Welcome to this edition of Liminal Walker Musings!
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Dear ones,
The Autumnal equinox is in a couple of days along with the Sabbat of Mabon! I treasure these earthly cyclic celebrations. Honoring this planet, our bodies and all the mystical ways of relating with life that remind us of how we are completely connected to EVERYTHING! Please enjoy, and at the end of this post is a ritual/meditation.
Welcome to Mabon
In the many complexities and commotions of our current times, how important it is to remember the simple yet extraordinary movements of Nature. To slow down and simply breathe… to feel the cool wind on the face… to listen to the hum of life…
In the northern hemisphere, we are crossing the threshold known as the equinox. An astronomical shift from longer days into longer nights. It is the time of the second harvest known as Mabon. Apples, grapes, gourds, pumpkins, vegetables, seeds and nuts are being harvested. Autumn is in full swing!
For all my friends in the southern hemisphere, welcome to the spring equinox. Shifting from shorter days into shorter nights. The time of Ostara! Where I am things are being harvested, there is a wilting away. Where you are sprouts are beginning to shoot up from the ground, trees are starting to show signs of leafing. This planet is amazing in how these cycles move, one place is descending another is rising!
The equinox is a liminal space between creation and destruction, shifts are happening. More coolness in the air, leaves are changing colors and here in wine country the grapes are being picked. In my garden the vegetables and herbs are winding down in their production. Nature is turning Her wheel. What was teeming with abundant growth is now diminishing and dying. The impermanence of life is revealing itself in this time of shedding.
An invitation for a deep, deep letting go. Remembering we are all one body, belonging to each other, this planet, to life itself, to our Mother. Interdependent care that honors the cycles of life.
MABON
Mabon is the last of the eight Sabbats on the Wheel of the Year and considered a ‘minor Sabbat’. The ancient Celts & Pagans mostly acknowledged and celebrated what are called the ‘major Sabbats’. These take place in between the equinoxes and solstices. It has been only recently that the ‘minor Sabbats’ have been observed.
Being a more recent pagan celebration, it still does have roots in the harvest festivals of long ago. Mabon is the second of three harvest Sabbats that take place in the Wheel of the Year. Lughnasadh is the first harvest, that of wheat and grains, and took place around August 1st. (here is a link to my post, Lughnasadh). Samhain is the last harvest and is coming up during the time of Halloween thru September 1st.
DARK MOTHER
This Sabbat was named in the 1970’s after the Welsh hero Mabon ap Modron, meaning Son of Mother. As the story goes, as a baby he was taken hostage into the underworld. Similar to the accounts of Persephone and Demeter. And why the Dark Mother is honored at this time.
At this time of the year, Persephone has returned to the underworld to be with her husband Hades and Demeter, her mother, is grieving. Demeter’s mourning marks the withering that begins around Autumn. She will lament until Persephone returns at the spring equinox. Autumn may arrive as an abundant harvest, but turns toward the cold as the approaching winter.
Celebrating this aspect of the Mother is not easy, but this is part of life. I feel that we as a culture tend to turn away from this side of Her. The wilting, withering and fading. Yet this is a beautiful act of relinquishment! Becoming the fertilizer and seeds for next year’s planting. Balance involves both maturing and shedding. How can we grow and evolve if we are holding tight, innovating without letting go? Eventually the load becomes too much, foundations will collapse. We see this now in the hiding of our aging, both in our looks and as older people. A need to always stay youthful, extending life at all costs by focusing on quantity over quality. Death has become a dirty word.
By embracing this season, we come to embrace this in ourselves as well.
THE MOON
Using pacific coast time, the equinox is at 11:50 pm on September 22nd. The same day the moon waxes into its first quarter a few hours earlier at 12:32 pm. The first quarter moon in Capricorn in the midst of an equinox invites balance. Between being too hard on oneself and coming into a deeper self-care. Finding equilibrium between being too strict by tuning into the magic of the heart. Work is best done when in the flow.
Celebrating Mabon
There are many ways to celebrate:
Work with balance.
Pick apples. Make an apple pie, tart or crisp.
Honor the Darkness and the Dark Mother.
Be in nature.
Tell stories, like the stories of Demeter & Persephone, or Inanna.
Have a drum circle
Participate in a harvest Festival
Celebrate home and hearth.
Visit a winery, drink some wine.
I typically celebrate Mabon by creating an altar. Engaging in ritual by calling in the directions, honoring the Dark Mother and doing a tarot reading. Diving into the archetypes and symbols for messages, insight and guidance. Focusing on questions like:
What am I reaping in my life right now? What am I grateful for? What is calling for greater equilibrium? How can I be more present with what is dying away? Where is change showing up in me and around me? What needs to be culled away? How can I honor the Dark Mother?
RITUAL
Light a candle, or focus on the one pictured here.
Listen to this ritual/meditation of calling in the directions and finding balance by honoring the Dark Mother.
AND/OR
Find a comfortable position by letting the body move and shift as it settles into a relaxing seat.
Bring your attention to your breath. As you breathe let it expand, deepen and widen. Know that as you inhale and exhale, life is also breathing you. An ongoing sacred reciprocal flow.
Know that we live within cycles, within cycles. Our breath. Light and dark as our circadian rhythms. Seasons that move both outwardly and inwardly. The many openings and closures that form our lives and this planet.
Allow yourself to feel the darkness of life. The balance to the light. Meeting any judgments, unease and/or resistance that may arise. Ask yourself, what do I need to surrender? What is in the way of embodying this precious moment?
Opening to the magic within the ebbing, waning, fading and subsiding. Even the decaying and the dying.
Demeter, Inanna, Kali, Hecate and Morrighan. These dark goddesses of destruction. Your place is honored for without night there is no day. Without grief there is no joy. Without death there is no birth.
Focus on the exhalation of your respiratory process as the release. As the letting go.
PRAYER AND BLESSING
In celebration of of this season, may we understand the balance needed. For in life there is both birth and death, a spring and an autumn. May we release the inner fight with this moment. Embracing the endings and the beginnings in equal measure. May we cross the threshold of this dark time with humbleness, respect and an open heart. Letting surrender teach us the power of letting go. This beauty of relinquishment. Blessed Be!
Would love to know your thoughts. How are you celebrating Mabon? What is being harvested in your life right now? Where do you feel more balance is needed? How do you honor the Dark Mother? What is your relationship with withering and dying? Lets have a conversation…
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Thank you Julie, I have stepped into the energy of this time more than ever before. So many things coming to an end, dropping away ready for new cycles to begin. I actually made an apple crumble last weekend, which was a bit early! I love the idea of a harvest festival, it was so part of my childhood growing up in a village and we don't follow those traditions so much anymore. I'm grateful for your insight here and I draw strength and inspiration from your wisdom. 🙏
A bit late...However I wish to say that I really appreciated your post. While I live in the Southern Hemisphere I am currently travelling in the Northern Hemisphere and am seeing the change in the landscape - cooler days, shorter nights, leaves changing and falling..It is so wonderful to be conscious of the importance of each change and to honour each - within nature and within ourselves.
And I also really appreciated your words on the Dark Mother.. thank you for that reminder - to honour the Dark Mother in our lives and in nature and how in honouring her we are living in balance.
I also really appreciated your questions...
Thank you Julie