Making Fall Magical
The Autumn Equinox, Celebrating Mabon
As labor day passes and the leaves begin their transformation from green to red, orange and brown hues, I am reminded that the year is coming to an end. Farmers will bring in the crops, and pumpkin spice latte will be back on the menu.
Personally, I enjoy this time of year because it’s a break from the hot summer and brings more comfort.
Within modern pagan circles, we refer this time period to as Mabon, a revived Celtic pagan holiday popularized by Wiccans in the 1970s as a sabbat on the Wheel of the Year.
As one of the most magical times of the year, we can do much to celebrate Mabon.
You can perform potent magick to reap the rewards of the past year and prepare for the next one, or simply celebrate the harvest season.
As a major turning point on the Wheel of the Year, you’d be wise to take advantage of this liminal sabbat.
What is The Wheel of the Year?
During the 1960s, pagans and Wiccans created the Wheel of the Year. However, it’s based on old celebrations of nature’s cycles and ancient festivals by the Celts and Germanic peoples in Europe.
The Wheel of the Year depicts eight Sabbats based on the changing of the seasons, and the solar equinoxes.
The fall equinox, known as Mabon, indicates the start of the darker half of the year when light and dark become balanced. During Ostara, we characterize the year by more hours of daylight, in contrast to its opposite, Mabon, which signals the start of the dark period of the year.
The Sabbats are:
Four Fire festivals:
Imbolc — (February 1st) for spring
Beltane — (May 1st) for summer
Lughnasadh/Lammas — (August 1st) for autumn
Samhain — (October 31st) for winter
Four Solar festivals:
Ostara — Spring Equinox (March 20th — 23rd)
Litha — Summer Solstice (June 20th — 23rd)
Mabon — Autumn Equinox (September 20th — 23rd )
Yule — Winter Solstice (December 20th — 23rd)
These festivals or Sabbats are a way for us to celebrate the changing of the seasons, and to honor the Earth Goddess.
Wiccans and neo-pagans celebrate the Wheel of the Year to honor the Male nature God in his two aspects.
You don’t have to be a Wiccan to follow this calendar. However, it’s a great way to get in tune with the cycles of nature and the yearly rhythm.
Mabon, otherwise known as Pumpkin Spice Latte Season
I’m kidding, but for many it’s the time of the year when pumpkin spice latte returns to the menu, apple orchards are ready for picking, and hayrides go into full swing.
It’s my favorite season because of the beautiful colors the foliage turn as they get ready for winter.
Like the Wheel of the Year, Mabon is a revived festival based on the Welsh God Mabon (Mah- Bon) ap Modron. Otherwise known as Maponos, or “Great Son.” He is part of a divine duo between him and the great mother Goddess, Dea Matrona.
While it’s a Celtic holiday historically, I prefer to celebrate this time as when Hekate leads Kore to the Underworld with torchlight. While Demeter grieves the loss of her daughter.
Mabon himself has a story similar. He is abducted and taken to the Underworld, however, it’s unrelated to Autumn.
Mabon happens during the Libra season, in the Autumn Equinox, which varies from year to year but lands between September 20th-23rd. Themes surrounding this time are balance, taking stock of what we have gained from our personal harvests, and preparing for what lay ahead.
Meaning handling our lives with diligence and using our resources wisely, and decreasing our own bad habits.
Now, with the basics out of the way, let’s get into the fun stuff!
Mabon Correspondences
One of the main reasons witches adhere to the Wheel of the Year is to be in touch with nature and perform magick under the current cycle of the year.
This empowers our magick as we’re working with the tide of nature, with how the Earth and the Celestial bodies are moving. This applies to astrological timing, lunar timing and many other correspondences.
In terms of correspondences, Mabon season has quite a few. Here are some to inform your practice, and give you ideas:
Symbols: Cornucopia, scales, scythes, pinecones, grains, seeds, apples, pomegranates, gourds, corn, cider, and wine
Colors: Orange, red, yellow, brown, copper
Herbs: Yarrow, rosemary, sage, mugwort, cinnamon, nutmeg, rosehips, and thistle
Stones: Amber, citrine, cat’s eye, aventurine, sapphire, jasper
Flowers: thistle, marigolds, mums, sunflowers, oak trees, honeysuckle
Deities: Mabon, Green Man, Demeter, Persephone, Hekate, Pomona, Inanna
Animals: Owl, stag, blackbird, salmon, dogs, wolves
Rituals, Celebrations and Magick
While it’s spoken of frequently, intention is an important part of the craft. Workings done around the autumn equinox is no different; Intentions would include things like gratitude for all you’ve gained during the year, reducing what isn’t meant for you, and planning for the upcoming year.
