Merry Meet my friends. Can you believe it? September has arrived! I am so glad!! We are going through a really hot and humid spell here as I know many of you are as well. Summers last hurrah I think. We are very quickly going into my favorite half of the year. I feel a quickness in my step, my energy level is shifting and my mind has turned to cleaning, cleansing and decorating the house, cleaning up the flower beds, harvesting the last of my herbs and veggies, and getting ready to celebrate Mabon. The 2nd harvest festival!
“Mist blankets the morning garden and the empty fields; a last rose blooms slowly over the arbor by the backyard gate. Paintbox leaves fall to the ground under galoshes and the wheels of slicker-yellow school buses. Sweaters come out of cedar chests, soup pots simmer, and wild geese make their mercurial journey southward across the pale autumn sky.”
-from Simple Wicca by Michelle Morgan
Mabon which is on September 23rd this year, marks the Autumn Equinox, the balance of night and day and the first day of Autumn. It is a time for thanksgiving, and rest. Our ancestors at this point were busy filling the larders with preserved fruits and vegetables, smoked meats, aged cheeses, flour, wheat, cider and wine etc. The thanksgiving was for the bounty the Summer crops had given them (hopefully) and the “rest” was much deserved. Great feasts were held with an abundant table of food and drink, dancing and enjoying the last warm days of the year.
For us, it’s also a time to be thankful for our own little garden’s bounty, for what the farmers have grown and harvested for our grocery shelves or farmer’s market, and to know that all the hard work in our gardens is about done for the year. Putting the garden beds to “bed” for the Winter, depending on where you live, may still be yet to come.
Mabon also means the Goddess is passing from Mother to Crone and the God is preparing for death and re-birth. The trees are starting to change into their Fall tapestry of colors, the nights are colder and longer, the Sun casts long shadows, woodfires are lit, blankets are aired out and thrown on beds and sofas, the oven has something made with apples and cinnamon baking, and the stove top has spiced cider and hot soup simmering. Sweaters, picking apples, carving pumpkins, hot drinks, warm bread with preserved jams, critters gathering and nesting, birds flocking and filling their bellies, hay rides, corn mazes, nature walks, the Harvest Moon…everything you can think of that is most wonderful about Autumn is upon us!
My celebration of Mabon is always a thanksgiving ritual, a feast with family and friends, an outdoor fire if weather permits, an offering for Mother Earth and the Fae for all their hard work, and reflection on my year that is ending at Samhain. It’s also about letting go and renewing, re-assessing, and thinking about how I’d like to spend the more quiet months to come in Winter. And baking..did I say baking? What is it about this time of year that makes me want to bake? Breads, pies, cakes, cookies…..things made with spices, apples, pumpkin…..it doesn’t matter, I just want to bake! 🙂 How about you? My Circle will gather as well for our celebration too. I’m thinking a soup and bread feast sounds wonderful!
I will be back soon with some recipes to share with you! Remember too that you can go to the Search box to the right here and type in Mabon for the past 4 years of recipes, rituals, information etc! In the meantime, I’d love to hear how YOU celebrate Mabon! Have a wonderful week!
Blesssings and Love, Autumn
My Moonlit Path..... 
Have a Blessed Mabon, my sister. ❤
thank you so much Gypsy! Many Blessings to you! Love you!
We had such a cool morning, this first day of September, that there was mist rolling along the river, and my sweater was a necessity!
I’m also getting bit by the cleaning & baking bug, but it has to be done in the mornings as we are still having hot afternoons like you.
September is the nicest month, isn’t it?
Hello Jen..thanks so much for stopping by. I’m slow to respond I’m afraid but catching up today 🙂 September is lovely…a prequel to my favorite month of October! 🙂 I love sweaters and mists and cooler days. Hope you get them soon! Hugs!!
First thank you so much for the advice on substitutes for lavender. I really appreciate it.
I’m with you on this time of the year! I love the shorter cooler days, though as you pointed out, it’s very warm at the moment here in VA also. I have gotten a jump on the Mabon celebration I will be having…small with a few friends. Very simple ritual of thanksgiving prior to dinner. Over the weekend I made roasted butternut squash soup and froze a good portion of it. I also baked pumpkin bread, molasses crinkles cookies and put together an apple pie and after sampling some of all of it, froze them so all I have to do is pop the pie into the oven the day before and pull the rest out to thaw. I will be working that day so these things I have already made will make dinner preparation quicker and no one will be the wiser 😉 This year I have decided to make Cornish game hens for the main course along with mashed cauliflower, roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted beets and smothered green beans. I’m trying to decide on how I want to make my sweet potatoes lol. As you see I like veggies.. That’s about it.
