The Celtic festival of Mabon, also known as Autumn Equinox, marks the tipping point of the year, when the night and day are of equal length and we start our journey into winter. It is one of the eight Sabbats in the Wheel of the Year, and in the northern hemisphere, Mabon usually falls around 21 September. So how can we celebrate Mabon, and what can this autumn festival teach us?
Create a Mabon altar
The colours of Mabon are autumnal oranges, rusty reds, copper browns and warm ochres – take the changing leaves for inspiration! Use these colours to create your Mabon altar. Add a posy of flowers in vibrant autumnal colours and create a Mabon mandala of crystals such as amber, ruby, citrine, tigers' eye and jasper. Take a long walk in nature – or in your local park – and collect whatever Mabon treasures Mother Earth has for you. Perhaps it's a feather or a fallen leaf - always receive it with gratitude. Place your treasures upon your altar, and light a candle with thanks for all your blessings, received and yet to receive!
Mark Mabon with meditation
If there's anything the Wheel of the Year teaches us, it's the importance of balance. We've enjoyed a full, rich summer in the great outdoors, and we have kept ourselves busy and active during those long sunny evenings with friends and family. However, after periods of intense activity, come times of stillness. Take time to meditate at Mabon, to contemplate this lesson of balance. Sit quietly and consider the inflow and outflow of breath. Every inhale is followed by an exhale and vice versa – and so it is in the Wheel of the Year, where winter follows summer. Mabon is the hiatus between the inhale of summer and the exhale of winter.
Cook up a Mabon feast!
Celebrating Mabon with food is easy with the delicious autumn harvest that is currently available. Create a warming Mabon feast - a stew or soup - with seasonal vegetables such as squash, pumpkins, beetroot, apples and beans, sprinkled over with toasted pine nuts. When we eat seasonally, we align ourselves more closely with the Wheel of the Year, and its lessons of constant change as we move through the cycles of life: birth, decay and rebirth.
Activate your psychic senses
Autumn is our FAVOURITE time of year at The College of Psychic Studies – this is the season when the veil is at its thinnest, and we are able to better perceive the subtle realms. It's the perfect time to work on developing your intuition and psychic abilities; to sense beyond the physical. Let this be your intention at Mabon! Dedicate yourself to your spiritual awakening, to stepping into your full potential and awareness. Commit to your practice with an online course in psychic development. As we move into the stillness and quiet of autumn and winter, it is the ideal time to do just that.
Complete your projects
Mabon is a time for completion. Where possible, finish up the projects started in summer. Sort out your home and finances, ensure all the 'i's are dotted and 't's are crossed, get your house in order. After all the busy 'doing' of summer, it's time to move into the 'being' of winter. At Mabon, we prepare for this 'being' time so we can settle quietly into a time of reflection.
Enter into the autumn spirit at The College of Psychic Studies
Autumn-clean your home
At Ostara – Spring Equinox - we spring-clean our home to clear out the energy of winter. It is good practice to celebrate Mabon in the same way. We can release what no longer serves us with an autumn clean. Clear out the kitchen cupboards and use up anything that is approaching its sell-by date. Then release from your wardrobe the clothing that no longer brings you joy and send it to the charity shop. Similarly, freshen up the bathroom cabinet. As with all 'cleans', do it with gratitude. As you release the old and outdated, offer your thanks for its service to you.
Count your blessings at Mabon
Autumn is a time for reflection and contemplation. A good way to celebrate Mabon is to write down all that you are grateful for from the summer past, and all that you look forward to welcoming during the winter. Whether it be giving thanks for a new hobby, or enjoying happy memories, or feeling grateful for new and old connections, now is the time to honour and be grateful for all your blessings. And as we all know, gratitude brings more to be grateful for!
Tap into the special energy of autumn, when the veil between worlds grows thinner, with an online course at The College of Psychic Studies!
