Welcome to our collective favourite season, witchy folk! Perhaps that’s a generalization, but the Autumnal vibes are an absolute mood in the spiritual community, and for so many reasons. This season we have two Sabbats to celebrate; the first of those is Mabon, otherwise known as the Autumn Equinox, and the hemispherical counterpart to Ostara, in which we celebrate the Spring Equinox.
Not only is Autumn the season of flavoured lattes and pumpkins, it is the season of the colours of the Earth – oranges and reds and browns, greens and glorious yellows. We have beautiful harvest vegetables and burgeoning berries; a veritable feast of offerings from our beautiful Mother Earth to celebrate.
For Mabon, we focus on the beginning of the end of the harvest season and the descent into wintery darkness. Spiritually, we are reaching the closing-down portion of the year – as the days get shorter and the evenings are longer, we assess the outcomes of our labour (physical, financial, emotional, spiritual) across the past twelve months. Summer is celebration, and Autumn is when we reap what we’ve sown. So, as we draw towards the end of this summertime haze and commence the darkening and hibernation periods, we’re beginning to wind down business and take stock of what we’ve achieved.
Seasonal altars are a great way to focus our attentions and intentions towards that for which we are grateful, and the things that we want to manifest in our lives. Not only does the season dictate our physical activities, it also directs our spiritual lives, and the altar is the witch’s way of centring that energy.
With so much to love and celebrate about Autumn, let’s take a look at some traditional (and not-so-traditional) items to feature on our altars during this time.
As the lockdown eases around the world, and we are slowly allowed to get outside more, it has been precious to see the sunshine making an appearance this month. Litha 2020 is promising to be a little more flexible than Beltane, and, while we can’t necessarily do all the things we might like to do to celebrate this Sabbat, we do have the freedom to breathe in the air of Mother Nature and observe the growth and abundance that the Earth provides in the Summer.
There is some difference in precisely when Litha is celebrated, according to different traditions. Astrologically, Litha occurs at the time when the sun is at its highest point, which, in 2020, occurs on the 24th June. However, Litha is traditionally celebrated in many traditions at the midpoint of the Summer (Midsummer), which occurs on June 20th or 21st. As with all things spiritual, there are no hard and fast rules about how you conduct your own practice, so go with what feels right for you.
We are currently in a very unusual time in our society with the COVID-19 pandemic. The uncertainty and lack of control can cause anxiety. Now is a perfect time to cast a protection spell to shield yourself against negativity. Protection spells can be cast for yourself, someone else, a pet or even a physical structure like your home or office.
The pandemic began a few months back and our world is continuing to adjust our daily living. Wicca has become more popular recently with healing and protections spells requests increasing daily. When a client requests a spell-like this, we need to differentiate between the two.
Healing spells are used for someone that is sick either physically or emotionally. Healing spells can be done with someone that has an upcoming surgery, disease or to improve mental health such as depression. During COVID, we would use a healing spell if an individual has the virus. You can cast a spell on yourself or someone else to heal. When doing a healing spell for someone else, if they are not close to you, you can use a photo or article of theirs to cast the spell.
What’s not to love about the summer? The days are getting longer, little lambs frolic in the fields, the summertime blooms are taking over pastures and cities alike. Well, for witchy folk, pagans, Wiccans and those following Gaelic/Celtic traditions, there’s another, even better aspect of the celebration of the commencement of the Summer season – the fire festival of Beltane.
Much of the traditional pastimes associated with Beltane come from the pastoral traditions of the Gaelic herdsmen and farmers, who marked the beginning of the warmer months by casting protection over their animals and crops. For spiritual folk, we still celebrate Beltane with protection, growth and prosperity in mind. As well as that, however, there is a definite, shall we say, romantic element to this Sabbat. Mythically, this is the time when the God has reached sexual maturity, and can now court the Goddess.
We are in the midst of an historic event. Essentially, we are all, as a global society, experiencing the same traumatic event. Of course, there are different levels to which we experience this trauma, depending on our location, our wealth status, our access to facilities and treatment and so on, but for absolutely everyone who is feeling anxious, depressed and stressed during this global pandemic, I want you to hear this: you are not alone.
A study conducted in late March found that 22% of all UK adults were feeling anxiety surround the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of us, worldwide, are in some form of lockdown, shelter-in-place or isolation, and we know that this can negatively impact mental health, even for those who do not usually suffer from anxiety or depression. On top of this, we have financial and economical strain, we are separated from our family and friends, and lack certainty about what is yet to come. So, as spiritual and witchy folk, how can we combat this mental strain and take the best possible care of ourselves? Well, we have a leg-up: we have magic.
On February 1st, we move into one of the sweetest, purest Sabbats of the Witch’s calendar. Imbolc celebrates the near-end of the long Winter, bringing us towards the warmer part of the year, and celebrating the sprouting of new life from the Earth. The Wiccan tradition celebrates this as the strengthening of the Sun God, as he comes into his adulthood, and the Goddess is coming into her maidenhood once more, after birthing the God at Yule (yep, it’s convoluted and more confusing than your average family reunion).
Brigid, or Brighid, is the Irish triple Goddess of smithcraft, poetry and healing, who was worshipped as Goddess prior to the Christianisation of Ireland, and then sainted. Her origin story differs from Celtic pagan to Christian faiths, but everyone pretty much agrees that she is the Maiden, who blesses our crops and gives us sweet-smelling Spring flowers and the most joyful of all worldly creatures: tiny, dancing, bouncing lambs (insert love heart emoji eyes here). When I spent my first early February in Ireland with my partner’s family, I was amazed to see how seriously people took what they call St. Brigid’s Day. Everyone hung an item of clothing out of the window, and Brigid’s crosses popped up in the hands of children everywhere after making them at school.
On this list of thoughtful gift ideas for witches you love, you’ll find a wide range of natural, hand-selected romantic items. Plus, all of our products are high-quality, clean, vegan, and cruelty-free. So, you can feel good about anything you purchase or use. Here you’ll find beauty, wellness and ritual products with an eclectic selection of enchanted witchy goodies. If you have a witchy love interested, any one of the items below would be the perfect romantic gift to express your acceptance, thoughtfulness, and love.
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