Magical Days - Times of the Year that I observe

Sabbats Honoring the new season or Midseason by a feast and outdoor activity. Usually followed by a ritual. (I, O, B, L, L, M, S,Y) Midpoints Transitions (active) Time where I focus on the seasonal transition by certain chores and activities to prepare me for the shift. 

Zeniths (passive) Point of where the season feels at it’s height. Time to do activities to enjoy the moment like a week-long festivity.  More casual Esbats Each full moon has it’s themes or points of reflection. I observe them usually through shadow work, or spell work. Mostly just self reflect, do a tarot spread or take a magical bath. It depends on the moon and the current sign it’s in. 

Double Days Observing the power of numerology and the effect it has on these days. Usually do a spell to attract or banish something towards my life in the power of that number. 

Birthdays Birthdays in our culture are already magical. We pick a dessert of our choosing and blow out candles to make a wish. Do spells to attract things of your desire and bring good fortune to your new year. For friends I like to pick a candle of their favorite color (I have all of my close friends favorite colors memorized lol) and do a blessing for them. 

Other Holidays Christmas Bless gifts or artwork on cards that you wish to give to friends and loved ones. This is generally just a magical day of love and togetherness, even if you don’t have your own loving support group if you have one person you care about its nice to send good energy as gifts. 

New Years Cast spells to attract what you desire or put the odds in your favor to achieve what you want for the new year. This also falls on the 1st double day which represents inspiration and bringing new things to life. Reflect on the new year’s world number and what that might entail for what’s to come.  Midsummer Point where the days begin to get slightly darker as we enter the increasingly colder part of the year. Witches are said to be on their way to meetings and fairies are causing mischief. I like to make a magical fire (either with sparklers or chemicals that make different colored flames) and cast wishes into it and drink colorful sparkling cocktails and just generally be outside to honor the first early sunset of the year.  Valentines Day A crafty day for self-love bubble baths, home made sweets packed with blessings and spells for friends and casting love spells. 

Zeniths and Transitions

There are a few other times of the year that I don't consider as magical as the sabbats but are important to my practice. (I sometimes refer to them as midpoints since they sit between the sabbats.) They are such minor moments in the wheel that I was hesitant about sharing but I have been sharing some stuff from my personal path you guys seem to like so I'm deciding to share this too!

Observing these days can also be helpful to witches that don't necessarily want to follow the wheel but do want to take time to honor the seasons or nature around them. Some witches I spoke to kind of celebrate what I am typing out already in their own way (It's just they don't have names for them). These both don't have specific dates but just specific times. One can look at them as a 'festival' since they can span up to 10 days.

Zeniths

Passive

Autumn Zenith (Oct 10-20) Winter Zenith  (Jan 10-20) Spring Zenith  (Apr 10-20) Summer Zenith  (Jul 10-20)

The Zenith of the seasons is when the season is in it's height. It has had a few weeks to warm up and it's in the middle of it. (The difference between a Zenith and a Cross Quarter is that the Cross Quarter is the Peak of the season. After the Cross Quarter the season feels like its going to a slight decline, or towards its end before the transition. Like after Samhain, autumn starts to look bare and brown, before the transitional frost, after Imbolc there's fewer snow storms and more melting slushy snow scenery before the early spring rains and mist that wash it away etc. etc.) The purpose of celebrating the Zenith is to be in the moment of the season. The Zeniths can be seen as more passive celebrations where as the Transitions are more active, so these are really about having a chill time connecting with the seasons and enjoying them. Do an activity by yourself or with friends to really get the most of it. For example for fall, one do a hayride, make home made enchanted candy for Samhain, visit a haunted house with friends, make crafts like carving pumpkins. For spring, one could take a bike ride and enjoy the blooms and carry some jars in their backpack to collect petals and flowers for spells, or even embark on a project like growing butterflies. For Winter one could go visit a sauna house to rejuvenate their wintery skin or make ice lanterns to bring light and warm to the outside of their home and collect snow water. For summer one can make easy no churn enchanted ice cream and simply just appreciate the outdoors. The best thing one can possible do (If one can be able to do it/afford it) is to take trips during the zeniths. For Fall that could mean taking one to the countryside, or mountain where the leaves are in bright colors to do apple picking, pie tasting, enjoying a weekend in the country just being in nature and collecting leaves, light acorn tealights, having a bonfire, a hayride, making cider from the harvested apples for Samhain, harvesting pumpkins and carving them (adding sigils inside for extra protection). For Winter this can mean going to the mountains or anywhere hilly and snow covered to enjoy some sledding outdoors, (if you live near one) enjoy natural hot springs or go to a sauna house, ice skating, hot pot, have a winter walk in the woods and bury spells under the snow. For Spring this can mean visiting a park with blossoms. There is a huge park by me in Newark NJ with gorgeous poofy pink cherry blossoms, forsythia and magnolias every year. It's a great time to go outside and collect flower petals for spells, have a picnic and if you're by yourself take something to draw with, leave offerings to fairies if you like them, throw seed bombs (of noninvasive plants), get high and enjoy the spring blooms outside (4/20 is around this time), douse yourself in home made floral perfumes to attract love, or make floral baths or cookies to celebrate the season. For Summer this can mean taking a trip to the beach or camping in the mountains. I always prefer the beach because it's nearby and it's Cancer season (the watery emotional summery crab sign so what better place to be than at the beach?) Enjoy the water, take jars of sea water, collect seashells for necklaces or runes, use your kitchen witchery to make some enchanted frozen treats or cold drinks for your trip, collect drift wood, absorb the sun rays, draw sigils into the soft sand before the shore and let the waves take them away. Making trips during the Zenith is a big thing for me, even if it's to a nearby park or as far as the countryside. It really does not have to be over the top at all, just whatever is convenient and what makes you feel one with the season.

