What is Mabon?

Hail and welcome witches! Lets talk about the magickal eight sabbats that many of us pagans (witches, wiccans, druids and so forth) celebrate. In this article series you can read about the eight different holy days that we love and cherish. These eight holy days follow the natural rhythm of Mother Nature. And reminds us that we also are a part of her.

Mabon – Celebration of the Autumn Equinox

Mabon is the second Harvest Festival on the Wheel of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere it is celebrated between the 20th and 23rd of September. This is the time when we gather the last of the veggies and fruits from the fields. The apples are amazing at this time and I always make sure to have some close by. They don’t taste as good the rest of the year. This is a time of gratitude, abundance and plenty. Back in the days (and still today) this where really happy times for the farmers. The hard work was finally done and it was rime to celebrate and feast. It’s a perfect time to throw a early thanksgiving party for the gifts that nature has given!

This is a good time to make healthy meals with local foods. Here are some examples on how you can celebrate Mabon and the autumn equinox with food:

• Bake apple pie (yum! 😋)
• Make apple cider.
• Make a super gorgeous and healthy warm vegetable soup. And serve with bread.
• Gather nuts and berries.
• Harvest and prepare your foods for storage, this is a nice activity to do with family and friends (and then eat together).

The nights are getting longer

In the Northern hemisphere September marks the clear end of summer and start of autumn with its autumn equinox. This is the magickal time when day and night are equal in length. We clearly feel a chill in the air and we the evening are getting darker. Here in Norway we can say good bye to the long light nights that we still could feel when it was Lammas/ Lughnasadh (1st of August).

This is the favourite time of the year for this witch. I love to snuggle up in the sofa under a blanket with a cup of tea and a good movie/ series or a book. I also love to light candles and finally look at the starry skies again. (I love living in Norway, but I miss the starry skies during the summer).

Time to wind down

As the nights grow longer, the air cooler and all the crops are harvested, it marks a time to wind down. Mother Nature is preparing her self for the long winter sleep. This gives us humans a valuable lesson. Just as Mother Nature is not supposed to keep on giving the whole year around, we humans also need some «down time». Time to rest, reflect and recuperate. If we give more than we have we will all turn barren and exhausted.

Some tips on how you can celebrate Mabon:

You don’t need to go full on witchy and cast a ritual to celebrate this lovely day. You can of course cast a circle and do some meditations and spells at your altar, but you can also to it a more subtle and practical way. You are still a witch even though you don’t have an altar or even though you don’t cast a circle. We all have our unique way of being a witch, be proud of the kind of witch you are.

• Make a «gratitude jar» where you put little notes you have written about what you are grateful for. Its a nice activity to get conscious about all the good stuff in your life that you can be grateful for. Sometimes we seem to forget to focus on these things.
• Get creative! Make a lovely wreath with beautiful autumn leaves, berries and cotton lights. Me and my son painted a little autumn tree (which actually was a monster-tree he told me🤣) and glued leaves on its branches. It was a super cosy activity to do together and I’m pretty happy about the result (upper picture)!
• Take a walk! Walk or sit outside and take inn all the lovely colours and fresh air. It is a magickal and beautiful time filled with warm colours of red, orange and rusty yellow.
• Donate to, or work for a charity. This is a time of abundance and gratitude How can you help others?
• Meditate and reflect on how you can have more balance in your life. At the autumn equinox day and night are equal in length, how can you balance your inner day and night? How can you wind down and rest more?

Thank you for popping by my website! I wish you a magickal and blessed Mabon🧙🏻‍♀️🍂🤎