Mabon

Mabon is a time where day and night are of equal length, after which the dark will become dominant as we descend towards winter. While the Spring Equinox represents initiation and preparation for action, the Autumn Equinox is a time for rest after labour. The harvest has been gathered, but the Sun is still with us - there is still a week until Michaelmas, where we must bid him farewell. At this time of balance, of suspended activity, the veil between the worlds is thin - Doreen Valiente remarks that the Equinoxes are the times where recurrent hauntings are most often reported. This Sabbat is symbolised by the double spiral, a going-in and a returning, to remind us, as we begin the journey inwards towards the darkest point of the year, that death is always followed by rebirth, just as winter is always followed by summer. "Whatsoever rises must also set, and whatsoever sets must also rise" The Goddess is pregnant with the new God, who will be born at Yule, the longest night. Even as she prepares to bid the old God farewell, she knows that the seed of the new God is already within her.

Mabon marks the middle of harvest, falling between the grain harvest of Lughnasadh and the white harvest when the animals were slaughtered at Samhian. Likewise, in our own lives it is a time of personal harvest; to reap what we have sown and look back over the past year to see if projects that we began have borne fruit. It is also a time finishing up old projects and plans and planting the seeds for new enterprises or a change in lifestyle. Stop and relax and enjoy the fruits of your personal harvests, whether they be from toiling in you gardens, working at your jobs, raising your families, or just coping with everyday life. Take time out to look at your life and reassess where you are going, what you have so far achieved and what it is that you are still seeking. In this way, Mabon will truly be a time of celebration and balance.

The passing of Mabon is inevitable and The Sun God should be mourned. We too, must remember that all things must come to an end. So the Sun God journeys into the lands of winter and into the Goddess' loving arms, but endings are a good time to celebrate our successes, thank our selves and those who helped us, and take part in the balance of life

Until Mabon, the hours of daylight have been greater than the hours from dusk to dawn. But from now on, the reverse holds true. Astrologers know this as the date on which the sun enters the sign of Libra, the Balance (an appropriate symbol of a balanced day and night). However, since most European peasants were not accomplished at calculating the exact date of the equinox, they celebrated the event on a fixed calendar date, September 25th, a holiday the medieval Church Christianised under the name of "Michaelmas", the feast of the Archangel Michael.

Mabon is also known as the Feast of Avalon and the festival of the Wine Harvest. To the Celts, Avalon is the mysterious place for the land of the dead. and literally means the "land of apples". Thus as well as being a celebration for the bounty of the harvest it also represents the desire for the living to be reunited with their deceased loved ones.

But the holiday is also named for the Welsh God Mabon. Mabon means the "great son". He was the son of Modred, kidnapped at the age of 3 and later rescued by King Arthur. His life represents the innocence of youth, the strength of survival and the growing wisdom of the elderly. Perhaps it is this view of the cycle of life that brings Mabon to his most popular role, the King of the Otherworld and the God of Darkness.

His myths overlap with other Gods such as the Welsh God Gwyn Ap Nuad, which means "white son of darkness". He is seen as the God of war and death, the patron God of fallen warriors. Once again this is a representation or connection to the Land of Avalon.

Mythically, this is the day of the year when the god of light is defeated by his twin and alter-ego, the god of darkness. It is the time of the year when night conquers day. The Druids call this celebration, Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honour 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 also celebrate the aging Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone, and her consort the God as he prepares for death and re-birth. The word Mabon is Welsh for 'Son', and refers to the Welsh God of youth, the Divine Child who the Druids believe is within us all. He is a child of the otherworld, born of earthly parents and stolen when he was three nights old.

The full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox is known as the "Harvest Moon," since farmers would also harvest their crops during the night with the light of the full moon to aid them. With the waning sun still observed in the sky and crops continuing to be gathered for the coming bleakness of winter, the farmer's life was harried and rough. The struggle to reap the crops and store everything for the oncoming months of cold dominated his daily life. In those days, people lived by the harvest, which was quite literally life itself. Folks were also deeply concerned with the slaughtering of herd animals and gathering of other provisions.