![]() The autumnal equinox, like the spring equinox and the summer solstice, holds a powerful position on the Wheel of the Year celebrations, so mark Mabon from September 21-24 if you wish to celebrate, and set your intentions to deepen your practice as the nights get deeper, too. After all, autumn is back-to-school season, too, so why not expand your knowledge of the craft so that by the first day of spring, your practice is deepened and magic is more thoroughly in your life? Sacred Iseum's handcrafted items will enhance your magical life, and the accompanying information on how to use them will help educate and empower you. Those new ideas and hopes that you hold close at the equinox can be pulled into the full magical circle of craft with Sacred Iseum's Sacred Boxes. The autumn marks a perfect time to work on your current goals and develop plans for new ideas, so you can relax and hibernate (so to speak) in the winter. That means the autumnal equinox is just around the corner (or the vernal equinox, for the southern hemisphere). "Before electricity, it was really helpful to have that extra illumination when you were bringing in the crops.You've seen the days start to get shorter and the temperatures start to fade. Or on a clear night, soak in the glow of the Harvest Moon, the last full moon before the fall equinox. Take an early evening walk in the brisk fall air. Or better yet, says Fox, go out into nature itself. ![]() Fashion a fall wreath out of autumn leaves and dried flowers. In 2023, the spring equinox takes place on Monday, March 20 at 5:24 p.m. This occurs twice annually: once to mark the beginning of spring (the vernal equinox) and once to mark the beginning of fall (the autumnal equinox). Place a basket of fresh red and yellow apples on the kitchen table. The word equinox comes from the Latin aequus (meaning equal) and nox (meaning night). Probably the simplest way to celebrate Mabon is by bringing the colors of fall into the home. Are we working too much? Are we procrastinating too much and not accomplishing enough? There's an opportunity at Mabon to evaluate and reset." "Whether you're Pagan or not, this time of year can be a really good opportunity to take a look at what kind of balance to bring to our personal lives. You can also set aside time to meditate on the idea of "balance," says Fox, since the fall equinox is when the light and dark are in balance. Fox even has a call-and-response Thanksgiving rite that you can perform as a group. If you want to make it more of a Pagan Thanksgiving, ask everyone to reflect on the past year and share something that they're thankful for. The cornucopia could be the centerpiece for a potluck Mabon picnic with family and friends, where everyone brings a homemade dish featuring the fruits of the fall. "I appreciate the fact that some long-standing harvest traditions are continuing to be kept alive by individuals and families and communities, by whatever name," says Fox. Whether you call it Mabon, fall equinox or Pagan Thanksgiving, Fox says that the name of the holiday isn't as important as the traditions and meaning behind it. "There seems to be a complex of myths associating the fall equinox with the rescue of a young person from death, datable back to about 1500 B.C.E." He referred to the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac which is read at Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish holiday that also happens in late September. Ancient Celts and pagans used this day to give thanks to nature for a good harvest and to pray to their gods and goddesses that the crop would last. "It was not an arbitrary choice," Kelly wrote. ![]() When he couldn't find a suitable Gaelic or Germanic name for the fall equinox, Kelly chose Mabon, because the Welsh god's story has some elements in common with Greek goddess Demeter, whose ancient cult was associated with the fall equinox. As Kelly wrote on Patheos, he went looking for Gaelic or Germanic names for a Pagan calendar based on the solstices, equinoxes and other dates that would become the eight sabbats. When contemporary Paganism was emerging in the 1960s and 1970s, an academic and poet named Aiden Kelly was trying to create a vocabulary for this new/old religion. The hero of one of the stories is a handsome young god named Mabon ap Modron ("Son of the Mother") who was held hostage in the underworld as a baby. There's a medieval Welsh text called the Mabinogion that includes some of the earliest tales of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Mabon, the Autumn Equinox, also known as the Witches Thanksgiving among a few others, falls between September 21st and the 23rd. Mabon was a name borrowed from Welsh mythology and lore.
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