Today marks Mabon, the time of the Autumn Equinox here in the southern hemisphere, as it is Ostara or the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.

Blessed Ostara to our friends in the North!

The equinoxes are a time to think of balance, they’re the two nights of the year when the amount of light and darkness are equal.

At Mabon we honour the changing seasons, and celebrate the second harvest. It is the time when the harvest is winding down as the crops have been harvested and we give thanks for the things we have, whether it is abundant crops or other blessings that will supply us throughout winter.

It is a time to take stock of all that occurred over the summer period, we look at our own lives and those of our families. Did we reap well from the seeds we sowed last Spring? did our plans come to fruition? Are our lives full and bountiful as we prepare to slow down and move into the cooler winter months?

Personally I’m feeling called to acknowledge my intention of living in alignment with my authentic self, my values and how I spend my time. Being called release that which stands in my way, a relationship with self sabotage and victim hood. Tonight in circle with my sisters of the Healing Ground we will be invoking a Goddess of Mabon to guide us forwards with this tide of change, release and expansion.

We give thanks to the Great Mother for she supports us and our endeavours and we come together with our friends, sharing the hospitality of our abundance, sharing in celebrations to bring gifts of your harvest like baking or opening your home for autumn feasts, showing appreciation for the friends in our lives is paramount in sustaining us through the colder and leaner months to come.

Within Goddess traditions, Demeter and Persephone are strongly connected to the time of the Autumn Equinox. When Hades abducted Persephone into the underworld, her mother Demeter, goddess of the abundant earth and harvest sank into a depression which led to the earth falling into darkness each winter. This is the time of the Dark Mother, the Crone aspect of the triple goddess.

The earth dies a little each day, and we must embrace this slow descent into darkness before we can truly appreciate the light that will return in a few months.

And so we welcome the Dark Mother and celebrate that aspect of the Goddess which we may not always find comforting or appealing, but which we must always be willing to acknowledge. We tell her story so we may always remember, the cycle of life and death and rebirth that binds us to the earth, that empowers us as women and men of goddess.

And so we look to the darker aspects of our own soul. Is there a pain or fears you’ve been longing to get rid of? If there anger and frustration that you’ve been unable to move past? Is there someone who’s hurt you, but you haven’t told them how you feel? Now is the time to take this energy and turn it to your own purposes. Take any pain inside you and reverse it so that it becomes a positive experience. If you’re not suffering from anything hurtful, count your blessings and offer your thanks at this time of thanks giving in the year.

My family celebrate Mabon by spending time together in nature, collecting treasures like leaves, sticks and nuts that have fallen to the earth to then go home and craft with later. We bake autumn treats and share feasts with family as they celebrate the secular Easter traditions of chocolate hunts we focus on the time spent together, rather than the bunnies of spring.

This year we started our day early out in the garden. The kids played n their mud kitchen mixing treats with herbs and mud into their own soups and cakes whilst I added compost to our gardens and planted some natives.

We moved inside and the kids helped decorate our dining table with an altar representing all we are grateful for this season, including their nature treasures, crafts and our fruits and veggies that we will be using in our Mabon feast baking and cooking.

For our Mabon family feast we made a veggie and lentil ratatouille, chicken broth nourishing soup and a gluten free pumpkin bread

So light a candle for the dark mother and give blessings for all we have, release what is no longer serving you and allow the nature of good friends, families together and warming foods to light your pathway into winter.

Mabon Blessings,

Dania

Celebrating Mabon