So the Tuesday before last (21st September) was the Autumn Equinox, also known as Mabon. It's also the second harvest festival within the Pagan calendar - Lughnasadh and Samhain are the other two.
Mabon is like the Spring Equinox, or Ostara, because it is celebrated when day and night are of equal length. The Equinoxes coincide with the mid-point between the Solstices and this can promote the idea of bringing your Self into balance through the power of gratitude.
This is exactly what I did when I took part in a group Mabon ritual (separate to the Priestess Path activities). I haven't really celebrated the Wheel of the Year on my own but I hope to do this in the future.
As ever, we started by grounding and cleansing our energies. We did this through a visualisation meditation where we were all Oak trees. The Oak is a sacred tree across many belief systems, from the Druids and Celts to Greek and Romans - within each system, the Oak is associated with a "high-ranking" deity (Dagda, Zeus and Jupiter to name just three). The Oak is also symbolic for wisdom, strength and endurance.
Anyway, back to the meditation. It involved us all being Oak trees with our feet as roots, sending them down into the earth to anchor and ground, while there were branches reaching out from the crowns of our heads to take in the sun, moon and star song.
As a community, we were a grove of Oaks - those who were able to attend live but also those who had to watch the replay (all of these Wheel of the Year rituals are recorded and placed in the membership site that Emily at Wise Woman Witchery has - it's well worth the monthly fee by the way). This was done so that we were part of time but also outside of time itself, able to connect through the eons.
The element of Air and direction of East were called in as the winds of change and the promise of something new. Fire and South were called upon as the sacred flames bring warmth and the promise of movement and transformation. Water and West were called in for sacred flow within the emotional body and the promise of deep release. North and Earth were called upon as the sacred soil bringing the abundance of the harvest and the promise of nourishment and abundance. Finally, Centre and Spirit were called in as the sacred energy of love and wisdom, as well as the promise of connection.
This was really moving for me as I don't always think of the elements working together (even though I know they do) and while the cooler months have now started, I haven't considered previously that the elements all still have a part to play in my life even through the colder seasons.
The next part of the ritual was another meditation (I love visualisation ones as they stop me from being too distracted by my own thoughts). This time it involved standing at the top of a staircase, which for me was stone and spiralled like in an old round tower. As I went down the steps themselves, they were solid and true with little to no wear and tear on them, almost like they were newly made, and led me to a small hallway with a red wooden door at the other end. The door had a heavy, metal doorknob set into it.
The door opened into a garden-like area that was full of harvest to the west, complete with the setting moon, and in the east the rising sun with a more spring-time energy. The setting moon and the rising sun were symbolic of the balance between night and day. Towards the west, there were trees whose leaves were starting to change colour from green to orange, apples were lying on the ground ready to be picked, and other fruits were ready to be harvested as well. The air was crisp but full of a sense of change too. It was almost as if everything was turning its attention inward for the next few months.
A short walk away from the doorway, there was a small nook of a seat that was a natural thing without having been man-made. It was also stone. like the steps, and had something akin to ivy growing around and over it. It was more comfortable to sit on that you might expect from just looking at it.
Once seated, we were invited to consider what was out of balance within our physical bodies. For me, the areas that weren't balanced were my digestive system, headaches (not my usual migraines or ones caused by dehydration), and just a general feeling of tiredness. Then we considered our emotional selves and this is where I felt as if I wasn't giving enough love to those I care about.
Then we cast our inner view to our outer life and how that might be out of balance. I will admit to feeling very restless (possibly due to the time of change we are now in), not wanting to do much although I have spent some time cleaning and tidying areas of my home. I have also neglected this blog at times and my other social media but I have already taken steps to be more organised so there is one thing I have taken steps to improve.
In doing this visualisation, I started to feel more balanced within myself due to managing my shadow self which can be sarcastic, quick to anger and lose patience. This felt like Shadow Work, which is something that is a constant project when wanting to improve the self (this is another topic that will be covered in a few months in the Priestess Path course).
After this part of the visualisation, we were then asked what we are grateful for. I split it up into physical, emotional and my wider spiritual self. For my physical self, I felt grateful to be alive and able to do things, able to think and write, as well as eat food. For my emotional self, I was grateful for the ability to love my friends, and feeling supported by the people I know. Within my spiritual self, I was grateful for my journey, and being able to grow as a person while also growing within my gifts. I was also grateful for being able to share what I learn with others (like I do here with my experiences).
Sitting in that place, I experienced a sense of peace and wholeness that I don't think I've ever known, so when we left our little sacred places, I was looking back wistfully at the place as I walked away and out of it before shutting the red door and walking back up the spiral stairs.
Mabon is all about the harvest and being grateful of what we have in our lives as well as what we are receiving from others (and the Divine) so this was particularly special for me. While I have embraced my witchy self, I haven't always been able to do anything about celebrating the Wheel of the Year because I'm a solitary witch and practice alone. So doing these rituals makes me feel like I am honouring these celebrations.
I hope this inspires you to do something similar for next Mabon.
Love and peace to all!!
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