Mabon: How to Celebrate the Wheel of the Year

A comprehensive guide to celebrating the autumn festival of Mabon. How to incorporate Mabon into your craft and decorate your altar.

Mabon. The autumn equinox.

According to pagan traditions, every year is part of a tremendous seasonal cycle. The magic and power of the world come from nature’s never-ending shifts from one season to the next.

Even modern, non-pagans recognize the change in seasons all over the world. It dictates what we can do at any given moment in life. While the seasons will pass on without our interference, observing and celebrating them can be healing and helpful.

The result: the seasonal pagan holiday.

Cultures and religions worldwide believe properly welcoming or saying goodbye to a season can bring abundance, peace, fertility, happiness, and luck. Some even believe that proper celebration of seasonal holidays can prevent the wrath of the gods and stave off misfortune.

Modern pagans have incorporated this idea into their observation of the passing seasons and marked the year with eight sabbats.

In our overview article, you can read more about this Wheel of the Year, but here, we’ll venture into Mabon.

What is Mabon?

equinox sunrise image

Astronomically speaking, Mabon marks the fall equinox. This is one of two days in the year when the day and the night are perfectly equal.

This usually falls somewhere between September 20th and 23rd for the northern hemisphere. (Like all wheel of the year holidays, observers in the southern hemisphere should jump ahead six months and celebrate according to their corresponding season.)

From here on out, the sun will continue its descent in the sky, and the nights will gradually become longer until the winter solstice when the night is the longest.

For people who celebrate, Mabon is a time to find balance and show gratitude for what the earth and your hard work have given you. This is the second harvest festival and a time to enjoy the late-blooming fruits and flowers that weren’t ready to be enjoyed at the summer solstice.

[[

](https://therelationshippsychics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PsychicsDraw-1200-×-300-px.hevc_.mp4)](https://shop.therelationshippsychics.com/optinskydp5t2)

Mabon Folklore

The ancient Celtic sabbats tradition includes three holidays involving a harvest celebration. Mabon is the midpoint of these holidays and is typically associated with feasting.

Above all else, Mabon encourages us to find balance through the bittersweet aspects of the harvest season. The liveliest part of the year has passed, and the darkness will approach soon, but we still have this moment to reflect and be happy.

Mabon, Child of Light

cold and dark image

The Mabon season is named after the son of the great Mother Earth, Modron. He is the Child of Light, stolen from his mother only a few days after birth.

In her grief for her lost son, she neglected the world around her, so all grew cold and dark. Plants died, and animals slept just to preserve their energy.

Eventually, Mabon was found with the help of the old wise animals–Blackbird, Owl, Stag, and Salmon. But he could not be brought home without a fight. This battle lasted months, and he was finally released on the winter solstice.

Thus, every year, the months of Mabon’s absence are cold and without light until Yule, when the sun starts its ascent once more, and light returns to the land.

Sound familiar? The Greek myth of Persephone‘s abduction to the underworld by Hades is strikingly similar and arguably more well-known.

This shows that many cultures that experience four seasons recognize the cold and dark portion of the year as a time when lively youth vanishes.

But we must hold out hope! Life always returns, and the sun will shine again.

Mabon Celebrations

The modern pagan celebration of Mabon can take many different forms, but a few are absolute classics that practicing witches can benefit from adding to their repertoire.

Make a feast

Mabon: feast image

If you’re American–and even if you’re not–you might recognize Thanksgiving vibes related to Mabon. Autumn harvest feasts are as ancient as agriculture, which is a perfect way to celebrate the autumn equinox.

Use fruits and vegetables on hand–root vegetables, gourds, squashes, and stone fruits are plentiful around this time of year.

It also coincides with deer hunting season, when the population is at its highest and can responsibly be hunted for food without devastating the local ecosystem.

Hunting for sustenance isn’t necessary in many parts of the world anymore, but doing so responsibly and with reverence is one way of celebrating Mabon. Just be sure that no food goes to waste.

