✧ .🍂Mabon Solitary Rituals🍂*✧
The Autumn equinox is next week and this year (2017) on a Friday! As it’s the equinox the day will be equal parts light and dark (perfect for the beginning of Libra season!) and as it’s autumn in the northern hemisphere there will be leaves that are beginning to change and squirrels scurrying about. Autumn is such an important season of mine and it’s my favorite. It’s also special to me as it begins on Libra season (I am a libra) and also according to the French Revolutionary Calendar, the season of wine. Libra season is one of fun and beauty and that combined with autumn and the celebration of wine makes this the start to my favorite part of the year.
Autumn Equinox is not only the time to be grateful for all that you’ve earned during your hard work of the summer, and be grateful in general for the good that has occured to you this year, but it’s also a time of letting go. As we inch closer to Samhain, the time of death and transformation that leads to the new year, we should take time to reflect and see what needs to be shedded like falling leaves. The keyword to my rituals are Reflection. Reflect on what makes you grateful and reflect on what needs to be let go. I do have a personal correspondences post that might help explain why I also chose certain things listed below! (Also here is my personal tag.)
A lot of us witches practice alone and have our own solitary rituals for each sabbat that we observe (or the ones we’ve created just for ourselves that we observe alone!) Like any solitary eclectic witch I do things my own different way but some of these things might line up with others practices. I do refer to some of the equinoxes/solstices/crossquarters by their celtic sabbat names but I celebrate them in a secular animist way and treat the wheel of the year I celebrate as more of an argrarian cycle and celebrating nature. I use sabbat names as a point of reference and also people that do celebrate these witches sabbats more traditionally might find value in my personal practice!
When I am alone and casting spells a lot of it is visualization/intent so my solitary rituals are more like activities I like to do then specifically casting a spell. If I am doing a spell with an activity based on it a lot would be listening to music to get in the mood and focusing on a candle while visualizing for a period of time! Eves are also important to my celebration as I like to stay up until midnight and cast a spell then!
Thursday September 21st 2017
Autumn Tea lights!
First we all know autumn scented candles are the best, but for the autumn equinox festivities, making special autumn tealights is a must! Make Apple tealights, acorn tealights or squash tea lights (x) and decorate your altar with them or save them for the feast table tomorrow.
Bonus: use scented autumn wax or natural beeswax and maybe top it with cinnamon or nutmeg!
Make a thick body since the seasons are cooling. I like to make a shea butter whip and add in brown sugar and cinnamon scents. (I tend to have very dry skin so this might not work for everyone). If you are not one to make lotions or body butters, go buy one that is suitable for you and charge it with beauty glamour or warmth and protection!
Acorn charms for good luck! I would make these annually for my friends. Acorns represent prosperity and everytime the bell jingles its to hope it will bring you more prosperity for the rest of the remaining year!
Swap wardrobe clothing for your autumn clothes and put a sack of nice smelling herbs like cinnamon sticks in the corner of your warddrobe to make them smell nice.
If you enjoy wearing makeup take out all of your autumn shades of lipstick and eye make up and charge them with your tools of glamour like rose quartz, carnelian and good energy.
Dry fruits and herbs in an oven or dehydrator! Annually I love to make apple chips this time of year.
Enjoy snacks while doing crafts!
Eat caramels, dried apple chips, nuts (like peanuts if you are not allergic. I like nuts to honor the squirrel and acorn season), maple sugar candies, sugar candied nuts, sweet corn bread, butterscotch candies.
Also if you don’t like nuts/can’t eat them but want something acorn-like, make these donut acorns! Bonus if they are cinnamon sugar! (Or you can coat them in maple sugar glaze!)
If you love knitting this is a great time to begin a knitting project! Use knot magic to bind intent into your scarf to keep you warm in the cold seasons!
I love the spirit of Oktoberfest and though it is too early for that I like to celebrate the eve of Autumn with great fall beers and apple sausages. (There’s a great German beer hall near me and they start their Oktoberfest specials early so some years I go on the eve!)
Preparing dishes
Since tomorrow is a great autumn feast day, the evening would be fantastic to just cook autumn magic into the food of tomorrow.
That also being said, Make Caramel Apples! I associate caramel apples with this holiday and candied coated apples with Halloween. Make a nice maple sugar caramel and top with sprinkles, cookie crumbles or enjoy on it’s own!
Decorate your Altar!
Wipe your altar down with oils like cinnamon and cedar. Cover it in chrysanthemums, beautiful fallen leaves, carnival squash, mini pumpkins, and anything fall colored. Burn cinnamon and apple incense!
