Mabon, Welcoming the Dark Mother

Today is the Autumnal equinox, also known as Mabon or the first day of Fall. It's the second of three harvest festivals before winter. The start of Fall symbolizes the dieing of the earth and her plants. In the ancient world people, usually the women, would be busy baking lots of breads and harvesting grain, and vegetables, preparing meats, as much as they could before all the crops died. It was a matter of survival back then. Every family had to make sure they had enough food to last them through until Spring. If they ran out in say February, it wouldn't be a good thing. So this was a very important time for the ancient people who lived before us.

Today, just like with the Spring equinox, night and day are of equal length. From now on the nights will grow long, and the days short. It is the time where the bountiful Mother of Summer begins to take her rest, and the Dark Mother begins her cycle. Just like in our lives we experience birth, death and rebirth. The seasons of the earth experience the same, again linking us, and all creatures, to our beautiful Mother Earth.

There are many myths surrounding the first day of Fall. Of course the story of Persephone and her journey back to the underworld. Now her Mother Demeter will mourn her loss until she returns to her at Spring when the earth becomes alive once again. Or the story of Inanna and her descent into the underworld where her sister Ereshkigal ruled. Upon her descent, Inanna was tricked and killed by her sister. While Inanna was stuck in the underworld, the earth ceased to grow. When a magical ritual was held, which brought Inanna back to life, the earth was restored and all the plants started to grow again.

Mabon is a great time for magic concerning prosperity, protection, and harmony. It is a time of balance and a time to give thanks for what we are blessed with in our own lives.

On your Mabon altar, have Fall colors of orange, yellow and red. Vegetables like gourds, squash and pumpkins, also grain and apples. Slice an apple down the center to see the symbol of the pentagram and place it on your altar. Incense with cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh, and pine. Fall leaves, images of the Fall Goddesses; Demeter, Persephone, and Inanna. Also a pomegranate is a symbol of Persephone and her time in the underworld.

Wishing you all an abundant and harmonious Mabon! Happy Fall!




Image courtesy of Wendy Andrews

Mabon, Fall Festival of Abundance

Today we celebrate Mabon, the second of the three harvest festivals. This is a time where night and day are equal in length, from here on out the days will grow short, and the nights will grow long. In the ancient world, this was the time of year when people were preparing for the coming winter. Harvesting their fields and stocking up food and wood to ensure they would survive the long cold nights. It was also a time to give thanks to mother earth for her great bounty.

Many cultures celebrated a harvest festival. The Greeks celebrated Oschophoria which was a festival held for harvesting grapes for wine. In China they celebrate the Autumn moon with cakes baked with flour from harvested rice. Also in some of the Germanic countries, offerings of flour were made to Odin in hopes that he would protect their crops. It seems that most of the world celebrated the time of the harvest in some fashion.

On Mabon we honor the Goddess Demeter, Goddess of grain. Her famous myth deals with her daughter Persephone and her seasonal trip to the underworld. Now is the time when Demeter is mourning the loss of her daughter, and because of this all of the plants wither and die. When Persephone is returned back to her mother at spring, life begins a new and Demeter is happy once more.

Now is the time to turn inward and reflect on the darker side of ourselves. To walk the labyrinth of life and find balance in this time of self reflection. Take some time to shed some of the negative things that hold you down, this will make room for more positive things to move in. In all of life and nature, there cannot be light without the dark, and their cannot be dark without the light. It is the great balance that we all strive for.

On your altar, have symbols of fall and the harvest, such as little pumpkins, acorns, or fall leaves. Candle colors can be red, orange or yellow or a combination of all three. Have warm colored stones and burn Mabon incense. To represent the Goddess Persephone you might want to have a pomegranate, the fateful fruit that has kept her bound to the underworld for half the year. For Demeter I suggest grains of any kind.

Wishing everyone a blessed Mabon! Enjoy your celebration of Fall!

Blessings )O(



Photo courtesy of Care2.com

Giveaway! Mabon Incense from Old World Witchery

This months giveaway comes to us from Melissa at Old World Witchery. She has graciously donated her Mabon incense in honor of the upcoming Sabbat. I had the chance to speak with Melissa, here's what she had to say:

1. Please tell us a little about your magical business. 
One of my favorite things to do is blending incense from fresh herbs,resins, and essential oils. It is such a magickal and spiritual act for me, and I decided to open an Etsy shop devoted to just that - handblended ritual incense and oils created with intent and only using certified organic ingredients. Most of my blends are created during corresponding lunar phases, depending on the purpose of the blend. Any blend for a specific deity is done in ritual, especially if it is a blend for Hekate.

Every ingredient I use is carefully selected due to it's magickal and/or healing qualities and planetary correspondences, again depending on the purpose of the blend. I don't always select ingredients that "smell pretty"; ritual incense, in my opinion, is used to lend power to your rites and using appropriate ingredients is very important to me.

