The Sabbats

The whole year, collectively, tells the story of the sun's path through mythical archetypes, but it's the eight Sabbats which are focused on. Why eight? There are four major and four minor Sabbats. The Sabbats are placed according to the changing seasons. The seasons are caused by the tilt of the earth's axis (X), being 23 ½ degrees. The sun follows along the ecliptic (Z), throughout the year. As you can see from the image below, the angles should become obvious.
It was once believed, not so long ago, that the distance of the earth from the sun played a role in the seasons. Though this may be true, to some degree, the distance doesn't play a major role. Looking at the axis points (X), we can see how the north and south poles are tilted. At the summer and winter soltice, the sun's position will appear high and low, respectively. In otherwords, in summer, the north pole faces the sun. In winter, the north pole leans away from it.

If the summer solstice is in the northern hemisphere, where the sun is at it's highest peek, then the winter Solstice will be in the southern hemisphere. Though the sun appears to rise and fall throughout the year, the fact remains that it's the earth's tilt which allows this effect to occur. The earth's equator (Y) marks the center, dividing the earth in half. 23 ½ degrees above and below the equator lay the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. So what does this mean? The sun reaches equal balance only twice a year. This marks the equinox of spring and autumn. This means that the earth's equator (Y) and the ecliptic (Z) are level and in perfect balance. During this time, many people enjoy balancing eggs. The sun reaches its highest peek at the summer solstice, which places the sun at 23 ½ degrees above the earth's equator. This place marks the limit of the sun's direct light. This occurs on the first day of the sign of Cancer.

When the sun enters Capricorn, the sun is at it's lowest peek. This is the winter solstice. This means that the sun lays beneath the equator (Y) at 23 ½ degrees. Keep in mind that while the northern hemisphere celebrates summer, the southern hemisphere celebrates winter, and vice versa. Be aware that the earth reaches perihelion (closest point to the sun) in January, and reaches aphelion (furthest point from the sun) in July, six months later. This occurs because the earth's orbit around the sun is elliptical, and not a perfect circle.

Because of the earth's tilt (X), the hottest day of the year occurs during perihelion and the coldest occurs during aphelion. The equinox and the solstice mark the minor Sabbats. You would thinks that they would be considered the major Sabbats, but this was given to those days which lay in between. The puzzling questionis, why do the Major Sabbats occur. There's a simple explanation. Summer and winter are the two seasons which have the most focus. Spring and autumn fall next in line of importance. The days we celebrate for summer and winter are not the beginning of the seasons. This is why they're called midsummer and midwinter. With this understanding, you can assume that midspring and midautumn follow the same rules. So when do these seasons actually begin?

The actual dating for the seasons falls one and a half months before. For example, since Capricorn marks the first day of midwinter, the beginning of this season lays one and a half months, previous, making this around the time of Scorpio - Scorpion being the time of Samhain. The major Sabbats mark the actual time for the beginning of the seasons, while the minor Sabbats mark the middle point, in between.

People often make the mistake of celebrating Samhain and the full moon of Scorpio (Topaz Moon), when in fact, these are the same days. The actual day for celebrating Samhain is during the Scorpion Moon. The same holds true for the celebrations of the major Sabbats, according to the full moons which fall in the designated signs of the Zodiac.