Welcome to Mabon, the fall equinox, the second harvest, the time of Octoberfest, a time for feasting on harvests, and a time to move into the cinnamon and apple time of year. This equinox is the time of equal day and night. It is a time of deepening spiritual awareness as we reflect on last season’s bounty and lessons. Gourds and pumpkins peer through their dusty leaves with fat cheeks beaming at the cooler weather. Deer are crunching through falling leaves. We are reaping what we sowed last season. What work have we done in preparation for this season? What sacrifices have we made? We have come far. We change with Mother Nature.
It is a time for giving thanks, even though crops may be meagre…even though last season gave us challenges, some we may not have conquered…at least, here we are and there are things to be grateful for nonetheless. This is a time to give of our bounty, to give service, to be generous. We need to begin to prepare our home as our sanctuary for the coming cold hard months. We gather in all ways, including gathering with friends and family and gaining new connections to balance and create harmony in our life.
Decorate your home with symbols of Mabon: leaves, pinecones, seeds, cornucopia. Decorate with oranges and reds, yellows, browns, dark yellows and dark greens. Serve up food with corn, squash, beans, pumpkins and squashes, ciders, root veggies. Burn herbs of yarrow, rosemary, sage. Place jasper, amber, citrine, cat’s eyes. Decorate with sunflowers. Thistles and marigolds. Honor Persephone on your altar.
Medicines for this season are the following:
Lavendar can be used as oil or burning incense sop that you can draw peace to you. It cleanses wounds, soothes burns. It helps to burn at nighttime for sleep, to burn when needing calmness. It is good to use it to purify your home.
Apples are water and earth fruits that symbolize love and eternity. Apple leaves can be crushed and used as poultice against infections. You can peel and dry the peelings, crush them and burn them, for cleansing your home.
Cinnamon is of air and fire element. It [promotes peace and spiritual attunement, besides drawing enough finances to you. Bake with it, add it to teas, use as balm. It is good for digestion issues, blood sugar issues and is said to help with cholesterol.
In your art journal, create pages of releasing. Do at least one page of “Letting go”. Whenever worry or anxiety comes, do a page of things you need to release . Remember, this is the time of Persephone’s return to the underworld and the grief of her mother at the deal made that she would come in spring and go back to the underworld, to Hades who had kidnapped her, in the late fall. I am a grieving mother. I get the symbolism of the story of Persephone and her mother Demeter.
I am going to Alberta to take care of my brother for a couple of weeks while his wife, bless her heart, gets some respite. I am looking forward to the time with him. I am looking forward to the pace and change. I can have some respite as well. I can process some emotions. I will get healthy there, I am sure. It has been a hard few months.
Happy Mabon!
©Carol Desjarlais 9.24.23
My Mabon Bowl
https://www.morenascorner.com/2016/08/diy-leaf-bowl.html
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