An esbat /ˈɛsbæt/ is a coven meeting or ritual at a time other than one of the Sabbats[1] within Wicca and other Wiccan-influenced forms of contemporary Paganism.
Esbats can span a wide range of purposes from coven business meetings and initiation ceremonies[2] to social gatherings, times of merriment, and opportunities to commune with the divine.
[3] Janet and Stewart Farrar describe esbats as an opportunity for a "love feast, healing work, psychic training and all.
[5] Esbats are a time set aside for formal worship and have been described as similar to Sundays for Christians or Friday nights for Jewish people.
Tools such as candles, athames, incense, pentacles, items from nature, bowls of water, mirrors, and crystals are commonly placed on an altar.
[5] The ceremony begins with participants establishing a sacred space by casting a circle or purifying the area by smudging.
[12] New moon esbats may be used to worship a dark or maiden goddess, to banish something unwanted, or to end a phase in life.
Through her body, the goddess speaks to the group by answering questions, giving instructions, offering blessings, or simply "[pouring] her loving energy into the circle and [leading] you in a merry spiral dance.
The ceremony of cakes and ale is the other main component which typically concludes the full moon esbat.