Mabon/Autumnal Equinox

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Cerredwen	Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	Lead	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (08/18/06 08:42 AM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Tags : pagan, paganism, witch, witchcraft, wicca, magick, ritual, rite, druid, druidism, celtic, old ways, sabbat, wheel of the year, harvest, mabon, autumnal equinox Mabon (21st September - Northern Hemisphere, 21st March - Southern Hemisphere) Mabon, (pronounced MAY-bun, MAY-bone, MAH-boon, or MAH-bawn) is the Autumn Equinox and is also known as The Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Feast of Avalon, Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), Alben Elfed (Caledonii), or Cornucopia. The Teutonic name, Winter Finding, spans a period of time from the Sabbat to Oct. 15th, Winter's Night, which is the Norse New Year. The Autumn Equinox divides the day and night equally, and we all take a moment to pay our respects to the impending dark. We also give thanks to the waning sunlight, as we store our harvest of this year's crops. The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honour the Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. Wiccans also celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth. Mabon is considered a time of the Mysteries. It is a time to honour Aging Deities and the Spirit World. Considered a time of balance, it is when we stop and relax and enjoy the fruits of our personal harvests, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with everyday life. Take time out to look at your life and reassess where you are going, what you have so far achieved and what it is that you are still seeking. At this festival it is appropriate to wear all of your finery and dine and celebrate in a lavish setting. It is the drawing to and of family as we prepare for the winding down of the year at Samhain. It is a time to finish old business as we ready for a period of rest, relaxation, and reflection. Mabon Correspondences Symbolism -- Second Harvest, the Mysteries, Equality and Balance. Symbols -- Wine, gourds, pine cones, acorns, grains, corn, apples, pomegranates, vines such as ivy, dried seeds, and horns of plenty. Brown, green, orange and yellow candles Deities -- Goddesses-Modron, Morgan, Epona, Persephone, Pamona and the Muses. Gods-Mabon, Thoth, Thor, Hermes, and The Green Man. Traditional Foods -- Breads, nuts, apples, pomegranates, and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions. Herbs and Flowers -- Acorn, benzoin, ferns, grains, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, passionflower, rose, sage, solomon's seal, tobacco, thistle, and vegetables. Incense -- Autumn Blend-benzoin, myrrh, and sage. Sacred Gemstone -- Sapphire, lapis lazuli, and yellow agates. Special Activities -- Making wine, gathering dried herbs, plants, seeds and seed pods, walking in the woods, scattering offerings in harvested fields, offering libations to trees, adorning burial sites with leaves, acorns, and pine cones to honour those who have passed over. Source May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~ Last Edited By: Cerredwen 08/05/08 10:26 PM. Edited 1 time.
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#1	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (08/18/06 08:50 AM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	The Autumnal Equinox As with the Vernal Equinox, the Autumnal or Fall Equinox, also known as Mabon to those who follow the Olde Way, is the time when day and night are equal. Here the land is full of the gifts of nature and the effort of humankind The night air has a tang about it, the darkness of winter is coming and it's time for the earth to sleep until the sun is again brought forth from the dark. The Second Harvest In the ancient cycle of the year, this was actually the second harvest; the first harvest festival occurs on August 1st and is known as Lammas. As methods of agriculture became more uniform and sophisticated, the autumn harvest was moved back until the last possible growing time was completed to maximize its size. As such, the Autumnal Equinox became synonymous with not only the completion of the harvest, but also the end of summer. Relationship to Thanksgiving This final gathering of the crops and the beginning of preparations for the long winter that lay ahead marked a time of thanksgiving for all that Nature had given her children and for the completion of another turn of the Great Wheel. Gateway to Winter The Autumnal Equinox marks the beginning of shorter days and longer nights. We gather with friends to strengthen our spirits in preparation for the passage into Winter. But it is a time of thanksgiving, for on the other side of that dark Winter is Spring. Although an essential part of human life, celebrating the bounty of the harvest would not appear in the post-Christian era until the late 1500s and early 1600s by those individuals whom history would later call "Pilgrims." Mabon, much like the modern day Thanksgiving, was a time for feasting, celebrating the good fortune of the previous year and preparing for the long months of winter that were ahead. Source May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#2	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (08/25/06 07:59 AM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Mabon The Witch's Thanksgiving By Gordon Ireland To Autumn O Autumn. Laden with fruit, and stained With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit Beneath my shady roof, there thou may'st rest, And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe; And all the daughters of the year shall dance, Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers. -William Blake- Mabon, (May-bon) is known as the Autumn Equinox, Harvest Home, Second Harvest, the Witches Thanksgiving and Siring Fate. (Mabon in Welsh means son.) This reference usually refers to the son of the Welsh goddess Madron, Mother and Son. The Mother and son aspect is the most common among the neo-pagans, and fits well with in the Wiccan perspective of the Holly King mythology. It should also be noted that McCoy (page 185) claims that the Celts did not call Mabon by this name but rather it was originally a Norse festival. Though adopting other cultures, festivals and Gods fits in with the Celtic adaptability and mentality. Autumn Equinox refers to a time of the year when day and night are equally balanced. The sun is in the process of crossing the equator and in astrological terms is entering the sign of Libra. The sun is the focal point of energy (along with the moon) and such; its life force pushes us to discover more about ourselves. This movement into the Libra puts a congenial, cooperative outlook on that time of year, just what was needed by the communities, as they all worked together to complete the harvest. Harvest Home is an Anglo-Celtic version of the original Mabon, and fell in-between the First (Lugnasadh) and the Third (Samhain) Harvests. Harvests festivals were a very important part of the pre- industrialized culture. It was a time of relief and of rest. Relief that the crops were in and rest to catch their breath before the work of preparing for winter began. This was a time to give thanks. The Witches Thanksgiving, according to McCoy is one of the oldest holidays known to Europe. On this I will have to disagree, first the author mentions that Mabon is actually a Norse holiday, then contradicts herself with the above statement. Actually I believe she is trying to draw comparisons between the Witches Thanksgiving and the American Thanksgiving. There are similarities, though the reason she states about the time differences are not the same. The American Thanksgiving is celebrated at the time of year it is, not because the Puritans choose that date to distance themselves from the Pagan Mabon, but rather because they had a late harvest and an early winter. Thus celebrating it when they could, survival being more important then distancing themselves from European witches Thanksgiving. (McCoy page 185- 189) Autumn is over the long leaves that love us, And over the mice in the barley sheaves; Yellow the leaves of the rowan above us, And yellow the wet wild-strawberry leaves. The hour of the waning of love has beset us; And weary and worn are our sad souls now; Let us part, ere the season of passion forget us, With a kiss and a tear and dropping brow. - W.B. Yeats (page 14-15) Siring Fate according to King, are claims that this is the true name of Mabon. Using Greek Mythology, the story of Persephone and Madron and Mabon. Claiming that the name Mabon is the son's name, not the Sabbats. He bases his claim on the fact that, Mabon, mates with his mother Madron, thus siring the new season. He uses the story of Persephone to back up his assertion, stating that when Persephone leaves her mother to be with Hades, the new season begins. While there may be similarities to these myths, King is making the common mistake of associating cultures based on similarities rather than the uniqueness of each myth, or culture. He Claims, as did Caesar and others, that the Celts, Gods, heroes, Legends and Myths, were in actuality Greco-Roman. Mabon is a celebration of life and death, and giving of life again, the cycle of the seasons. Mabon is a time to enjoy the fruits of a hard year's labor, to stock up for the long winter. No matter how you celebrate Mabon, or how it came about, or whatever it's true name may be, it is important to know that Mabon a time for giving thanks. ____________________________________ FOODS Roast Mutton 1 Lam leg 7-8 pounds 2 teaspoons dried dill weed 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves 1 teaspoon of salt 1/4 teaspoon of pepper 1 clove of garlic Set oven at 325 F, for 3 1/2 hours for well done. Sprinkle roast with seasonings, take knife and make several small insertions, place pieces of garlic in Roast. (Remove cloves before serving.) Place lamb, fat side up, on rack in shallow roasting pan. Roast till desired pink(ness). 