What to Burn for Mabon, Samhain and Yule
The three dark-half sabbats, the botanicals traditionally burned at each, the 2026 dates and their real windows, how to work with charcoal, and the one plant on the Yule list to leave alone.
Contents
The dark half of the wheel holds three sabbats. Mabon falls at the autumn equinox — the evening of September 22 in 2026 across the continental US — and is traditionally burned with myrrh and vetiver. Samhain falls on October 31 and takes the bitter, clearing herbs: mugwort and juniper. Yule falls at the winter solstice, December 21, and takes frankincense with fir, spruce or cedar. None of these are appointments: each festival has a window of roughly two weeks, so burn on an evening you can actually give an hour to. Use a heatproof bowl with an inch of sand, let the charcoal go fully grey before adding a pinch of blend, and ventilate afterwards. Skip the mistletoe berries traditional lists put under Yule — American mistletoe berries are toxic if swallowed, and evergreen tips give the same note with none of the question.
The September equinox and December solstice are astronomical events whose dates shift by a day or two and depend on time zone.
American mistletoe (Phoradendron) berries are toxic if ingested.
Burning plant material releases particulate matter and volatile compounds into indoor air.
Samhain as a seasonal turning point is attested in early Irish literature.
The eight-fold wheel of the year in its current form was assembled in mid-twentieth-century British revivalist practice.
Myrrh and vetiver for Mabon, mugwort and juniper for Samhain, frankincense and evergreen for Yule.
Mugwort is customarily avoided in pregnancy in traditional herbal practice, including as smoke.
Burning within a multi-week window rather than on the exact festival day.
That the smoke clears a space, carries intention or protects a household.
VERIFIED = verifiable in scientific or official sources · TRADITIONAL = historically or culturally recorded · LIVED PRACTICE = widely practiced, experiential knowledge · NOT PROVEN = spiritual interpretation, not scientifically established.
The second half of the wheel is the quiet half. Between the equinox and the solstice the evenings get long, the house gets closed up, and the practice most people reach for is smoke — something burning slowly in a bowl while the light goes.
This guide covers the three autumn-and-winter sabbats and what is traditionally burned at each: Mabon at the autumn equinox, Samhain on October 31, and Yule at the winter solstice. It gives the dates for this year, the botanicals, the timing windows, and the practical parts nobody writes down — ventilation, smoke alarms, and which plant on the traditional Yule list you should not actually put on charcoal.
The three dates, and why the window matters more
Two of the three move. The equinoxes and solstices are astronomical events, not calendar dates, so they drift by a day or so from year to year and depend on your time zone.
| Sabbat | 2026 date (continental US) | Practical window |
|---|---|---|
| Mabon — autumn equinox | Evening of September 22 | Mid-September to early October |
| Samhain | October 31 into November 1 | Late October to early November |
| Yule — winter solstice | December 21, afternoon | Mid-December into early January |
The equinox falls late on September 22 across the mainland US and in the small hours of September 23 in universal time, which is why you will see both dates printed. Either is fine. So is the following weekend.
This is the single most useful thing to know when you are starting: none of these are appointments. A sabbat is a season, not a timestamp. If the equinox lands on a Tuesday when you get home at nine, burn something on Saturday. The practice does not degrade.
A word on where the eight-fold wheel came from
Worth saying plainly, because the internet is confident and mostly wrong about it. The individual festivals are old and well attested — Samhain appears in early Irish literature, and midwinter observances are documented across northern Europe for a very long time. The tidy eight-spoked wheel that puts all of them on one calendar is much newer. It was assembled in the mid-twentieth century in British revivalist witchcraft, largely through the exchange between Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols in the 1950s, and it spread from there.
That does not make it less usable. It makes it a modern framework built from older parts, which is a fair description of most living ritual practice. We have a fuller account in our guide to the wheel of the year.
Mabon: myrrh and vetiver
The equinox is the balance point — day and night the same length, and then the tipping. Mabon is the harvest-thanks sabbat, and the mood is inventory rather than celebration: what actually came in this year, what did not, what you are carrying into the dark half.
