Imbolc (pron. ‘Im-olc’) - 1st February

Imbolc celebrates the awakening of the land and the growing power of the Sun. Often, the Goddess is venerated in her aspect as the Virgin of Light and the altar is decked with snowdrops, the Heralds of Spring. The name ‘Candlemas’ is still sometimes (and incorrectly) used by some Pagans, but this is the Anglo-Saxon Christianised name for the season.

Imbolc marks the recovery of the Goddess after giving birth to the God at Yule.  The lengthening periods of light awaken Her. The God is a young, lusty boy, but His power is felt in the longer days.  The warmth fertilises the Earth (the Goddess), and causes seeds to germinate and sprout.  And so the earliest beginnings of Spring occur.

This is a Sabbat of purification after the shut-in life of Winter, through the renewing power of the Sun.  It is also a festival of light and of fertility, once marked in Europe with huge blazes, torches and fire in every form.  Fire here represents our own illumination and inspiration as much as light and warmth.

Imbolc is also known as Feast of Torches, Oimelc, Lupercalia, Feast of Pan, Snowdrop Festival, Feast of the Waxing Light, and by many other names.  Some female Witches follow the old Scandinavian custom of wearing crowns of lit candles, but many more carry tapers during their Invocations.

This is one of the traditional times for initiations into covens, and dedication rituals.

This is the time of the Feast of Torches, when every lamp blazes and shines to welcome the rebirth of the God.

I celebrate the Goddess, I celebrate the God; All Earth celebrates beneath its mantle of sleep.

Beltane (May’s Eve) - 30th April

The powers of light and new life now dance and move through all creation. Spring gives way to Summer's first full bloom and Pagans celebrate Beltane with Maypole dances, symbolising the Sacred Marriage of Goddess and God.

Beltane marks the emergence of the young God into manhood.  Stirred by the energies at work in Nature, He desires the Goddess.  They fall in love, lie among the grasses and blossoms, and unite.  The Goddess becomes pregnant of the God.  Witches celebrate the symbol of Her fertility in ritual.

Beltane has long been marked with feasts and rituals.  Maypoles, supremely phallic symbols, were the focal point of Old English village rituals.  Many people rise at dawn to gather flowers and green branches from the fields and gardens, using them to decorate the May pole, their homes and themselves.

The flowers and greenery symbolise the Goddess; the May pole the God.  Beltane marks the return of vitality, of passion and hopes consummated.

Maypoles are used by Witches today during Beltane rituals, but the cauldron is a more common focal point of ceremony.  It represents, of course, the Goddess - the essence of womanhood, the end of all desire, the equal but opposite of the May pole, symbolic of the God.

O Mother Goddess, Queen of the night and of the Earth; O Father God, King of the day and of the forest, I celebrate Your union as nature rejoices in a riotous blaze of colour and life.

Accept my gift, Mother Goddess and Father God, in honour of Your union.

Lughnassadh (pron. ‘Loo-nassa’) - 31^st July

Lughnassadh is the time of the first harvest, when Pagans reap those things they have sown and they celebrate the fruits of the mystery of Nature. Pagans give thanks for the bounty of the Goddess as Queen of the Land.

The plants of Spring wither and drop their fruits or seeds for us to use as well as to ensure future crops.  Mystically, so too does the God lose His strength as the Sun rises farther in the South each day and the nights grow longer.  The Goddess watches in sorrow and joy as She realises that the God is dying, and yet lives on inside Her as Her child.

Lughnassadh, also known as August Eve, Feast of Bread, and Harvest Home, although usually celebrated on this day, should really be held to coincide with the first reapings.

As Summer passes, Witches remember its warmth and bounty in the food we eat.  Every meal is a means of attuning with Nature, and we are reminded that nothing in the universe is constant.

O God of the ripening fields, Lord of the Grain, grant me the understanding of sacrifice as You prepare to deliver Yourself under the sickle of the Goddess and journey to the lands of eternal summer.

O Goddess of the Dark Moon, teach me the secrets of rebirth as the Sun loses its strength and the nights grow cold.