Mabon ~ Autumnal Equinox 22 September

As we approach the Autumnal Equinox or Mabon, (22 September) one of two days each year in which day and night are equally balanced, light and dark stand equivalent, we are given an opportunity to address the need for greater balance in our lives.  The Equinox also supports changes made through the year that create more balance in our lives, homes communities, and our world.  For many of us it is the beginning of a slower pace, time to reflect on the rapid growth of summer.

Autumn, The West, The Harvest, the time of the sunset, when birds fly to roost, day begins to yield to night…  In the plants it is a time of fruiting, all the potential of the next generation held in a vessel of possible future.

The time of completion…this quadrant of the compass point also reflects a sense of community.  To gather in the harvest requires many hands.  Living, even if just for the brief time of harvest, in a communal fashion offers the deep connection a social species requires.  With a single purpose: the harvest, we solidify our common bonds our unity.

Mabon is a celebration of perfect balance.  Feasting on a bountiful harvest is a common thread through the ages.  The early days of autumn are tawny and golden punctuated with riotous reds.  While we celebrate the intensity of color and abundance of the harvest we are also aware of the coming darkness.   The festivities last long into the night.

Affirming that death is a natural part of our lives is another aspect of the season.  Not solely the death of the physical, but the death-change-transformation of ideas, relationships, ways of being, or habits, this season gives us pause.  It also offers assurance that we will rise again just as surely as the sun.

Blessed is this time of balance.  Blessings on you all this Mabon.

*anna