Mabon is the second Harvest Festival, The powers of light and darkness are now in balance once again, but this time, as each day passes, the Sun starts to wane as we now head toward Samhain, and our days once again grow shorter.
Celebrated on or around the 22nd March. Mabon is also known as the Autum Equinox. (Our Northern Friends celebrate this day around Sept 21st). It is a time to give thanks to the waning sunlight, for all the reapings of our spring sowing of fruits, nuts and veges, as we store our harvest away. It is time for the final feast before the long famine of the Winter.
This is a time for both mourning and joy, as we face the darkness and look back over the year we have just lived. For many witches this begins the most powerful time of the year - the dark time when the sun's light recedes to give more focus to the moon and the deep self of the female principle. A time to finish old business as we ready for a period of rest, relaxation, and reflection.
We feel the Earth energies shift once again as we begin to change from the outward-looking activities of the Summer, spending days out in the Sun, to being more inward-looking and introspective, spending time sheltered indoors from the harsh weather outside. Mabon, as the last festival in the Old English year, is also a time for looking back at what we have achieved over the past twelve months, and to plan for our future.
The Underworld Goddess returns, now approaching her Crone years. We feel her bite, the crispness of the air, the brightness of the moon. Demeter yields her daughter to the underworld.Persephone has descended to the land of Hecate and the dead, and Demeter in despair halts all new growth until her return.
The God, who was Lord of the Greenwood in the Summer, and the Corn King at Lughnasadh, now dances his last dance upon the Earth, as Dionysus, the Greek God of Wine, Music and Dance, before making his descent to the underworld to take up his role as Dread Lord of Shadows.
As Persephone must separate from the world and her Mother for a time for teachings with Hecate, so must each of us undergo this mystery in our lives. Rituals of grieving are appropriate now as well as acknowledging the rebirth and joy to follow.
It is a time when the Goddess must say farewell to her Consort.
Colours: Brown, Green, Russet ,Orange and Yellow
Herbes: Benzoin, honeysuckle, marigold, myrrh, oak leaves, pine, roses, sage.
Foods: Pomegranates, Potatoes, Carrots, Breads, Apples, Onions, Garlic
Deities: Herne, Cernunnos, Ishtar, Isis, Demeter, Persephone, Rhiannon.
Symbols: Cornucopia, autumn leaves, pine cones, gourds, corn cobs, mushrooms, apples.
