Online E-Shrines and Pop Culture Witchcraft Resources
Please note that:
- Information gathered here relates to the Northern Hemisphere. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, dates will be different.
- This comprises both the Sabbats and Esbats. I wanted to place them on one page for ease of access.
- Exact dates will vary. I tried to put the general date range of when they take place, but check other witchy sources for exact dates depending on what year it is.
- For the sake of simplicity, Esbats here are categorized as the full moons only.
The wheel of the year is a set of holidays and celebrations that relate to the Spring and Winter Solstice as well as the Summer and Autumn Equinox. People celebrate these holidays as a way to stay in tune with nature and to be more consciously aware of the changing of the seasons.
Sabbats are eight holidays spread every six weeks in order of the seasons. They mark a time for witches to come together, or to celebrate the changing of the seasons. For some, they mark a timeline of the God and Goddess as they progress through their lives.
To put it simply, the Esbats are a subset of the Wheel of the Year that focus on the lunar cycle. They're celebrated by some to mark the Sun's journey through the seasons, among other things. There are either twelve or thirteen Esbats depending on the lunar cycle of that year, and the rarest Esbat is considered to be the Blue Moon. Some witches meet on the full moon, while others meet on the new moon. Some even meet during both moons!
Parallel Holiday: Halloween
Dates: October 31st to November 1st
Themes: Death, rebirth, ending of the harvest season, beginning of winter
Samhain is counted by some witches as the new year, though some choose to start their calendars with Yule. This holiday marks the beginning of the "darker half" of the year, which is considered to be the beginning of winter. Samhain originated from the Celtic pagans from Ireland, and is now celebrated by Neopagans and Wiccans. The name is believed to be derivied from Old Irish and may translate to "summer's end". This holiday is believed by many to be a day where the veil between the mundane world and the spirit world is at it's thinnest, and as such it is easier to communicate with the dead.
Traditions related to this holiday include bonfires, feasts, honoring ancestors and loved ones, spellwork, divination, and trick-or-treating. This is also a time to take stock of what you have and consider what you need to get before winter arrives.
Parallel Holidays: Christmas, Winter Solstice
Dates: December 20th-23rd
Themes: Rebirth, new year, celebration of light
Yule officially marks the new year, and it celebrates the return of the days growing longer once more. This holiday has roots from the Germanic peoples and went by the names jól (Old Norse) and geol (Old English). This holiday was later assimilated into Christian holidays, and was rescheduled to be around the time as Christian holidays after Norway was Christianized. As such, the pre-Christian dates are unclear.
Traditions include lighting of a yule log, giving thanks, feasts, and setting up a yule alter - complete with decorations. Yule is also a time to celebrate abundance, practice gratitude, and focus on new beginnings.
Parallel Holiday: Groundhog's Day
Dates: February 1st-2nd
Themes: Fertility, hearth & home, ending of winter, purification, beginnings, renewal
Imbolc marks the beginning of Spring, and it is traditionally held halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. This holiday has roots in Gaelic traditions and is associated with the goddess Brigid. Many wiccans and pagans still celebrate or call upon Brigid for Imbolc rituals.
Traditions include feasts, initiations into covens, self-dedication rituals, cleansing and cleaning, lighting a candle for Brigid, and honoring the sun. This is a time to clean your hearth and home physically as well as spiritually, and it may be a time to recharge wards around the home.
Parallel Holidays: Spring Equinox, Easter
Dates: March 19th-23rd
Themes: Fertility, rebirth, renewal, action
The word "Ostara" comes from the Anglo-Saxton goddess Eostre, which represented spring and new beginnings. There is conflict over if this goddess existed pre-Christianization or not. This holiday typically marked the beginning of the agricultural season, and as such farmers would begin to plant their seeds.
Traditions include home and hearth purification, gardening, cleaning, looking for signs of spring, and thinking about your intentions for the upcoming weeks.
Parallel Holiday: May Day
Dates: April 30th to May 1st
Themes: Sexuality, fertility, romance, abundance, creativity, commitment
Beltane marks the return of Summer, and is a festival of fertility. This holiday is not to be confused for Midsummer, but versions of Beltane exists in lots of pre-Christian European cultures. In some literature, this is also a time when the veil between the physical world and spiritual realm thin and witches are able to communicate with the fae.
Traditions include maypoles, bonfires, feasts, painting or photography, conducting fertility or sex magick, and decorating your home with flowers. If you choose to work with the fae, you may make a faerie garden or leave an offering for them.
Parallel Holidays: Midsummer, Summer Solstice
Dates: June 20th-22nd
Themes: Abundance, growth, love, celebration, fufillment, healing
Litha is the longest day and shortest night of the year, and as such marks the time when the days will start to get shorter. We celebrate the sun and our future harvest season. The word "Litha" comes from an old Anglo-Saxton word for June, and it came to be it's current usage of the holiday's name in the later half of the 20th century.
Traditions include having a BBQ feast, bonfires, and offerings to the fae folk (should you wish to work with them). You can also choose to make a faery garden, or an elemental garden.
Parallel Holiday: N/A
Dates: August 1st-2nd
Themes: Harvest, blessings, gratitude, community
The day between the Summer Solstice and the Autumn Equinox, Lughnasadh is considered to be the beginning of the harvest season. Some witches call this holiday "Lammas", but the two were originally different holidays. Lughnasadh originates from an Irish pagan festival of the Celtic sun god Lugh, while Lammas was a Christian harvest and bread festivity.
Traditions include making bread, having a feast, going apple or berry picking, visiting a harvest festival, and having a bonfire.
Parallel Holiday: Autumn Equinox
Dates: September 21st-24th
Themes: Abundance, gratitude, balance, harvest
Mabon traditionally brought a time to relax from harvesting and doing chores, and to appreciate all the work everyone had put in during the harvest season. The name, however, was only developed in the 20th century. Some witches refer to this simply as the Autumn Equinox for this reason. Multiple socieities celebrated a second harvest, so the traditions and holiday are not new. Balance is a main theme due to the days being equal lengths, having food but the land slowly becoming useless, and the warmth of summer slowly leaving and the cold of winter coming on.
Traditions include baking, gathering herbs to dry, going apple picking, donating to less fortunate, and having a feast.
Month: January
Other Names: Quiet Moon, Old Moon
Month: February
Other Names: Wild Moon, Ice Moon
Month: March
Other Names: Crow Moon, Seed Moon
Month: April
Other Names: Egg Moon, Budding Moon
Month: May
Other Names: Hare Moon, Milk Moon
Month: June
Other Names: Rose Moon, Mead Moon
Month: July
Other Names: Thunder Moon, Hay Moon
Month: August
Other Names: Lightning Moon, Red Moon
Month: September
Other Names: Full Corn Moon, Wine Moon
Month: October
Other Names: Travel Moon, Freezing Moon
Month: November
Other Names: Frost Moon, Mourning Moon
Month: December
Other Names: Oak Moon, Long Night Moon