Sabbats

Happy Samhain 2025

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Jack-O-lantern

Blessings to you and all your kin this Samhain!

As so many people are celebrating Halloween, many of us are scared about real-life situations. Just in time, my new book, World On Fire: How Witches and Wiccans Transcend the Chaos and Find Their Peace, is available as an eBook and an audiobook to provide you with comfort.

Samhain

Samhain is the final harvest Sabbat of the year. At this time, the last crops are gathered and put into storage for the cold winter’s months. The God makes His ultimate sacrifice at this time. But fear not, His sacrifice is a willing one, for he does this for his children. The God is symbolized by the last of the harvest. He (the God of the harvest) is cut down (sacrificed) at this time so that we may have food to last us through the winter. The “Johan Barleycorn” songs came from this.

At this time of the year, the cattle and pigs are culled, keeping only the ones strong enough to weather the harsh winter months. The meat is then salted and cured so that the people would be able to survive the long winter.

Samhain is also known as the witches’ New Year. The Celts felt that this was the beginning of the year. The reason for this is that they believed a new life started at death. You needed to die to be reborn into a new life. That is just what the God has done with His sacrifice. He now resides in the underworld, awaiting birth at Yule.

Samhain is also the time to communicate with the dead. The Veil between the worlds is the thinnest at this time. The Veil is the doorway or curtain that separates the land of the living with the land of the dead. Contact between the two worlds is now easily accomplished. So, contacting past loved ones is common on this Sabbat. The dead are honored at this time. An example of this in today’s modern society is Mexico’s Day of the Dead.

The Wheel turns to represent death at this Sabbat, only to continue turning at Yule, to the beginning, representing life and rebirth. The eternal cycle of reincarnation is celebrated during Samhain. The old God dies to be reborn at Yule.

Blessed be,

Moonwater Silverclaw

Sabbats – Mabon – 2025

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Happy Mabon!

Mabon is a time of balance between light and dark. It is the autumn equinox when the days continue to grow shorter and the dark begins to take over the light. With the nights becoming longer, the power of the God is waning.

As the second of the three harvest festivals of the year, Mabon is also known as the witches’ thanksgiving. We give thanks to the God and Goddess for all the bounty and sacrifices they have made for us. On this Sabbat, we have friends and family over for a meal of thanksgiving. Foods that are in season at this time of year make great dishes for the feast. Enjoy bread, corn, squash, and other autumn vegetables. Don’t forget wine, beer, and mead.

Some witches pour some blackberry wine on the ground as a sacrifice to the Gods. This ritual gives us hope of keeping the God alive until Samhain, when the God makes the willing sacrifice to keep us alive.

What did you do for Mabon this year? Share your experiences of the day with me here in the comments.

Blessed Be,

Moonwater Silverclaw

Happy Summer Solstice 2025

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Happy Solstice!

Litha/Midsummer

The Summer Solstice Litha, also known as Midsummer, represents when the God is at his height in power and fertility. The sun now takes its longest path across the sky, and we experience the longest day of the year. This completes the sun’s waxing cycle and begins the waning part of the solar year. The days become increasingly shorter until the Wheel of the Year returns to Yule, when the days once again wax with the sun. The days grow longer.

Wiccans enjoy collecting and drying herbs during Litha. Many of them take nice walks out in nature to harvest herbs. Herbs harvested during this period have greater magickal powers than herbs gathered at other times of the year. Herbs reach their peak of strength and potency during Litha.

Once again, the bonfire holds a prominent place. The God rises to his peak as his power and strength expands at Litha.

Along the line of a bonfire, when my coven meets for Litha, we do a barbecue. Meat and fire form a good combo for this Sabbat! Yum!

Blessings,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Beltane 2025

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Sunflowers

Sunflowers

Happy Beltane to all! May you be blessed with the season’s energies.

Beltane

To our ancestors, Beltane celebrates the beginning of summer. Bale or “bon” fires are an important part of the Beltane Sabbat. All fires at home or in shops were extinguished and then re-lit from the sacred bonfires that blazed on the tops of the surrounding hills. This was also the time when the herds were blessed. The people marched their cattle around and between the bonfires to bring good luck and fertility and to protect them during the year.

