Sabbat Altars

Just about anything can be used to decorate your altar for a Sabbats as long as to you it's appropriate. For Sabbat's think seasonal! You can use colours of the season, for example green and red for Yule, brown, black and orange for Samhain. Some people have different altar cloths for each sabbat and special coloured ones for rituals. It's all down to personal taste, I have several that I made myself and I use them in different rituals and sabbats. My altar cloth becomes my magical canvas, I paint with the items that adorn my altar to create the final picture. You can choose a special theme for your altar or keep it simple.

Samhain | Yule | Imbolc | Ostara | Beltane | Litha | Lammas | Mabon

The Samhain Altar

Samhain is a time for purification and renewal and is also the time to carry out divinations for the new year ahead, and a time to honour those that have gone before us. The Goddess is in her Crone phase and the God sleeps in her belly waiting to be reborn. Samhain is also one of the 3 harvest festivals celebrated during the Wheel of the year and for many it is considered the most important Sabbat.

On your altar you can have seasonal fruits and vegetables, pumpkins and squash, mushrooms and fungi spring to mind as well as apples and pears. They don't have to be fruits that you can eat, they can be sculptures, in pictures or little representations. Autumnal leaves are a superb addition, as are twigs and branches. Items that help you connect to the spirit world are also good. Photos of loved ones that have gone ahead to the Summerlands are excellent additions, and help you share your ritual and bring them closer. Colours to choose traditionally are oranges, reds, black, silver, gold and yellow.

Midwinter - is about the re-birth of the sun and the birth of the Winter King. In much of British tradition the winter king is Arthur but not always. 20th December, Winter Solstice Eve, is the eve of the shortest day, when the sun comes to its nadir and the darkness reigns.

The Yule Altar

Candles are crucial to this festival, since it is a celebration of light. Use red, green and white candles. Draping evergreens of all kinds can be used and you'll love the fragrances. Holly with its beautiful red berries is also a wonderful addition to your decoration. Use a Sun symbol as a reminder of the Sun's return. The Druids revered the white berries of the Mistletoe as the semen of the God, and this can also be placed on your altar, or hung in doorways for the traditional kissing beneath it. (chances are our ancestors did a bit more than kiss under this symbol of fertility) **remember that the berries of the mistletoe are highly poisonous, so be sure to keep them away from children and animals** Acorns, nuts, apples, cinnamon sticks and pomegranates are also appropriate for decorating your Yule altar.

The Imbolc Altar

Imbolc - (pronounced imulc), is a Moon festival, the Celtic festival of the lighting of the new fire and the Feast of Brighid, the Goddess of smithcraft, healing and poetry. Brighid or Bride is a form of 'bright' and one of her gaelic names means Bright Fiery Arrow.

Imbolc is a festival of hope and trust and the time when new life is stirring, there is the promise of spring and rebirth in the air. It's a time for inner reflection. You may wish to include a statue of the Goddess on your altar or a symbol of the Goddess such as a Brighids cross, the altar cloth can be whatever you choose but white would be appropriate for this Sabbat. Use lots of candles to welcome back the lightRed, white or yellow candles are appropriate. Use a small set of lights to brighten your altar and acknowledge the fire festival. You can include a small bowl of seeds and sprouts as a symbol of fertility and rebirth, or why not plant some sunflower seeds ready for decorating your Litha altar. A small besom made of twigs is also appropriate.

The Beltane Altar

Beltane - May Eve, the time of the may Queen and Walpurgisnacht. The name is thought to come from Belenos, the Shining One, whose fiery countenance lights up the heavens and warms the earth with golden-green radiance. This is the great festival of flowering that marks the beginning of summer. It is the time when the Winter Crone finally relaxes her chilly grip and the Maiden blossoms forth in her fragrant glory.

In the old days, Beltane was an opportunity for people to come together, celebrate and plan for the coming season. Its themes are fertility, sex, energy and freedom and is one of the great fire festivals. Beltane is traditionally a time of handfastings and as such is full of joy and love. It was – and still is! – a time for regeneration and rejoicing. Beltane is a time for flowers, picked by you from your own garden or bought, any flowers will do. I use herbs as well as flowers adding sweet woodruff sprigs to the altar as well as to the may wine I make to accompany the feasting afterwards. Use fresh Summer fruits, a mini Maypole and use a white or yellow cloth. Beltane is a great fire festival, so a group of candles on your altar bunched together in warm colours such as red, grass green, yellow and orange would be nice to substitute for a small fire. Or use a cauldron or similar flameproof container and make a mini bonfire inside it. You might also want to include phallic images, this doesn't have to be graphic, it can be a rock and a creviced stone, or flowers, or a yin-yang symbo or a God & Goddess figure. One year I used a candle in the shape of two lovers which proved very effectivel.

The focus of this sabbat is again on fertility but also on strength and focus. Plans made at Imbolc, put into motion at Ostara, encouraged at Beltane should now be in fruition. It is a time to give thanks for the gifts we've been given and for our health. After this day things will change somewhat, waning again, and this must be prepared for. This is a celebration of work AND of pleasurable activities. It is also a good time for a dedication rite or a re-affirmation spell.

The Litha Altar

To decorate your Litha altar use bright sunny, fiery colours and add Sun images either made by yourself or a photo or ornament. Some sort of fire on your altar is important, use candles or votives if you can't have a small fire in a cauldron. Use fresh summer fruits as a reminder of the earth's bounty and add plenty of flowers and herbs from your garden, sunflowers work well for this Sabbat, if you planted some at Imbolc they'll be ready to cut to use now. Use candles of gold, orange, red and yellow. A symbol or picture of Earth on your altar is a gentle reminder to honour Her.

The Lammas Altar

Lammas is a festival of regrets and farewells, of harvest and preserves. Reflect on these topics alone in the privacy of your journal or share them with others around a fire. Lughnasad is one of the great Celtic fire-festivals, so if at all possible, have your feast around a bonfire. While you're sitting around the fire, you might want to tell stories. Look up the myths of any of the grain Gods and Goddesses and try re-telling them in your own words. One of the famous ones in Britain is told in the song John Barleycorn.

To celebrate the harvest, a loaf of bread hand made by you is a nice centrepiece on the altar, surrounded by harvest figures. Add a wooden bowl filled with fruits and vegetables to show a give thanks for the wonderful harvest. Colours for this sabbat are the yellow, gold, orange and brown. Once again flowers are appropriate and this time of year there are some wonderful late Summer flowers and herbs in the garden that can be used. A small cauldron containing a fire or a candle to represent fire is also appropriate.

Mabon marks the beginning of Autumn and the death of the land, that is to come, but it is also a celebration of life, as it is the second, and largest, harvest of the year. At this time we stop and relax and enjoy the fruits of our personal harvests, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with everyday life. The full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox is known as the "Harvest Moon," since farmers would also harvest their crops during the night with the light of the full moon to aid them.

The Mabon Altar

Autumn is also the time when the king is called to his death at the end of his term. His body would then be ploughed into the earth to fertilise the land for the spring sowing so this is a continuation of the John Barleycorn tale of Lammas. Most of us enjoy this time of year for the beauty of the Autumn colours and the energy felt in the crisp earthy air. It can be great fun hunting for just the right harvest symbols to use to decorate your altar. Autumn flowers are a must, as are fruits such as pumpkins, squash and apples set in an old wooden bowl, you can add to these some pomegranates. Decorate your altar with orange, brown and yellow, use candles, fruit and vegetabless, cornucopias, bread and wheat stalks.