The classic pairing is myrrh and vetiver. Myrrh is a resin — it goes on charcoal, not in a stick — and it smells nothing like the sweet "myrrh" of holiday marketing. It is bitter, dry, slightly medicinal, and it settles a room fast. Vetiver is a root, deeply earthy, and it is the ballast that keeps myrrh from going austere.
Add if you have them: dried apple peel, oak leaf, marigold, a little cinnamon. Anything from your own late garden is more appropriate here than anything you can order.
Samhain: mugwort and juniper
Samhain is the year's hinge and the ancestor night. The practice is about the dead, about letting things end, and about protection while you do it — which is why the traditional botanicals are the bitter, sharp, clearing ones rather than the sweet ones.
Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) is the ancestor and dream herb across a lot of European practice, and it grows as a roadside weed through most of the US. Juniper is the old northern purification smoke; the berries and the needles both burn, and the needles are gentler.
One caution. Mugwort is a uterine stimulant in traditional herbal use and is customarily avoided in pregnancy, including as smoke. It is also in the aster family, so if ragweed season is rough on you, it may be too. Juniper instead.
If you are building the altar side of Samhain rather than the smoke side, our Samhain ancestor altar guide covers that, and the dumb supper covers the table version.
From the temple
Herb & Resin Incense — Six Botanical Blends
$26.95 · six loose blends
If you would rather not assemble three separate shopping lists, this is the practical way in: six loose herb-and-resin blends in one box, which is enough range to carry you from the equinox through to January. Loose blend goes on a charcoal disk or a screen — the same setup for all three sabbats.
Yule: frankincense, evergreen — and not the mistletoe berries
The solstice is the shortest day and the turn. Yule is the hope sabbat, and the smoke should be bright rather than heavy.
Frankincense is the obvious resin, and it is the one most people already recognize by smell. Pair it with evergreen: fir or spruce tips, cedar, pine needles. A few needles from the tree you already have in the house is the most seasonally honest incense there is, and it costs nothing.
Traditional lists usually put mistletoe here, and this is where a European guide needs adjusting for an American reader. The mistletoe sold in the US at the holidays is generally Phoradendron, and its berries are toxic if swallowed — a genuine concern in a house with children or a cat working the countertops. Burning plant material does not make it inert, and there is no good reason to find out. Use the evergreen tips and leave the berries on the sprig over the doorway.
For the rest of the solstice, see winter solstice rituals.
Where to actually get this in the US
Three of these five botanicals are easy to buy and two are easy to gather, which changes the economics of a seasonal practice considerably.
- Frankincense and myrrh are sold as tears — irregular resin lumps. Buy them that way rather than as powder; powder is often cut with filler and it burns fast and bitter. Middle Eastern and Ethiopian groceries frequently carry both at a fraction of what a metaphysical shop charges for the same resin in a smaller jar.
- Vetiver is sold as dried root, sometimes as "khus." Indian groceries are the reliable source.
- Juniper is sold as culinary berries in any well-stocked spice aisle, and those burn perfectly well. If you have junipers or eastern red cedar nearby, the trimmed needles work and cost nothing.
- Mugwort grows as a common weed across much of the US and is straightforward to harvest and dry in bundles in late summer. Two cautions if you gather it: stay well away from road verges, rail lines and anywhere that may be sprayed, and be confident of the identification — Artemisia vulgaris has silvery undersides to the leaves and is distinctive, but the general rule about not burning a plant you cannot name applies here as much as it does to eating one.
A pinch is genuinely a pinch, so quantities that look absurdly small will last a full season. An ounce of resin is more than most people burn between one equinox and the next.
