It does not mean we worship the Moon. The wiccans see the Moon a symbol of the Goddess. Not its Face. The dramatical increasing and declining cycle has attracted the religious admiration of people synchronized with the nature. The wiccans can admire the beauty of the Moon and can be touched slowly when seeing itrising itself it on the horizon, but they do not worship them.

The Moon is also seen as a mystical source of energy. The Wiccans know that, although the moon shines at night, it doesn’t have proper light. It reflects the light of the hidden Sun. Once the light can be compared to it, and by the strong and proved effect of the Moon on the tides and the cycles of the animals, the wiccans remove energy of the Moon during the Esbaths to fortify their works of magic.

So, an Esbath is a rite involving the cult to the Goddess and magic. In all wiccan traditions, the cult comes in first place before the magic. For the wiccans, the period of the Full Moon is a period of sanctity and spirituality.

The ritual normally occurs at night. The circle is created; the Goddess and the Gods are called using poetical words, mystical music or a psychic section, them the magic is made using the moonlight.

Shortly after, a coven or solitary practitioner frequently try somewhite wine or fruit juice and eats cakes in an Increasing Moon night.

Four sabbaths are associated to agriculture and to the reproductive cycle of the animals. They are Lughnasadh, Sanhain, Imbolc and Beltane. We can name them as celtas, very common among the wiccans, although many others exsist.

Sabbath is a solar ritual, which designates points of the annual cycle of the Sun, and constitutes half of the wiccan ritual year. The Esbath is the wiccans’ celebration of the Full Moon.

Sabbath is based on the Sun and isnormally celebrated at noon or in the dawn. Today it is rare that wiccans celebrate it at night. The God Galhudo, when in love, changes his form and face, always looking for the Goddess. In this world, the search appears in the Wheel of the Year.

She is the Great Mother who gives birth to the Divine child of the Sun, in the winter solstice. In the spring it is seeder and the seed that germinates with the increasing light, greens as the new sprouts. She is the starter who teaches them the mysteries to him. He is the young bull; She is the seductive nymph. In the summer, when the light is more golden, the force is joined and the passion supports the world. But the face of the God darkens as soon as the Sun weakens, until the grain is harvested . It is also sacrificed to self so that all can be nourished. It is harvester, the tomb of the land which all have to return. During the long nights and days that become gloomy, he sleeps in its womb; in his dreams, he is the Lord of the Death that conducts the Land of Youth, beyond the entrances of the night and day. His dark sepulture becomes the uterus of the renaissance, therefore in the way it winter he gives, again the light to him. The cycle finishes and starts another time and the Wheel of the Year turns, uninterruptedly.

Everybody misunderstands the sabbaths, because there are two calendars: the north and the south. Many people don’t know which one they should follow. I follow the south calendar therefore I think there is no sense to commemorate for example Yule here in Brazil and in the winter. Each one should choose your own way to commemorate.

Using a compass, look for the north and locate it. Prepare your shrine … in front of you, with the black candle (representing the goddess) on the left and a white (god) on the right. Light the candles in its respective quadrants and incenses (those must be lighted for the candle of the goddess). Black color for the north, White color for the east, Red for the south, Blue for the west. These are the relations of the Celt’s tradition. Turn the lights down and allow the lights of the candles to illuminate the place. Hold the athame with both hands tracing the circle starting by the north in clockwise and say:

"On behalf of the Goddess and of the God, I trace this Circle of protection! Inside it, nothing bad will leave nothing bad will be able to enter. For the guardians of the Four Quadrants, I invite all the Elementals, Air, Fire, Water and Land so that they enter this Circle and assist me in this initiation. “

Return to the north, kiss the plates of your athame and place again in your shrine. Get a small pot with water (mineral) and pour three handfuls of salt in the water and say:

Blessed is the Salt that purifies this Water!

Hold the canister with salty water and walk three times around the circle, in clockwise and pour some water drops on the floor. Come back to north and say:

Blessed is the creature of the Water. In the same way that the Salt purifies the Water, my life is purified by Great Mother’s Love!

Catch the incenses and walk three times around the circle, clockwise, come back to the west and say:

Blessed is this Creature of the Air, which takes to the Gods my offering of Joy!

Come back to the south, knee in front of the red candle and say:

Blessed is this Creature of the Fire that allows me divine changes in contact with the Gods.

Get a small plant, walk three times around the circle, clockwise, come back to the north and say:

Blessed is this creature of the Land, born of the Uterus of the Great Mother.

Still northward, say:

I (say your full name), I am here in front of the Gods in my spontaneous will, in perfect love and perfect confidence. From today on, I will fight for the Justice of the God and Love of the Goddess is established in the Earth. And so like that!

Catch the glass of wine, pour a little on the floor and say:

"In the same way that this wine is poured, the power is taken off me if I don’t fulfill my oath!"

Drink a sip of the wine and say:

I feel all my body vibrating of joy and peace. I wish the Light of the Gods guides my thoughts. I wish my eyes saw the Power of the Gods in all Nature. I wish my words propagated the Love of the Gods. I wish the Great Mother in my heart, so that I have compassion for all the human beings and all the creatures. I wish the Gods blessed my sex, so that i have fertility in my life. I wish my feet take me through the ways of the Happiness, and the Gods guide all my steps.

Hold the glass using both hands, drink a sip of the wine leaving a little in the deep one and say:

"This is the Uterus of the Great Mother. I came from it and I will come back to there with Joy! We wish that, for all of us!"

Throw the left wine on the floor. Hold the athame with both hands come back northward and start to undo the circle in counter-clockwise direction. Say:

I undo this circle of power. I would like to thank the presence of all the energy forms and I free them now.

Turn off the candles.

PS.: You can make adaptations, you can take a symbol for each quadrant, and you can meditate before closing the circle.

by Bianca Ben - Dimensão Wicca