FALL EQUINOX, MABON

On 23rd of September we have the Autumnal Equinox or Mabon. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it marks the beginning of the astronomical fall. This is the moment when day is equal to night & balance is created between them. The energy peak of the Fall Equinox falls on September 23 but can be felt few days before & after.
We adjust our thinking from outdoors to indoors & we adjust our bodies to become reacquainted with cold & darkness. The Fall Equinox celebrates the wisdom, grace & tenderness, the time of turning inward, into the darkness, into the unknown depths, we turn to thoughts, ideas, emotions & relationships, to our intuition. Spring is morning & Autumn is evening. Just as early dusk is fraught with mystery & the promise of a dark night, early Autumn is a time to adjust our sails to the Winter winds. People are like a sailing boat on the Sea, which must change the direction as the wind changes. With the wrong setup the energy has nowhere to move.
The simplest, but perhaps most effective way to celebrate the Fall Equinox is to spend the day in nature. Open your arms to the gentle Autumn Sun, expose your face to it & live this moment so that as much Sun, warmth & peace as possible will enter you – all this energy will support you very much during the coming Winter days. Take the time to enjoy the Autumn sunsets, fill your heart with beauty & love, to be in harmony with nature & accumulate the natural energy in yourself.
Find your balance & accept all of your life, both good & bad, to understand the light, we must experience the darkness. One exists only because of the other. As above, so below, as within, so without.
Autumn, paradoxically, is simultaneously generous & withering; the crop is harvested & the natural world begins to fade. All the situations or things that doesn't serve you, or weigh you down, should also be let go of or left for their wintering grounds. This is the time for deep reflection & meditation to find answers, let go of all the negative energy, excessive drama & unnecessary burden or erroneous beliefs that hold us back.
During the Summer, we spent most of our time outdoors, now it's time to prepare the home for Winter. Repair & clean the home, throw out old worn-out Summer clothes. Smudge home with Sage sprigs, moving clockwise in each room.
You can perform a ritual sweep. Take a large broom & go around the rooms, sweeping out the negative energy. You can try making your own broom. To do this, you will need a 1.5 meter stick made of Oak or Ash, thin branches of Birch, Thyme & Wormwood, Willow bark to bind the broom. Soak the Willow bark & branches overnight to soften them.
Take sea salt & sprinkle it on the corners of the rooms – it also protects the space from dark forces.
Mabon is a celebration of second harvest & preparation for winter, thanksgiving for sunlight & respect for darkness. Food on Mabon consists of second-harvest goodness such as grains & nut breads, fruits & vegetables such as potatoes, carrots & onions & especially corn. Corn bread is a traditional food at this time, as well as squash, gourds, pumpkins, beans & dried zucchini, nuts, apples, pomegranates, blackberries, grapes & hops. To attract wealth to the house, bake round cakes with Cabbage for dinner & with Apples for a dessert.
Herbs traditionally used are acorns, asters, benzoin, fern, honeysuckle, marigold, myrrh, passionflower, pine, rose, sage, thistle, hazel, poplar, acorns, autumn leaves, wheat straw, cypress & pine cones, grains, solomon's seal & tobacco. Rue, yarrow, rosemary, walnut leaves & husks, mistletoe, saffron, chamomile, almond leaves, frankincense, rose hips, bittersweet, sunflower, wheat, oak leaves, dried apple or apple seeds.
Stones ruled by the Sun will help bring the Sun's energy to you. Clear Quartz, Amber, Peridot, Diamond, Gold, Citrine, Yellow Topaz, Cat's-eye, Aventurine. Crystals associated with the root chakra, such as Red Jasper, Red Garnet & Rhodonite can help with grounding.

Many Blessings to you all on this beautiful Mabon time & emerging Harvest Moon!!