The three side by side
| Sabbat | Core botanicals | Register | Best format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mabon | Myrrh, vetiver, apple peel, oak | Grounded, dry, thankful | Resin and root on charcoal |
| Samhain | Mugwort, juniper, bay, a little copal | Bitter, clearing, protective | Loose herb on charcoal or a screen |
| Yule | Frankincense, fir, spruce, cedar, orange peel | Bright, resinous, warm | Resin plus fresh needles |
How to actually burn it
- Set up before you need it. A heatproof bowl, an inch of sand or salt, a charcoal disk. Sand is not decorative — it is what keeps the bowl from cracking and the table from scorching.
- Light the charcoal and then leave it alone. Hold it with tongs at the edge until it sparks across, set it in the sand, and wait until it is grey all over. Rushing this is why the first attempt smokes bitterly.
- A pinch. Genuinely a pinch. Loose blend on a live coal produces far more smoke than people expect. Start with less than looks right and add.
- Say what it's for. One sentence, out loud, whatever the sabbat is asking of you. This is the part that makes it a ritual rather than air freshening.
- Air the room afterward and let the coal die completely. Charcoal holds heat for a long time after it stops glowing visibly. It goes cold in the bowl, not in the trash.
The mechanics of charcoal are covered properly in burning resin incense on charcoal. If you are in a small apartment, read burning incense in an apartment first — the seasonal blends are smokier than sticks, and that is worth planning around.
Building the year rather than the evening
The reason to keep the same three blends year to year is not that the botanicals are correct. It is that repetition builds the association. By the third autumn, the myrrh does something on the first pinch that it did not do the first time you tried it — not because the resin changed, but because you have three years of equinoxes attached to it.
That is the whole argument for a wheel-of-the-year practice, and it is an honest one. It has nothing to do with the smoke having properties.
What we don't promise
- We don't claim any of these plants clear energy, protect a household, or influence outcomes. Those readings are traditional and we present them as tradition.
- We don't claim burning incense is good for you. It puts particulates and volatile compounds into indoor air. Ventilate, and be conservative if anyone in the house has asthma or another respiratory condition.
- We don't claim any of this treats, prevents or relieves a medical condition, and nothing here is a substitute for care.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to burn on the exact day of the sabbat?
No. Each festival has a window of a couple of weeks — mid-September to early October for Mabon, late October to early November for Samhain, mid-December into January for Yule. Pick an evening you can actually give an hour to.
What is the difference between Mabon and Samhain botanicals?
Mabon leans warm and grounding — resin and root, myrrh and vetiver. Samhain leans bitter and clearing — mugwort, juniper, bay. Roughly: Mabon is for taking stock, Samhain is for putting down.
Can I use incense sticks instead of loose blends?
Yes, and for a lot of homes it is the better choice. Sticks smoke less, produce contained ash, and need no charcoal. You lose the ability to build a blend, and you gain the ability to burn something on a Tuesday without opening every window.
Is mistletoe safe to burn for Yule?
We would not. American mistletoe berries are toxic if ingested, and there is no benefit that justifies the risk in a home with children or pets. Fir, spruce, cedar or pine needles give you the same evergreen note with none of the question.
Do I need a different blend for each sabbat?
No. One good resin blend and a bag of juniper will cover all three honestly. The separate blends are a convenience, not a requirement — the practice is the pause, not the inventory.
When is the winter solstice this year?
December 21, in the afternoon across the continental US. It shifts by a day either way in some years, so it is worth checking rather than assuming — and the window runs into early January regardless.
Carrying this into the new year: the sabbat that follows Yule is Imbolc, where the emphasis shifts from smoke to candle flame and washing. Our guide to how to celebrate Imbolc sets out what is actually documented for it and what is modern practice.
Sources and further reading
- Astronomical equinox and solstice times for 2026; local dates vary by time zone.
- On the assembly of the eight-fold wheel in mid-twentieth-century British revivalist practice, including the Gardner–Nichols exchange of the 1950s.
- Early Irish literary references to Samhain as a seasonal turning point.
- US poison-control guidance on Phoradendron (American mistletoe) berries.
Continue here: the wheel of the year · is Mabon actually ancient? · planetary incense by weekday