| September 25, 2010 |
| 6:30 pm | to | 8:30 pm |
The Nanaimo ritual will be held at the Bowen Park Lower Picnic Shelter off Wall St, Nanaimo. Gathering will begin at 6:30, with the ritual starting at 7PM sharp.
The Temple of the Green Cauldron invites the public to attend this open ritual by joining us in the circle or watching from without.
A potluck meal will follow the ritual! Please bring along your favourite treat to share with everyone.
The Temple would like to remind everyone that while photography is not forbidden, we ask that you please get permission ofrom those who will be in your picture before you click.
This is the time of year that the Green Cauldron moves their Sabbat rituals to the outdoors.
Usually we provide disposable dishes and cutlery.To reduce the negative effect caused by the paper and plastic garbage, we are asking that each person attending these outdoor rituals to please bring along their own cup, plate, and cutlery.
This will be in effect for Beltain (May 1), Litha (June 26), Lughnasadh (August 7), and Mabon (September 25).
Mabon, The Witches’ Thanksgiving
Mabon marks the Second Harvest of the Celtic/Pagan year. It is a holiday celebrated by Wiccans, Druids and many others religions that fall under the umbrella of Earth Spituality and Paganism. Mabon is also known as the Autumn Equinox, Witches’ Thanksgiving, The Feast of Avalon, Cornucopia, Wine Harvest and the Fall Equinox.
Autumn Equinox is the second in the trilogy of harvest festivals. Mabon marks the completion of the grain harvest begun during Lughnasadh. Celebrations revolve around the gathering of crops and thanksgiving for the abundances of the harvest, and rituals to insure the success of next year’s harvest are characteristic during this harvest time. The making of corn dollies from the last sheaf of corn that is harvested is a typical custom. She is kept until the spring – keeping the spirit of the corn, when she is ploughed back into the field to breath the life of the corn back into the soil.
History of Mabon
A Celtic god, Lugh, the god of light, is defeated by the god of darkness, his alter-ego twin, Tanist. The Equinox is the only day when Lugh is at his most vulnerable. After Lugh has been defeated, Tanist becomes King and lover to the Goddess Tailltiu. This takes place at Samhain, the beginning of the Winter Solstice and becomes the Dark King. He mates with Tailltiu, who conceives, and will give birth nine months later at the Summer Solstice to her son, another incarnation of Tanist himself, the wheel of the year continues.
Lugh’s sacrifice represents not only the sun’s dying power, but also the cycle of rebirth, his energy remaining within the corn we have since harvested. A incarnate (of Lugh) corn spirit was thought to specifically reside within the last stock, which was traditionally dressed in fine clothes and decorations, or woven into a wicker man-shaped form. This symbolic decoration was then harvested and carried from the field to be burned with rejoicing for the spirits release and Lugh’s upcoming rebirth.
In Greek mythology, Autumn begins as Persephone returns to the Underworld to live with Hades, her husband. The myth says that Demeter’s daughter, Kore, had taken a day to pick flowers in a meadow when the Earth opened up, and Hades pulled the girl into the Underworld to become his bride. Kore’s name became Persephone when she married Hades. For nine straight days, Demeter searched for Kore, with no success. In misery and desperation, Demeter questioned Helios, the Sun God, who informed her that her brother, Zeus, had given the girl to Hades. Furious, Demeter left Olympus to roam the Earth disguised as an old woman, ending up settled in her temple at Eleusis. Soon after, she cursed the Earth so it would yield no crops. Zues sent her a frantic message inquiring as to why she had prevented growth on the planet. She replied that there would be no regeneration of vegetation on the Earth until her daughter, Kore, was safely returned.
Zeus immediately dispatched Hermes into the Underworld to retrieve the girl. Hades, not wanting to relinquish his bride permanently, convinced Persephone to eat some pomegranate seeds before she returned to her mother, Demeter. Demeter was yet again distraught when she learned of this trickery! Finally, Zeus declared that Kore-Persephone would live with her mother during one half of the year and return to her husband, Hades, during the other half. In thanks, Demeter lifted the curse on the Earth, creating Spring. Every year hence, during her time of greatest sorrow, Demeter renews the curse, as her daughter returns to Hades and the Underworld.
