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Mabon, (pronounced MAY-bun, MAY-bone, MAH-boon, or MAH-bawn) is the Autumn Equinox. The Autumn Equinox divides the day and night equally, and we all take a moment to pay our respects to the impending dark. We also give thanks to the waning sunlight, as we store our harvest of this year’s crops. The Druids call this celebration, Mea’n Fo’mhair, and honor the The Green Man, the God of the Forest, by offering libations to trees. Offerings of ciders, wines, herbs and fertilizer are appropriate at this time. Wiccans celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth.

Various other names for this Lesser Wiccan Sabbat are The Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Feast of Avalon, Equinozio di Autunno (Strega), Alben Elfed (Caledonii), or Cornucopia. The Teutonic name, Winter Finding, spans a period of time from the Sabbat to Oct. 15th, Winter’s Night, which is the Norse New Year.

At this festival it is appropriate to wear all of your finery and dine and celebrate in a lavish setting. It is the drawing to and of family as we prepare for the winding down of the year at Samhain. It is a time to finish old business as we ready for a period of rest, relaxation, and reflection.

Symbolism of Mabon:
Second Harvest, the Mysteries, Equality and Balance.

Symbols of Mabon:
wine, gourds, pine cones, acorns, grains, corn, apples, pomegranates, vines such as ivy, dried seeds, and horns of plenty.

Herbs of Maybon:
Acorn, benzoin, ferns, grains, honeysuckle, marigold, milkweed, myrrh, passionflower, rose, sage, solomon’s seal, tobacco, thistle, and vegetables.

Foods of Mabon:
Breads, nuts, apples, pomegranates, and vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions.

Incense of Mabon:
Autumn Blend-benzoin, myrrh, and sage.

Colors of Mabon:
Red, orange, russet, maroon, brown, and gold.

Stones of Mabon:
Sapphire, lapis lazuli, and yellow agates.

Activities of Mabon:
Making wine, gathering dried herbs, plants, seeds and seed pods, walking in the woods, scattering offerings in harvested fields, offering libations to trees, adorning burial sites with leaves, acorns, and pine cones to honor those who have passed over.

Spellworkings of Mabon:
Protection, prosperity, security, and self-confidence. Also those of harmony and balance.

Deities of Mabon:
Goddesses-Modron, Morgan, Epona, Persephone, Pamona and the Muses. Gods-Mabon, Thoth, Thor, Hermes, and The Green Man.

Mabon is considered a time of the Mysteries. It is a time to honor Aging Deities and the Spirit World. Considered a time of balance, it is when we stop and relax and enjoy the fruits of our personal harvests, whether they be from toiling in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with the hussle-bussle of everyday life. May your Mabon be memorable, and your hearts and spirits be filled to overflowing!*

Here is a Mabon blessing that you can recite over your feast before you eat.

Goddess, we thank you for your blessings and gifts

For the bounties of spring and summer and fertility of our lives and lands
For the powers of creation, which challenge us and fill us with breathtaking awe
Goddess we thank you

For the earth with its sunrises and sunsets, ocean tides and mountain peaks
For the Humanity, our shared pasts and futures, our oneness despite all differences
Goddess we thank you

For our hopes and dreams, noble causes and understanding of views not shared
For all who have worked and fought for a fairer universe and a life of dignity and freedom
Goddess we thank you

For the opportunity to learn and grow, the knowledge to teach and make choices
For the wisdom to live by hope and not fear and by our deeds not our words
Goddess, we thank you

For all that we have overlooked and taken for granted in the our daily life
For being and letting us be blessed by that being
Goddess, mighty and powerful, tender and charitable, we most gratefully thank you now.

Blessed Be

And this is a chant for the fall equinox.

The day is balanced, the night is balanced, all is balanced this day. Let Balance be our way. The God energy is balanced, the Goddess energy is balanced, all is balanced this day. Balance in all we do, think, and say. The Sun is balanced, the Moon is balanced, all is balanced this day. Balance is the divine way. The light is balanced, the dark is balanced, all is balanced this day. From balance, may we never stray.

*Adapted by Akasha Ap Emrys to share with all her friends and those of a like mind.–
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