7-9 lb.: rare: 15-20 minutes, Medium: 20-25 minutes, well: 25-30 minutes per pound. New Small Potatoes Wash potatoes lightly and leave whole. Heat 1 inch salted water to boiling. Add potatoes. Cover and heat to a boil; reduce heat. Boil to tender, 20-25 minutes; drain, and butter. Citrus Salad 1 1/2 cups of boiling water 1 package (6 ounces) lemon flavored gelatin 2 cups ginger ale, chilled 4 oranges 2 grapefruit Pour boiling water on gelatin; stir until gelatin is dissolved. Stir in ginger ale. Refrigerate until slightly thickened. Pare and section oranges and grapefruit. Cut sections into 1-inch pieces; stir into gelatin mixture. Pour into 8-cup mold. Refrigerate until firm, about 4 hours; unmold. Garnish with additional orange sections and salad greens if desired. Rum Cracker Torte 6 eggs, separated 1/2 cup sugar 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon rum flavoring 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup all purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves 1 cup fine graham crackers 1 cup of finely chopped nuts 1 square (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate, grated Rum-flavored Whipped Cream Heat oven to 350 F. line bottoms of 2 round pans, 8 or 9X1 1/2 inches with aluminum foil. Beat eggs whites in 21/2-quart bowl until foamy. Beat in 1/2 cup of sugar. 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beat until stiff and glossy. Beat egg yolks, oil and rum flavoring in 11/2 quart on low speed until blended. Add 1/2 cup of sugar. Flour baking powder, cinnamon and cloves; beat on medium speed 1 minute. Fold egg yolk mixture into egg whites. Fold in cracker crumbs, nuts and chocolate. Pour into pans. Bake until top springs back when touched lightly, 30-35 minutes. Cool ten minutes. Loosen edge layers with knife; invert pan and hit sharply on table. (Cake will drop out) Remove foil; cool completely. Split cake to make four layers. Fill layers and frost torte with Rum Flavored Whipped Cream. Refrigerate for at least 7 hours. Rum-flavored Whipped Cream Beat 2 cups of chilled whipping cream, 1.2 cup powered sugar and 2 teaspoons of rum flavoring in chilled bowl till stiff. References * Bord, Janet & Colin, Earth Rites, Fertility Practices in Pre-Industrial Britain, Granada, London, 1982. * Carr-Gomm, Philip The Elements of the Druid Tradition Element Books, Rockport, MA 1998 * Danaher, Kevin, The Year in Ireland, The Mercier Press, Cork, 1972. * Henes, Donna, Celestially Auspicious Occasions: Seasons, Cycles & Celebrations, A Pedigree Book. NY, NY 1996 * Hole, Christina, Witchcraft in England, Rowman & Littlefield, Totowa NJ, 1977. * Holleston, T.W., Celtic Mythology: History, Legends and Deities, NewCastle Publishing, Van Nuys, CA 1997 * MacCana, Proinsias, Celtic Mythology, The Hamlyn Publishing Group, Ltd., London, 1970. * MacCulloch, J.A. Religion of the Ancient Celts, Folcroft Library Editions, London, 1977. * Matthews, John, The Druid Source Book: Complied and Edited by John Matthews, A Blanford Book, London, England, 1997 * Matthews, John and Caitlin Matthews, The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom, Element Books Rockport, MA 1994 * McCoy, Edain, The Sabbats: A New Approach to Living the Old Ways, Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, MN 1998 * Nichols, Ross, The Book of Druidry, Harper-Collins, London, England 1992 * Powell, T.G.E. The Celts, Thames & Hudson, New York, 1980. * Sharkey, John, Celtic Mysteries, the Ancient Religion, Thames & Hudson, New York, 1979. * Squire, Charles, Celtic Myth, Legend, Poetry, and Romance, Newcastle Publishing Co., Van Nuys, CA, 1975. * Stewart, R.J. Celtic Myths, Celtic Legends, Blanford Books, London, England, 1997 * Williamson, John, The Oak King, The Holly King, and the Unicorn, Harper & Row, New York, 1986. * Wood-Martin, W.G., Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland, Kennikat Press, Port Washington, NY, 1902. May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#3	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (08/31/06 09:34 AM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Mabon Correspondences Usual Date: September 21, 22, or 23 Also Known As: Michaelmas (September 25th, Christian), Second Harvest Festival, Witches' Thanksgiving, Harvest Home(Anglo-Celtic)Festival, Wi Avalon, Wine Harvest, Festival of Dionysus, Cornucopia, Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), Chung Ch'iu (China), Night of the Hunter, Alban Elfed "The Light of the Water"(Caledonii/ Druidic-celebrates Lord of the Mysteries), Winter Finding (Teutonic, from Equinox `til Winter Night or Nordic New Year, Oct 15th.) Animals/Mythical beings: Dogs, wolves, stag, blackbird, owl, eagle, birds of prey, salmon & goat, Gnomes, Sphinx, Minotaur, Cyclops, Andamans and Gulons Gemstones: Yellow agate, carnelian, yellow topaz, sapphire, lapis lazuli, amethyst Incense/Oil: Pine, sweetgrass, apple blossom, benzoin, myrrh, frankincense, jasmine, sage wood aloes, black pepper, patchouli, cinnamon, clove, oak moss Colors/Candles: Brown, green, orange, red, deep gold, scarlet, yellow, russet, maroon, all autumn colors, purple, blue violet, indigo Tools/Symbols/Tools/Symbols/Decorations: Indian corn, red fruits, red poppies, hazelnuts, garlands, grains especially wheat stalks, and colorful, fallen leaves, acorns, pine & cypress cones, oak sprigs, pomegranate, statue/or figure to represent the Mother Goddess, mabon wreath, vine, grapes, gourd, cornucopia/horns of plenty, burial cairns, apples, marigolds, harvested crops, burial cairns, rattles, the Mysteries, sun wheel, all harvest symbols Goddesses: Modron (Welsh), Bona Dea, Land Mother, aging and harvest deities, the Triple Goddess (Mother aspect), Persephone, Demeter/Ceres, Morgan (Welsh- Cornish), Snake Woman (Aboriginal)DeEpona (Celtic-Gaulish)Epona (Celtic-Gaulish)<WBR>, Pomona ( Gods: Mabon ap Modron (Welsh), Sky Father, Wine Gods, aging gods, John Barleycorn , the Wicker Man, the Corn Man, Thoth (Egyptian), Hermes, Hotei (Japanese), Thor, Dionysus (Greek), Bacchus (Roman) & all wine deities Essence: Beauty, joy; fullness of life, harvest of the year's desires, strength; laughter; power; prosperity, equality, balance, appreciation, harvest, protection, wealth, security, self-confidence, reincarnation Dynamics/Meaning: Death of the God, assumption of the Crone, balance of light and dark; increase of darkness, grape harvest, completion of the harvest Purpose: Second harvest festival, new wine pressing/making preparation for winter and Samhain, rest after labor, Pagan day of Thanksgiving, honoring the spirit world, celebration of wine Rituals/Magicks: Celtic Festival of the Vine, prosperity rituals, introspection, rituals which enact the elderly aspects of both Goddess & God, past life recall Customs: Offerings to land, preparing for cold weather, bringing in harvest, cutting willow wands( Druidic), eating seasonal fruit, leaving apples upon burial cairns & graves as a token of honor, walk wild places & forests, gather seed pods & dried plants, fermenting grapes to make wine, picking ripe produce, stalk bundling; fishing, harvesting crops by moonlight on the closest full moon (Harvest Moon) Foods: Cornbread, wheat products, bread, grains, berries, nuts, grapes, acorns, seeds, dried fruits, corn, beans, squash, roots (i.e. onions, carrots, potatoes, etc), hops, sassafras, apples, pomegranates, carrots, onions, potatoes, roast goose or mutton, wine, ale, cider Herbs: Myrrh, thistle, tobacco, oak leaf, hazel, mums, hops, acorns, marigold, rose, sage, milkweed, Solomon's seal, aster, fern, honeysuckle, benzoin, myrrh, passionflower, pine & cedar, ivy, hazel, hops, cedar Element/Gender: Water Threshold: Evening Source May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#4	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (09/08/06 01:08 PM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Mabon Lore Written and Compiled by StormWing Mabon (pronounced MAY-bun, MAY-bone, MAH-boon or MAH-bawn) or the Autumn Equinox is one of the Lesser Wiccan Sabbats and is usually celebrated around September 23rd, though it can occur as early as the 20th, depending on the timing of the actual Astrological event (check the calendar). The Autumn Equinox, like the Spring Equinox divides day and night equally. However during Autumn, (as opposed to Spring, when the opposite occurs) we begin to see the waning of the Sun more obviously now as the days continue to grow shorter until the Wheel of the Year spins around again to Yule. The various other names for this Sabbat include the Autumn (or Autumnal) Equinox, the Fall Equinox, the Second Harvest Festival, Festival of Dionysus, Wine Harvest, Cornucopia, Feast of Avalon, Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), and Alban Elfed (Caledonii, or Druidic - which celebrates the Lord of the Mysteries). The Teutonic name for this period is Winter Finding, which spans from the Equinox itself until Winter Night, on October 15. Winter Night is the Norse New Year. The symbolism of this Sabbat is that of the Second Harvest, the Mysteries, Equality and Balance - when day and night are equal. Symbols to represent the Mabon Sabbat are such things as grapes, wine, vines, garland, gourds, pine