The Sabbat Beltane, coincides with when the God actually impregnates the Goddess. This sacred act ensures the continued fertility for crops and animals throughout the light half of the year (between the Spring and Fall Equinoxes.)  A popular symbol for this sacred act, the May Pole represents the impregnation of the goddess. A May Pole is a pole set erect in the ground with ribbons attached on the top. People then each take a ribbon and dance in a weaving pattern around the pole. The pole represents God’s phallus and the colorful ribbons that the dancers wind around the May Pole represent the goddess with her flowers a-blooming. And so the impregnation of the Goddess is fulfilled.

Blessed be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Happy Ostara 2025

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Spring Arrives with Ostara

Spring Arrives with Ostara

Ostara

Ostara happens at the Spring (Vernal) Equinox. The days becomes equal to the night, and the light finally overcomes the darkness of winter. Ostara’s theme is fertility. The God courts the Goddess and their sexual energies of desire flow over the Earth, leading to a burst of new life and growth upon the land by the plants and the animals. Here the courting God and Goddess’s desire to mate drive the Earth and its inhabitants to mate and bring new life to the land.

The Teutonic goddess of spring, Easter brings her symbol of the egg and her patron animal, the rabbit. Wiccans celebrate Easter during the Ostara Sabbat. The Christian Church tried to stamp out celebrations of Easter and her symbols of fertility (the egg and the rabbit), but they had become too deeply embedded in the people’s hearts. Christians got their Easter eggs and rabbits from this Goddess. How many Christians know that when they celebrate Easter, they’re using a term originated by Pagans?

Generally, eggs are a popular representation of fertility and new life. Early Wiccans revered the “cosmic egg,” as many refer to it, for the secrets it held; it contained and produced life. It looked like a stone but held life within.

Wiccan activities on Ostara include coloring eggs and decorating them with fertility symbols, and then hiding them for children to find.

Blessed be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Beltane 2024

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Sunflowers

Sunflowers

Happy Beltane to all! May you be blessed with the season’s energies.

Beltane

To our ancestors, Beltane celebrates the beginning of summer. Bale or “bon” fires are an important part of the Beltane Sabbat. All fires at home or in shops were extinguished and then re-lit from the sacred bonfires that blazed on the tops of the surrounding hills. This was also the time when the herds were blessed. The people marched their cattle around and between the bonfires to bring good luck and fertility and to protect them during the year.

The Sabbat Beltane, coincides with when the God actually impregnates the Goddess. This sacred act ensures the continued fertility for crops and animals throughout the light half of the year (between the Spring and Fall Equinoxes.)  A popular symbol for this sacred act, the May Pole represents the impregnation of the goddess. A May Pole is a pole set erect in the ground with ribbons attached on the top. People then each take a ribbon and dance in a weaving pattern around the pole. The pole represents God’s phallus and the colorful ribbons that the dancers wind around the May Pole represent the goddess with her flowers a-blooming. And so the impregnation of the Goddess is fulfilled.

Blessed be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Happy Ostara 2024

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Spring Arrives with Ostara

Spring Arrives with Ostara

Happy Ostara from all of us at GoddessHasYourBack.com and we wish you and all your kin a great sabbat.

Ostara

Ostara happens at the Spring (Vernal) Equinox. The days become equal to the night, and the light finally overcomes the darkness of winter. Ostara’s theme is fertility. The God courts the Goddess and their sexual energies of desire flow over the Earth, leading to a burst of new life and growth upon the land by the plants and the animals. Here the courting God and Goddess’s desire to mate drive the Earth and its inhabitants to mate and bring new life to the land.

The Teutonic goddess of spring, Easter brings her symbol of the egg and her patron animal, the rabbit. Wiccans celebrate Easter during the Ostara Sabbat. The Christain Church tried to stamp out celebrations of Easter and her symbols of fertility (the egg and the rabbit), but they had become too deeply embedded in the people’s hearts. Christians got their Easter eggs and rabbits from this Goddess. How many Christians know that when they celebrate Easter, they’re using a term originated by Pagans?

