Mabon: The Autumn Equinox

Fall has arrived, or if you're in the British isles you most certainly call it autumn! (and they will correct you!)

Mabon, also known as the Autumn or Fall equinox, is a time of year when we honour balance and a second harvest festival of the magnificent wheel of the year!

What I notice about this year, other than the classic stereotypical pumpkin spice lattes, fall baked goods and sweaters making an appearance, is how much we all agree that this is a time of slowing down.

The energy that the summer sun grants us is now slowly disappearing as the days and nights become equal and the great descent into darkness begins following the autumn equinox.

The energy of Mabon is specifically all about balance because the turning point for this festival is when the sun enters the astrological sign of Libra - the sign of the scales and balance - and we see the equinox, meaning "equal night", as the nighttime hours are almost equal to the daytime hours right now.

This is a great time to initiate some more balance in your life, and to explore what needs balance.

In this post I'll share with you some fun ways to honour these energies and the festival as a whole.

It's Orchard time!

That's right! Grab your apple baskets and get picking! This time of year the apples are abundant and deliciously juicy and ripe for the picking! Grab your closest friends or fly solo and be on your way to the local orchard. There's so much you can do with apples too. I love making apple sauce, apple cider, apple butter, apple pie, apple coffee cakes... the options are endless.

Something I want to try out this year is making candied apples. I always loved this as a kid and I know I would love it now too! I had a friend growing up who's birthday was really close to Halloween and we would always bob for apples at her parties, it was so fun.

Apples are a symbol of the divine feminine, and at a time when we feel the descent into the darkness approaching (also feminine) I feel this is resonant to go out and harvest apples to make food medicines with them. This extremely versatile fruit can also be incorporated into savoury dishes, which I love.

Cool nature walks and warm drinks

A fun way to anchor in some balance for yourself is to go for a nice cool walk then follow it with a warm beverage. I love putting on one of my homemade sweaters and going for a cool walk with my love, then stopping at a coffee shop to relax and unwind after.

What I love about the coffee shops this time of year is how everything they offer is so deeply aligned with our natural desires. This season of autumn is actually ideal for our collective constitutions to bring in spices like cinnamon, ginger, clove, nutmeg, cardamom and the like. Knowing they offer cinnamon in almost every beverage is so comforting. They don't align so much in the other seasons, but this season they seem to get right every time!

You can also reverse it depending on what you like - have the hot beverage first and then the walk after with beverage in hand. It all depends on what you fancy! 

Make your own harvest basket

This is truly a season of crafting as well! There are so many fun tools to be found in nature that really speak to us, and that little hands naturally discover on walks like sticks, fallen leaves, acorns an pine cones. You can gather up these items and paint them if you want - I adore painting acorns!

What I find really enjoyable to do is to create a harvest basket together as a family. My family currently only has me and my husband, but we like to do this on our dining room table. Just grab one of my foraging baskets and place gourds, squashes, flowers, crystals, corns, apples, acorns, leaves and more in it. This way we can really add to it whatever we want, very similarly to a cornucopia. I like to make it intentional with a theme we can add to it with.

There's so much you can do to honour this festival, see what resonates with you at this time and roll with it!

Much love, cool nights and warm drinks,
Em