early on in my spiritual journey.  I was really excited because it contained pronunciations of the different sabbats.  I wanted to talk to my family about the holidays I was practicing, but didn’t know how to say them!

Book Reviews

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Here is a list of book reviews I have done on Pagan topics and spirituality.  It’s going to take some time for me to get a substantial list going, but here is what I have so far.  Please comment if there is a book you would like me to review.Bookshelf1

13 Original Clan Mothers by Jamie Sams

Empowering Your Life with Wicca by Sirona Knight

Sabbats by Edain McCoy

The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall

The Simple Sabbat by M. Flora Peterson