Sabbats Almanac: Samhain to Mabon - Kristoffer Hughes 2018

Introduction

NEARLY EVERYONE HAS A favorite sabbat. There are numerous ways to observe any tradition. This edition of the Sabbats Almanac provides a wealth of lore, celebrations, creative projects, and recipes to enhance your holiday.

For this edition, a mix of writers—Melanie Marquis, Peg Aloi, JD Hortwort, Susan Pesznecker, Michael Furie, Dallas Jennifer Cobb, Deborah Castellano, Suzanne Ress, and more—share their ideas and wisdom. These include a variety of paths as well as the authors’ personal approaches to each sabbat. Each chapter closes with an extended ritual, which may be adapted for both solitary practitioners and covens.

In addition to these insights and rituals, specialists in astrology, history, cooking, crafts, and family impart their expertise throughout.

Charlie Rainbow Wolf gives an overview of planetary influences most relevant for each sabbat season and provides details and a short ritual for selected events, including New and Full Moons, retrograde motion, planetary positions, and more.

Linda Raedisch explores the realm of old-world Pagans, with a focus on traditional gravestone symbols we often associate with Samhain, as well as some unique sabbat festivals tied to the Nordic culture.

Blake Octavian Blair conjures up a feast for each festival that includes an appetizer, entrée, dessert, and beverage.

Natalie Zaman offers instructions on DIY crafts that will leave your home full of color and personality for each and every sabbat.

Mickie Mueller provides directions for portable magic rituals and rites for celebrating your favorite sabbat on the go.

About the Authors

Blake Octavian Blair is an eclectic Pagan, ordained minister, shamanic practitioner, writer, Usui Reiki Master-Teacher, tarot reader, and musical artist. Blake blends various mystical traditions from both the East and West along with a reverence for the natural world into his own brand of modern Paganism and magick. Blake holds a degree in English and Religion from the University of Florida. He is an avid reader, knitter, crafter, and practicing pescatarian. He loves communing with nature and exploring its beauty whether it is within the city or hiking in the woods. Blake lives in the New England region of the USA with his beloved husband. Visit him on the web at www.blakeoctavianblair.com or write him at blake@blakeoctavianblair.com.

Deborah Castellano writes for many of Llewellyn’s annuals and writes a blog on PaganSquare about unsolicited opinions on glamour, the muse, and the occult. Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution for Getting What You Want (Llewellyn Publications). Her shop, the Mermaid and the Crow, specializes in handmade goods. She resides in New Jersey with her husband, Jow, and two cats. She has a terrible reality television habit she can’t shake and likes St. Germain liqueur, record players, and typewriters. Visit her at www.deborahmcastellano.com.

Dallas Jennifer Cobb practices gratitude magic, giving thanks for personal happiness, health, and prosperity; meaningful, flexible, and rewarding work; and a deliciously joyful life. She is accomplishing her deepest desires. She lives in paradise with her daughter in a waterfront village in rural Ontario, where she regularly swims and runs, chanting: “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Contact her at jennifer.cobb@live.com or visit www.magicalliving.ca.

Michael Furie (Northern California) is the author of Spellcasting for Beginners, Supermarket Magic, and Spellcasting: Beyond the Basics published by Llewellyn Worldwide. Furie has been a practicing Witch for over twenty years. An American Witch, he practices in the Irish tradition and is a priest of the Cailleach. You can find him online at www.michaelfurie.com.

JD Hortwort resides in North Carolina. She is an avid student of herbology and gardening. JD has written a weekly garden column for over twenty years. She is a professional and award-winning writer, journalist, and magazine editor and a frequent contributor to the Llewellyn annuals. JD has been active in the local Pagan community since 2002, and she is a founding member of the House of Akasha in Greensboro, N.C.

Kristoffer Hughes is the founder and Chief of the Anglesey Druid Order in North Wales, UK. He is an award-winning author and a frequent speaker and workshop leader throughout the United Kingdom and the United States. He works professionally for Her Majesty’s Coroner. He has studied with the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, and is its 13th Mount Haemus Scholar. He is a native Welsh speaker, born to a Welsh family in the mountains of Snowdonia. He resides on the Isle of Anglesey.

