The Autumn Equinox

Aka Mabon

Hello, lovely soul,

For this month’s second post, I believed it appropriate to discuss how I plan on celebrating our return to what I fondly refer to as the end of the Witch’s year. If Samhain is our New Year, then the Autumn Equinox is our Thanksgiving or as much as it can be. From everything I have ever read, all of our holidays involve feasts so they all resemble what Thanksgiving has been popularized to be.

The Autumn Equinox is a harvest festival – much like Samhain – and it is referenced occasionally as a second harvest festival. This is because the first harvest celebration is at the beginning of August and called Lammas.

The Autumn Equinox is also known in more recent years – aka the 20th century – as Mabon (pronounced as if you are saying Ma + Gone but with a b). While there are some Welsh roots via the name of the holiday, it is not originally a holiday that was incorporated into the wheel of the year. The name “Mabon” comes from the Welsh God of the same name who was the son of the Earth Mother Goddess. However, in doing my research there’s nothing truly tying him to the holiday other than the name. A huge shoutout to Hannah Hawthorn, aka Simply Witched, for discussing this in her latest “The Witchin’ Kitchen” video on YouTube. I highly recommend checking out Mhara Starling as well for more information on the subject.

Although Mabon may not be the name it has always had, it still doesn’t mean it is celebrated any differently. The typical crops collected for this harvest are apples and other fruits. Apples specifically are a symbol for life and immortality, for healing, renewal, regeneration and wholeness which is definitely fitting for the next to last harvest. Symbols also include cornucopias loaded with fruits collected from the harvest. Colors connected to this celebration range in the traditional fall colors of fading greens, reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and golds.

As always, I don’t typically get to feast because a great many of these holidays fall in the middle of the week and my little coven of friends are pretty busy because we are hustling ladies trying to make the dream life happen. In lieu of this, it is time to revamp the altar.

Typical decor calls for the best of the produce you are able to locate whether it be from the market, foraged, or grown in your own garden. It is encouraged to do it outside, however, I do not live somewhere I own so I can’t do that. So we settle for the normal altar when you first enter my apartment door.

I made the altar cloth with a plaid fabric I had fallen in love with at Joann’s. The apples are faux as well as the florals. Special shout out to my friend who got married and let me have these so I didn’t have to go buy new. But still gotta find more apples to add to the tree decor for Yuletide. But that is shopping for later.

I try to be simple with my altar revamps because I am limited on the space of the table. But I quite enjoy shifting this every holiday because it’s interesting.

I hope you found this post to be helpful in your path. And just because I’ve decided not to call it Mabon doesn’t mean you have to stop. That’s the beauty of our individual practices.

Light & Love,