Mabon – The Second Harvest at the Autumn Equinox

Faust’s vision *oil on canvas *81.2 x 150.5 cm *signed b.r.: FALÉRO 1880
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Nightfall of the autumn equinox

The scales of time balanced

Equality for both night and day

The land has surrendered its green

Stalks and vines revealing tan and gold

The turning wheel ushers in the breeze

Reminding everyone of the coming cold

Second of the three harvests

The fruits crisp from the first frost

Changing leaves dancing as they fall

The earth becomes a collective canvas

And still the wheel keeps turning

Thankfully we reap what we’ve sown

Celebrate and honor the Goddess

Libations for the sustenance

Prayers for the abundance

Reflections of what diminishes

Reverent appreciation and understanding

Nature yields temporarily

Taking solace deep within the ground

Gathering strength and wisdom

Waiting patiently for spring

 autumn_witch

Mabon

The Autumn Equinox (September 21st or 22nd) is Mabon, the second of three celebrations of the harvest.  This celebration is for the fruit, the time for gathering in, the fruits from the trees before the coming of winter.  The harvest of the grain, Lammas (August 1st) has passed , and will be followed later by Samhain, the harvest of the nuts and berries.  What is significant about Mabon is that it falls on the equinox, a day when the light and the dark are in balance.

Mabon originates from Welsh and it means “Great Son.”  The Welsh like almost every other old society had numerous harvest rituals which over time morphed into modern ones, namely Thanksgiving in America.  Nearly all of the celebrations popular at this time of the year focus on the themes of life, death, and rebirth.  With winter soon approaching and all plant life fading, people took the time to give thanks for the food that they could store away to get them through the cold months ahead.

The best known harvest tale is the story of Demeter and Persephone. Demeter was the goddess of grain and of the harvest in ancient Greece.  Her beautiful daughter, Persephone, was abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld.  The story tells of how Demeter’s grief caused the crops on earth to die and go dormant.  After six long months, she finally recovered her daughter, but while in the underworld Persephone had eaten six pomegranate seeds, and so was doomed to spend six months of the year in the underworld forever afterwards.  These six months are the time when the earth dies, beginning at the time of the autumn equinox.

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