Roger's note:

These are some notes that Kathryn Matthews collected and prepared for a very special presentation and celebration that we all shared and enjoyed deeply.

SpiritWalk 9/23/97

~ Ingrid Van Mater

Autumn Equinox (Sept. 20-23)

Occurs in September, this year September 22, when the noon sun is overhead at the equator. It marks the beginning of Autumn and is when night and day are of equal lengths in all parts of the Earth. The term comes from the Latin word meaning equal night.

Harvest, death, rebirth again.

Mabon

Ancient people were aware of the cycles of the cosmos, and were aware of being a part of this phenomenon themselves, biologically, emotionally, and spiritually. They honored the seasons of change taking place inside as well as outside, knowing them to be the same.The ancient Celts interpreted all dramatic changes on earth and in the sky with celebration and ceremony. It was so with this transfer from light to dark. The Autumn Equinox is also called Mabon ("Mah Boon") or Mean Foghamhar ("Mun Fower"), and is a Celtic High Day. Mabon is named after the Welsh God, the "Great Son" or "Great hunter." As the myth goes, Mabon, son of Modron the great Mother Earth, is the Divine Youth, or Son of Light. Three days after being born Mabon disappears. The light has gone into hiding. Modron is distraught, the son of light is gone. Mabon is finally set free at Yule (Winter Solstice) through learning the wisdom of the most ancient of animals, even though he has been safe all along in Modron’s Otherworld, her womb. There he is nurtured. He has brought light in Mother Earth until he can emerge powerful enough to take over darkness once again. The light now has enough wisdom and strength to plant the new seed. So on this feast of Mabon we strive to balance between dark and light to prepare for our decent into the center to gather strength and wisdom. We cling to loved ones and renew our reserves. We feast and give thanks for the gifts of our harvest. We have faith the light will shine again.

~ Kelly Rouse

Autumn time, red leaves fall

While the weeping sky looks over all

Demeter sadly walks the land

The dying grasses in her hand

Suggested Ritual Themes for Mabon:

Give thanks to the Gods for the harvest.

Evaluate the past year, and identify what to harvest and what to plow under.

Identify and cut away outworn habits and emotional baggage which are wearing

you down.

Work for balance and equilibrium in nature or in human affairs.

Give to those less fortunate than you are.

O’Great Spirit

whose Voice I hear in the Winds

and whose Breath gives Life to all the World

Hear me

I am small and weak, I need your

Strength and Wisdom

Let me walk in Beauty, and make my eyes

ever hold the Red an Purple Sunset

Make me Wise so that I may Understand the

Things You have taught my People

Let me Learn the Lessons You have Hidden

in every leaf and Rock

I seek Strength

not to be greater than my Brother,

but to understand my greatest Enemy—myself

Make me always ready to come to you with

Clean Hands and Straight Eyes

So when Life fades, as the fading Sunset

my spirit may come to You

without shame

Harvest Celebration

Native American agricultural peoples honored this very time of harvest paralleling those celebrations in Europe. Europeans celebrated the harvests of the vine, wine and apples, as well as the deities of the hunt and their dependence on wild animals. In North America the celebration centered upon corn as well as the other fruits of the harvest.

How Corn Came to Be, A Senecan Creation Story

In the time before time, the people lived high above in the blue sky. An enormous tree grew in the middle of their village, a tree whose blossoms gave off light. One woman dreamt that a man told her to uproot the tree. He said to dig a circle around it, so a better light would shine brighter. The people cut around their tree, and it sank under the ground and disappeared. Their world became dark, and the chief, enraged, pushed the dreaming woman down into the hole. Down, down, down she fell.

Still she fell. The world below was made of water, where water birds and animals lived and plated. They looked up and saw her fall, and began to make a place. Diver to Darkness brought mud up from below. Loon told everyone to get some more, and heap it onto turtle’s back. Beaver flattened it with his tail. Then kingfisher gently brought falling woman down, and they worked together to make the world. The earth grew, trees grew, bushes and flowers appeared. The woman gave birth to a baby girl.

The girl grew up very fast. When she was a young woman, she went out walking, talking to the animals and birds, gathering flowers. She met a fine young man. When they made love, day and night came. At the morning star, she went to meet him, and the earth shone with light. At twilight, she returned home, and darkness fell. One night as she left him, she tuned to say goodbye, and she saw only a huge turtle where have had been. She knew the turtle had tricked her. Young woman went home to her mother, She had gained the turtle’s wisdom, and knew she would soon die, and her body would become changed and beautiful. She told her mother this would happen.

Young woman gave birth to two babies and then she died. Her mother buried her and covered her body well. From her breasts grew two stalks, and on those stalks ears ripened. When the corn silk was dry, and the leaves bright green, the Grandmother fed those children the new grown corn. That is how Corn came to be, nourishing the people ever after.

Fruits and Symbols of the Harvest

Maize/Corn

Apples and Vine products

Nuts

Gourds

Colorful seeds

Leaves of all shapes and colors

Wheat and other stalk grains

Garlands

Cornucopia

Ceremony to the Harvest

Select the best of each vegetable, herb, fruit, nut, and other food you have harvested or purchased and give it back to Mother Earth with prayers of Thanksgiving. Hang dried ears of corn around your home in appreciation of the harvest season. Do meditation and chanting as you store away food for the Winter. Do a thanksgiving circle, offering thanks as you face each direction—for home, finances, and physical health (North); for gifts of knowledge (East); for accomplishments in career and hobbies (South); for relationships (West); and for spiritual insights and messages (Center).

Colors: Orange, Dark Red, Yellow, Indigo, Brown, Copper, Russet, Golden

An Autumn Prayer

Great Mystery, powers of Autumn, of Water, I send a voice in prayer.

I am asking for entrance through the gates of inner knowledge.

I am seeking to cross the realms. Spirits of the waters, help me be fluid in consciousness, to move easily in this work.

I turn to the setting sun, in the place between day and night, asking guidance for intuition. I pray for the right doors to open, for the ability to look within and make good medicine from what I find there. I pray that I can grow within this work and be of service to others.

Powers of twilight, I walk in your mystery and open to your gifts.

~ Submitted by Kathryn Matthews