20th - 23rd September.  Sun enters Libra

Mabon - Fall Equinox - Second Harvest Festival - Festival of Dionysus - Wine Harvest - Cornucopia - Feast of Avalon - Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), and Alban Elfed (Welsh)

 

The Festival of Thanksgiving

Day and night are in perfect balance again, all over the world.  The sun enters the sign of Libra and the tone is set for the next three months.  Sun and Mercury in Libra tell us that balance, cooperation and relationship are important and that we will learn the value of diplomacy, peace, tact, beauty, natural harmony and friendship.

After all is gathered in and all the outside work is finished for the season, this is the big festival of the autumns end.  From now on, the days will get shorter and the weather colder.

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.

 

The Underlying Energy

Equinoxes are a chance to stop and adjust.  Things are moving fast and preparations for the coming winter must be made.  Summer has ended.  The days are shortening again.  The increasingly cold weather, although not yet severe, is there to remind us that we have to respond to it and change with it.

The quarter points represent changes in the earths energy and these changes affect us all.

This is a time of ripened fruits and laying in of stores.  A transition into theting to this change.

It is a time for long-term planning.  It will soon be the right time to move trees, bushes and hedges to their new positions.  Also a time to plant nut and fruit trees, for food for future generations.

This is a time for reconciling opposites.  To bring our different aspects into balance.. male and female, dark and light, old and young.  Honour and celebrate your whole self and all of life.

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.

 

 Autumn Equinox Celebrations

Be aware of entering a new phase now, as winter draws near.  Give thanks for all the good things that you have reaped in your own harvest this summer.. name them and share them with friends.

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.