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🍁 MABON: The Autumn Equinox

As the wheel of the year turns and golden light slants across pumpkin fields, Mabon arrives in all her crisp, apple-scented glory. Celebrated around September 21–23, Mabon is the autumn equinox, the second of the three harvest festivals (Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain) in the Wheel of the Year. Day and night are balanced for one last sacred pause before we tumble fully into the shadow season.

Mabon is more than pumpkin spice and cute boots (though we support both, obviously). It's a spiritual checkpoint, a time of gratitude, release, and fierce inner alignment. Let's dig into what this season really means - for your soul, your family, and your inner crunchy mystic.

🍂 What is Mabon?

Mabon is often called the "Witch’s Thanksgiving" - and for good reason. It's a celebration of abundance and balance. The earth offers her final bounty before winter’s slumber, and we are asked to give thanks and let go in equal measure.

This sacred sabbat is named after Mabon ap Modron, a Welsh deity associated with youth, mystery, and the cycle of life. But in modern practice, Mabon is more about honoring the season and its natural rhythms than worshipping specific deities. It’s earthy, it’s grounded, and it’s wildly beautiful.

🌾 Spiritual Themes of Mabon

⚖ Balance

At the equinox, light and dark are equal, reminding us to examine our own inner balance. Are you over-giving? Overdoing? Neglecting your joy or your rest? Mabon says: Recalibrate, babe.

🍎 Gratitude & Harvest

Look at what you’ve manifested since spring - physically, emotionally, spiritually. What seeds have bloomed? What’s overflowing? Mabon invites a pause to reflect and give thanks before winter's descent.

🍂 Release & Surrender

The trees begin to let go of their leaves, and so should we. What no longer serves you? What feels heavy or expired? Let it fall like a leaf and compost into wisdom.

🔮 Mabon Ritual Ideas

🕯️ Gratitude Candle Spell

Light a golden or burgundy candle. Speak aloud what you’re grateful for. Let the flame carry your thanks to the universe.

🍎 Harvest Altar

Build a small altar with apples, corn, acorns, cinnamon sticks, and maybe a cozy plaid cloth. Add symbols of what you’re releasing and what you’re celebrating.

🧺 Nature Walk & Offering

Take your kids or go solo. Gather leaves, twigs, and autumn goodies. Leave behind an offering (like an apple slice or herb bundle) as thanks to the land.

📝 Balance Journal Prompt

Write about where your energy feels out of balance - and what tiny, sustainable steps you can take to shift it. Mabon isn't about perfection. It's about truth.

🧙‍♀️ Kitchen Witchin' for Mabon

Crunchy Mabon Kitchen Magic Ideas:

Apple cider with cinnamon & clove (bonus: stir in gratitude)
Stuffed acorn squash with quinoa, cranberries, and pecans
Pumpkin muffins baked with intentions and shared with love
Rosemary-roasted root veggies for grounding

Enchant your food with purpose. Stir your tea clockwise to invite blessings. Bake with music and whispers of magic.

👩‍👧‍👦 Mabon with Kids (The Crunchy Littles Edition)

Create gratitude jars: Have each child write or draw things they're grateful for and collect them in a jar until Samhain.
Make leaf garlands from gathered autumn leaves.
Tell the story of Persephone - her descent into the underworld mirrors the journey into fall and deeper inner wisdom.
Light a family gratitude candle at dinner and go around the table sharing one “harvest” from the year.

🌀 Shadow Work for Mabon

Want to go deeper? Mabon is the perfect time to journal or meditate on:

What am I clinging to that is ready to go?
Where in my life am I out of alignment?
What am I truly grateful for - even the hard lessons?

This is a potent threshold. Cross it consciously.

🐿️ The Cozy Magic of Mabon

This isn’t just a seasonal shift - it’s a soul invitation. Mabon whispers:

“Come home to yourself. Breathe into the balance. Gather what matters. Let the rest fall like autumn leaves.”

You don’t have to have it all figured out. Just show up with an open heart, a cup of cider, and a readiness to honor both the light and the dark within you.

🍎 Welcome Mabon, with open arms and crunchy hearts

Carry the spirit of Mabon in your heart - a beacon of balance, abundance, and gratitude that guides us through the ever-changing cycles of life. Blessed be. 🍂🌾

Here are the other Sabbats in addition to Mabon:

1. Samhain: Celebrated on October 31st, Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It's a time when the veil between the physical world and the spirit realm is thinnest, making it ideal for honoring ancestors and performing divination rituals.

2. Yule: Falling around December 21st, Yule heralds the winter solstice, the shortest day and longest night of the year. It's a festival of light, celebrating the rebirth of the sun and the promise of longer days ahead. Yule is a time for feasting, gift-giving, and honoring the return of light to the world.

3. Imbolc: Celebrated on February 1st or 2nd, Imbolc marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It's a time of purification and renewal, symbolized by the melting of snow and the first signs of spring. Imbolc is associated with the Celtic goddess Brigid and is celebrated with candlelight rituals, feasts, and blessings of hearth and home.

4. Ostara: Falling around March 21st, Ostara celebrates the spring equinox, when day and night are of equal length. It's a time of balance, fertility, and new beginnings, symbolized by the awakening earth and the return of life to the land. Ostara is associated with the goddess Eostre and is celebrated with rituals honoring the renewal of nature and the promise of growth.

5. Beltane: Celebrated on May 1st, Beltane marks the midpoint between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. It's a festival of fertility, passion, and abundance, celebrating the union of the god and goddess and the blossoming of life. Beltane is associated with maypole dancing, bonfires, and rituals honoring the sacred marriage of earth and sky.

6. Litha: Falling around June 21st, Litha celebrates the summer solstice, the longest day and shortest night of the year. It's a time of abundance, vitality, and celebration, when the sun reaches its peak power and the earth is teeming with life. Litha is celebrated with bonfires, feasting, and rituals honoring the sun's energy and the bounty of the earth.

7. Lughnasadh: Celebrated on August 1st, Lughnasadh marks the beginning of the harvest season, when the first fruits of the earth are gathered and stored for the winter ahead. It's a time of gratitude, abundance, and community, honoring the Celtic god Lugh and the gifts of the land. Lughnasadh is celebrated with feasts, games, and rituals honoring the cycle of planting, growth, and harvest.

These Sabbats form the cornerstone of the Wiccan wheel of the year, guiding practitioners through the cycles of nature and the rhythms of life.

Each festival offers an opportunity for connection, celebration, and spiritual growth, enriching the lives of those who honor them with reverence and joy. 🌿🌞