Sabbats Archives - Energetic Tarot

Finding balance during Yule

Dec 21, 2020 | Soul Purpose

Happy Yule and Winter Solstice my dears! This sabbat is one of my favourites for many reasons, not just because it marks the start of longer days filled with more light, but also because it’s a time of winding down and spending time with those you love.

Although this time of year is all about family and friends, work doesn’t come to a grinding halt for all of us, especially if you’re running an e-commerce or retail business. It can be an extremely stressful time trying to keep everyone happy, keep your business afloat and still find time to enjoy the holiday.

Something’s got to give

We can only give priority to a few things at a time, so the key to doing this during this busy time of year is getting on top of time management. It also means we have to be a lot stricter with ourselves when it comes to setting boundaries, whether that be boundaries around work time, family time or downtime.

There is a time and a place for everything, it’s up to us to decide what that means for all areas of our life. Plan ahead, let family and friends know when you are and aren’t available for festive fun. Let your clients or customers know what your Christmas opening hours are and don’t try and fit your full to-do list into one day.

Balancing work and life

This goes beyond the general work/life balance we try and practice all year because more is expected from us in December. We’re not just trying to make sure we get rest from work, we’re trying to make sure we get rest from work and take part in festive zoom calls and meetups. We may even have to fight against the December shut down that happens every year in our brains, because our body knows it’s nearly time for a break and it wants to hurry up and get there already!

For most business owners, the ratio of work and life is tipped in the favour of work for most of the year, but during the holidays, life skyrockets above work tasks and we have to try and navigate the extra energy needed to balance them both. To do that, we may have to rethink our work hours, shifting normal work time into ‘life’ time. Remember, we only have a certain amount of hours in a day and some of those have to be spent eating, sleeping and doing things that bring us joy.

Take a look at a 24 hour day, how many of those 24 hours are spent eating and sleeping? Take that off the 24 hours and what are you left with? For me, it may look a little like this:

24 hours in a day

8 hours for sleep
3 hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner

Total = 11 hours

Hours left over: 13 hours

13 hours for work, life and rest

6 hours for work
4 hours for life
3 hours for rest

*I work from home, so I haven’t factored in commuting time, because I just walk up the stairs in my house to my office. If you do spend time commuting, this needs to be included in your calculated work hours.

If you know you’ll need more time for family, then you can shift that 13 hours around to give more time to life and less time to work. Figure out what takes priority that day and allocate time accordingly. During weekends, I’ll be able to take that 6 hours of work and put it all into life tasks or rest activities like painting, reading or watching TV.

Obviously, you don’t have to be a clock watcher, but getting clear about how you allocate your time can help to take the stress away from planning your days or weeks. You’ll be able to better manage your wellbeing as well as your workload and still have the time and energy to enjoy the joy this time of year can bring. My biggest advice for finding balance during Yule is to set boundaries, don’t let others dictate how you spend your time and hold your ground against external energies.

Have a wonderful Yule my dears!

What is Mabon and how can we celebrate the Autumn Equinox?

Sep 15, 2020 | Blog

I know there are those of you that don’t want to even hear me mutter the word autumn, but it’s coming my dears. It’s time to let go of summer for another year and celebrate the falling leaves with the sabbat of Mabon!

Mabon is the autumn equinox, the second period in the year that the days and nights are equal in length and we start to accept that our days are going to be shorter from here until the spring equinox. This is the second of the three harvest festivals, so stocking up on seasonal foods and flora is always a good way to start celebrating this sabbat.

What is Mabon and how did it start?

Mabon is a harvest celebration that lasts from the 21st-29th September in the Northern Hemisphere and is a fairly modern celebration. Mabon is the autumn equinox, so more traditional ways of celebrating autumn have been absorbed into the celebration of Mabon. It is seen as the pagan thanksgiving, where we come together to reflect on what nature has gifted us with throughout the year.

The term ‘Mabon’ was only created in the 1970’s by Aidan Kelly, so it is a holiday that not all pagans recognise.

How can you celebrate Mabon?

Mabon is a festival of gratitude, so giving thanks to nature and the earth for all it’s brought you this year is a great start. Mabon lasts between the 21st-29th September, but the actual day of the autumn equinox is around the 22nd September every year, so this is the main day of celebration.