Generally, eggs are a popular representation of fertility and new life. Early Wiccans revered the “cosmic egg,” as many refer to it, for the secrets it held; it contained and produced life. It looked like a stone but held life within.

Wiccan activities on Ostara include coloring eggs and decorating them with fertility symbols, and then hiding them for children to find.

Blessed be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Lughnasadh 2023

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The First Grains

The First Grains

Lammas

 

On August 1st, Lammas, also called Lughnasadh (the Celtic first day of autumn), starts the first of the three Wiccan harvest festivals. Known as the time when the God starts to wane in his power, Lammas, or “loaf-mass,” celebrates the first grains harvested that season. During the Lammas Sabbat, Wiccans offer up the first sheaf of the harvest to the God and Goddess to thank them for their blessing of the harvest yield.

 

Wiccans love to feast, and this is the best time of year to do it! Since grains are a prominent part of the Lammas Sabbat, we celebrate by making breads and other baked goods from the first wheat or corn produced. The different breads, beers, and other foods produced and consumed at this time remind us of the bounty that the Gods have given us. 

Here’s wishing you the best on this Sabbat.

Moonwater SilverClaw

Happy Beltane 2023

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Sunflowers

Sunflowers

 

Beltane

To our ancestors, Beltane celebrates the beginning of summer. Bale or “bon” fires are an important part of the Beltane Sabbat. All fires at home or in shops were extinguished and then re-lit from the sacred bonfires that blazed on the tops of the surrounding hills. This was also the time when the herds were blessed. The people marched their cattle around and between the bonfires to bring good luck and fertility and to protect them during the year.

The Sabbat Beltane, coincides with when the God actually impregnates the Goddess. This sacred act ensures the continued fertility for crops and animals throughout the light half of the year (between the Spring and Fall Equinoxes.)  A popular symbol for this sacred act, the May Pole represents the impregnation of the goddess. A May Pole is a pole set erect in the ground with ribbons attached on the top. People then each take a ribbon and dance in a weaving pattern around the pole. The pole represents God’s phallus and the colorful ribbons that the dancers wind around the May Pole represent the goddess with her flowers a-blooming. And so the impregnation of the Goddess is fulfilled.

Blessed be,

Moonwater SilverClaw

Happy Samhain 2022

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Jack-O-lantern

Jack-O-lantern

Recently, I was thinking about Samhain and death and rebirth. Sometimes we can look at death as a release. Is it time for a new chapter in your life? Is there something you need to release?

We, witches, know that beyond this life are the Summerlands. Many of us choose rebirth. If your going into a new chapter of your life, what positive energies do you want reborn in you?

Samhain

Samhain is the final harvest Sabbat of the year. At this time the last crops are gathered and put into storage for the cold winter’s months. The God makes His ultimate sacrifice at this time. But fear not His sacrifice is a willing one, for he does this for his children. The God is symbolized by the last of the harvest. He (the God of the harvest) is cut down (sacrificed) at this time so that we may have food to last us through the winter. The “Johan Barleycorn” songs came from this.

At this time of the year, the cattle and pigs are culled keeping only the ones strong enough to weather the harsh winter months. The meat is then salted and cured so that the people would be able to survive the long winter.

Samhain is also known as the witches’ New Year. The Celts felt that this was the beginning of the year. The reason for this is they believed a new life started at death. You needed to die to be reborn into a new life. That is just what the God has done with His sacrifice. He now resides in the underworld awaiting birth at Yule.

Samhain is also the time to communicate with the dead, The Veil between the worlds is the thinnest at this time. The Veil is the doorway or curtain that separates the land of the living with the land of the dead. Contact between the two worlds is now easily accomplished. So contacting past loved ones is common on this Sabbat. The dead are honored at this time. An example of this in today’s modern society is Mexico’s Day of the Dead.

The Wheel turns to represent death at this Sabbat, only to continue turning at Yule, to the beginning, representing life and rebirth. The eternal cycle of reincarnation is celebrated during Samhain. The old God dies to be reborn at Yule.

Blessed be,

Moonwater Silverclaw