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admin sinfulldude · Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 10:22 pm Post subject: WITCHES SABBATS

Sabbat places

The Calendar

The Ritual

The Black Mass according to the Pope

Places
Sabbaths were often held in the following remote and quite places : ruins and remnants of antique temples (this refer to the various pagan cults), mountaintops, forests, and abandoned churches. They always occurred at night on special occasions such as Easter or Valborg. Some places have remained famous for the frequency and the number of attendants at the sabbaths that were supposed to happen there:

FRANCE

in Brittany, the Carnac area full of dolmen; in the Alps, the Pra-Pratis field near the Queyras (where is erected a stone); in Auvergne, the top of the Puy-de-Dome (old temple of Venus); in the Cotentin, the Meautis land; in Lorraine, the stone of the Repy. In the Basque country, the beach of Hendaye is supposed to have received more than 12 000 witches according to De Lancre.

GERMANY

The Brocken mountain (Harz) where remains an old menhir

SWEDEN

The church of Blokula.

The Ritual

Witches and wizards knew it was the time because their secret mark (made by the devil) itched them. Then, they had to prepare for the Sabbath. Some went there simply by walk, but it was generally admitted that witches flied either on animals companions or demons or on their own broomstick after having rubbed their body with the Flying Ointment.

Once the witches have reached the place of the Sabbaths, sometime along with new initiates, the Devil appeared, usually in the form of a black goat (He-goat) but it can also take the shape of a black cat a raven, a crow, or a feathered toad.

The attendants kissed his buttocks in greeting. Then they informed him of all the harmful spells they had done since the last Sabbath and the names of their victims. Then came the Queen of the Sabbath, a nude woman who rides a black sheep. Satan first urinates in a hole in the ground then all the audience do the same. Then they put the two fingers in the hole and make the sign of the cross reversed. Satan comes back to the Altar and gives the Queen the sacraments from hell. After the fornication, he distributes the hellish ostie made on the nude body of the Queen. The witches had then to pay homage to the Devil, renew pacts, write their names in the Black Book, and have the initiate take an oath. The baptism ceremony for the initiate consumption sometimes involved menstrual blood. The devil put its mark on the initiate and had sex with him.

After these obligations wild dancing and sex followed, along with a feast often consisting either of delicious food or disgusting flesh like corpses of babies (salt is totally banned). Some even admitted that the dishes were an illusion created by the Devil. Of course, there was a satanic orchestra that was playing along the orgy. Demons were all around participating in the frenzy. With the first lights of the day and before the corck sing, the devil vanished and the witches went back home.

The Black Mass according to the Pope

The Pope says that amongst these heretics "when a neophyte is received there appears to him a kind of frog," though some say it is a toad. Some kiss it shamelessly on the buttocks, others on the mouth, drawing the tongue and spittle of the animal into their mouths. Sometimes this toad is "as big as a goose or a duck." The neophyte next encounters a "man of extraordinary paleness, with deep black eyes, and so thin that his skin seems to be stretched over his bones." The neophyte kisses him and finds that he is "as cold as ice." The worshipers then sit to table, and a large black cat comes out of a statue, and all of them in the order of their dignity, kiss its buttocks. After a time the lights are extinguished and there is the usual orgy of sexual intercourse. If, the Pope gravely explains, there are more men than women, or women than men, they resort to sodomy. The candles are relit, and they sit again at table, when from a dark corner of the room comes a man "shining like the sun from the loins upward, but rough as a cat below." To this devil the neophyte is presented, and the faithful also give consecrated hosts which they have stolen from the churches where they have communicated.

This is almost exactly an account of a witch meeting, and the Pope adds another significant detail. These heretics, he says, declare that God is a tyrant, and that he unjustly condemned Lucifer to hell. Lucifer is the real creator of the world and prince of men, and in the end he will regain his place.

The Calendar

The word Sabbat comes from the Greek work "sabatu", which means "to rest". The Sabbats are representative of the turning of the wheel and each honor different phases in the life cycle of the Goddess and the God. It is interesting to note that the eight Sabbats now known to modern Western pagans used to number only five: Bealtain, Midsummer, Lughnasadh, Samhain, and Yule.

