Sabbats.

The sabbats are the eight festivals that turn the wheel of the year: Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain, and Yule. Each carries its own energy, its own associations, and its own work. The pieces in this section are written to help you celebrate them with intention, whether you have an hour or an afternoon. They cover the deities, herbs, and themes of each festival, and offer practical ways to mark them: alone, simply, and without elaborate apparatus.

The sabbats are the eight seasonal festivals that form the Wheel of the Year: the calendar of celebrations observed across many Wiccan, pagan, and witchcraft traditions. They mark the turning points of the solar cycle and the agricultural seasons, anchoring spiritual practice to the rhythms of the natural world.

The four major sabbats (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh) are often called the cross-quarter days. They fall between the solstices and equinoxes and tend to be the most energetically potent. The four minor sabbats, the winter and summer solstices (Yule and Litha) and the spring and autumn equinoxes (Ostara and Mabon), mark the astronomical turning points of the year.

Each sabbat has its own themes, deities, correspondences, and traditional practices. Samhain honours the dead and the thinning veil. Beltane celebrates fertility and the height of spring. Yule marks the return of the light at the darkest point of the year. Working with the sabbats means aligning your practice with these seasonal energies: setting intentions, performing rituals, and acknowledging the cycle of death and rebirth that runs through the natural world.