On this day, you can cook a feast for you and your loved ones, that uses seasonal food and drink and give thanks to nature for giving you everything you’re about to eat. In this respect, it is a lot like the American holiday of thanksgiving.

Take time to be present and really feel the gratitude in everything you do. Think about all the things you have in your home, how they got there and why they’re valuable to you. This can also be a great time to get rid of unnecessary things, just go full Marie Kondo.

Decorating your space for Mabon

When it comes to decorating your altar or spiritual space for Mabon, think about all the things you associate with autumn. Fallen leaves, acorns, pumpkins or squashes. Whatever makes you feel those warm cosy autumnal feelings, that’s what you want to bring into your home.

One of my favourite things to do around Mabon, is to head out to my local woods and forage for dried leaves, conkers and acorns. I then set them up as decoration on my altar. If you’re worried about creepy crawlies, you can always place these in the oven on a very low heat for an hour or so, to kill off any tiny bugs that may be living in there.

The main intention is to help you feel how the earth is winding down and getting ready to rest for a few months. It’s time for a break and for nature to regain its energy ready for spring in a few months.

Mabon is a great time to get a career or business tarot reading, so why not book in with me, to find out where your focus needs to be during this autumnal equinox?

BOOK A TAROT READING

Getting to Know Imbolc and How to do a Simple Imbolc Ritual

Jan 26, 2020 | Blog

On February 1st we welcome back another Imbolc, the sabbat that tells us the cold harsh winters are nearly over and the sun is once again returning to warm us and the earth below.

Imbolc is the half way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, for the ancients, this was their signal to get ready to plant a brand new harvest and prepare for new life to spring forward.

Imbolc is also well known as Candlemas or Saint Brigid’s day in Gaelic and Celtic cultures, the saint is apparently said to get her name from the ancient Gaelic goddess Brigid, who brought fertility and rebirth to the earth and its people.

Saint Brigid’s Day

Brigid has become a big part of Imbolc, especially for neopagans such as Wiccans. At this time of the year, we like to celebrate the fertility and rebirth that Brigid brings and we welcome her into our homes to bring us good luck for the year ahead.

A Brigid straw doll is often used to represent the goddess in your home. Placing the doll on an altar, windowsill or on a ledge and creating a makeshift bed for her, will invite Brigid in and ensure she is welcome. This greeting will bring you good luck for the rest of the year and ensure that you can grow and develop in a positive and meaningful way.

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“planting seeds and deciding what you’d like to grow in your garden are great Imbolc celebrations”

These days, it is more about a metaphorical growth rather than a literal one. Back in the day, it was very much about ensuring the crops grew well, their livestock thrived and ensuring come harvest season they had plenty of food to sustain them through the winter months.

How to Celebrate Imbolc

Although it’s not one of the main sabbats e.g. a solstice or an equinox, it is still a time to be celebrated. It’s a time to think about the seeds you want to sow this spring (metaphorical or literal) and make plans that you’d like to grow and flourish as the year goes on.

If you want to take things literally, then planting seeds and deciding what you’d like to grow in your garden are great Imbolc celebrations. If you’d like to make things more metaphorical, if you don’t really have the green thumbs needed, then planting metaphorical seeds is also a great task.

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“Remember, Imbolc is all about fresh starts, new growth and rebirth.”

Many of us set resolutions or goals during the new year, but Imbolc is also a great time for goal setting and thinking about personal development that we’d like to see throughout the year.

If you are a creative or entrepreneur, this is also a great time for planning and creating ideas to help your business grow.

Putting Together a Simple Imbolc Ritual

Luck and fertility are the main properties of Imbolc, so doing these types of rituals can be very powerful. A simple ritual is creating a luck charm to carry you through the year. What you’ll need for this Imbolc ritual is:

Small pouch or a small jar
A piece of Jade
Dried basil
A penny

On the night of Imbolc, combine all the above into a small pouch or jar, you can also light a green candle for luck! Hold the pouch in your hands and meditate for 10-15 minutes. Using an affirmation during this is highly recommended.

