Observance
An esbat is commonly understood to be a ritual observance on the night of a full moon. [8] However, the late high priestess Doreen Valiente distinguished between "full moon Esbat[s]" and other esbatic occasions. [9]
The term esbat in this sense was described by Margaret Murray. [10] [11]
The Esbat differed from the Sabbat by being primarily for business. ... very often the Esbat was for sheer enjoyment only
— Murray, 1921
Esbats vary greatly and can be simple or elaborate. Rituals use symbolism to enhance the properties of a particular moon, of which there are 13 per solar year. [3]
They are typically held at coven members' homes or outdoors. Tools such as candles, athames, incense, pentacles, items from nature, bowls of water, mirrors, and crystals are commonly placed on an altar. [5] The ceremony begins with participants establishing a sacred space by casting a circle or purifying the area by smudging. Then, they commune with the divine, pray, and meditate. Central elements are reflection on changes that have occurred in the past moon cycle, things you wish to change by the next moon, and gratitude. [5] Once the ceremony is completed, a ritual closing is performed. Participants describe esbats as "spiritually fulfilling" and "immensely beneficial to our personal spiritual growth."
New Moon
When esbat rituals occur during a new moon (also known as a dark moon), it is an occasion to worship the darker aspects of witchcraft. This represents elements that are hidden or in shadow, and is not necessarily associated with evil. [12] New moon esbats may be used to worship a dark or maiden goddess, to banish something unwanted, or to end a phase in life. Because esbats typically occur when the moon is at its highest point, covens may choose for new moon esbats to take place in the mid-afternoon. [5]
Full Moon
The full moon esbat tends to be a frenetic celebration. Spells for wholeness, children, mothers, families, clairvoyance, and love are performed. [12] Most full moon esbats are held at midnight because the moon is most visible which allows participants to feel closer to it. [5]
One major component of full moon esbats is drawing down the moon. The idea is to draw the essence of the lunar goddess into the body of a coven member, usually a priestess or leader. This is done by another member who channels lunar energy down through a receptacle such as a chalice or knife. The two stand facing each other in the center of the circle and the group asks the goddess to come down. Once the divine energy enters the tool, it is touched to the head, chest, or abdomen of the priestess. Through her body, the goddess speaks to the group by answering questions, giving instructions, offering blessings, or simply "[pouring] her loving energy into the circle and [leading] you in a merry spiral dance." [12] After returning the energy to the goddess, the sign of a pentagram may be used as a dismissal.
The ceremony of cakes and ale is the other main component which typically concludes the full moon esbat. This ritual uses cookies or a loaf of bread and a chalice of wine or other drink which are placed on a central altar. The bread and wine symbolize the body and blood of the mother goddess, who gives life to all things. Each participant takes turns blessing the bread, breaking off a piece, eating it, then passing it clockwise. The same process happens with the chalice. This allows everyone to honor the body and blood of the goddess as they wish. [12]
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An athame or athamé is a ceremonial blade, generally with a black handle. It is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in ceremonial magic traditions, and by other neopagans, witchcraft, as well as satanic traditions. A black-handled knife called an arthame appears in certain versions of the Key of Solomon, a grimoire dating to the Renaissance.
A Book of Shadows is a book containing religious text and instructions for magical rituals found within the Neopagan religion of Wicca. Since its conception, it has made its way into many pagan practices and paths. The most famous Book of Shadows was created by the pioneering Wiccan Gerald Gardner sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and which he utilised first in his Bricket Wood coven and then in other covens which he founded in following decades. The Book of Shadows is also used by other Wiccan traditions, such as Alexandrian Wicca and Mohsianism, and with the rise of books teaching people how to begin following non-initiatory Wicca in the 1970s onward, the idea of the Book of Shadows was then further propagated amongst solitary practitioners unconnected to earlier, initiatory traditions.
Alexandrian Wicca or Alexandrian Witchcraft is a tradition of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established the tradition in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. Alexandrian Wicca is similar in many ways to Gardnerian Wicca, and receives regular mention in books on Wicca as one of the religion's most widely recognised traditions.
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Drawing down the Moon is a central ritual in many contemporary Wiccan traditions. During the ritual, a coven's High Priestess enters a trance and requests that the Goddess or Triple Goddess, symbolized by the Moon, enter her body and speak through her. The High Priestess may be aided by the High Priest, who invokes the spirit of the Goddess. During her trance, the Goddess is supposed to speak through the High Priestess.
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Mastering Witchcraft: A Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks and Covens is a book written by Paul Huson and published in 1970 by G.P. Putnams- the first mainstream publisher to produce a do-it-yourself manual for the would-be witch or warlock.
The history of Wicca documents the rise of the Neopagan religion of Wicca and related witchcraft-based Neopagan religions. Wicca originated in the early 20th century, when it developed amongst secretive covens in England who were basing their religious beliefs and practices upon what they read of the historical witch-cult in the works of such writers as Margaret Murray. It was subsequently founded in the 1950s by Gardner, who claimed to have been initiated into the Craft – as Wicca is often known – by the New Forest coven in 1939. Gardner's form of Wicca, the Gardnerian tradition, was spread by both him and his followers like the High Priestesses Doreen Valiente, Patricia Crowther and Eleanor Bone into other parts of the British Isles, and also into other, predominantly English-speaking, countries across the world. In the 1960s, new figures arose in Britain who popularized their own forms of the religion, including Robert Cochrane, Sybil Leek and Alex Sanders, and organizations began to be formed to propagate it, such as the Witchcraft Research Association. It was during this decade that the faith was transported to the United States, where it was further adapted into new traditions such as Feri, 1734 and Dianic Wicca in the ensuing decades, and where organizations such as the Covenant of the Goddess were formed.
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