The Autumn Equinox is upon us, and with its approach
is the official ringing in of the Fall season.
I remember vividly, once I started by journey into the
occult, mysticism, and witchcraft that I made it my ultimate duty to celebrate
each and every Sabbat of the turning wheel. Huffing and puffing, gathering
decoration, beautifying my altar, baking sweet confections for myself and my
deity, and performing rituals for each holiday celebrated by the witches of
old.
However, with knowledge and time, you begin to realize
that a witch does not have to
celebrate every holiday of the wheel.
Unlike mainstream and conventional religions, Paganism
gives you unbridled freedom. There is no God that will strike you down, look
down on you, fail fire and brimstone, or crucify you if you do not participate
in their name every holiday. You have the freedom to go all out on every
holiday you deem special or sacred,
and you choose which holidays of the
wheel you want to do ritual on or not. However, I do feel it necessary to
celebrate them all for one year just to figure it out.
The Autumn Equinox made my list of favorite Pagan
holidays that I celebrate. And I am tickled green to tell you about it. Please,
feel free to use this information to add to your Grimoires or just to help you
better understand the Pagan holiday. Memory serves me, and it recalls how
confusing it can be to just start out on the path. There’s so much to learn,
and I’m honored to help my sweet witchlings.
The
Autumn Equinox, September 21st or 22nd
The equinox, cosmically, begins when the sun is lined
up directly with the Earth’s equator, resulting in this day being equal in daylight
hours and nighttime hours.
The Autumn Equinox goes by many names: Mabon (Wiccan
Term), Second Harvest, Wine Harvest, Cornucopia, Feast of the Ingathering, and
many more, so much more I can’t even list them here.
The Humie (my special term for the “average human”) equivalent
to Thanksgiving, the Autumn Equinox is a celebration bursting with delicious
food, wine, and feasts abound. This is generally the last hurrah outside for
spell workings or rituals, for the cold chill of winter starts to nip after the
Equinox.
The food corresponding to the equinox is freshly baked
bread, wine, grapes, nuts, apples, and other fall focused edibles.
You can participate in several activities: celebrating
outside underneath the stars, apple picking, making a prosperity candle,
sipping on wine, sprinkling fallen leaves, decorating the grave stones of
passed loved ones, and feasting on delectable foods.
There are several Gods and Goddesses celebrated at
this time, but primarily your focus should be around the Gods/Goddesses of
Wine, aging Deities, or deities that made a descent into the underworld.
Symbolically, the Autumn Equinox is a time of
celebrating the second harvest or a time of reaping what we have sown,
mysteries of this Earth and universe, balance externally and internally,
honoring the spirit world and the deities that are aging with the Equinox,
relishing the darkness overtaking the light as the days of the sun cuddling us
starts to drift, and enjoying the gifts if the vine or most famously titled
wine.
I have a faint idea of what I will do for the Autumn
Equinox celebration, mostly because I am not the best with planning ahead with
the holidays, but I’ll post a few pictures :D
I hope you have a great Autumn Equinox (if you choose
to celebrate it). Have fun and stay witchy!
Erytheia Medea©
*All pictures belong to their
respective owners*
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