Mabon | Autumn Equinox

MABON: Around September 21st

Autumn Equinox, around September 21, is the time of the descent of the Goddess into the Underworld. With her departure, we see the decline of nature and the coming of winter. This is a classic, ancient mythos, seen the Sumerian myth of Inanna and in the ancient Greek and Roman legends of Demeter and Persephone.

In September, we also bid farewell to the Harvest Lord who was slain at Lammas. He is the Green Man, seen as the cycle of nature in the plant kingdom. He is harvested and his seeds are planted into the Earth so that lifenmay continue and be more abundant.

Mabon ("Great Son") is a Welsh god. He was a great hunter with a swift horse and a wonderful hound. He may have been a mythologized actualnleader. He was stolen from his mother, Modron (Great Mother),when he was three nights old, but was eventually rescued by King Arthur (other legends say he was rescued by the Blackbird, the Stag, the Owl, the Eagle, and the Salmon). All along, however, Mabon has been dwelling, a happy captive, in Modron's magickal Otherworld -- Madron's womb. Only in this way can he be reborn. Mabon's light has been drawn into the Earth, gathering strength and wisdom enough to become a new seed. In this sense, Mabon is the masculine counterpart of Persephone -- the male fertilizing principle seasonally withdrawn. Modron corresponds with Demeter.

From the moment of the September Equinox, the Sun's strength diminishes, until the moment of Winter Solstice in December, when the Sun grows stronger and the days once again become longer than the nights.
 

Symbols celebrating the season include various types of gourd and melons. Stalk can be tied together symbolizing the Harvest Lord and then set in a circle of gourds. A besom can be constructed to symbolize the polarity of male and female. The Harvest Lord is often symbolized by a straw man, whose sacrificial body is burned and its ashes scattered upon the earth. The Harvest Queen, or Kern Baby, is made from the last sheaf of the harvest and bundled by the reapers who proclaim, "We have the Kern!" The sheaf is dressed in a white frock decorated with colorful ribbons depicting spring, and then hung upon a pole (a phallic fertility symbol). In Scotland, the last sheaf of harvest is called the Maiden, and must be cut by the youngest female in attendance.

THE ALTAR

candles should be brown or cinnamon.
decorate circle with autumn flowers, acorns, gourds, corn sheaves and fall leaves.

HERBS

Rue, yarrow, rosemary, marigold, sage, walnut leaves and husks, mistletoe, saffron, chamomile, almond leaves, passionflower, frankincense, rose hips, bittersweet, sunflower, wheat, oak leaves, dried apple or apple seeds.

INCENSE

Pine, sage, sweetgrass or myrhh. You can also mix marigold, passionflower, and fern, using frankincense or myrhh as a resin for Mabon incense

STONES

During Mabon, stones ruled by the Sun will help bring the Sun's energy to you. clear quartz, amber, peridot, diamond, gold, citrine, yellow topaz, cat's-eye, aventurine.

Mabon is a good time to cast spells of balance and harmony. It's also a time of change. Protection, wealth and prosperity spells are appropriate as well.

HOLIDAY FARE

Mabon is the Witch's Thanksgiving, a time to appreciate and give thanks to the Goddess for her bounty and to share in the joys of the harvest. Fall fruits, squash, gourds, pumpkins, grains, nut breads, vegetables.

A magickal Mabon beverage: hot apple cider. Apple rules the heart, cider alone is a self- love potion. By spicing it with cinnamon, ruled by Jupiter and the Sun, we are in essence, ingesting the sunlight.

Sample menu #1: Mabon Wine Moon Cider, Roast Chicken Rubbed with Sage, Basil, and Thyme, Acorn Squash made with Sweet Butter, Cinnamon and Honey, and Apple Bread.

Sample menu #2: Wine from the god and beans and squashes from the goddess. A hearty multi-bean soup with smoked meats (optional), including such as cut-up mild sausage like mild Italian or Polish.

Mabon Wine Moon Cider

4 cups apple cider

1/2 tsp. whole cloves
4 cups grape juice
2 cinnamon sticks for cups, 6 inches long

additional cinnamon sticks
1 tsp allspice

In a 4-quart saucepan, heat cider and grape juice. Add cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Bring just to boiling. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve with ladle from a cauldron. Makes 8 cups.

ACTIVITES

Make grapevine wreaths using dried bitter-sweet herb for protection. Use ribbons of gold and yellow to bring in the energy of the Sun, and decorate with sprigs of dried yarrow or cinnamon sticks.

Make a Magickal Horn of Plenty.

Make Magickal Scented Pinecones.

Make a protection charm of hazelnuts (filberts) strung on red thread.

Collect milkweed pods to decorate at Yuletide and attract the faeries.

Call upon the elementals and honor them for their help with (N-earth) the home and finances, (E-air) school and knowledge, (S-fire) careers and accomplishments, (W-water) emotional balance and fruitful
relationships.

Make a witch's broom. Tie dried corn husks or herbs (broom, cedar, fennel, lavender, peppermint, rosemary) around a strong, relatively straight branch of your choice.

Make magic Apple Dolls: Apples are sacred symbols of the witch. Our holy land, Avalon, means Apple-land or Island of Apples. Slice an apple through the midsection and its seeds reveal the sacred shape of the pentacle. You will need two large apples, one for Mabon and one for Modron, 2 pencils and 2 dowels about 12 inches long, a paring knife, a glass or bowl of water to wash your fingers, a plate, and a towel to wipe your hands. Peel and core the apples. Carve a face in the apples. Place apples on a dowel and stand them in a jar to dry (start now). Then charge in a magick circle. After 2 or 3 weeks, they should look like shrunken heads. Make them into dolls. Use wheat, dried herbs or doll's hair for hair. Dress them in tiny robes and bring them into the circle, asking god/dess to charge them with their light.

Hang these Mabon and Madron heads on a Witch's cord or a Mabon wreath.