Mabon

Sun is in 1º Libra

On or about September 21

Light and Dark in Balance, Beginning of Fall, Season of Water

Recognizes others as individuals with same feelings, drives, wants, and needs as ourselves.

Colors – Red, Orange, Black

Magic – Reaping harvest and bounties, Resting, Re-connecting with family and friends

Mabon is the second Harvest. It is the time of our yearly incarnation that we pass away from the trials of the year, reap our rewards and embrace rest. We reflect on the year’s lessons, and try to gain clarity as we integrate with the whole. We ritualize the myth of Persephone’s abduction and descent into the Underworld, and follow her on her journey into the dark. We recognize that we are leaving behind our individuality, and embracing the connectedness with spirit with which we have longed to reunite.

Mabon is a funeral. It is the passing into the dark half of the year. It is the death of our current yearly incarnation. But it is a birth into your understanding the transformation of death, and how your unique talents not only contribute to the evolutionary process, but also transform it into something greater than it was before. The relationship between man and God, individual and whole is symbiotic. Without the individual there would be no whole, without the whole there would be no individual. Without mankind there would be no God, without God there would be no mankind.

A personal ritual could include finding items within your home that you no longer need or want, clean them up, and store them away as presents to give to loved ones at Yule. It is time for the final harvest of the plants you have been nurturing all season. Nothing can be taken from the garden after Samhain, so do all your final reaping now. Prepare your garden for winter.

Mabon Ritual – The Descent of Persephone

This is a psychodrama that tells the story of Persephone’s descent into the Underworld. If you do not have enough people for the parts, it can be reworked into a meditation.

Thanksgiving Feast and Last Supper (This is a strong ritual, eating first is advised, grounding with dessert afterwards)

Demeter and the Kore bless the food, and oversee the feast, seated in a shrine. Participants are encouraged to offer a story or entertain the Goddesses and ritual participants, before asking for something in return. Demeter grants all requests. (Demeter and the Kore offer harvest goodies to participants)

When all are done eating, the Nymphs enter. Aphrodite casts circle and nymphs call the quarters.

Nymphs welcome everyone to the season of water. They are loving and inviting, sensual and displaying different emotional responses.

Aphrodite welcomes everyone - acknowledging that she knows this isn’t her normal time to show up, but it’s Libra! And this is about love.

Holy Daughter and Demeter are moving about the circle, talking and sharing in the mother/daughter bond that they have. The Kore is making flowers for her mother. The love for each other is evident.

The Kore, bored with the game, asks Demeter if there is anything else to her besides making flowers, what happens after they bloom. Demeter tells her not to worry and to go play with the nymphs, and Kore runs off.

Demeter’s smile is replaced with a worried look. She then turns Her attention to the crowd, offering gifts, coins, bounties, and boons. She asks people what they need, and offers it to them, granting wishes. She moves Her way through the crowd and disappears.

The Kore and the Nymphs play and dance about a bit, and then Hades appears near the Kore and the Nymphs, admiring Her beauty. He has overheard the conversation between the Kore and Her mother, Demeter.

The innocent Kore has her abduction from the land of the living to the underworld reenacted with the Lord Hades in his role as demanding bridegroom, and Hades leads her to the West and into the land of the dead.

The nymphs come in, whispering and gossiping about what just happened. Demeter returns, demanding to know where her daughter is. The nymphs deny seeing her, and Demeter shouts at them to go find her - the nymphs run off into the west, afraid

Demeter covers herself in a black veil and leaves the circle.

Aphrodite returns, stating that each person there desires something, and that desire determines their path. She tells them they are driven by their desires, and directs them to walk toward the west.

The participants wade through the mermaids, who “kill” them as they go into the underworld.

Hecate waits at a crossroads. She asks the participants which way they want to go (there are two paths, Persephone and Hades are on each one - the participants should not be able to see which they are choosing).

After everyone has finished, Aphrodite re-enters the circle with the Mermaids.

Aphrodite describes love: it’s what people live and die for, it transforms, changes and rebirths - it motivates you to take action. It lightens our hearts and helps us appreciate the world of the living. Without love, we become stagnant. It changed the Kore, but it also changed the Dark Lord. We all must love, grow, and change. We must give attention to and make room in our lives for the things we love.

Aphrodite encourages the participants to shout out what they need to change about themselves, while energy is raised by drumming and clapping.

Release the energy with a “So mote it be!”

Close quarters, release circle.

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