The light is changing. You may have noticed it already, lower and more golden by late afternoon. On Wednesday (23rd September) it settles into the Autumn Equinox, when day and night stand in perfect balance.
Mabon is the second harvest of the year, a time of reflection, gratitude and preparation for the colder months ahead. It is a chance to celebrate the natural world and the changing seasons, to notice the berries dying back in the hedgerows and the first leaves letting go.
In times of old, this was a working season. People would have spent these weeks preserving and storing food and readying their homes for winter, filling the larder while the weather was still kind. There is something in that which still feels familiar as the nights draw in, the urge to gather things close.
Spiritually, Mabon is an opportunity to find some balance within ourselves, just as nature finds balance between day and night. Nothing needs to be forced. It can be as simple as pausing long enough to notice what you have, and what you might be ready to put down.
If you like to celebrate the seasons, here are some small, simple rituals to honour Mabon.
Set up a small altar in your home. A windowsill or the corner of a shelf is enough. Throughout autumn, add little seasonal treasures you pick up along the way: a shiny conker, acorns, fir cones, maybe a candle. Let it become a place to focus your thoughts on gratitude, and on what you would like to leave behind.
Take a walk somewhere quiet and bring home one or two things you find along the way. An acorn, a leaf, a curl of bark. Add them to your altar, where they will keep a little of the walk with them.
Write down anything you have been carrying that you would like to leave behind. Tear up the piece of paper and give it to the compost or the fire.
Light a candle as the sun goes down and spend a little time reflecting on the year so far. What has it given you? What are you grateful for?
Leave a little something out for the birds. As the berries disappear, they will be gathering too.
The Mabon collection is waiting in the shop and online, should you feel like a look.