Seems that the Farmers almanac is calling for a rather cold and snowy winter this year and I can’t wait. 😀
A blessed Mabon to you and your family!!
June
Yum..my mouth is watering Chefette! So many wonderful goodies. You have been busy! I love to make anything with squash this time of year, and veggies fresh from the garden or farmers market. My Circle is having a dessert gathering….and spiced cider this year 🙂 Can’t wait to see what goodies are brought. I am making an apple crisp and a caramel dip I think 🙂 Yes, I think we are in for a snowy, cold Winter again too. It will be great! 🙂 LOL. Blessed Mabon to you dear friend!!! Hugs!
I have always had a bittersweet emotion with the coming of Autumn. I want to hold on to summer as long as I can…might be I don’t like having to wear shoes. For the last seven years, this year being the 8th, a group of us “girls” from my high school graduating class, class of 73, rent a house at the Oregon Coast over Mabon. They aren’t aware of it being Mabon, but I am. So I do my circle with a circle of friends, and do my rituals solitary. We cook, shop, gossip, drink and laugh, and we might even make it down to the waves!! Blessed Be Autumn
Happy Crone..that is wonderful that you hold onto those old friendships. I too have friends from high school and one of them is part of my Circle/Tribe which is wonderful! I will secretly be with you for Mabon too 🙂 Hugs!!
This year for Mabon, my friends and I are throwing a RED party… all foods, drinks, and gifts are RED! Apples, red grapes, radishes, beets, tomatoes, cherry peppers, chili, beef jerky…. all vibrant symbols of the 2nd harvest and our preparation for the long winter. As a gift this Summer Solstice, I receieved a beautiful grapevine pentagram that I can’t wait to display. Red candles, a pomegranate, red corn, and a scarecrow will decorate my mantle. I would like to incorporate a craft project for this years festivities… I love the idea of making GOD’s eyes. I’d love suggestions for baked goods!!!
Merry Mabon and Blessed Be!
Depending on the amount of people you will be entertaining some suggestions for baked goods….stuffed baked apples, apple pie, apple crisp, apple tarts, apple cookies, tomato pie, tomato soup, roasted beets, pickled beets, beets in any form (I love beets) stuffed red bell peppers, Not sure where you are from but in the South red pepper jelly (hot or sweet) is popular on top of cream cheese as a cracker spread, at work we make an appetizer of slices of Roma tomatoes that have been roasted, then chilled, topped with a rosette of herbed cream cheese. Don’t forget all the different red jellos there are. Cherry pie. Pumpkin is orange and orange is red + yellow lol. pumpkin pie, bread, crisp, pudding. Cranberry nut bread, salsa, that’s about all I could come up with at the moment. Have a blessed Mabon celebration!!
June
Va.
Chefette! You Rock! Thank you so much! I was remiss at getting back to see about my lovely comments. I hope Fair Queen saw your answer..it’s perfect!! and now…I’m hungry 🙂 Hugs!!!!
Hello Fair Queen…what a wonderful idea! I’m so sorry I didn’t get to this sooner but my dear friend Chefette has left you a wonderful comment filled with great ideas! I too have one of those grapevine pentacles..love it! Merry Mabon to you and hope your party is a success!
Oh, Autumn, I don’t know how i missed seeing your blog in my inbox! I was just going through emails to delete ones I didn’t need, and there was your lovely blog!
September is also my favourite month, and all of the things you spoke of also speak to me. I’m so looking forward to having a real house and a real kitchen again so I can bake and cook, too!
Mabon Blessings to you, my dear friend.
Oh my dear friend Debra..you have been beyond busy. I know that one day soon your home will be all you dreamed it would be and the setting is unbelievably beautiful! Thank you Sis for stopping by always. Love you!!!
Have a wonderful Mabon Autumn!! I love baking too, the smell of spices in the house is simply too wonderful 🙂
I hope you have a wonderful Mabon too Sarah! Thank you! I agree..there is just something about baking this time of year….it just cozies up the house!! 🙂 Many Blessings to you and yours!