cones, acorns, wheat, dried leaves, burial cairns, rattles, Indian corn, Sun wheels, and horns of plenty. Altar decorations might include autumn leaves, acorns, pine cones, a pomegranate to symbolize Persephone's descent into the Underworld, and a small statue or figure to represent the Triple Goddess in Her Mother aspect. Deities associated with Mabon include all Wine Deities - particularly Dionysus and Bacchus, and Aging Deities. Emphasis might also be placed on the Goddess in Her aspect of the Mother (Demeter is a good example), Persephone (Queen of the Underworld and daughter of Demeter), and Thor (Lord of Thunder in Norse mythology). Some other Autumn Equinox Goddesses include Modron, Morgan, Snake Woman, Epona, Pamona, and the Muses. Some appropriate Gods besides those already mentioned are Mabon, Thoth, Hermes, and Hotei. At this point in the Wheel of the Year, two appropriate mythological legends are that of Mabon and Modron, and the story of Demeter, Persephone and Hades. The Sabbat is named for Mabon, the Welsh God who symbolized the male fertilizing principle in the Welsh myths. Some mythologists equate him as the male counterpart for Persephone. The universal story of Mabon and his mother, Modron has been passed down to us from the ancient proto-Celtic oral tradition. Mabon ap Modron, meaning "Great Son of the Great Mother", is the Young Son, Divine Youth, or Son of Light. Just as the September equinox marks a significant time of change, so, too, does the birth of Mabon. Modron, his mother, is the Great Goddess, Guardian of the Otherworld, Protector, and Healer. She is Earth itself. From the moment of the Autumn Equinox, the Sun's strength diminishes, until the moment of the Winter Solstice in December, when the Sun grows stronger and the days once again become longer than the nights. Mabon also disappears, taken at birth when only three nights old (some legends say he was stolen from Modron at the age of three years). Modron cries in sweet sorrow... and although his whereabouts are veiled in mystery, Mabon is eventually freed with the wisdom and memory of the most ancient of living animals - the Blackbird, the Stag, the Owl, the Eagle, and the Salmon (other legends state that King Arthur himself was Mabon's rescuer). All along, Mabon has been quite a happy captive, dwelling in Modron's magickal Otherworld - Modron's womb. It is a nurturing and enchanted place, but also one filled with challenges. Only in so powerful a place of renewable strength can Mabon be reborn as his mother's champion, as the Son of Light. Mabon's light has been drawn into the Earth, gathering strength and wisdom enough to become a new seed. According to one Greek myth, Autumn begins when Persephone returns to the Underworld to live with her husband, Hades. This is the tale... Demeter's daughter, known as Kore at this time, was out picking flowers in a meadow when the Earth opened, and the god Hades dragged the girl into the Underworld Kingdom to be his wife. Kore's name changed to Persephone when she became the wife of Hades. For nine days Demeter looked everywhere for Kore, to no avail. In despair, she finally consulted the Sun god Helios, who told her that her brother Zeus had given the girl to Hades. Furious to hear the news, Demeter left Olympus and wandered the Earth disguised as an old woman. She finally settled in her temple at Eleusis. She cursed the Earth so it yielded no crops. Zeus became frantic and sent her a message as to why she had done this. She responded by stating to Zeus that there would be no renewing vegetation on Earth until her daughter, Kore, was returned to her. Zeus sent Hermes into the Underworld for the girl. Hades, not wanting to give up his wife permanently, enticed Persephone to eat pomegranate seeds before she returned to her mother. Upon learning of this trick, Demeter again despaired, until Zeus declared that Persephone-Kore would live with her husband during half of the year, and return to live with her mother during the other half. In gratitude, Demeter lifted her curse on the Earth, thus creating Spring at the time of her great joy of her daughter's return; and Fall at her time of great sorrow when her daughter returned to the Underworld to live with her husband, Hades. Mabon is considered a time of the Mysteries and marks the end of the second of three Pagan Harvest Festivals, when the majority of crops have been gathered. It is considered a time of balance, a time of darkness overtaking light, a time of celebration of the Second Harvest. It is a time to honor the Aging Deities and the Spirit World. The principle key action of Mabon is giving thanks. Pagan activities may include the making of wine and the adorning of graves. A traditional practice is to walk wild places and forests, gathering seed pods and dried plants. Some of these can be used to decorate the home or altar, others saved for future herbal magick. It is considered taboo to pass burial sites and not honor the dead. The Autumn Equinox is a wonderful time to stop and relax and be happy. While we may not have toiled the fields from sunrise to sunset every day since Lammas - as our ancestors did - most of us do work hard at what we do. At this time of year, we should stop and survey the harvest each of us has brought in over the season. For us, like our ancestors, this becomes a time of giving thanks for the success of what we have worked at. Spellwork for protection, wealth and prosperity, security and spells to bring a feeling of self-confidence are appropriate for Mabon. Since this is a time for balance - you might include spells that will bring into balance and harmony the energies either in a room, home, or situation. Ritual actions might include the praising or honoring of fruit as proof of the love of the Goddess and God, and a ritual sprinkling of Autumn leaves. Depending on when the leaves turn in your area, beautiful multi-colored leaves can be dipped in paraffin, to be used for decoration. Quickly dip the leaves in melted paraffin, and put them on wax paper. When the leaves are dry, you can put them in a huge decorative jar with a sigil of protection carved lightly on some or all of the leaves. Appropriate colors for this Sabbat are red, orange, deep gold, brown, russet, maroon and violet. Candle colors might be orange, dark red, yellow, indigo, or brown. Altar cloths can also be made of material with Fall designs. Stones to use during Mabon are amethyst and yellow topaz, carnelian, lapis lazuli, sapphire, and yellow agate. River and stream stones gathered over the Summer can be empowered for various purposes. Animals associated with the Autumn Equinox are dogs, wolves and birds of prey. Mythical creatures include gnomes, minotaurs, sphinx, cyclopes, andamans and gulons. Plants associated with Mabon are vines, ivy, hazel, cedar, hops and tobacco. Traditional herbs of the Mabon sabbat include acorns, asters, benzoin, ferns, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, mums, myrrh, oak leaves, passionflower, pine, roses, sage, Solomon's seal, and thistles. Incense for the Mabon Sabbat Ritual might include any or all of the following: frankincense, aloes wood, jasmine, cinnamon, musk, cloves, benzoin, myrrh, and sage. The foods of Mabon consist of the gleanings of the Second Harvest, so grains, fruit and vegetables predominate, especially corn. Corn bread and cider are traditional fare, as are beans and baked squash. Others foods include wine, grapes, breads, pomegranates, roots (carrots, onions, potatoes, etc.), nuts and apples. May the Lord and Lady bless you all with lots of prosperity, and a plentiful Second Harvest! May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#5	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (09/08/06 01:31 PM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Alban Elfed, Mabon Sabbat Gwyl canol Hydref or Mabon: (pronounced May-bon. Also known as Harvest Home, Harvest Tide, Fall Equinox, Autumn Equinox etc.), September 21-23. Marks the middle of the harvest. Again equal day and equal night. Now it's time to reap what you have sown. Giving thanks for the harvest and the bounty you are enjoying. Coincidently the sign of Libra begins at this time. The scales symbolizing Libra are a direct link to the harvest, as this is the time where the farmers brought in their goods to be weighed and sold. Colours for this sabbat (there are so many, just look at the trees): Orange and red, with brown for the background. Despite the bad publicity generated by Thomas Tryon's novel, Harvest Home is the pleasantest of holidays. Admittedly, it does involve the concept of sacrifice, but one that is symbolic only. The sacrifice is that of the spirit of vegetation, John Barleycorn. Occurring 1/4 of the year after Midsummer, Harvest Home represents mid-autumn, autumn's height. It is also the Autumnal Equinox, one of the quarter days of the year, a Lesser Sabbat and a Low Holiday in modern Witchcraft. Technically, an equinox is an astronomical point and, due to the fact that the earth wobbles on its axis slightly (rather like a top that's slowing down), the date may vary by a few days depending on the year. The autumnal equinox occurs when the sun crosses the equator on it's apparent journey southward, and we experience a day and a night that are of equal duration. Up until Harvest Home, the hours of daylight have been greater than the hours from dusk to dawn. But from now on, the reverse holds true. Astrologers know this as the date on which the sun enters the sign of Libra, the Balance (an appropriate symbol of a balanced day and night). This year (198 it will occur at 2:29 pm CDT on September 22nd. However, since most European