As to rituals... by Keir Gazelle

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

As to rituals...well it depends on which path you are following. Rituals for Wiccans would be different then those for the Strega or the Astaru.

What rituals do you want to do? As a Wiccan I celebrate the 8 Sabbats (celebrations of the turning of the seasons) and the 13 full Moons.Then some trads will have special days that they celebrate because they are meaningful for their trad.mythologies.

Here is one of the lessons I give that explains the sabbats, where they are and what:
Quarters and Cross Quarters and the Full Moon

Days of Power refer to the celebrations of the Witches year which are considered Holidays. There are also personal days of power. Your birthday is a day of power. Rites of passage, like an Eldering, or a day of Initiation and the anniversaries would be also power days. But mainly when a day of power is talked of, it is called a Sabbat or Esbat.

There are four major Sabbats and four minor ones. If the year was a wheel and it was divided into eight parts each day of power would be opposite each other.

The four major, Quarters days are:

Samhain-Nov. Eve
Candlemas-Feb. Eve
Beltane-May Eve
Lammas-Aug. Eve

The four minors, Cross Quarters Sabbats are:

Yule (winter Solstice)-Dec.21 (or depending on the sun...)
Spring Equinox (spring or vernal equinox)-March 21 (or depending on Sun)
-A tradition power day-
Summer Solstice)-June 21 (depending)
Harvest Home (autumn or Fall Equinox) also called the Witches Thanksgiving, - Sept. 21(or depending)

The 13 Esbats... celebrated during the full moon, although some celebrate the new moon instead. The Lunar Calendar (Moon calendar shows the date for either of these moons.

Each of the holidays honors a season... Samhain and Beltane are the most important...
They cut the year into two halves...

Samhain to Beltane is the Dark time of the year...
Beltane to Samhain is the light time of the year.

All Sabbats begin on the eve prior to the Sabbat...at sun set... So Beltane would start at sun set Beltane Eve...and go to sunrise the morning after Beltane. Not many celebrate that long... though Beltane is a good one to celebrate that long.

The days are opposite one another...
Such as Beltane: The celebration of fertility and growth is across from Samhain: The day to honor the dead, it is also the Witches New Year; as one year ends another begins.

Midsummer: The time the Sun is at his strongest. But also starts to decline in strength; Is across from Yule: The time the sun is at its weakest...when we celebrate its rebirth, when it starts to strengthen.

Imbolc: The time of the first stirring of spring. Imbolc means in the womb... It is the time of promise. Even when it is still dark out, we know warmth and light is ahead.

It is across from Lammas: The time of harvests... the first of three harvest fests... a time of thanks.

Then we come to Ostara: The time of balance day and night are balanced. The light starts to grow stronger then the dark after this day.

Then across from it is Harvest Home, the second day of harvest and the time when the dark starts to hold sway over the earth.

Then we come back to Samhain...the final harvest... And the New Year... So for each beginning of a season, at its opposite we have a ending with a new beginning.
Samhain----Beltane
Yule--------Midsummer
Lammas----Imbolc
Ostara------Harvest Home

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Now some of the names are different..like Harvest Home some will call Mabon. That comes from a story of the son (Mabon) of a goddess that was stolen and disappeared for three days then came back again to his mother.

My tradition celebrate Harvest Home, which is like the Witches Thanksgiving. It is the second of the three harvest fests. The first is Lammas (Loaf Mass..or a celebration of bread). The third is Samhain,( the end of summer..) I always saw it as the harvest of souls..

I hope this will help. I have my students be creative with this lesson. Draw a wheel mark the eight sabbats and create symbols for them and shade the dark side and put down the dates for the sabbats. I think this helps them to learn and to understand that each sabbat has an opposite.