Fall Equinox (Mabon) - September 21st

Fall Equinox (Mabon) - September 21st

The Autumn Equinox, which is also called Mabon or Harvest Home, occurs around September 21st - 23rd. The end of Summer has officially come and we honor equal night and day. We still feel the waning presence of the sun and acknowledge the lengthening darkness to come. This is the second of the three harvest festivals and is the time when fruits and vegetables are harvested. Food is stored and prepared for winter while celebrating a time of plenty in preparation for a time of frugality. It is a time of feasting; we enjoy the fruits of our labors and we share our abundance with those who do not have enough.

This is the witches Thanksgiving; a time for appreciation of the fruitful harvest and the future return of the bounty just harvested. We share in the universal rhythm of rebirth and reincarnation as we acknowledge the waning power of the Sun. It’s a time of suspended activity when we change gears to a different phase; it can therefore be a time of psychic and psychological turbulence. But, being an equinox, it is also a time of balance.

It is a time of going within ourselves and making preparations for our survival, physically and spiritually, during the winter months; the time for introspection and deep thought. For thousands of years in Greek culture, the mysteries of life and death were celebrated at the Fall Equinox. The legend of the mystery is that Demeter transformed the barren land of the Eleusinian plain into a field of golden grain. Then one kernel of grain was shown to the people illustrating to them that each birth was the returning of the soul and that the earth's cycle of birth and death reflected the human cycle. It is said that they were told at this time that "In silence is the seed of wisdom gained".