For you affirmation, you can use the following as a guide:

I invite luck and prosperity into my life

I welcome luck and prosperity into my life

I deserve luck and prosperity in my life

Repeating affirmations like this during meditation can really help, especially if you struggle to keep your focus. It can also help to drill it into your subconscious, so that moving forward, you’ll unconsciously make decisions that attract more luck and prosperity into your life.

Sleep with the pouch under your pillow until the sunrise the next morning, or keep it by your bed. You can then carry it around and use it as a lucky charm moving forward.

Remember, Imbolc is all about fresh starts, new growth and rebirth. If you’ve been thinking about reinventing yourself, trying something new or coming up with new ideas for a business or career, now is the time!

How Samhain Became Halloween

Sep 30, 2019 | Soul Purpose

We are finally back in October, arguably the most beautiful time of year, but it is also the month of one of the most popular holidays worldwide, Halloween! Or for those that follow a more Pagan way of life, Samhain.

How do you pronounce Samhain?

S-Ow-En or S-Ow-In

Why is it pronounced so differently to how it’s spelt? Because Gaelic, that’s why

Most of us in the western world will be a lot more familiar with Halloween than we are Samhain, however Samhain is the OG Halloween, it is what the basic principles of the holiday are based off.

What are the traditions of Samhain?

Samhain is the last sabbat in the wheel of the year, before Yule roles around in December and starts a whole new cycle. It marks the official end of the harvest before the cold of Winter truly sets in, so it is most commonly celebrated with a feast of delicious seasonal foods.

From a Wiccan point of view (the view that is most personal to me) Samhain is a time when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is thinnest, and so it is the best time to honour and commune with those we have lost. They don’t have to be people we have lost recently, they can be anybody in your life that has passed away at any point, even ancestors you never met!

With Samhain marking the final sabbat, it’s also a great time for ‘releasing’ rituals. Known affectionately as the Witches New Year, Samhain is the perfect time to say goodbye to all the crap from the past cycle and start setting amazing intentions for the cycle ahead.

How do you celebrate Samhain?

There are lots of different ways to celebrate Samhain and it really depends on your beliefs and what feels right to you at the time. For example, last year I did a releasing ritual, because I felt like the cycle that was ending had been full of negativity for me, and I wanted to start with a clean slate. However the year before, I ate lots of yummy autumnal foods (and an entire tub of trick or treat celebrations), lit some candles and did a simple meditation.

If you want to celebrate this amazing time of year in a more formal way, here are a couple of things you can do:

Prepare a feast for you and your family using seasonal food – things like pumpkin, squash, wheat and grain based foods like bread etc.
Light a white candle for positivity and spend some time meditating on what you want the new cycle to bring to your life
Perform a ritual to pay respect to your ancestors and lost loved ones
Perform a releasing ritual to let go of something that has been holding you back
Practice scrying or other forms of divination, such as tarot or pendulums, maybe even a Ouija board if you’re feeling brave!

How did Samhain become Halloween?

Like many of our most popular holidays, Halloween gets its roots from the ancient sabbat of Samhain. Just like Samhain, Halloween is believed to be a time where spirits roam the earth. Over the years, with various changes to religion, spiritual practices and persecution of Paganism, the once Pagan influences started to get a bit watered down and lost.

Samhain is still the Irish and Gaelic name for Halloween, even after all this time. Back in the day, people started to dress as ghosts and souls, going from house to house in search of food. This is thought to have been symbolic of the souls that came to earth on Halloween and how the living could honour them with delicious treats.

When it comes to Jack-O’-Lanterns, these were created possibly for two different reasons, the first was to ward off evil or the devil (this was when the church took over most of the country) the second reason was to represent the spirits again. Each face carved in the lantern was said to represent a spirit and they were often carved from turnips and carried around from house to house (if you’ve never seen a turnip lantern, here you go, but I warn you, it’s terrifying).

Samhain or Halloween

These days you don’t really have to choose between celebrating Samhain or celebrating Halloween, you could even just inject a bit more spirituality to your normal Halloween activities, just to make things a bit less commercial and a bit more traditional.

For example, prepare a seasonal feast before you dress like Barb from Stranger Things and head out on the town. Eat your favourite candy and then do some meditation and say hey to your ancestors. Just small little things you can add to your Samhain/Halloween evening will make all the difference!