Esbat

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The Esbats are neo-pagan festivals and rituals in the witch religion and in Wicca . They are celebrated in honor of the goddess on full moon nights (sometimes also on black moon nights ). In witchcraft belief , Esbat is a working day (in contrast to the Witches Sabbath as a holiday). Since the energy of the full moon is used for magical work (" pulling the moon down "), it is a lunar festival.

Concept and historical background

The term esbat comes from Old French and is used in files of the witch trials as a term for ecstatic-sexual devil worship by alleged witches. On this basis, Margret Murray constructed the current meaning of the Esbat ritual in the witch religion in her book "The Witch Cult in Western Europe" (1921). While the cycle of the year was adopted by the Celts, there is no evidence that Esbate themselves were part of the Celtic culture. It is believed that these have pagan origins and are derived from the idea that the phases of the moon played a role for druids who practiced astrology . The worship of the moon is one of the oldest traditional ritual celebrations. There is evidence that corresponding lunar calendars were used forty thousand years ago, while the oldest solar calendars that have survived are only twelve thousand years old.

Esbat ritual

There are many different variations of the ritual. The basic ritual is made up of various steps that begin, for example, with a physical and mental cleansing. Then the moon goddess is invoked, the " moon pulled down " and a meditative phase initiated. The ceremony ends with a farewell ritual and the ingestion of food.

Name of esbate

Every full moon or calendar month has a name that is said to go back to ancient Celtic traditions from medieval England. The partly very inaccurate translations into German are apparently from the German witch Saphiro de Mabon from 2004:

  1. Wolf Moon - January
  2. Storm Moon - February
  3. Chaste Moon - March
  4. Seed Moon - April
  5. Hare Moon - May
  6. Two Unity Moon (Dyad Moon) - June
  7. Mead Moon - July
  8. Destiny Moon (Word Moon) - August
  9. Barley Moon (Harvest Moon) - September
  10. Blood Moon - October
  11. Snow moon (fog moon) - November
  12. Oak Moon - December

In some years there is also the so-called blue moon as the 13th moon , which is assigned special magical power. This is not part of the schedule, but is celebrated in the month in which there are two full moon nights.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Patti Wigington: Hold an Esbat Rite - Celebrate the Full Moon. May 26, 2017, accessed November 6, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Full Moon Rituals. Retrieved November 6, 2018 .
  3. ↑ esbat. merriam-webster.com, accessed November 6, 2018 .
  4. ^ Margaret Alice Murray: The Witch Cult in Western Europe. Retrieved November 6, 2018 .
  5. ↑ The Wicca Movement. relinfo.ch, accessed on November 6, 2018 .
  6. ^ Edain McCoy: What Witches Do: The Esbats. Retrieved November 6, 2018 .
  7. ↑ WICCAN ESBATS: THE MAGIC OF THE FULL MOON. Retrieved November 6, 2018 .
  8. ^ Edain McCoy: Magick & Rituals of the Moon. Retrieved November 6, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Scáthán: Esbat ritual (basic form). Retrieved November 6, 2018 .
  10. ↑ The Moon. thealmightyguru.com, accessed November 6, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.saphiro.de