peasants were not accomplished at calculating the exact date of the equinox, they celebrated the event on a fixed calendar date, September 25th, a holiday the medieval Church Christianized under the name of 'Michaelmas', the feast of the Archangel Michael. (One wonders if, at some point, the R.C. Church contemplated assigning the four quarter days of the year to the four Archangels, just as they assigned the four cross-quarter days to the four gospel-writers. Further evidence for this may be seen in the fact that there was a brief flirtation with calling the Vernal Equinox 'Gabrielmas', ostensibly to commemorate the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary on Lady Day.) Again, it must be remembered that the Celts reckoned their days from sundown to sundown, so the September 25th festivities actually begin on the previous sundown (our September 24th). Although our Pagan ancestors probably celebrated Harvest Home on September 25th, modern Witches and Pagans, with their desk-top computers for making finer calculations, seem to prefer the actual equinox point, beginning the celebration on its eve (this year, sunset on September 21st). Mythically, this is the day of the year when the god of light is defeated by his twin and alter-ego, the god of darkness. It is the time of the year when night conquers day. And as I have recently shown in my seasonal reconstruction of the Welsh myth of Blodeuwedd, the Autumnal Equinox is the only day of the whole year when Llew (light) is vulnerable and it is possible to defeat him. Llew now stands on the balance (Libra/autumnal equinox), with one foot on the cauldron (Cancer/summer solstice) and his other foot on the goat (Capricorn/winter solstice). Thus he is betrayed by Blodeuwedd, the Virgin (Virgo) and transformed into an Eagle (Scorpio). Two things are now likely to occur mythically, in rapid succession. Having defeated Llew, Goronwy (darkness) now takes over Llew's functions, both as lover to Blodeuwedd, the Goddess, and as King of our own world. Although Goronwy, the Horned King, now sits on Llew's throne and begins his rule immediately, his formal coronation will not be for another six weeks, occurring at Samhain (Halloween) or the beginning of Winter, when he becomes the Winter Lord, the Dark King, Lord of Misrule. Goronwy's other function has more immediate results, however. He mates with the virgin goddess, and Blodeuwedd conceives, and will give birth -- nine months later (at the Summer Solstice) -- to Goronwy's son, who is really another incarnation of himself, the Dark Child. Llew's sacrificial death at Harvest Home also identifies him with John Barleycorn, spirit of the fields. Thus, Llew represents not only the sun's power, but also the sun's life trapped and crystallized in the corn. Often this corn spirit was believed to reside most especially in the last sheaf or shock harvested, which was dressed in fine clothes, or woven into a wicker-like man-shaped form. This effigy was then cut and carried from the field, and usually burned, amidst much rejoicing. So one may see Blodeuwedd and Goronwy in a new guise, not as conspirators who murder their king, but as kindly farmers who harvest the crop which they had planted and so lovingly cared for. And yet, anyone who knows the old ballad of John Barleycorn knows that we have not heard the last of him. They let him stand till midsummer's day, Till he looked both pale and wan, And little Sir John's grown a long, long beard And so become a man... Incidentally, this annual mock sacrifice of a large wicker-work figure (representing the vegetation spirit) may have been the origin of the misconception that Druids made human sacrifices. This charge was first made by Julius Caesar (who may not have had the most unbiased of motives), and has been re-stated many times since. However, as has often been pointed out, the only historians besides Caesar who make this accusation are those who have read Caesar. And in fact, upon reading Caesar's 'Gallic Wars' closely, one discovers that Caesar never claims to have actually witnessed such a sacrifice. Nor does he claim to have talked to anyone else who did. In fact, there is not one single eyewitness account of a human sacrifice performed by Druids in all of history! Nor is there any archeological evidence to support the charge. If, for example, human sacrifices had been performed at the same ritual sites year after year, there would be physical traces. Yet there is not a scrap. Nor is there any native tradition or history which lends support. In fact, insular tradition seems to point in the opposite direction. The Druid's reverence for life was so strict that they refused to lift a sword to defend themselves when massacred by Roman soldiers on the Isle of Mona. Irish brehon laws forbade a Druid to touch a weapon, and any soul rash enough to unsheathe a sword in the presence of a Druid would be executed for such an outrage! Jesse Weston, in her brilliant study of the Four Hallows of British myth, 'From Ritual to Romance', points out that British folk tradition is, however, full of MOCK sacrifices. In the case of the wicker-man, such figures were referred to in very personified terms, dressed in clothes, addressed by name, etc. In such a religious ritual drama, everybody played along. They've hired men with scythes so sharp, To cut him off at the knee, They've rolled him and tied him by the waist Serving him most barbarously... In the medieval miracle-play tradition of the 'Rise Up, Jock' variety (performed by troupes of mummers at all the village fairs), a young harlequin-like king always underwent a mock sacrificial death. But invariably, the traditional cast of characters included a mysterious 'Doctor' who had learned many secrets while 'travelling in foreign lands'. The Doctor reaches into his bag of tricks, plies some magical cure, and presto! the young king rises up hale and whole again, to the cheers of the crowd. As Weston so sensibly points out, if the young king were ACTUALLY killed, he couldn't very well rise up again, which is the whole point of the ritual drama! It is an enactment of the death and resurrection of the vegetation spirit. And what better time to perform it than at the end of the harvest season? In the rhythm of the year, Harvest Home marks a time of rest after hard work. The crops are gathered in, and winter is still a month and a half away! Although the nights are getting cooler, the days are still warm, and there is something magical in the sunlight, for it seems silvery and indirect. As we pursue our gentle hobbies of making corn dollies (those tiny vegetation spirits) and wheat weaving, our attention is suddenly arrested by the sound of baying from the skies (the 'Hounds of Annwn' passing?), as lines of geese cut silhouettes across a harvest moon. And we move closer to the hearth, the longer evening hours giving us time to catch up on our reading, munching on popcorn balls and caramel apples and sipping home-brewed mead or ale. What a wonlucky we are to live in a part of the country where the season's changes are so dramatic and majestic! And little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl-- And he's brandy in the glass, And little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl Proved the strongest man at last. Source May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#6	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (09/14/06 11:43 AM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Who Was Mabon? By Dana Corby, copyright 1997, Rantin' Raven Pamphleteers We modern Pagans often celebrate the Autumn Equinox by the name Mabon. Unlike most of our Celtic names for Sabbats, Mabon is Welsh, meaning simply, Son. So Mabon is someone's name: in full, Mabon ap Modron, Son, son of Mother. H.R. Ellis-Davidson quotes the Venerable Bede, who translates Modron as the Mothers -- plural. Modern translators give it as the Mother -- singular. Linguistic evidence may well support the plural interpretation, for although Mabon ap is unequivocally Welsh, Modron may not be: in Saxon, the singular of Modron becomes Modr -- recognizably mother. Suddenly we have, not as was always believed a corruption of the Latin Matrona, but good Germanic. All very scholarly, but it doesn't tell us much about Mabon, does it? Actually, it does. The first thing it tells us is that he (more likely, He) is old, so old he's the son of a Mother, rather than a Father. Mabon may be from a matrilineal culture as we know pre-Christian Wales to have been. If the Saxon connection holds up, He may be the result of a cultural fusion, indicating more borrowing between the British Celts and the Saxon invaders than has previously been assumed. And He bears many of the signs of a sacred king, losing whatever mortal name he had to become only the Mother's Son, ruling and dying in Her name alone. Well into the Christian period, the Mothers referred collectively to the female land spirits known to the Norse as Disir and elsewhere by many, mostly now lost, other names. Up through the 19th century they were often called White Ladies. The plural name recognized the multiplicity of that energy/entity/being we now call the Great Mother. The Mothers were conceived-of as a kind of pool of feminine ancestral energy, not in the same category as the "high" Gods, the ones in Asgard, or at Tara or the Court of Don, but deeper, older, and to most people actually more important. The Mothers' function was to give life-energy to a particular place, and to keep that energy flowing in a form helpful to human endeavor. A particular Mother would be worshipped by name by those living in Her district, but most people