We can perform ritual magick in groups or alone, either way it can be powerful. You can perform magick to reduce unwanted influences. As well as show gratitude and reverence to the spirits by building a bonfire and performing rituals around it.
If you’re unable to have a bonfire working with your altar and symbols associated with the season are just as powerful.
Either way, it is imperative you create sacred space and draw up a magical circle to empower the ritual, and protect yourself from outside influences.
With correspondences, symbolism and ritual at hand, you will have what you need to create and perform powerful spells.
Apples symbolize many things: prosperity, temptation, the underworld, love and magic.
Don’t believe me? Cut an apple in half and the seeds form a pentagram. If that isn’t witchy, I don’t know what is. Here are some apple spells for your Mabon season.
Apple Seed Satchet for Protection
What you’ll need:
- Apple Seeds
- Rosemary
- Rue
- Bay leaf
- Obsidian or other protective Crystal
- Drawstring Bag
- Black or Red Candle
Place your ingredients on your altar. Create a sacred space and cast your circle.
Dress your candle in a related oil, or plain olive oil.
Light your candle and focus on your intention. Feel your energy and focus your will on your ingredients, giving them the purpose of protecting you.
Afterward place your ingredients in the bag, tie it and perform your spell.
Recite an Incantation:
Apple seed, apple seed
Give ear to my need,
Protect me hither and thither,
Thither and back.
Apple Spell for Binding Lovers Together
What you’ll need:
- One Apple
- Rose petals
- Cinnamon
- Honey
- Pen
- Pink or Red Ribbon/String
- Pink or Red Candle
Optional: Personal effects of the person in question, or picture
You’ll want to cut an apple in half and carve each person’s name on each side.
Place the roses, cinnamon and drizzle of honey over the names. You can include pictures of one or both people, and place them on each side so they are facing each other.
Put the apple back together, tie them together with the ribbon.
Burn the Candle
Note: Set the mood, light a scented candle, or use anything that smells like love or lust for you. It will help reinforce your intention while performing the spell.
Recite the Incantation:
By the power of Inanna, Venus and Astarte,
I call you {person A},
You are bound to {person B},
Like biting into a sweet apple,
Smelling roses on a sunny day,
{Person B}’s words will flow like honey.
Sweet as nectar drawing you close,
Into love’s embrace
Apple Spell for Prosperity
What you’ll need:
- One Apple
- Cinnamon
- Basil
- Cloves
- Paper, preferably brown paper bag
- Pen
- Green Candle
- One of each: Penny, nickel, dime, and a quarter
You’ll want to set your sacred space and prepare your materials. Write out a petition to your ancestors or any other spirits you work with to bring prosperity, money, and happiness to your home.
[This spell is a general prosperity spell, and you would have to use another form of magick for specific money required.]
Cut an apple in half, and sprinkle the ingredients on the apple. Praying, chanting and feeling the warm golden energy of prosperity radiating and emanating from you and the materials.
When you’re done doing this, place in the oven for 10 minutes until the apple is lightly browned. The aim is to bring out the fragrant smells of the apple and the spices.
Place it back on your altar and light your green candle. You may dress it with oil in a direction toward yourself to draw money to yourself.
As the candle burns down, continue praying, chanting or reciting a short rhyme to empower your spell further.
Example:
As this candle burns down, prosperity will come around
While the candle is burning down, use a bowl or cauldron to burn the petition to send your prayers to your ancestors. Optional: You may sprinkle the ashes of the petition on the apple.
When you’re finished doing this, you can place the apple somewhere that involves a lot of traffic, in the center of your home, or by the door. After nine days, or sooner if the apple decays, take the apple to a crossroads.
Bury the apple with the coins and ask the spirits to continue to bring prosperity to you and your home. Thank them and walk away without looking back.
Parting Words
The possibilities of what you can do and what magick you can perform are endless during this season.
Although it’s easy to forget, but celebrating the season in a mundane way is also incredibly powerful, and fulfilling. Don’t lose sight of the material parts of life, for that goes hand-in-hand with powerful magicks.
With that said, Mabon is an accessible holiday open to anybody, Wiccan or not. It focuses on the equinox and the changing of the seasons, something most people experience annually.
With a little ingenuity and effort, you can make this season count and propel you toward the next year with all the blessings this year’s harvest has to offer.
