~ Origins and Meanings ~
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~ The Wheel of the Year ~

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The Sabbats

Greater Sabbats

The four Sabbats which are known as the Greater Sabbats are the 4 older holidays (from a Wiccan viewpoint) which are based on the agricultural festivals of the British Isles. The Greater Sabbats are also known as the "Cross Quarters".

Our calendar in the Grove begins with the Celtic New Year, Samhain. The four Greater Sabbats are Samhain (the end of summer and last harvest), Imbolc (last frost and first planting), Beltaine (animal breeding) and Litha (first harvest, Loaf-mass).

Lesser Sabbats

The 4 Sabbats which are refered to as the Lesser Sabbats are the 4 solar holidays which are based on the solstices and equinoxes.

The Lesser Sabbats are Yule (winter solstice), Ostara (vernal equinox), Lughnassadh (summer solstice) and Mabon (autumnal equinox).

Off Site Links:

The Witches' Sabbats by Mike Nichols - This is one of the most informative sites I've seen on the Sabbats.  I highly recommend it.  The information published on this site is also available in the author's book The Witches' Sabbats, available through Amazon.com.  If you like his web site, consider purchasing his book.  It  would be a good way to support the author, and the grove. 

Esbats

Esbats are both celebrations of the cycles of the Goddess and times which are appropriate for working magick. The Grove may celebrate Esbats on the Full Moon, the New Moon or on Diana's Bow (2-3 days after the New Moon). Very rarely we may find reason or occasion to observe the Dark of the Moon. Moon rituals are normally only open to initiates within the Grove, so discussion of Esbats in depth occurs in Dedicant's classes (Level 1: Phase II).

The following are the names of the moons which are most often used within the Grove:

Unless otherwise noted, all graphics and artwork on all pages of this site are assumed to be in the Public Domain or are used with the artist's permission. Graphics credits and source information for all graphics can be found on this page. All written materials are copyright by Catherine Deville, 1999, unless otherwise noted. Please notify me immediately if you have any copyright concerns.

The Fire Cauldron, Pentacles and Chalice used in the Header of the grove pages were downloaded from Robin Wood's Pagan Graphic Freeware site. These graphics are © Robin Wood 1997, and are used with permission.

The phase animated moon (Pythmoon.gif) at the top was created by Python. Please visit his website at Python's Sacred Space.

The Lunar Eclipse Button set was downloaded from AOL and is used by permission of the Artist: Starznmorn@aol.com.
(Lettering on the "Top" button was done on a blank button in Lucida Handwriting by Catherine Deville)

This page was designed with Microsoft Front Page Express ver. 2.0.2.1118 and updated in Microsoft FrontPage 2000.

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Last revised: August 07, 2006 .