recognized that their local Modr was in fact one of many Modron. The only myth we have about Mabon says that within minutes of his birth, he was stolen from between his mother's side and the wall next to which she lay. By whom, is not known. He was imprisoned in a castle, on an island in a lake, until his uncle, King Arthur, obeying a prophecy, freed him to participate in the adventure called The Wooing of Olwen. It appears that the interval between the abduction and the rescue of Mabon may have been only a few years, or even as little as a few months, yet Arthur rescued not an infant but a young man. After which Mabon vanishes from the body of myth. Apparently, the only elements of Mabon's life that were important enough to be passed on were his birth, abduction, and rescue; even his exploits (if any) during the Wooing were not recorded. Yet it is these elements which tell us who he may have been. There is another divine Son in Welsh mythology with a remarkably similar tale. And this tale names Names. The Tale of Pwyll, Prince of Dyfed, from Lady Guest's translation of the Mabinogi, is the story of a semi-divine King or Prince of North Wales. Single and without an heir, he spends the night on top of a sacred mound, hoping to "see a wonder" that may guide him in his search for the wife his people beg for and his counselors continually urge on him. There he encounters a beautiful faery horsewoman whom, after many trials that aren't germane here, he marries. They live entirely as mortals, and eventually conceive a child, to the great rejoicing of the people. In the meantime, one of Pwyll's vassal knights has a strange problem: every November eve his best mare foals, and every year the foal vanishes before morning. This year he decides that's not acceptable. He sits up all night in the stable, and shortly after midnight a monstrous claw comes in through the window, seizes the foal, and begins to withdraw. The good knight, Teirnyon, takes his sword and severs the claw. He then discovers within the claw not only his foal, but a baby boy. He and his wife, childless, decide to raise the boy as their own, and to give him the foal to break when he's old enough. To their shock, though, the boy grows at the same rate as the foal. By the next autumn, he's a strapping youth who can easily keep up with the yearling horse. And his foster parents begin to notice how much he looks like their Prince. Their consciences begin to bother them about keeping him, and they travel to the palace to show him to Pwyll. The situation at the palace is anything but normal. The Queen has been condemned to stand at the mounting-block, offering to carry all visitors into the palace on her back. The crime for which she endures this bizarre punishment is infanticide: she was accused -- unanimously -- by her ladies in waiting of giving birth to a son and then eating him. Her story was that shortly after she gave birth, last November eve, a monstrous claw came through the window, seized the baby from between her side and the wall next to which she lay, and withdrew. The counselors of the court found this rather unbelievable, accepted the ladies' story, and sentenced her, since she had done something only animals do by eating her own young, to function not just as an animal but as a beast of burden. When Teirnyon and his retinue arrive, all is made clear. Pwyll and his Queen acknowledge the boy as their own. His mother gives him a name: Pryderi. Taken from the words she spoke when she learned the truth, it means, roughly, Sorrow's End. Pwyll and the Queen commend and richly reward the knight for his care of their son, and send them all home again, this time to raise not just a foundling but the royal fosterling. So we have a name for the Mabon. And by now the reader knows the Modron's as well. In Celtic countries, the custom was that children inherited from whichever parent was of the higher rank. A Goddess definitely outranks a king. Mabon ap Modron is none other than Prideri son of Rhiannon, lady of the singing birds. And Rhiannnon is Herself an aspect of the Lady of Sovereignty, Epona. Her name in turn relates to "hippos," horse, and explains both the way in which Pwyll met Her and the form Her punishment took, to bear guests on Her back. It also makes it possible to connect Her myth to those of other Horse-Goddesses of the British Isles, such as Macha. The human-child and the foal are presented as virtual brothers, growing at the same rate, both great runners. Possibility certainly exists for an older version of the myth in which they were actually twins, both sons of Rhiannon. Such human/animal twinnings are common in myths world-wide, and always indicate a powerful totem. All this makes one curious about the venerable White Horse of Uffington. How old is it? Who drew it on the chalk, and is it an icon of Rhiannon? It is known that the down-lands around the White Horse effigy were once the stronghold of several inter-related tribes of Britons who lived by horse-herding and raiding. They lived in palisaded forts, practicing no agriculture, not because it was unknown to them but because they held farmers in contempt. Though greatly feared by their lowlands neighbors, their wild, undisciplined fighting style was no match for the Roman cavalry, and they were destroyed. There is some evidence that the mysterious and stubbornly primitive fenlanders (conjectural source of Tolkien's mewlips), who survived among England's fens and bogs until the great drainages of the last 200 years, may have been refugees from these tribes. It has long been believed that the White Horse was carved into the chalk by these great horsemen. But the White Horse may equally be no older than the Saxons. History tells us that the Saxon invasions were led by two brothers, Hengist and Horsa. Their names mean stallion and mare, and some historians believe that they were co-priests of the powerful Saxon horse-cult. They may have been "brothers" not in the sense of sons of the same mother, but by affinity and/or oath, and given the gender difference of their names, ritual homosexuality may have been a feature of their priesthood. Folk-legend around the White Horse makes it a place to go for supernatural help, like the Cerne Giant, when one wishes to conceive. The procedure varies from mere touching of the chalk to having sex within the figure. (N.B. Considering how very visible a pair of dark figures would be against the white chalk, they would have to be pretty desperate!) This returns us to the myth of Pwyll and Rhiannon, and its repeated theme of the demands of the people and counselors that the Prince produce an heir. It was the need for an heir and thus a wife which sent Pwyll to the fairy mound in search of "a wonder", this need which made his counselors urge Pwyll to set Rhiannon aside when she did not conceive immediately, this need which made her ladies, in fear for their own lives, accuse her of cannibalism. The very fertility of the land depended on the demonstrated potency of the King, the fecundity of the Queen. It was especially urgent that a good king, a wise ruler as Pwyll was said to be, consolidate his right to rule by getting an heir on the Queen, since it was through her connection to the land, the living embodiment of the Modr, that he ruled at all. Our Mabon is a harvest festival, centering around the apple harvest. Though like other harvest rites it centers around a God, it is the only one in which the theme does not include ritual sacrifice or death. Even the wrongly-accused mother was not condemned to death, as surely must have been the sentence for such a heinous act, but to atonement through an onerous and symbolic punishment. Unlike cereal grains, or for that matter most plants, a fruit tree need not die in order to make seed. Like humans and other land-animals, fruit trees bear "young" without apparent harm. Humans can eat fruit entirely without guilt, indeed, our eating the fruit and spitting out the seeds helps the tree reproduce. John Barleycorn must be propitiated; Mabon needs only liberation. And that may be His mystery. It is Mabon's connection to the apple which re-connects him with Arthur, and with the Mothers-plural. Much of the Arthurian myth takes place in and around Glastonbury, strongly identified with Avalon -- the Isle of Apples and of otherworldly women. Arthur's sword came from the Lady of the Lake, identified as the Welsh Goddess Angharad, who dwelt on an island which seemed to -- or perhaps did -- move around, disappearing whenever mortals would intrude. The real-life Glastonbury Tor is itself the magically disappearing island, since in Spring the lowlands around it flood, leaving the hill an island, then gradually drain away during the Summer. By September the land is bone dry and one can walk to the Tor. It is to Avalon that Arthur's Queens -- the fairy women who guided his destiny -- carried him at his death. It is difficult at first to find a connection between the apple and the horse except for the well known equine love of eating them. But we've established the connection between apples and water above, and the connection in what we could call the pan European mythos between the horse and water is equally strongly established. From Poseidon ("Spouse of the Goddess" , the earth-quaking sea-god who took the form of a horse, to the name "white horses" for the waves kicked up wind, the horse and the sea are linked. In Celtic myth, a kind of water spirit called a kelpie could appear either in fresh or salt water -- more often fresh -- as a small, beautiful horse which carried off children. As previously mentioned, the name Epona has the same root as Hippos (and Hippolita, horsewoman); it is my belief that there may also be a connection with Despoina, the feminine form of despot, which originally meant not tyrant but ruler. It is usually translated Mistress. The Despoina appears to have been the title of the Cretan priestess of Persephone/Hecate, who also could take the form of a horse and to whom horse-sacrifices were offered. So the connection between apples and horses is through their function as revealers of the mysteries of the Modron, the Earth Mother(s). Both horse and apple are also connected with water, with its ability to both guard the mystery -- Mabon on the island -- and grant limited access to it, as at Glastonbury. Who was Mabon? Not Whose son was Mabon? but who was He in his own right? Out of apples and horses and mystical islands, out of travelers between the worlds and Mothers nine or thirteen or nine-times-nine, an answer forms. And I am reminded of all those stone age petroglyphs of the single male figure surrounded by women. I have to conclude that Mabon had a much more extensive and influential role in his world than that of mere abductee or sacred prisoner. He may even have had a title we would recognize today, that of the Black Man. In The Old Straight Track, Alfred Watkins makes a strong case for Black Man as the title of the priests of the culture that designed the leys, the sacred pathways across country. Who was Mabon? He was the child of the Earth and the Otherworld, hereditary priest of the Mothers and King of Avalon. May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#7	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (09/15/06 11:42 AM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Alban Elfed Giving Thanks at Mabon By Arwynn MacFeylynnd Mabon (mah-bawn), a lesser Wiccan Sabbat, is usually celebrated around September 23, though it sometimes falls as early as September 20, depending on the timing of the actual astrological event. This is the Autumn Equinox, when we see the days begin to grow shorter than the nights. The Sun's light will continue to wane each day through Samhain, the next festival and new year, until Yule, when the longest darkness will come again. Other names for the Fall Equinox Sabbat are the Second Harvest Festival, the Feast of Avalon, Equizio di Autunoo and Alban Elfed. The Fall Equinox falls exactly opposite the Spring Equinox of March 20 to 23. Both are times of equal night and equal day. The Equinox is the time of equality between the God and Goddess, the God represented by the Sun, the Goddess by the Moon, each half of one whole fulfilled by their joining. Fruitfulness of the land being the result of their mutual-ness, the bounty of the harvest will be brought in and stored against winter and the dark times. Mabon is the time of the year when we can rest after hard work. Most crops have been gathered, and winter is still a month and a half away. The nights are getting cooler, though the days are still warm, and perhaps something magickal is in the air. The light seems almost silver. We pick up our projects of making corn dollies and weaving wheat, but suddenly we stop because we hear the sounds of baying hounds passing through the sky, "The Hounds of Annwn" in the Welsh mythos. Lines of geese fly by, and a beautiful harvest moon hangs in the air. We move closer to our fires, and the longer evening hours give us time to catch up on our reading. We sit and munch popcorn, crunch apples, sip hot cider and drink home brews. What a wonderful time of the year Mabon is, the leaves turning colors, warm days, cool nights. How lucky we are to be alive. The foods of Mabon consist of the second harvest's gleanings, so grains, fruit and vegetables predominate, especially corn. Corn bread and cider are traditional fare, as are beans and baked squash. Others foods and drinks include wines, grapes, breads, pomegranates, roots (carrots, onions, potatoes, and so on), nuts and apples. Some of the symbols of this Sabbat are garlands, pinecones, gourds, acorns, wheat, dried leaves and horns of plenty (cornucopias). Mabon is rather like Thanksgiving for pagans. As you decorate your altars, you might want to use some of these symbols, perhaps including a pomegranate to symbolize Persephone and her descent into the Underworld -- and, of course, a small statue of the goddess in her triple mother aspect. Altar cloths made of material with fall designs are good for this Sabbat. Appropriate Mabon colors are red, orange, deep gold, brown, russet, maroon and violet. Candle colors are orange, dark red, yellow, indigo, or brown. Stones to use during Mabon are amethyst and yellow topaz, carnelian, lapis lazuli, sapphire and yellow agate. River and stream stones gathered over the summer can be empowered now for various purposes. Plants associated with Mabon are vines, ivy, hazel, cedar, hops and tobacco, and traditional Mabon herbs include acorns, asters, chrysanthemums, ferns, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, oak leaves, passionflower, pine, roses, sage, Solomon's seal and thistles. Incense might include frankincense, aloe's wood, jasmine, cinnamon, musk, cloves, benzoin, myrrh and sage. Animals associated with the Autumn Equinox are dogs, wolves and birds of prey, and mythical creatures include gnomes, minotaurs, sphinx and cyclops. This Sabbat also has many associations among deities. Some goddesses associated with Mabon are Morgon, Snake Woman, Epona, the muses and Demeter. Some of the gods include Thoth, Hermes, Thor, Dionysus, Bacchus and Herne. The Sabbat is named for a god, the Mabon ap Modron, who symbolizes the male fertilizing principle in Welsh myths. His full name (depending on the translation) means Great Son of the Great Mother, Young Son, Divine Youth or Son of Light. Modron, his mother, is the Great Goddess, Guardian of the Otherworld, Protector and Healer. She is Earth itself. At the Autumn Equinox, the Sun's strength begins markedly to diminish, even disappear, until Winter Solstice in December. In the myth of Mabon, the god disappears, taken at birth when only three nights old. His mother, Modron, cries. Although his whereabouts are initially veiled, Mabon is freed with the help of the wisdom and memory of the most ancient of living animals -- the blackbird, the stag, the owl, the eagle and the salmon. All along, Mabon has been quite happy, dwelling in Modron's magickal Otherworld -- Modron's womb. Only in so powerful a place of renewing strength can Mabon be reborn as his mother's champion, as the Son of Light. Mabon's light has been drawn into the Earth, gathering strength and wisdom enough to become a new seed. In a Greek myth associated with the season, autumn begins when Persephone returns to the Underworld to live with her husband, Hades. Demeter's daughter, known as Kore, was out picking flowers in a meadow when the Earth opened and the god Hades dragged the girl into his Underworld kingdom to be his wife, whereupon her name became Persephone. For nine days, Demeter looked everywhere for Kore. The Sun god Helios told her that her brother Zeus had given the girl to Hades. Furious, Demeter cursed the Earth so it yielded no crops. Zeus became frantic and sent a message asking why. She told Zeus that there would be no renewing of crops on Earth until her daughter, Kore, was returned to her. Zeus sent Hermes into the Underworld for the girl, but Hades did not want to give up his wife. He enticed Persephone to eat pomegranate seeds before she returned to her mother, a charm to keep her in his realm. When she learned of this trick, Demeter despaired, until Zeus declared that Persephone-Kore would live with her husband during half of the year and return to live with her mother the other half. In gratitude, Demeter lifted her curse on the Earth. She created spring as her time of joy for her daughter's return and fall as her time of sorrow when her daughter must return to Hades. The key action at Mabon is giving thanks. Pagan activities for the Sabbat include the making of wine and the adorning of graves. It is considered taboo to pass burial sites and not honor the dead. Another traditional practice is to walk wild places and forests, gathering seed pods and dried plants. Some of these can be used to decorate the home or altar; others can be saved for future herbal magick. Spellwork for protection, wealth and prosperity, security and to bring a feeling of self-confidence are appropriate for Mabon, as are spells that bring into balance and harmony the energies in a room, home, or situation. Ritual actions might include the praising or honoring of fruit as proof of the love of the Goddess and God, and a ritual sprinkling of autumn leaves. May you be blessed with prosperity in the coming year, and may the Lord and Lady look out on you. Copyright 2005 by the article's author May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#8	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (08/19/07 06:36 PM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Mabon History Author Unknown Celebrated on the Fall Equinox. Celebrated with wine, apples, garlands, gourds and cornucopias. With decorations of orange, russet and maroon. Honoring the aging Gods and Harvest deities. Mabon History Mabon (May-bawn) is also known as the Feast of Avalon and the festival of the Wine Harvest. To the Celts, Avalon is the mysterious place for the land of the dead. and literally means the "land of apples". Thus this is a holiday for celebrating the bounty of the harvest and the desire for the living to be reunited with their deceased loved ones. But the holiday is also named for the Welsh God Mabon. Mabon means the "great son". He was the son of