I am a solitary, ecletic neopagan witch. The information I share with you here is gathered and distilled from books, articles, other webpages, other Pagans, other witches, meditations, visionary journeys, and listening to my inner voice. I am not a...
As Lammas is the harvest of the grain, Mabon is the harvest of the orchard and garden. The plants are large and the garden gleams with bright colors, yellow squash, red tomatoes, purple eggplants, bright orange pumpkins, gourds of many colors and astounding shapes and sizes. Every day more ripens and is harvested. The cellar is full, the freezer is stuffed, the cabinet shelves are groaning.
Mabon is the witches Thanksgiving. We give thanks for the abundance of the harvest, for looking around us and knowing that we will not lack during the cold winter for our lady has provided for us.
We begin to look back on the warm season just past and contemplate our reaping and sowing. We evaluate what we have created and "put back seed for the spring", save the things, emotions or actions that have served us well and discard those we choose not to carry on to the next year.
It is a time of initiation into the mysteries, or reinitiation or rededication to our studies. The time of coming in - preparing for the cold season when our activities will be inner rather than outer. Rather than working in the garden, the soil beneath our feet and life burgeoning around us, we will curl up by the fire and read, research, and contemplate the accumulated wisdom of our elders, and create crafts and useful things for gifting and for ourselves to use in the next season of growing.
I do not eat the flesh of animals, so our traditional Mabon feast is stuffed peppers, the biggest ones I can find! The bright colors of corn and tomatoes make them merry to open. A feast for the eyes as much as the tastebuds. I love summer squash, simmered in lots of butter, poured over mashed potatoes. A bright and crunchy salad, now that the cool nights encourage the greens as well as the summer vegetables, is on the table. And my greatest treat, a pumpkin pie, with lots of ice cream.
After dinner we roll ourselves to the living room where I have a basket, a pile of construction paper leaves, and a couple of magic markers ready. The altar is decorated with fall leaves and bright offerings from the garden; more cherry tomatos, squash, perhaps bright splashes of peppers. A big candle of fall color, orange perhaps, or red, burns in a special holder shaped like fall leaves. My husband and I take turns counting our blessings, writing each one on a paper leaf and adding it to our basket. Every year the basket is filled to overflowing and no matter how many leaves I've made ready, we run out, and finish up counting our blessings out loud to each other. We thank the Lady for the many blessings she has generously shared with us. Pour a glass of wine, a libation in thanks. And then...maybe one more piece of pie...
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