Goddesses: Persephone, Kora, Dememter, Rhea, Gaea, Ceres
Colors: dark blue, grey, brown, red, gold, copper (fall colors)
Herbs: clove, anise, chamomile, juniper, black currant, vanilla, cinnamon
Crystals: sapphire, amethyst, onyx, carnelian, topaz, labradorite
Symbols: pomegranates, cornucopia, spirals, caves, pumpkins,
hay bales, scare-crows, autumn leaves
Mabon is a celebration of the Goddess after Motherhood but before Cronehood. It is also the time when Kora/Persephone begins her descent into the Underworld to learn the Mysteries of Life, Death, and Rebirth from Hecate, the Crone-Gate Keeper of subconscious wisdom and magick. As Ostara includes the mother-daughter bond, Mabon includes their separation. However you choose to identify the Sabbat, Mabon is a dark time of the year. In late September, we can feel the air turn cooler, the leaves begin to change color.
This day is the Equinox – day and night are once again the same. The night has caught up to the day and after this point the hours of darkness will overtake the light. The harvests have manifested completely, the fruits of our labor in the early spring have ripened and materialized. The cornucopia was originally intended to embody the womb of the goddess, from which fruit, vegetables, grains, all life and sustenance, ultimately emerge and return. Once male-centered myth became the fashion, the womb became the horn of war that was blown, the spear that “won” the abundance by stealing it from others. Mabon is pagan thanksgiving. Give thanks to the Goddess Earth for her blessings of Life... food, water, love, oxygen, shelter... all of these things we frequently take for granted, but cannot live without.
This time of year symbolizes the mysteries of women and the deep mind. However, these concepts are the foundation of witchcraft and should be honored and cultivated all year round. These mysteries are lunar qualities, ideas, and practices such as dreams, intuition, receptiveness, compassion, divination. As well as the moon's cycle and influence on the cycle of our bodies and the tides of the oceans, which are all in perfect harmony. This day also symbolizes balance. Remember that darkness is not synonymous with evil (we will discuss this more in Samhain). The lunar qualities are often relegated to women, but the truth is we all must honor our lunar and solar qualities, otherwise we will be un-whole. Fear and repression of these qualities is what led to the fear and repression of witches and women. If these things were honored in society, witches and women would be as well.
Mabon Ritual
Prepare fall harvest foods, such as breads and pies made from apples, pumpkin, pomegranates and berries, flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla... Light a cinnamon or other fall-scented candle. Decorate your altar or ritual space with fall leaves, pumpkins, gourds, images of Persephone, branches of bittersweet, cornucopias, and so on.
Cast a circle and light a candle for the Mother Goddess and thank her for her blessings. Thank yourself for journeying into your own deep mind, so that you can emerge reborn and whole. For your meditation, think about your own dreams, desires, cycles, patterns, intuitions, emotions, and write them in your Book of Mirrors (a witches' journal).
Close your eyes. See the Moon, feel her energy, see yourself glowing with moonlight. Her energy is creativity, fertility, passion, dreams, intuition and magick. This is the time when what was planted on the spiritual plane in the spring begins to manifest as a bountiful fall harvest of wisdom and blessings. Think about all the things you hoped for and worked to achieve earlier in the year, and see how they have come to fruition over time.
Imagine walking through the gates of the Underworld, it is dark and full of shadows, but you are not afraid, because you know there is ancient wisdom living here. Visit with Hecate, the Crone at the Gates. What is the Key you need in order to unlock the doors of perception? What magick and mystery does your own subconscious mind hold?
When you are finished, write your thoughts, emotions, visions, and impressions in your book. Close the circle and thank the Goddess for manifesting her blessings in your life.