Modred, kidnapped at the age of 3 and later rescued by King Arthur. His life represents the innocence of youth, the strength of survival and the growing wisdom of the elderly. Perhaps it is this view of the cycle of life that brings Mabon to his most popular role, the King of the Otherworld and the God of Darkness. His myths overlap with other Gods such as the Welsh God Gwyn Ap Nuad, which means "white son of darkness". He is seen as the God of war and death, the patron God of fallen warriors. Once again this is a representation or connection to the Land of Avalon. The Purpose of Mabon As a holiday, Mabon represents the time of honoring the dead, visiting burial sites, giving thankfulness for the end of the harvest season and the bounty it provides. These are the themes of closing, letting go and remembering. For the year, the harvest and for those who were lost to land of Avalon during the year. Although many view the Harvest season as a celebration of life, it is also a celebration of death. The bounty you gather from your garden provides nourishment for you, family and friends. But it is also the death of those plants and vegetables which have been harvested from that garden. Thus Mabon is a celebration of the cycle of life. Mabon Celebration There are many ways to give honor during this 2nd harvest festival. One old traditional way is to visit the burial sites of your loved ones, placing an apple on their marker. This represents the promise of the Great Spirits for renewed life (a new incarnation). This is a Celtic festival of thanksgiving, so what a better way to give thanks than to prepare a meal with the harvest of your garden. Those that indulge in wine can brew a new batch of this home made nectar of the Gods. Those that do not indulge, can brew preserves and jellies from grapes, raspberries and blackberries. Don't forget an apple pie for dessert. A main course can consist of meats, most often red meats. But this is just a suggestion. In this day and age of healthy eating, you should prepare a meal that fits your personal lifestyle. However, your side dishes should consist of late summer and early fall vegetables. During your meal, share tales and happy stories about those you lost during the year. Or share your experiences and review the lessons you feel you have learned during this past season. Reflect on your deeds and actions and give thanks for the gifts you were given. After your meal, share the chore of cleaning up. This is a way of showing honor and respect to your host and hostess. Think of it as a physical action to show that you understand the interconnection of all life and the desire to respect what you have been given and thanks for receiving those gifts. During the evening hours you can continue the festival with a formal holiday ritual. There are as many ways and suggestions for conducting such a ceremony as there are people on this planet. But if you need a detailed example you have two places on our network to look. For a simple Celtic Ritual or Ceremony Outline or I invite you to visit our Wiccan Star site and review the Mabon Sabbat Ritual. End your evening in private reflection. It is important for anyone practicing a spiritual life to reflect on his or her actions. Record your thoughts, your emotions and your experiences. This is the true value of your book of shadows. And there is no better time to take stock of yourself and your life than during a High Holy Day.
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#9	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (09/20/07 09:36 PM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	The Autumn Equinox By Frances Billinghurst 2003, (Published in the "Insight" March 2003) This is second to last article in the series following the seasonal Wheel of the Year, the yearly cyclic round which forms the basis of many Pagan traditions as a means of helping us get back in touch with our own inner essence and the world around us. As the seasonal wheel turns, March brings with it the Autumn Equinox (also referred to as "Mabon" , which is usually celebrated by Pagans in the Southern Hemisphere around 21 March. As with the Spring Equinox (which occurs in September), this is a time of equilibrium, where the hours of daylight and the hours of darkness are equal. Both equinoxes are times where we think about balance, both in our lives and within nature, however, they also bring with them "psychic stress". While, this may first appear to contradict the idea of balance, of suspended activity, these are the times when us humans "change gear" (so to speak), and more into a different phrase. While, in our modern world, we are often not aware of this stress surrounding us on a subconscious level, no doubt, when we pause and take stock, we do notice this psychic as well as psychological turbulence. And once we become aware and understand the significance of these natural phases, we can use this energy to our advantage as opposed to bringing distress. With Winter approaching, the Autumn Equinox marks the second of the three harvest festival, the time when both grain and fruit having been gathered. Celebrations revolved around the gathering of crops and the giving of thanks to Mother Earth for the harvest rituals to ensure the success of next year's harvest are characteristic during this time. The making of corn dollies from the last sheaf of corn which is harvested is a typical custom which is still performed today. This dolly, which represents the spirit of the corn, is kept until the Spring, where it is then ploughed back into the earth, believing to breathe the life of the corn into the coming harvest. The Autumn Equinox is also the time of the Vine, where the excess fruit was made into wine. The God, who was Lord of the Greenwood in the Summer Solstice, and the Corn King at Lughnasadh, now appears as Dionysus, God of Wine, Music and Dance, before making his descent to the Underworld to take up his role as Dread Lord of Shadows during the Winter months. The falling leaves reflect this journey of the God. In ancient Greece, the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries were held which, in part, re-enacted Persephone's descent into the Underworld. While details of this ancient rite are basically unknown, it is believed that at the climax, initiates were shown an ear of corn with the adarnation "In silence is the seed of wisdom gained". Such words I feel are even more relevant to us in the modern, and extremely stressful world, in that we all need to take time out to simply be. Another aspect of the Eleusinian mysteries is "know thy self", which seems appropriate for at the Autumn Equinox we can ready ourselves for the Winter months where our energy levels drop. We can look at our own personal harvest, and redefine our intentions. While there is no festival in the Christian faith which was attached to the Autumn Equinox, the festival of Michaelmas, held in honour of St Michael (the archangel who expelled Satan from Heaven) does occur a couple of weeks later. English folklore warns about picking blackberries after Michaelmas Day, for then they belong to the Devil. It is said that when Satan fell from Heaven, he landed in a blackberry bush. He was so angry with the bush that he spat on it and cursed the blackberries still remaining. The Story Of Mabon In the Mabinogin, a collection of early Welsh mythology, Mabon ap Modron ("Great Son of the Great Goddess Modron" is found in the story "How Culhwch won Olwen". According to legend, Mabon was stolen from his mother when he was only three nights old and imprisoned in the darkness (the Autumn Equinox). Many years later, when the Welsh hero Culhwch enlists King Arthur's help in order to search for his beloved Olwen. Once found, Olwen's father consents to the union of Culhwch and his daughter only after a series of "impossible" tasks are performed (similar to the labours of Hercules in Greek myths). One of these tasks is to retrieve the scissors, razor and comb from between the ears of the giant boar, Twrch Trwyth. Culhwch, Arthur and Arthur's men soon discover that the only person who could track down the boar is Mabon, whose whereabouts are now shrouded in mystery. During the quest to find out where Mabon is held captive, they seek the wisdom of various animals (who are totem animals of the Celts) as one of Arthur's men, Gwrhyr, is able to communicate with these creatures in their own language. They consult the Ousel of Cilgwri, who directs them to the Stag of Redynvre, who, in turn, directs them to consult the Owl of Cwm Cawlwyd. The Owl further directs to them to the Eagle of Gwern Abwy, who finally directs them to the oldest of all animals, the Salmon of Llyn Llyw. The salmon takes them to the walls of Caer Loyw (Gloucester) where Mabon is held. When finally released, Mabon is a strong, young hunter. Mabon is often equated to the Greek/Roman God Apollo, as being the Divine Son, or the Child of Light. Just as "Modron" simply means "mother", "Mabon" simply means "son". Task For Autumn Cleaning at the Autumnal Equinox is just as important as the familiar Spring cleaning. At the beginning of Spring we make room for the new growth, while Autumn allows us to make room for contemplation. Both activities are outward and inward, and the external action mirrors the internal. Get rid of everything that is past its sell-by date, and make room in your life for contemplation. The Eleusinian injunction "know thyself" can be used for personal power and one way of knowing who you really are is by describing yourself in terms of your relationships - .'s partner, .'s mother/ father, a friend to ., .'s boss, etc. Observe your