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777
19th September 2013, 12:29
Hello all,

As we approach Mabon (Autumnal Equinox) on 21st September, Wiccans around the northern hemishpere will be making preperations. I thought I would start this thread (Seikou did an amazing one on the old TOT), and hopefully we can add to it as we move through the Wiccan year.

Mabon (Autumnal Equinox)

It is the time of the autumn equinox, and the harvest is winding down. The fields are nearly empty, because the crops have been plucked and stored for the coming winter. Mabon is the mid-harvest festival, and it is when we take a few moments to honor the changing seasons, and celebrate the second harvest. On or around September 21, for many Pagan and Wiccan traditions it is a time of giving thanks for the things we have, whether it is abundant crops or other blessings.

Depending on your individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Mabon, but typically the focus is on either the second harvest aspect, or the balance between light and dark. This, after all, is the time when there is an equal amount of day and night. While we celebrate the gifts of the earth, we also accept that the soil is dying. We have food to eat, but the crops are brown and going dormant. Warmth is behind us, cold lies ahead.

Personally I shall be gathering some evergreens from local sources with the kids and drying off fruit with an orange pallete as we move towards Samhain/Halloween.

Feel free to add....

Eelco
19th September 2013, 14:05
Well if you just need an excuse to raise your glass to on that day.
I got married september 21st.
some years ago allready.

With Love
Eelco

Seikou-Kishi
20th September 2013, 03:06
Well if you just need an excuse to raise your glass to on that day.
I got married september 21st.
some years ago allready.

With Love
Eelco

Some? Lol it's to be hoped your wife never sees that :P

Eelco
20th September 2013, 04:14
Lol,
Nah the some is really 15 but makes me feel extremely old.
I think Viola feels the same so some will be ok....

With Love
Eelco

777
23rd September 2013, 12:42
Happy anniversary Catsquoti.....and for Viola too!

I found this by Mark Slaughter which I'd never read before. It's a nice Autumnal poem:

The tree blushed - a rude blast of air
Betrayed a shapely bough.
My saddened heart aware
That Nature's clock was chiming,
I froze upon the twelfth
Clanging tone, caught alone,
Staring at a creaking door -
Left ajar for dancing, coloured Autumn,
Pirouetting in her leaves,
While agitated summer creatures
Backed away resignedly,
Sighing in protracted breves.
I turned; gave company;
We stood together, watching
Summer slowly blow away.

777
23rd September 2013, 12:57
And one with a decidedly Wiccan leaning:

Ephemeral truce.
The dark begins
its long winning streak.
But for now
in this disheveled garden
a riot of blowsy flowers
hangs on like a chorus
of aging show girls
still with a few good kicks.
The air is ripe
with seedy perfume
and pleasant lies,
the pomegranate shared
between two mouths.
This is our second harvest,
the corn, the squash,
the reconstructed
memories of summer.
Ceres, comfort us with apples,
with grapes and the wine of grapes.
Wheaten breads are baked
in the shape of the sun.
We savor them
with honey.
It will be a long time
before this golden
moment comes again.
By Dolores Stewart Riccio

Breeze
23rd September 2013, 17:33
Great idea for a thread 777 - shucks I may have missed the old one on TOT, did anyone save Seikou-Kishi's posts by an chance?

As to harvest, my garden is still producing; today I picked strawberries and raspberries and potatoes. I still have a plot of potatoes to dig up. My pears and cooking apples are not ripe enough yet. Neither are the pounds of tomatoes in my greenhouse that have yet to start ripening, but the cold nights are setting in here, leaves dying off and mold setting in, so I guess I may be making chutneys out of the green tomatoes. I still have a whole host of cucumbers growing and also courgettes too. There is nothing like eating one's own organic produce.

Tribe
23rd September 2013, 17:35
My tomatoes are the same :( and still have courgettes yet to grow ? Is it normally like this ? Maybe I planted to late ? X

Breeze
23rd September 2013, 17:56
My tomatoes are the same :( and still have courgettes yet to grow ? Is it normally like this ? Maybe I planted to late ? X

We had a very prolonged winter here - no Spring and suddenly jumped into summer with 8 weeks of sunshine - glorious - now back to no sun again and plummeted into cold nights. The leaves on the tree are only just showing shines of going into Autumn, I think Nature is quite confused with all this weather modification they are doing.

Seikou-Kishi
23rd September 2013, 17:59
My tomatoes are the same :( and still have courgettes yet to grow ? Is it normally like this ? Maybe I planted to late ? X

Nope, it's the same for me. My strawberries have had it particularly bad this year.


... suddenly jumped into summer with 8 weeks of sunshine ...

And you nearly had me believing you lived in the UK :P

Breeze
23rd September 2013, 18:04
And you nearly had me believing you lived in the UK :P

LOL..... It is the first Summer I have had for 4 years! The 'weather guys' let me have some sunshine for a while - and got a tan....even put my shorts on - most rare.

Back to dull and grey again - and they kept forecasting a heatwave this past weekend..... still waiting.... Did anyone get the heatwave promised?

777
23rd September 2013, 18:15
Nope Breeze, just an oppressive atmosphere and green tomatoes here too sadly.

Breeze
23rd September 2013, 18:55
Music that celebrates Mabon -Equinox - This has many lovely haunting sounds in this song. Enjoy!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx_BTgiSoSg

Ps. If you are one of those that reads a thread backwards i.e. newest post to old, (I do sometimes) and arrive here at this post, this is great music to listen to while reading the other posts.

Altaira
23rd September 2013, 19:52
Green tomatoes are very tasty fermented with cabbage, carrots, peppers and cauliflower. This is what I am going to do with mine but I still hope for a few more sunny days to the be able to get the most of them. Then will separate those which have like a pink star at the center because they will ripe. And I am still enjoying cucumbers too I am so glad I sprayed them with neem oil as this prevented the fungal disease they were getting.

Altaira
24th September 2013, 10:03
On the spiritual side I feel it is time to remove the weeds from our "garden" as much as possible so when we wake up for the next cycle the ground will be as clear as possible. At least this is how I experience this equinox. :)

Love and light,

Rayna