Samhain October 31st

Popularly known as Hallowe'en. Other names for this Sabbat include Shadowfest (Strega), Martinmas or Old Hallowmas (Scottish/Celtic). The Feast of the Ancestors and Witches' New Year. Trick-or-Treating evolved from Pagan "Souling," when children representing ancestors collected food and blessed the houses they visited. Samhain was the most awe-inspiring of the seasonal celebrations, feared by the ancient people because associated with the coming of winter, the cold and dark days and the scarcity of food. Not unexpectedly, Samhain was also the day to remember the souls of the departed. Samhain occurred on November 1st and its eve was, of course, October 31st when the festivities actually commenced. (October 31 was then considered New Year's Eve.) The pagan Celts believed that the two worlds, the physical world and the spirit world, drew closer on this date and that ghosts and apparitions of the dead could roam about the physical plane.

Samhain was a magical time, a time of the lighting of bonfires. Pagans customarily would put their fires out, then re-light them to represent the end of the year and the coming of the next.

With the coming of Christianity, which found it impossible to remove all the old beliefs from the populace, Samhain was transformed into All Saints' Day, or as it was also called, All Hallows' day (with hallow meaning holy or holy people). The day before All Hallows' Day was, of course, All Hallows' Eve, or Halloween. The origins of modern Halloween are therefore based in ancient pagan Irish or Celtic beliefs.

Yule 22 December

also known as Yuletide which comes from a Nordic word meaning "wheel".The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year and, obviously, the longest night. The waxing sun finally overcomes the waning sun and from this day on, the days will once again grow longer as we head toward spring and the rebirth of fertility once again.

Imbolc 1 February

Also called Candlemas, Lupercus (Strega), Candelaria (Mexican Craft). It is the Feast of Returning Light which marks the banishing of the Winter Season and the welcoming of Spring. In Ireland, Imbolc started out as a special day to honor the Great Mother Goddess Brigid, Goddess of holy wells, fire, healing, smithcraft, and poetry. On this night, it is also said that the spirits of the dead walk among the living. In Ireland, these spirits are said to be seen at a crossroads.

Eostre 22 March

Also called Ostara, or the Spring (Vernal) named after the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of the Dawn and origin of the word "Easter." Equinox occurs when the night and day are of equal length and celebrate the Feast of Planting and Rebirth. In Wales, Ostara was known as Lady Day and signified the official return of the Goddess from her long winter hibernation. Many of the myths associated with Ostara concern trips by dieties into the mysterious underworld, and their struggle and eventual return to the land of the living.

Beltaine 1 May

Also called May Day, Beltane, Bealtaine (Celtic), Walpurgis (Teutonic), Rudemas (Mexican Craft), Festival of Tana (Strega) occurs on May 1st, falling opposite Samhain in the wheel of the year.. Beltane marks the start of summer, the beginning of the light half of the year and is a time for feasting, merry-making, celebration, and joy. It is a time to look outward and forwardto the future, and to prepare for the warm summer months ahead. It is also a time for love and union, representing the Divine Union of the Goddess and the God.

Litha 22 June

The Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year. Litha represents the Sun King in all his glory and power. It is a celebration of passion and of ensuring the success of the crop. The Goddess is heavy with pregnancy and so is the earth. Activities are mostly those to do with civilization and culture.

Lammas 1 August

Also known as Lughnasadh, Lugnasad (Celtic), Feast of Lugh,Loaf-mass, Cornucopia (Strega) or Thingtide (Teutonic). It represents the beginning of the harvest cycle. In Western paganism, it is a grain festival which is sometimes called the Sabbat of the First Fruits. Lammas or Lughnassadh honors the Celtic God Lugh, God of harvest, fire, light and sun

who undergoes a shamanic sacrificial death and rebirth as a sheaf of grain at Lughnasadh, and/or the Barley God, who dies and is transformed into beer.

Mabon September 21st

Also known as Winter Finding (Teutonic), Mabon is the Autumn Equinox and is associated with the taking of corn and the completion of the harvest. Druids honored the willow tree, a tree associated with death and rebirth, and cut their wands from its branches just before Mabon. After this night of balance, darkness will once again overcome the light.