And if you benefit from excess food or wealth, consider donating non-perishables and special treats to your local food bank. Everyone deserves a good meal.

Pick apples

Mabon: apple picking image

The September equinox neatly coincides with the height of apple production. Orchards are full of apples, and as the trees are pretty quickly accessible, you can make an outing of their harvest.

See if there are any apple orchards where you can bring friends or family to partake in this quintessential autumn fruit collection.

Then bring your bounty home and start cooking! Try this cider recipe or get fancy and make a French apple tart. You can even try puny kitchen witchcraft.

Decorate an altar

Mabon: altar image

Decorating an altar is an excellent way to celebrate any sabbats, but it’s especially great on the autumnal equinox. Astrologically, the sun enters the constellation Libra, which is about balance.

Invoke that in your altar. Decorate symmetrically and balance your colors, candles, and crystals. The world is practically dripping with color around the autumn equinox, and you should take advantage of that.

Collect leaves in all their beautiful fall shades. Use seed pods, nuts, and dried branches to decorate the space where you practice your craft.

Setting Intentions for Mabon

One of the most straightforward and sincere ways to observe Mabon and incorporate it into your craft is to set intentions on that day for the next season of your year.

Below, we’ve written out a few intentions you can speak aloud as you observe the holiday.

For Gratitude

Mabon: Grateful image

“I call upon myself, my heart and spirit, to be thankful for all I have and do not have. Lacking and wanting to make me eager to grow and hungry for new opportunities. I am grateful for what I have, even as I seek to grow.”

For Protection

“I call upon the Morrigan, goddess of war and death, to protect me in the season ahead. As the days grow short and the nights long, I seek your fearlessness and bravery. Your blessing thwarts all that threatens me and seeks to harm me.”

For Balance

“I call to the stars that guide us in life’s journey, that see the grand scheme with clarity and peace of mind. Just as the day and night find equal balance, the sun and the moon are given equal reign, striking in my life a fine balance. Grant me peace in the certainty that it will one day come again even as the summer ends.”

Mabon Symbols

When it comes to observing any of the holidays, the most important thing is that you celebrate from the heart. If you don’t have access to the following symbols or decorations, your Mabon celebration will not be any less for it; as long as you step out onto the earth and thank it for its blessings, you’re all set.

But if you want to participate in the traditional festivities, here are a few things you can incorporate for an authentic Mabon celebration.

Animals

Blackbirds, owls, stags, wild geese, and wolves are some of the most common and plentiful animals this time of year. Many of them show up in the story of Mabon’s abduction, and they are revered for their wisdom.

Herbs and Flowers

Mabon: Marigold image

Traditionally, bittersweet chamomile, marigold, sage, thistle, and yarrow are all of the season. But depending on where you live, any flowers and greenery can be used to show thanks to nature.

Crystals

Amber, lapis lazuli, and sapphire are some of the most striking stones of this time of year. Similarly, gold, blue, and earthy shades of red and brown are the best colors for candles and other decorations.

Trees

Mabon: Aspen trees image

Aspen, cedar, locust, maple, and walnut are of the season, along with apple trees more expansively. Decorating these trees or decorating your home with leaves, branches, and berries from these trees will empower your observance.

Decorations

Cornucopias, apples, pumpkins, corn, autumn leaves, and late-blooming flowers can all appear during the holiday and be incorporated into your Mabon altar or your feast decorations.

Why observe Mabon?

No holiday practices are required for a witch looking to hone their craft. Many witches are entirely secular and leave out the premises of divinity and holidays altogether. But magical energy is inseparable from nature, so you will get more effective results if you recognize these seasonal shifts.

Mabon teaches us to respect nature’s balance and share bountiful harvest however we can.

Looking to chat with a psychic now?

Connect with our psychics right away by installing our app Mystica Psychic Readings.