The Welsh believed Mabon was the great son of the great mother. He was also known as the Son of Light, the Young Son, or Divine Youth. The Fall Equinox is also the birth of Mabon, from his mother Modron, the Guardian of the Outerworld, the Healer, the Protector, and the Earth. Mabon was taken captive (thus, the light goes into hiding) and dwelled in the Outerworld but all the while Mabon was in his mother’s womb. Mabon will soon be reborn.
Presend Day Mabon
The Fall Equinox falls exactly opposite the Spring Equinox. Both are times of equal night and equal day. The Equinox is the time of equality between the God and Goddess–the God represented by the Sun, the Goddess by the Moon; fruitfulness of the land results from their connection, and now the harvest’s bounty is brought in and stored against winter and dark times. The key action at Mabon is giving thanks. At the Autumn Equinox, the Sun’s strength also begins markedly to diminish, even disappear, until Winter Solstice in December.
Mabon is rather like Thanksgiving for pagans. The foods of Mabon consist of the second harvest’s gleanings, so grains, fruit and vegetables predominate. Pagan activities for the Sabbat include the making of wine and the adorning of graves. It is considered taboo to pass burial sites and not honor the dead. Another traditional practice is to walk in forests, gathering seedpods and dried plants to decorate home or altar or to save for future herbal magick.
Withes Thanksgiving Dinner
A harvest supper, also known as the Witches Thanksgiving, is a dinner of giving thanks and celebration. The home is decorated with wheat sheaths, bundled together gold cords, corn stalks, cornucopias overflowing with seasonal fruits and nuts, gourds, pumpkins, garlands of autumn’s colorful leaves, acorns and pinecones. A table full of stews, meat pies, hams, roasts, potato cakes, cheeses made from spring’s milk, custards, cakes, fresh fruit tarts and pies, corn bread, caraway seed cake (it was said that caraway seeds kept a person from stealing), ale, poteen (a very potent drink – was banned in 1661 – legalized in 1997) and cider. Typical fruits of this time are apples, cranberries (original name crane-berries – named for the cranes in the marshes where cranberries grow), grapes, hazelnuts, corn, squash, pears, and peaches. It is a time to be thankful for friends and family and knowing there is enough food to last through the cold winter months.
Symbols & Crafts
Celebrating the season include various types of gourd and melons. Stalk can be tied together symbolizing the Harvest Lord and then set in a circle of gourds. A besom can be constructed to symbolize the polarity of male and female. The Harvest Lord is often symbolized by a straw man, whose sacrificial body is burned and its ashes scattered upon the earth. The Harvest Queen, or Kern Baby, is made from the last sheaf of the harvest and bundled by the reapers who proclaim, “We have the Kern!”The sheaf is dressed in a white frock decorated with colorful ribbons depicting spring, and then hung upon a pole (a phallic fertility symbol). In Scotland, the last sheaf of harvest is called the Maiden, and must be cut by the youngest female in attendance.
Other symbols of this Sabbat include grapes and vines, wine, garland, pine cones, acorns, dried leaves, Indian corn, gourds, wheat, rattles (especially those made of gourds), and horns of plenty. Traditional Pagan activities include fermenting grapes. Apples and vine products are sacred at this season, so apple pie, as well as other apple foods, are common at Sabbat Feasts.
Full moon
The full moon closest to the Equinox is known as the Harvest Moon, for the simple reason that the full moon enabled folks to work into the night harvesting by its gentle light. If the full moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox is actually in November then the September moon is typically named the Corn Moon.
Spell Work
For protection, wealth and prosperity, security and self-confidence are appropriate for Mabon, as are spells that bring into balance and harmony the energies in a room, home or situation. Ritual actions might include the praising or honoring of fruit as proof of the love of the Goddess and God. River and stream stones gathered over the summer can be empowered now for various purpose.