Transitions 

Active

Frost Transition (Nov 30-Dec 10) Thawing Transition (Feb 28th-Mar 10) Green Transition (May 30-Jun 10) Harvest Transition (Aug 30-Sep 10)

As I have mentioned before Transitions are more active. They are about preparing for the next season. These often require more participation and rituals. I tend to see them as personal workshops.

For the Frost Transition (Fall into Winter) I prepare for the upcoming holidays and the winter season. I usually take out my lighter fall clothing (and any summer clothing if I still have it in my closet) and replace it with heavier clothing. Any old clothes like sweaters or shirts I don't like I give away to charities or make a cute gift from them (like sock animals!) If I was better at knitting this would be a time I would start a bundle of knitting projects to make friends scarves and gloves for the season to gift around Yule. This transition is like a holiday workshop where since the year is ending I try to get rid of some stuff but a lot of the stuff I have still has value (which is why I am such a pack rat about my things) and I find ways to take them apart and make cool useful holiday things with them. For example I tend to collect too many acorns in fall so I collect acorns and pine cones to decorate the tree with. I also tend to have a surplus of pretty bottles so I would thoroughly rinse them out and make a home made bubble bath solution and re-gift them that way. I have so much candle stuff everywhere its the time I make gift candles for people. You get the point (its not like re-gifting where someone gave you something a year ago and you decide to give it to someone else but actually transforming something you have and making it useful for yourself or someone else). Also your garden might be in hibernation mode by now but if it's not, it's a great time to take whatever is left, whether it be herbs or fruit and dry them. For herbs you can make teas to gift to others or store during the winter. For fruits you can make either jams or if you have a dehydrator, make them into teas as well (and gift them!). To honor this Transition and the upcoming frost I like to eat powdered donuts or 'frosted' looking treats as I work on my decorating and holiday gifting.

The Thawing Transition (Winter into Spring) is one of the most intense personal workshops because I see it as the cleansing period. After Imbolc, February is the time I clean the home and all the old stuff in there but from March to the Equinox is when I focus on cleansing the body. This means a month of zesty green juices, less processed food, sugars, diary and heavy meat from my diet, in honor of the rainy misty season, I drink tons of water ritualistically like 6 times a day I have an alarm set in my phone when I should drink. It requires discipline like a fasting but its more like a seasonal diet that I relieve on Ostara. Since its a little less cold in this time of year my house pre-spring cleaning gets more intense as I could open up windows and let in more air as I toss out anything old I don't want and scrub down surfaces.

The Green Transition (Spring to Summer) is only work intensive if you have a garden. Around Beltane is when I repot plants and put new flowers into the ground, but this transition is great for making sure your garden is good to go for the summer and planting vegetables and herbs and making sure all is well. (It's more laid back for me cause my mom is a serious gardener and does 80% of this) I just like to make food out of late spring savory blossoms like squash or chives (a chive flower brothy soup is great!) and it's also Rose season so making rose oil and rose extract is a great activity for this time.

The Harvest Transition (Summer to Fall) if you have a garden that was doing well it's around this time you get a lot of fruits of your labor. This is tomato season and it's great to honor this transition by enjoying a wonderful tomato salad or soup. This is the reaping season so you will earn back from your garden what you have given it. If you don't have a garden you will notice it's this time of year that Farmers Markets are bustling and have so much delicious and fresh produce. This is kind of the least busiest transition because its mostly about collecting and waiting for fall. I kind of hate this time of year because I just want fall to happen already lol. It's a great time however to start cider making for Mabon!