For me, Mabon feels like it is more to do with celebrating Autumn, welcoming it's arrival. We are on the pivotal point when day and night are equal - there are equal amounts of light and darkness in our lives. This second harvest festival is closer to American Thanksgiving day, and seems to have the most in common with it. Although we can give thanks at Lughnasadh, the first harvest festival, we seem to be giving thanks mostly for the grain harvest, and some early berries. A big thank you for the good in our lives. At Mabon, I think we are being thankful for both the light and the darkness. For if we did not have the bad (dark) things in our lives, we would not truly appreciate the good (light) things in our lives. So we give thanks for the good, but also acknowledge the dark things in our lives that we would not usually want to acknowledge. Without the bad, we cannot truly appreciate the good. I found these words on About.com's Pagan Wiccan website, I find them inspiring, and they may be something you want to incorporate into your own celebrations or rituals:
Demeter, Inanna, Kali, Tiamet, Hecate, Nemesis, Morrighan.
Bringers of destruction and darkness,
I embrace you tonight.
Without rage, we cannot feel love,
Without pain, we cannot feel happiness,
Without the night, there is no day,
Without death, there is no life.
Great goddesses of the night, I thank you.
The Autumn Equinox is a time to think of the myth of Demeter and Persephone. Demeter loses her daughter, Persephone, who is kidnapped by Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. He keeps her down there for the next 6 months, while her mother Demeter is overcome with grief. She roams the earth, which now becomes cold and all life dies as the world feels her anguish. After 6 months, Hades eventually agrees to release Persephone. But only after he has tricked her into eating 6 Pomegranate seeds, one for each month of each year that she will have to stay in the Underworld. So each year afterwards, Persephone has to once again leave her mother and spend half the year in the Underworld with Hades, as Demeter once again mourns the loss of her daughter, and life on earth withers and dies, until Persephone's return next Spring. It is a beautiful story that explains the cold and the winter very well.
This story also reflects how we feel at this time of year. The dark months of the year are for inward reflection, rest, and renewal. It is a time of change, when we usually embark on a new phase in life, one which will change and transform us. This could come in the form of a course of study where we personally are learning something new, or it could be a change of job, as has happened to me in the past. Just like Persephone, we often feel restless before the Autumnal Equinox, there is that energy in the air, and we just can't settle, nor are we willing to remain the same. We want something new, something different. And just like Persephone, we can spend the winter months renewing ourselves and discovering new things, for her in a strange new world. We can return in the Spring with new skills and new knowledge, ready to shine in the new sun, renewed and very much alive. So consider doing something new to improve yourself and/or your knowledge.
Now is also the time of year to consider the dark goddesses, as well as to feel closer to the Moon Goddess. The Moon can be seen clearer and more often as the nights draw in. I feel a closer connection with the Moon in the darker months of the year, as she shines so brightly down at us. A great time of the year to learn more about her, spend time soaking up the Moon's rays, make Moon Water, or create a shrine / altar to honour and connect with her.
Mabon is traditionally a time of feasting, enjoying the new winter vegetables, and the fruits we are harvesting - now is the time of Bramble and Grapes, the fruits of the vine, for which we can honour the God of the forest (the Horned God), and thank the Goddess for the vegetables grown in the ground. Be thankful for this abundance of food that will keep us through the winter, but also be thankful for all the abundance in your life, your wealth, health, and your friends and family you can gather round you in this time of feasting and celebration.
Be sure to decorate your home and/or altar with autumn leaves, fruits and vegetables, scarecrows, toadstools (ornaments only I would hope!), and anything else that symbolises Autumn for you. Perhaps Autumn fairies, Autumn colours (red, yellow, orange and brown). A good source of Autumn decorations can also be found if you try looking for Autumn Wedding Decorations - there are a surprising number of beautiful decorations available. As this is the time of equal night and day, exactly 12 hours of each, you can decorate with symbols of balance, e.g. Yin Yang symbols, a black candle and a white candle, a Sun and a Moon, the Horned God and the Goddess, opposites of each other, in harmony and balance at this special time.
Favourite pastimes of the Autumn Equinox include storytelling around a camp fire (use a candle if necessary) - the spookier the better, holding a dinner feast inviting friends and family, saying thanks for what you are grateful for, or even just making a pretty Grateful List with pretty leaves and Autumn leaves making a decorative border. Another even simpler idea, is just to get out there and go for a walk, noticing the signs of Autumn. I love the leaves in the wind, the sound of rustling trees, the cool crisp air, ripening brambles on their branches, everything feels so alive. Right now I keep hearing about and seeing photos of squirrels - what better symbol of Autumn than squirrels? Especially red squirrels for their lovely Autumn colour. Whatever you do, enjoy your Autumn sabbat - it only comes once a year!
This story also reflects how we feel at this time of year. The dark months of the year are for inward reflection, rest, and renewal. It is a time of change, when we usually embark on a new phase in life, one which will change and transform us. This could come in the form of a course of study where we personally are learning something new, or it could be a change of job, as has happened to me in the past. Just like Persephone, we often feel restless before the Autumnal Equinox, there is that energy in the air, and we just can't settle, nor are we willing to remain the same. We want something new, something different. And just like Persephone, we can spend the winter months renewing ourselves and discovering new things, for her in a strange new world. We can return in the Spring with new skills and new knowledge, ready to shine in the new sun, renewed and very much alive. So consider doing something new to improve yourself and/or your knowledge.
Now is also the time of year to consider the dark goddesses, as well as to feel closer to the Moon Goddess. The Moon can be seen clearer and more often as the nights draw in. I feel a closer connection with the Moon in the darker months of the year, as she shines so brightly down at us. A great time of the year to learn more about her, spend time soaking up the Moon's rays, make Moon Water, or create a shrine / altar to honour and connect with her.
Mabon is traditionally a time of feasting, enjoying the new winter vegetables, and the fruits we are harvesting - now is the time of Bramble and Grapes, the fruits of the vine, for which we can honour the God of the forest (the Horned God), and thank the Goddess for the vegetables grown in the ground. Be thankful for this abundance of food that will keep us through the winter, but also be thankful for all the abundance in your life, your wealth, health, and your friends and family you can gather round you in this time of feasting and celebration.
Be sure to decorate your home and/or altar with autumn leaves, fruits and vegetables, scarecrows, toadstools (ornaments only I would hope!), and anything else that symbolises Autumn for you. Perhaps Autumn fairies, Autumn colours (red, yellow, orange and brown). A good source of Autumn decorations can also be found if you try looking for Autumn Wedding Decorations - there are a surprising number of beautiful decorations available. As this is the time of equal night and day, exactly 12 hours of each, you can decorate with symbols of balance, e.g. Yin Yang symbols, a black candle and a white candle, a Sun and a Moon, the Horned God and the Goddess, opposites of each other, in harmony and balance at this special time.
Favourite pastimes of the Autumn Equinox include storytelling around a camp fire (use a candle if necessary) - the spookier the better, holding a dinner feast inviting friends and family, saying thanks for what you are grateful for, or even just making a pretty Grateful List with pretty leaves and Autumn leaves making a decorative border. Another even simpler idea, is just to get out there and go for a walk, noticing the signs of Autumn. I love the leaves in the wind, the sound of rustling trees, the cool crisp air, ripening brambles on their branches, everything feels so alive. Right now I keep hearing about and seeing photos of squirrels - what better symbol of Autumn than squirrels? Especially red squirrels for their lovely Autumn colour. Whatever you do, enjoy your Autumn sabbat - it only comes once a year!
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