Mabon – Fall Equinox

Mabon class: September 19th 2023

Mabon ushers in the high point of the Harvest, and a reminder that The Wheel is always turning.

What is Mabon? For modern Pagans in the Northern Hemisphere, this holiday and season mark the autumnal or fall equinox. It is the point when the sun crosses the celestial equator. On Earth, we experience equal night and day, and from that point forward, the nights grow longer and the days grow shorter. Currently, on the Gregorian calendar this occurs each year somewhere between September 19th and 23rd. Summer is officially over, and Fall has begun.

Pagans around the world have many names for this equinox—Witch’s Thanksgiving, Mabon, Michaelmas, and Haleg Monath are just a few.

We have evidence that many ancient civilizations celebrated holidays and feasts around this time. We also know not all classical groups we tend to lump under the term “Pagan” observed a special holiday here. Many include this work in their Lughnasadh celebrations, or saved this symbolism for 6 weeks later, at Samhain (Hallowe’en.) Aidan Kelly, in the 1970s, officially added Mabon (and Ostara, Spring Equinox) to the modern Pagan observance of The Wheel. He named it Mabon, after the youthful Welsh God Mabon Ap Modron.

But the sentiment is nearly the same in most traditions, whether modern or ancient: a celebration of the glorious bounty the Earth and Sun provide as the summer crop season comes to a high point, and a shift from reveling in the heat and abundance of summer to witnessing the shutting-down of Earth as the Northern Hemisphere begins its journey through Winter.

For ancient people, the Mother Goddess was reality.

This is not hyperbole. People genuinely believed they came from Her and went back to Her. Their bodies were made of Her. The food they ate was made of Her. The homes they built, the clothing the wove, the pottery they molded, all from Her body. The harvest festival was for many civilizations a tremendously powerful union with this deity. People lived in the fields as they worked the Harvest, reflected in the Jewish holiday Sukkot. For Pagans, the last stalk of each crop was treasured.

Called “crying the neck,” it was a blessing and a curse to be the one to cut the last standing sheaf of the harvest.

During Crying the Neck the master of ceremonies finds the last patch of grain in the field and cuts it with a traditional long handled scythe. He shouts “I ‘ave ‘un! I ‘ave ‘un! I ‘ave ‘un!” Those in attendance then shout, “What ‘ave ‘ee? What ‘ave ‘ee? What ‘ave ‘ee?”, with the reply coming: “A neck! A neck! A neck!” After this, everyone joins in shouting: “Hurrah! Hurrah for the neck! Hurrah!”

Harvesters brought back that stalk and sometimes made it into a “corn dolly” of The Goddess. She was kept in a place of honor in the home, only to be placed in the first furrow cut into the ground the following spring. Placing the corn dolly in the groove carried through all the protection, success, and fecundity from previous harvests.

At Mabon, our vegetation Gods and archetypes who have reigned through Litha and Lughnasadh become sacrificial Gods.

Symbolically or otherwise, those gods and sovereigns are dismembered or burnt. The pieces or ashes are then scattered over or buried in the fields—a way of “planting” the solar-deity energy directly into the ground where it would be needed most in the coming months.

This death and transition symbolism of Mabon is important.

It reflected the apparent death of the Earth as growth cycles shut down, and plant material began to rot. It reflected the imminent death of the Sun. The days are now shorter than the nights, and the Sun rises lower and lower in the sky. For Irish Pagans, Crom Dubh whose name means “The Old Bent One” or “Crouched Darkness,” embodies this spirit of death and transition along with hollow-eyed scarecrows hanging over empty fields in the rust colored sunset.

Much of the symbolism of summer is thrust, push, intensity. In my lectures, I often say summer is the push before the baby comes, and the fall equinox is the baby. Of course, participation in this robust set of archetypes is not determined by gender or the ability to create a physical baby. We can all ask ourselves at this time of year; What am I pushing out into the world? What am I about to deliver?

In the Northern Hemisphere, the world’s rivers crest at this time of year, typhoons and hurricanes abound.

Perhaps these are Mother Earth’s waters breaking as Zhe gives us another year’s Harvest? This is also our moment in the energetic cycle to witness the power of the oceans, seas and rivers around the world. Massive celebrations dedicated to Yemoja happen in September (and also in late Jan or early Feb).

On the note of Mothers, we talked about Mother Mountain in Spring of this year. The cornucopia we see ubiquitously during harvest celebrations is, in fact, related to Zeus’ myth and visit to Mt. Ida while hiding from Cronus. The Corybantes carry him away, using their noise and cacophony to cover up the cries of a baby and head off to Mt Ida, aka Mother Mountain. While there, a nurse-maid-she-goat named Amaltheia helped tend the baby. At some point, one of her horns broke off and would supply food to whoever held it. It became a symbol of abundance for Greeks and Romans as well.

Other Mabon or Fall Equinox traditions

For modern Pagans wanting to observe Mabon, I always recommend walking outside. Just go be with Nature, and witness Her ever-changing cycles, more apparent now than at almost any other time of year.

Eating seasonal fruits and veggies always bring you into alignment with Mabon, the season of Harvest. One of my favorite fall traditions is to collect the last blossoms from squash plants, stuff them, and eat them. It is a genuine Native American delicacy. My mother taught me this, and she learned it from my grandfather’s sister.

If it is at all possible, go to a local community garden or local farm and pick your own fruits and veggies. Witness the abundance first hand. Utilize family recipes or start your own food traditions based on what is in season in your area.

The modern Pagan and Witch must take a moment to give something back to the energy of Water, however it or She presents itself in your life. Clean up up a nearby beach, river, stream, lake, pond. Say a prayer for the waterways of Earth. Attend events like Welcome the Water. I know you’re already politically active and socially aware, so take a moment and call or email your local representative and insist on support for local water protectors, and make some donations, if you have the capacity.

I also love to collect seeds, here in the heart of the Harvest. Seeds are a way to carry wisdom, energy, and blessings from the old cycle into the next. The practice of collecting seeds reminds us that all we harvest this season, whether riches or suffering, helps us create a better tomorrow for our community and ourselves.

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MABON
WITCH’S WORK
Harvest, Rest and Healing After Labor, Purification, Protection, Ancestor Work, Shadow Work

PLANT HELPERS
Acorns, Ivy, Grapes, Cypress, Apples, Myrrh, Pomegranates, Eucalyptus

STONE HELPERS
Rose Quartz, Kunzite, Opals, Apophyllite, Granite, Jade, Sapphire, Bloodstone

THEMES FOR MEDITATION

• In the name of The Elder, see a vision of result and outcome. What is that vision?
• How do you find a balance between The Light and The Dark?
• Finally, see yourself as a balanced being. Write a letter to yourself from that place.

Mabon Season Work

Spinning The Wheel weekly Podcast

Join me for my weekly audio ritual honoring the Season’s astrology, holy days, and lunar work.

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