Melanie Marquis is a lifelong practitioner of magick, the founder of United Witches global coven, and a local coordinator for the Pagan Pride Project in Denver, Colorado, where she currently resides. Melanie is the author of numerous articles and several books, including The Witch’s Bag of Tricks, A Witch’s World of Magick, Beltane, and Lughnasadh, and she’s written for many national and international Pagan publications. She is the co-author of Witchy Mama and the co-creator of the Modern Spellcaster’s Tarot. An avid crafter, cook, folk artist, and tarot reader, she offers a line of customized magickal housewares as well as private tarot consultations by appointment. Connect with her online at www.melaniemarquis.com or facebook.com/melaniemarquisauthor.

Mickie Mueller is an author, artist, and illustrator who explores the realms of magic with both visual mediums and the written word. Her mixed media artwork is created magically; she combines colored pencil techniques with paint that is infused with magical herbs that correspond to the subject, bringing the power of spirit into her magical artwork. Mickie’s black and white illustrations have been published in various books since 2007, and she has illustrated tarot and oracle decks including Voice of the Trees oracle, which she also wrote, and Mystical Cats Tarot. She has also written for several of the Llewellyn annuals and the book The Witch’s Mirror. She is a Reiki Master/Teacher, ordained Priestess, and loyal minion to two cats and a dog.

Susan Pesznecker is a writer, English teacher, nurse, practicing herbalist, and hearth Pagan living in Oregon. Sue holds an MS in professional writing and loves to read, watch the stars, camp, and garden. Sue has authored Yule: Rituals, Recipes, & Lore for the Winter Solstice (Llewellyn 2015), The Magickal Retreat (Llewellyn 2012), Crafting Magick with Pen and Ink (Llewellyn, 2009), and contributes to the Llewellyn Annuals.

Linda Raedisch is a card-carrying Muggle with an abiding interest in witches, ghosts, goblins, and Galaxy Class Starships. This is her seventh year contributing to the Sabbats Almanac. Linda is also a soapmaker, housecleaner, amateur ethnobotanist, and rabid autodidact whose first professional writing assignment was to ghostwrite a children’s book about Halloween. Since then, she has written Night of the Witches: Folklore, Traditions and Recipes for Celebrating Walpurgis Night and The Old Magic of Christmas: Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year (Llewellyn Publications), and the fantasy novella The Princess in the Mound: A Visitor’s Guide to Alvenholm Castle (2017).

Suzanne Ress has been practicing Wicca for about twelve years as the leader of a small coven, but she has been aware of having a special connection to nature and animal spirits since she was a young child. She has been writing creatively most of her life—short stories, novels, and nonfiction articles for a variety of publications—and finds it to be an important outlet for her considerable creative powers. Other outlets she regularly makes use of are metalsmithing, mosaic works, painting, and all kinds of dance. She is also a professional aromatic herb grower and beekeeper. Although she is an American of Welsh ancestry by birth, she has lived in northern Italy for nearly twenty years. She recently discovered that the small mountain in the pre-alpine hills that she inhabits with her family and animals was once the site of an ancient Insubrian Celtic sacred place. Not surprisingly, the top of the mountain has remained a fulcrum of sacredness throughout the millennia, and this grounding in blessedness makes Suzanne’s everyday life especially magical.

Natalie Zaman is a regular contributor to various Llewellyn annuals. She is the author of Color and Conjure: Rituals and Magic Spells to Color (Llewellyn, 2017), Magical Destinations of the Northeast (October 2016), and writes the recurring feature “Wandering Witch” for Witches & Pagans magazine. Her work has also appeared in FATE, SageWoman, and newWitch magazines. When she’s not on the road, she’s chasing free-range hens in her self-sufficient and Pagan-friendly back garden. Find Natalie online at http://nataliezaman.blogspot.com.