The Turning of the Wheel of the year
Mabon / Madron / Autumn Equinox / Harvest festival
No matter what your persuasion, there is no doubt that this time of year is a time of gratitude. Traditionally, Mabon and harvest festival is about sharing and giving thanks. When communities came together to learn how well the harvest had gone and how much food there would be to see them through the colder darker months of the year. It was a time to honour the turning of the wheel of the year and the goddess for her bountiful blessings which would see a community through the winter. Our ancestors took stock of all achievements of the year including the harvest and gave thanks to the soil as it began to recede and cool. To our ancestors, this harvest was a matter of life and death!
“The lord of the sky & Wildlife withdraws into his winter self. He represents the power of the seed buried in the soil, but not visible. He is potential, hope & promise of the return to light and life in the new season”
(Green, M. 1991)
Modern Mabon and harvest festival is very different because although we do not all work the fields as our ancestors did but, we should still show gratitude for those who do, we do rely heavily on that market to give us our bread and grains for EVERY season. There are still harvest festivals in which we gather food from our own cupboards and give to the more needy of our community, to help in whichever way we can. Yes the spirit of it all remains, but the attitude has changed, as has our world.
Today We are grateful for so much in our lives, the bounty we have no matter how large or small. Although we no longer harvest the fields, we symbolically gather our personal harvest to keep with us through the waning year. Mabon is without a doubt a reflection of the gratitude for all we have achieved within the year.
The Autumn Equinox is solar orientated, a time of balance, whilst the Sun enters Libra we experience equal day and night, thanksgiving for the harvest of the fields on which we survive for the most part of the year, a celebration of all the good we have managed to attain in our lives and a time of gratitude for all the lessons we have learned, good or bad, along the way. This is a time of balance and reflection, where we weigh up our personal gains as nourishment for the future, our seeds to be planted for the next cycle of growth. With losses, we take time to accept them, rectifying what we can and learning by our mistakes. Autumn helps us in our understanding of how we cope in times of change and how we make that change work for us. Nature in all its dying glory also reflects this upon us with its metamorphosing the land surrounding us….colour, colour everywhere in the magnificence of death, a burning fire of colour receding back into earthy tones, as nature completes its cycle and recognises the ebbing summer and bids a fond farewell to the weakening sun. This is a time to find personal balance in our inner and outer lives, a time of physical and mental recycling, a chance for us to acknowledge what happened during the year and see it from an internal perspective. A time to recall that flora waxes and wanes in nature and by reflection, in our own lives……food for the soul!!! Autumn equinox is in opposition to Ostara in that now is the time of decrease and receding. This is a good time to reflect and to take stock , yes and also a fabulous time for personal inner work. As the land around us dies and returns to the heart of the earth, we too can take time to look inside to what really makes us who we are, what makes us burn, how we can heal ourselves, be thankful to ourselves for all the hard work we have done over the year, take stock of what we do and do not want in our lives and clear out the unwanted, that which no longer has purpose and meaning, take hold of the new and nurture the fire, keeping it burning until springtime has returned and the time comes to burst forth again with new ideas and aspirations for the future.
Right now earth mother is taking a huge sigh of relief for things held in balance and for the parting of Summer. We recognise the Goddess in her Crone aspect and give thanks, for that which has been lost but also that which has been achieved. Mabon reflects the waning moon, which is indicative of early evening, a time when our own energy is spent and we take time to replenish physically & spiritually. It is a time to flow with nature and as we observe this harvest of seeds and nuts, we begin to store our annual bounty, to provide sustenance until springtime, when our energy is on the rise again. This harvest allows us time to reflect on the spirit, how it changes, year after year, season after season, through knowledge, understanding and environment. We can respect how we grow and work with what we learn along the way. We store this inside as we move into new phases in our lives.
Try a grounding exercise and go for a walk in our metamorphosing countryside, down lanes which are full of fruit of the hedgerow. Take a look at what is around you wherever you are and be thankful for the opportunity to be able experience this change in nature and yourself.
“We are moving into the time of mother natures sleeping, her final relinquishing of her green mantle. Only Holly, Ivy, Yew & Fir will remain, their energy resolute in the face of the seasons decay and laying bare. They stand as a reminder of the evergreen nature of the spirit of all things as we move into the time of the spirits….”
(Romani, R., 2004)
On the more practical side of our craft, now is the time for foraging those sweet little berries and nuts which have been growing all through the summer months. A good way to honour nature and our ancestors is to have a go at food preserving. This ancient ritual, if you like, ensures that this activity is kept alive and it is one that we too can pass to our families. I know, I know, we can all go to the supermarket and buy preserves, jams, pickles, chutneys and pickled vegetables if we like, but think a little more on the side of what is happening in nature and what our ancestors gave to us, what farmers still give to us today and what nature has to offer us in the way of bounty. Mandy Mitchell, author of Hedgewitch Book of Days, writes “preserving is magical as it shows that you have reverence for what you eat”, and I couldn’t agree more!
Ways to preserve food
Drying - herbs and spices
Freezing - blanch some fruit or veg, cool, then bag it up an freeze it
Crystallising - Ginger, my favourite! Or peel, fruits in syrups (great as gifts if bottled with decoration around the jar)
Canning and bottling - preserving cooked food in jars
Pickling - another of my favourites! In vinegar, brine or alcohol
Burial - storing food underground can preserve food over winter (Cabbage / potatoes)
Dry store - drying fruit and veg in layers of straw in a cool dry place, so that the items do not touch each other.
Smoking - meat / fish / cheese
Jugging - preserving meat and game in gravy
Potting - potting using layers of fat to create a seal on top of the food
Confit - meat cooked in goose fat
Salting - meat /fish/
Celebrating the season by decorating your home or altar is also a fabulous way to honour nature and all its bounty. Look around you and see if you can find leaves, berries, fir cones, conkers, acorns. All of these are seasonal goodies which you can use as decor or strung together can become offerings for the trees in your neighbourhood or garden. Use seasonal colours, flowers and leaves which are orange or red, the colours of nature burnishing in the sun, to bring the season into your home. You can also display a set of weighing scales with weights, you know the type which the represents the sign of Libra, to represent balance. My personal favourite is to cook with root vegetables, as this is their season too. A good hearty soup is always a sign of the coming season in my house. Try butternut squash with sage …yum!!
There are many different ways to honour our ancestors, nature and the turning of the Wheel of the year. I’m sure you have many of your own ideas too. Whatever you do, do it with reverence and gratitude, with a smile on your face as you acknowledge this super exciting time of our year.
Blessed Be all. Enjoy the season and be at peace with each other and our bountiful Earth mother. Join me for my Samhain article next month during the season of the Witch.
Thank you for reading my article. I hope you have enjoyed reading this Turning of the Wheel of the year article as much as I have researching and putting it all together. All credits are shown at the end of this article. Feedback is most welcome.
Credits
Beth Rae, 2001, The Hedewitches Way, Robert Hale Ltd, London
Green M. , 1991, A Calender of Festivals, Element Books, Australia
Mitchell, M., 2014, The Hedgewitch Book of Days, Red Wheel Weiser, San Francisco
Romani, R., 2004, Green Spirituality, Green Magic, Somerset.
West. K., 2001, The Real Witches Handbook, Harper Collins, London
Images
epicurious.com
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