All work is done in a section of my kitchen reserved just for this ~ the kitchen truly is the heart of the home, and it such a magickal place in my own home because of the time spent in there not only cooking, but working magick. We tend to move every few years due to my husband's job, and the kitchen is always the first room in the new house that is purified and blessed (and, of course, Hekate takes Her place at the threshold, as well!).
 
 2. Do you have a favorite product or products that you make?It's hard to pick one favorite product as I love them all, but I think my "Purification" incense blend is my most favorite to blend and burn. It has so much positive energies imbued in it, and I love the aroma.

3. Please explain the item you are giving away.
The Harvest Resins were created with natural tree resins and blended with a touch of honey and pumpkin pie scent, and colored in autumn colors using natural ingredients. Autumn is my most favorite time of the year; I love the golden colors of the trees and leaves and the scents of pumpkins and spice is very comforting to me. So much so that my home is scented like that pretty much year round! I enjoy making seasonal resins in this manner; it's fun to do and my younger children enjoy helping, too!


Now for the rules to enter. Go to Melissa's shop, find a few products that you like, and come back here to comment on them. Please be sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you are the winner. The giveaway will last for one week, at which time I will announce the winner. Also, for extra credit, check out Melissa's Facebook Fan Page and become a fan! Good luck to everyone who enters! Thank you to Melissa for donating her lovely Mabon incense!
 

Magic Monday, Mabon's Harvest Tarot Spread

Mabon, also known as the Autumn Equinox, is the second of the three harvest festivals. It is a time to give thanks for our bountiful harvest and to prepare for the dark months of the year. In the ancient world this would be a time when the crops were done being harvested and people were preparing for winter. Baking breads, cakes and taking part in Autumn celebrations all happened around this time of year. This is a time of balance as on the Autumn Equinox day and night are of equal length. It is also a time of retrospect, to look back on our year and see what we have gained, lost and where we are headed for the coming year.

A tarot spread is a great way to see where we have gone and where we are going to end up. To begin, shuffle your cards thoroughly and feel free to light some sage and cleanse the area around you before you get started. Once your cards are shuffled, cut the deck in half and then put one side of the deck on top of the other. Now take your cards one by one and create the spread you see above in the order of the numbered cards, with number 1 being at the top. The card placement meanings are:

1. What am I harvesting? 
2. What projects/endeavors are coming to fruition?
3. What are you most thankful for this past year?
4. Where is balance needed in your life?
5. What provisions do you need to make for the dark half of the year?


Write down your cards and their answers if you like and check it each month to see if it's matching up with your life as it moves forward. You may also keep this spread to look at this time next year to see what progress you have made.

Wishing everyone very bountiful Mabon blessings and a happy harvest!

Winner of Mabon Incense from Old World Witchery!

Thanks to everyone who entered! and the winner is......Arlene Fritz! Congratulations! Thank you to Melissa for donating her magical incense. Enjoy your Mabon incense Arlene!  I hope everyone had fun playing. Check back for the next giveaway!

Lughnasadh Crafts

Lughnasadh is the first of three harvest festivals for fall. It is a time when the first grains and ripe fruits are harvested and thanks is given for natures bounty. There are many fun crafts to do at this time, some of which are baking bread and making your own smudge sticks.
 
Baking bread was an important part of this festival for ancient people as the bread baked at Lughnasadh, as well as Mabon, would last them through winter. If you decide to bake bread there are a few magical ways to spice things up. You can mold your bread into different shapes such as a Goddess, moon, pentacle, triple Goddess etc. You can chant a few words or blessing over your bread as your baking it. Corn was also a popular harvest crop so feel free to make corn bread or any other type of flavored bread such as cinnamon. Place your bread on your Lughnasadh altar as an offering or serve it with your Lughnasadh dinner.
 
Smudge sticks are easy and fun to make. Even though you can buy them pre-made, I like to make my own magical tools whenever possible. Cut herbs from your garden or go wild-crafting. If neither of those options are available to you, try your local farmers market or grocery store. 

What you will need for this project:

• Scissors or clippers
• String cut about four or five feet long
• Cut herbs such as sage, mugwort, rosemary, lavender, etc.

Cut your herb stalks about six to ten inches long and gather them so the cut ends are together. Wind the string tightly around the stem of the bundle leaving a few inches of hanging string (you will need this later). Continue wrapping tightly around the stem of the bundle then gradually work your way up to the leafy section until you reach the end. Now go back down with your string wrapping the bundle the opposite way creating a criss cross pattern. Once you reach the end where the stem is, tie the remaining string with the extra two inches you left at the stem.
 
Once you are finished, cut off any loose leafy ends sticking out through the string so the smudge stick looks smooth. Now you may hang your smudge stick up to dry. It can take up to a week for your smudge stick to completely dry. Once they are dry they are ready to be ritually burned! You can also bless them at your altar to further empower them with your own energies.
 
Enjoy baking your bread and crafting your very own smudge sticks!







Photo courtesy of  Live In Art