Mabon

Hail and welcome, if you’ve found yourself here you must be curious about what Mabon is and why we’re talking about it here in the Hollow. For starters, I’m a witch! It’s ebbed and flowed throughout my life but as a second-generation witch I’m proud to continue the traditions I grew up with. Whether you really believe in the Craft or not, practicing mindfulness in observance and reverence of nature can have a positive effect on your mental health and how you treat the planet and those around you. At this point, I consider myself an agnostic-witch and a practicing pagan. My hope in keeping this practice alive is to give the Kit a magical childhood and an anchor of values to hold on to in life. There are so many, incredibly skewed and wrong ideas of what witchcraft is. I’d like to set that record straight. Though anyone can twist anything to cater to their own dark whims, the Craft is meant to be about peace, love, taking care of nature, and healing. We strive to be attuned to the world around us and discover our inner selves. ‘An’ ye harm none, do as ye will,’ and all that jazz. 

The autumn equinox is the astronomical start of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere. Day and night are nearly equal. This year, it was yesterday, September 22, though Mabon may be celebrated between the 20th-24th. It is a time of gratitude and reflection. The end of the harvest season has come, the days will grow shorter and nights longer. I love Mabon, it’s the signifier that Autumn is here, and Halloween (what we call Samhain) is on its way. 

There are many wonderful ways to celebrate Mabon. Holding a feast as a symbol of the harvest is one way, especially if you like to bake breads and cook with vegetables. Apples and pumpkins are both symbolically used during this time in decorations, rituals, and meals. You can use apples in a protection spell, or to symbolize wisdom and the split into the darker half of the year. If you cut an apple horizontally, the seeds form a pentagram, our symbol of protection and balance. 

It being the season of balance and the descent into the colder half of the year, now is a good time to let go of what is no longer serving you. You can donate clothes and belongings, deep clean your home, and do releasing rituals where you write down what you’d like to let go of. This list can be burned and the ashes given to the wind, or you can flush it down the toilet. Whatever makes you feel good, you know? It’s about giving your mind ways to process what it needs to, figuring things out that have been cluttering your thoughts for too long. Sometimes doing something physically, writing, speaking it aloud, drawing, just doing something, is what we really need to push past that mental barrier. This is why rituals are important to me. It’s not that I think the universe is going to bow down and do whatever I want, it’s that I am a part of this universe and will do whatever I need to, to feel at peace with where I am in it. And some of us feel more in control of our lives when we enter a sacred space, or we find clarity in the stillness and that’s all we need. Whatever your reasons or core beliefs are as a witch, they’re personal to you and worthy of respect. 

Whether you want to go apple picking, hike in the falling leaves, light a bonfire, or just cook a ton of soup and watch scary movies, Mabon is the best time to get cozy and take some time to yourself. Reflect on everything that is important to you, what you’d like to take into the new year (ours is Samhain) and what you’d like to leave behind. It’s a time of self-care and beginning the healing process. You’re preparing yourself for the rebirth of the year and searching inside yourself for who you are now. A gratitude list is an amazing way to end your Mabon celebrations. Look at how far you’ve come, who or what are your biggest motivators and joys in life? Don’t lose sight of what means the most, you’ll need a guiding light as you venture into the heart of winter. You’ve survived the longest days of the year and are allowed to seek more rest and more introspection during these long nights ahead. 

If you enjoyed my take on witchcraft and Mabon, I’d love to answer any questions you have on my Instagram. I’ll be trying to do the Wheel of the Year if there’s interest and can go more in depth about ritual work and spells if so.  

Thank you for joining me in this part of the Hollow, where we muse on things both Weird and Wonderful.  

Blessed Be, 

Sara Fox