I've heard of the Wiccan Sabbats. Festivals which are supposed to tell the story of the God and Goddess. However, sadly, many of the sources I get my info from focus more on the Celebrations, instead of the actual myths and stories. I love stories and mythology a lot, and want to learn more about the Wiccan Sabbats. What exactly do each of them symbolize? What stories does each sabbat tell?
To start with your second question first, the Esbats are the rituals held on the Full Moon each month. Generally the Esbats are reserved for magical workings such as spells.
There are several good websites that discuss the Wheel of the Year, or the Sabbats. I highly recommend:
The Witches' Sabbats - http://www.witchessabbats.com/site/index.php/the-sabbats
About the Sabbats - http://proteuscoven.com/sabbats.htm
Wheel of the Year ( near the bottom of the page. Note this group is in the Southern Hemisphere so the dates are different, but the meaning of the Sabbats remains the same. ) http://www.applegroveonline.com/articles.html
The next Sabbat will be Samhain (pronounced Sow-en) falls on the 31st of October. Samhain is a complex Sabbat. Mythologically this is the time where the Goddess goes into the Underworld in search of the Horned Lord) With her absence growth of crops and plants ceases and the darkness gathers. It is also the time when the veil between the world thins and thus is a good time for meditation and divination. It is also a time to honor our Blessed Dead and our Ancestors. Samhain initiates a period of rest, reflection, and inner workings that is often though to last until Yule in December.
Feel free to ask me anything you'd like about the various Sabbats. And I'd be happy to suggest some books that will help you find ways to celebrate each of the Sabbats as we tread the mill.
Wicca is a relatively new religion. If you wish to know more first hand information, look for books written by Gerald Gardner who founded it, his high priestess Doreen Valiente, or one of his students like Alex Sanders or Raymond Buckland. As for a tale of the eight sabbats, the story I was told growing up goes as follows.
The God is born on Yule with the rising sun. On Imbolc, the young Goddess is learning of her powers and bringing the hints of spring. On Ostara, she is the maiden of spring, meets the young God and their romance blooms. On Beltane, they wed. At Litha, the God is at his peak strength, and gives his strength to the crops so they grow bountifully, and The Goddess is a mother, symbolized by the fields full of crops. At Lammas, The God dies and we harvest the wheat he gave us in exchange for his life. At Mabon, the Goddess is now the crone and we give thanks for all our blessings. At Samhain, she dies and the God prepares to be reborn on Yule and the cycle continues like that.
That is a point form version of the tale. On each holiday, we have a full tale of each moment, but that is the basic explanation of their lives. You can find articles about each holiday on this site, as well as others, YouTube, podcasts and books depending on how deep you wish to go in your research. You might also find online groups to learn from, not only here, but on Facebook and TikTok as well as other social media sites.
Llewellyn's Sabbat Essential is a great series to check out. Each book dives into the history of each sabbat as well as other holidays around that time. It then talks about modern traditions and includes how to celebrate it with rituals, spells, divination, prayers, deities and so on.
If you're looking for a free resource, just google each holiday. There are tons of articles detailing each one. The podcast 3 PAgans and a Cat has a building your book series in their first year in which they detail each Sabbat. In their second year, they go into further detail talking about celebrations.
There's a witches amino you could use, and while I'm not a member WitchtoK is a popular learning source. [also, there's tons of information on YouTube]
Each Sabbat has different tales depending on the specific path, and I'm not sure of all the ones exclusively Wiccan in nature, but each Pagan path that celebrates that sabbat all has a similar theme for each one, so you might be able to get a general idea of each holiday. Also, some have more information than others, mostly due to popularity in my opinion.
Nekoshema, it is certainly true that Druidry and Wicca celebrate the same Sabbats.
Wicca initially only celebrated the cross-quarter Sabbats of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lugnassad, and Samhain. The Druids celebrated the Equinoxes and the Solstices. Then Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca, and Ross Nichols, the founder of modern Druidry sat down and decided to combine the two since eight causes for celebration seemed like a jolly good idea. And so the current Wheel of the Year was born. So basically the holidays were voted in over a pint of beer.
Wicca doesn't actually have a lot of mythology to talk about other than the Wheel of the Year.
There is the myth that Gardner and others first put out that Wicca is the surviving faith of the ancient Pagans in Europe. This is largely based on some books by Margaret Murray which have long been discredited. You'll not likely run into any experienced Wiccans who buy into this old tale anymore. We just acknowledge that we are a modern religion that works for us.
There is no creation story in Wicca at all such as one might find in those who follow a Greek or Egyptian pantheon.
Another debunked bit of Wiccan lore that died out years ago is that of the "Burning Times" when it was claimed at 9 million women who practiced Wicca in Medieval times were killed for their beliefs. Since Wicca wasn't around them, they obviously weren't Wiccan. Many of those killed were accused of Witchcraft, but it is unlikely that most were not Witches. And the number of nine million is ridiculously high, more than the entire population of Europe at that time. There's a good article about this at http://www.tangledmoon.org/witchhunt.htm
So if you toss all of that out, what is left is the mythology regarding the Lord and Lady and the Wheel of the Year. In addition to the links I already gave you I would recommend the following books:
" The Witches' God " and " The Witches' Goddess " by Janet and Stewart Farrar
" The Witches' Bible " by Janet and Stewart Farrar
" Ancient Ways: Reclaiming the Pagan Tradition " by Pauline Campanelli and Dan Campanelli
" Triumph of the Moon " by Ronald Hutton
" Witchcraft Today " and " The Meaning of Witchcraft " by Gerald Gardner
