An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present - Doreen Valiente 2018

Esbat

The Esbat is the monthly meeting of a witches’ coven. It takes place at the time of full moon.

The full moon is not only the flood-tide of psychic power. In the olden days, before the introduction of street lighting and paved roads, it was the most practicable time for people to travel about the countryside.

Those who made their way to witches’ meetings would wear a black cloak with a hood, and this has become a traditional part of a witch’s attire. Its original purpose was camouflage. A person dressed like this can quickly merge into the shadows on a moonlit night. Also, if they do happen to be seen, one cloaked and hooded figure looks very much like another. It is difficult even to tell if it is a man or a woman; let alone recognise someone, perhaps as a fellow villager.

To a witch today, the traditional black cloak and hood symbolise night and secrecy. This attire has no particular connection with black magic, except in the imaginations of thriller writers.

The Esbat is a smaller and less solemn occasion than the Sabbat. For the latter, several covens might foregather but the Esbat is a local affair. It may be held for some particular coven business, or simply for fun and enjoyment. The word ’Esbat’ comes from the Old French s’esbattre, meaning to frolic and amuse oneself.

ESBAT. The Witches’ Frolic, from an engraving by the nineteenth-century artist, George Cruikshank.

Because there are thirteen lunar months in a year, there are generally thirteen full-moon Esbats. This is the probable origin of the magic of the number thirteen.

Some old writers on witchcraft had the idea that the Esbat was held on a particular day of the week. This, however, is not so; its date is dependent upon the moon.

The rites that take place vary somewhat, from one coven to another. Basically, however, they consist of dancing, of invoking the Old Gods, and of partaking of wine and probably a small feast as well, in the gods’ honour.

The Great Old Ones, the souls of great witches who have passed beyond this earth, are also remembered. Thanks are given for past favours, and prayers may be said for something that is needed, or some particular magic worked for it. News is exchanged; magical objects consecrated; sometimes, some divination is performed for the future. Full moon is a particularly good time for the latter, or for the exercise of any kind of psychic power.

Sometimes a man and a woman who wish to be partners in magic, are joined together ceremonially by the leader of the coven. They are then regarded by the rest of the coven as being married according to the laws of the Craft. This ceremony, like that of initiation, may take place at either an Esbat or a Sabbat. Contrary to popular belief, witches are not sexually promiscuous people. In fact, if the full truth were known, they are probably less so than some of those who write lurid articles denouncing them.

Another thing which may happen at an Esbat is the presentation of a baby to the Old Gods. This is done by its parents, when the latter are members of the coven. It is the witch equivalent of baptism.

This is the truth behind the horrid old stories of babies being offered to the Devil. In the old days, it would have been very dangerous for parents to fail to get their child baptised. When church-going was compulsory by law, as it was in times past, those who failed to observe the ordinances of the Church immediately put themselves under suspicion. So, of course, the witch parents would have to present the child ultimately for Christian baptism; but they dedicated it to the Old Gods first.

This compulsory baptism into the Christian Church was sometimes bitterly resented; and this fact is the explanation of another old story, namely that when people were initiated as witches, they denied their Christian baptism. If they came from witch families, and knew that their parents had been forced to have them baptised, they quite probably did make a formal denial of this kind, simply for their own satisfaction.

At the Esbat also, ideas can be exchanged and instruction in witchcraft given. Old magical legends are recited, and songs are sung. There are some old ballads that are traditionally associated with witchcraft. “Greensleeves” is one of them. The lady dressed in “the fairies’ fatal green” is the goddess herself. Another song is “Hares on the Mountain”; the hare is traditionally associated with the moon and with witches. The old ballad of “The Coal-Black Smith” is generally regarded as a witches’ song also.

In fact, the music of the witches’ Esbats and Sabbats was mainly the popular tunes of the day. In the accounts of Scottish witchcraft, there is mention of a number of lively and bawdy old ballads being sung and danced to, much to the displeasure of the Kirk; and elsewhere it was probably much the same. The instruments played were the old pipe and tabor, the bagpipes in Scotland, the fiddle, the tambourine and the recorder.

Today the recorder has all too often been exchanged for the tape-recorder. when witch-meetings are held indoors; although the battery-operated portable tape-recorders and record players have been quite a boon to modern witches, in providing music for their meetings, indoors or out.