relationships. Look to see if there are any which no longer fit into your structure for life today, and decide whether it is worth keeping them or not. This is not an easy exercise to do, but remember - we all change and should not feel guilty limiting contact with people we no longer have anything in common with, those who bring us down, or who restrict our own personal and spiritual growth. Apple Spell Story Paddy Slane, in her beautiful book "Natural Magic" mentions that the Autumn Equinox is a good time to do some spells involving apples. She included the following spell aimed to strengthening the bond between couples. Apple, apple, red as blood (cut the apple in half) As two become, two hearts in one (apples have a five-pointed star in their centres) I call to each one from afar A herb for her, a herb for him (a cut is made and a herb is inserted) A touch of fire to seal it in (light a candle from a taper) Bind with the cord to make them one (tie around with scarlet cord) As I will, so be it done (bury the apple in the ground) Appropriate incense for this time of the year can be made from sandalwood, juniper berries and cypress which emphasis the mourning of the passing of Summer. "May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart" ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#10	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (09/21/07 07:30 PM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Welcoming Autumn By Ananaia O'Leary Crisp air awakens the nostrils... Faint smell of smoke on the wind. Above birds wheel to the South. At night a sweater warms against the chill. Autumn is here once more... A bitter-sweet season of rich harvest & fading summer. On the Autumnal Equinox Nature hangs in perfect balance. Night & day are equal in length. The Wheel turns and golden Summer yields to Autumn's Tawny hues. Nature exhales ... Turning inward from creation to introspection, celebrating its bounty while preparing to shelter from the cold nights of Winter. As in every season, we are invited to take our cues from rhythms of the Earth. This is a time of harvest -- for giving thanks for the bounty in our lives. If I hear myself respond "My life doesn't feel bountiful," it's time for me to pause and go deeper... Deeper into awareness, into gratitude, into celebration of the abundant gifts of Earth & Spirit. So I pause... Turn inward echoing the example of Nature. Introspection yields a fierce awareness of the fullness of living that I so often take for granted, minimize, deny. I am alive! At peace! Snug in the shelter of my home. Outside a single bird serenades me. My children smile at me from their pictures above my computer. Tokens from my friends cluster on my friends & family altar, reminding me that I am loved and supported. I breathe into the gratitude, letting that breath expand into my heart which opens in bitter-sweet joy... The sweetness of fullness, the bitter memory of all the moments I've forgotten my blessings. Today I remember. This is a time of balance -- between day & light, action & stillness, internal & external -- a time to examine the balance of our lives. Do spend I spend more time working than playing? Do I spend more time delaying than achieving? Do I talk more than I listen? Do I listen well but deny my natural ex-pression? Are my friends more important than my family? Or does my home life consume me until there is no time for outside connections or commitments? Can I still my mind and open to the subtle whispers of soul & nature? Do I meditate often, but act seldom? Can I express my anger as well as my joy? Am I willing to be out of balance in the moment, trusting that balance is a dynamic which unfolds over time, not a static state of mediocre experience? Do I worship the Sun? Can I greet the moon with joy and let the inky folds of night cradle me without fear? What are the extremes of my life, how can I balance them. On this Autumn Equinox go outside at the moment of sunset when night & day stand at the balance, and declare your intention to invite & honor more balance in your life, for it is the endless dance of opposites which yields all creation! This is a time of preparation. The stark Winter lies ahead of us. Life is always prepared to render up its next challenge, but we need not fear the natural cycle of things. If we take stock, prepare & remember, we can weather any winter. Take stock of your skills, strengths & resources, and prepare. Often challenges overwhelm us because we overlook our own abilities and fail to utilize the resources available to us. Our skills & effort have yielded a larder-full of sustaining energies. No matter how depleted we feel, we have survived to this moment. Our very survival reminds us of the strength within that has upheld us through so many winters. We can draw on this strength & the wisdom gained through years of living to help us meet any challenge. Prepare for future challenges by growing your strengths in the warm and gentle seasons, so you can draw on them when the snow begins to fall. And remember we are not alone. Winter can be a lonely world if we don't reach out for support & community. In the deep cold of winter survival sometimes depends on extending yourself beyond your self-sufficient boundaries. Take stock of your external resources, friends, family, ministers, counselors & other helping professionals or volunteers. Who can you call on in times of need? Who can call on you? Nurture & honor mutually supportive relationships. At all times remember that we are surrounded by spirit helpers who stand ready to support, guide & sustain us if we will only ask. We are never truly alone even in the depths of Winter. If we take time to inventory & prepare, we will discover that our pantry is well stocked for the coming season. This Equinox claim time to take stock, honor the harvest & give thanks! Pull on a sweater and take a walk in the chill of the evening, tuning your body to the subtle shifting of green to gold. Come home to a warm cup of apple cider, and an hour or so of quiet contemplation with the stillness to honor deep gratitude. Surround yourself with the energies of the loves & blessings of your life. Celebrate! "May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart" ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~
Cerredwen	Re: Mabon/Autumnal Equinox	#11	[-]
Walks an Earthbased Path Posts: 11474 (09/21/07 08:49 PM) ~~Priestess of the Goddess~~ Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Mid-Harvest - Alban Elfed By Judson WhiteBear September 23 The Celtic people did not celebrate the equinox specifically. However, most communities of the Celtic world would pause around the mid point between Lughnassad and Samhain for a celebration. This is especially true of my ancestors, the Scots. In their more northern clime, they often would not be able to begin their harvesting at Lughnassad, but somewhat later, at what has become known as Michaelmas. Even in the more southern region, the "Harvest Home" celebrations were a welcome respite from the often tedious work of the harvest. This celebration or festival was a conclusion to the rituals begun at Lughnassad. The focus was often on the final phase of the years harvest, the grain. The success of this part was vital to the well being of the community and its survival during the coming months. The celebration of completion was welcome indeed. The very act of cutting the last sheaf was believed to concentrate the properties of the act. The treatment would insure the continued fertility or a potential blight on the land. It was, though a gift, an act of violence upon the land and its deity spirits. The potency of the last sheaf was thought to pass magically to the person cutting it. The rituals involved in this are found to be similar throughout much of the land, Celtic or not. The person doing the cutting was chosen at random, or at least by the Land-Deity. In some places, the reapers would line up with their backs to the last sheaf. On a signal all would throw their sickles behind them until one cut the last sheaf. Other places they would be blindfolded. In cutting this last sheaf, the spirit of the Land-Deity who had been aiding the growth of the grain would be separated from the God/dess. It was important that this spirit not be allowed to simply dissipate. Thus this final sheaf would be plaited into a "corn dolly". This could be a person, an animal or other figure. It would be kept and honored until the following year when, after the new one was made, it would be burned in the community bonfire. This celebration is one that marks a division in the solar year. Days and nights are of equal length. It is a balance point, a time when things are able to be shifted by intentions, by attitudes. I have always felt that this time of year is key to the coming season. How we complete our personal harvest of the fruits of this year will have an impact on our well-being until the next spring planting and growing season. Much like the lives of our ancestors depended on the fruits and grains, we are dependent on the harvest of our work, our thoughts and our deeds. How we honor them will determine OUR harvest in the coming year. "May the fruit of our lives be bound and sealed to Thee, O Mother, O Woman Eternal who holdest the inmost life of each of Thy daughters between the hands upon Her Heart" ~~~~~~~~~~~ We swear by Peace and Love to stand, Heart to Heart and Hand to Hand. Mark, O Spirit, and hear us now, confirming this, our Sacred Vow. ~Druidic Prayer of Unity~

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Mabon/Autumnal Equinox

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