Go Star Gazing
This time of the year is the best for star gazing. It probably has to do with the temperature at night being pleasantly cool and there being far less bugs. Spend a night under the stars especially since it will be the last night possible to do so before the weather cools!
Midnight Spell:
Focus on what you would like to shed away from your life. This is a time that’s great for letting go of what is no longer working for you in the previous year.
As an activity I do like to collect dead and colorful leaves that have fallen and write in gold pen the things I want gone from my life. Over a flame I burn it to a crisp. If you can’t have fire, this is equally as great if you can toss it out of a high window to let it ‘fall away’ (I’d suggest not writing anything on it though, just put the energy into it), or crushing it into powder and letting it blow away in the fall winds. Another spell I like to do is road opening. If you feel blocked and don’t know what to shed away, this helps instead.
I always like lighting a candle for road opening spells as it’s similar to lighting a lantern on a path shrouded with darkness, but this can be understood as a leaf blower spell.
Take a pile of leaves as clean as you can find them. (at least 10-20 is good enough). Take your favorite stack of tarot cards and shuffle them thinking about the obstacle that you can not overcome. Once you are done, the top card is what you must do. (Or any that jump out randomly). Take that advice card and put it under the pile of leaves. Envision the leaves as the many things that are cluttering your path. When you are ready, take a mighty blow and blow them away off the card!
Acorn Spell
I like to pick an acorn I am drawn to and think about the things I want to prosper. I use them as wealth spells. As I charge my things and do magic for the ritual, I also charge my acorns with positive intent. That night or the next morning I go to a nearby park (usually the same where I got the acorn) and bury it into the earth. As the acorn is a seed that will grow, so will what you wish to prosper in your life.
Friday, September 22nd 2017
When you pick your clothes for this day, Either wear the most fall-tastic witchy outfit or wear the dark veil witchy outfit.
Fall is officially the Season of the Witch sorry I don’t make the rules. (I mean 365 days of the year is the season of the witch to me but like, fall is goth witch time). It’s time for burgundy, brown and black lipsticks, heavy eyeshadow, black veils, velvets, boots, flocks of crows following you around as you shop for mini pumpkins. Little kids watching you in awe and believing in magic as you and your Raven companion go pick up Halloween candy.
Go Apple Picking!
If you have the great privilege and opportunity to, this would be the most blessed day for apple picking. Being in the country side and picking apples is the most ideal way to spend Mabon Day. Make a tart with those apples for the feast or save them to make autumn apple cider for Samhain!
Take a Bike Ride or a Fall Hike!
Autumn is an airy season for me and the winds are playful, give life to dead leaves and howl wildly in the night. I love to spend autumn biking and feeling one with the streams of air. Go on a ride and collect the beautiful leaves you see! If you don’t have a bike, taking a hike would be just as rewarding especially in a trail in the mountains!
Drink spiced autumn drinks and be grateful for the past year and the season to come!
Enjoy a nice hot apple cider, spiced autumn mulled wine, a spiced chai tea or even a pumpkin spiced Latte (YEAH I SAID IT) don’t let anyone take your autumn festiveness away from you!
Eat seasonal fruits and vegetables!
APPLES! Plums! Grapes! Squash! Yams! Offer some back to nature to show gratitude!
Plant bulbs in the garden for next spring!
You should try to harvest what you can from your garden and pickle your produce and dry your herbs but if you want some things to pop up in the spring, now is the time to plan before your garden goes to rest!
If you have the opportunity to, tour a winery or a beer garden!
Not all of us might have the time to go on a hike or apple picking, yet it is wine and autumn beer season so a nice outing to a brewery will be equally as festive!
Charge yourself in the cool autumn winds!
Whistle with the whispering winds, release intentions into them. Find a cool and clean place where you won’t be disturbed to center yourself and allow their energy to flow around you. Feel free as the birds flying south.
Celebratory Dinner
The feast is the most important part. This holiday is often compared to Thanksgiving because its an autumn feast that has a focus on gratitude yet this is gratitude for what the earth has given for the harvest and your hard work (and not stealing land from other people) and if you are lucky enough to celebrate it with those that share your practice, you should go around the table to say the things that you are blessed for this year passed and toast each one to hot spiced cider. Let the loving warmth engulf you as you drink it and reflect on the good that has become of you this year. One year I made a fantasy feast for each sabbat and this is a recipe post for Mabon.
Make sure to remember to make a plate for any entities you like to work with. Leave something nice for your ancestors, or the spirits of nature outside. Anything you have left over like organic waste, apple peels, squash string, put it in compost to give back to the earth when the time comes.
For your friends and loved ones that you are grateful for in life, make sure to leave them a little message by text, phone call or social media to let them know how much you appreciate them.
