How to Celebrate the Sabbats like a Minimalist

Anyone familiar with Wicca, Paganism, Witchcraft, spell work or celebrating Sabbats probably knows that this category of spirituality often comes with a lot of….things.

Which is why combining a minimalist lifestyle with a Pagan lifestyle can be pretty challenging at first glance. Most tutorials on how to perform magickal spells or celebrate the high holidays have a long list of things you need. The perfect coloured candles and all the right things for your altar, all the seasonal decorations for your home. It can be pretty overwhelming and your life can get pretty cluttered when you’re focused on doing things just right!

One reason why I have had a sort of push and pull relationship with my pagan path is because I’ve felt like the practices focused so much on acquiring all of these things, which meant little to me. After reading the long list of things that I needed to go out and buy for a ritual, I’ve often been left asking myself why.

Why do I need these things? What do these things mean to me? Why are these items the exact things I need in order to bring what I want into my life?

Through asking myself these questions I have come to the personal realization that at the end of the day, it’s the personal meaning that you associate with symbols and objects that matters, and that’s all that really matters. Not whether or not someone else who wrote a long list of items needed for a spell believed that apples in spell work will attract your dream lover. I personally believe that if apples have nothing to with love in your mind, then such a spell would be ineffective to you.

This is why I believe it is in fact far more powerful in Pagan and Magickal practices to ditch all of the unnecessary things and focus on the meanings and feelings you want to create – and do so through experiences.

And so, here I am going to share some of my favourite minimalist ways to celebrate the Pagan Holidays:

· Spend time in nature. That’s what the High Holidays are all about after all! The best way to celebrate the changing of the seasons is to get out there and experience them!

· Outdoor activities. Seasonal outdoor sports are a good way to get out and experience the energy of nature. Checking in with the seasonal happenings in your community is also a great way to experience the season and create awesome memories. Whether it’s a seasonal festival or an activities that only pops up in a certain season (for example in my town you can go ice skating in the center of town, but only in winter), this is a great way to get amongst the community and feel festive alongside others.

· Use the turning of the wheel as an excuse to have a clean out, a minimalists favourite pass time! Since each Sabbat represents the end of one phase and the beginning of another, they can mark the perfect times throughout the year to re-evaluate your priorities and to let go of anything you’ve been holding on to that you no longer need, including things and habits you’ve acquired.

· Listen to some seasonal music to get yourself in the mood. One of my favourite things to do for each Sabbat is to create a playlist specific to the season and the meaning of the particular Sabbat. I often start doing this about a week in advance so that by the time the Sabbat rolls around I already have an awesome witchy playlist to get e in the festive mood.

· Do something good for the environment! Paganism and the Sabbats are all about re-connecting with Mother Nature, and so I think one of the best possible ways to celebrate is by doing something good for the earth. It could be volunteering to help clean up your local parks, or it could changing a small habit in your daily life to make yourself more environmentally friendly as a person. An environmentally friendly life and a Pagan life really go hand in hand.

· Cook, bake or prepare a feast using in-season foods. The traditional dishes for each Sabbat come from the seasonal foods of that time and place when they were historically celebrated. Because the Sabbats are all about connecting with nature, it makes the most sense to me to celebrate what grows in your current time and place. So shop locally and come up with some recipe’s using seasonal food grown in your own country, to authentically celebrate Mother Nature and become closer to her.

· Journal about how this point in the wheel of the year affects you and your life. This is the most consistent way that I celebrate every Sabbat, is the easiest and honestly the most important part of my practice. Writing about how your feeling and what you’re experience in each passing season can really help you to understand how you relate to each season and how the cycles of nature affect you. Writing about what each Sabbat personally means to you and reflecting upon how it is symbolically unfolding in your life is in my opinion, the best way to develop personal relationships with each holiday.

These are definitely my favourite ways to celebrate the Sabbats, and none of them require purchasing any extra stuff! Focusing on your personal meanings and experiences will enrich your spiritual journey more than anything.