Autumn Equinox

I wasn't going to post today but the pains are 15 mins apart !!!! so maybe today, the day of the autumn equinox......

It has been quite hot here in Woodford over the past few days and I have spent time in my garden, chatting to Mary Magdalene and my clan.. my ancestors and also the elementals.. and of course my plants. Joe finished putting my pond in last week and during the week, I planted the pond plants and my friend Marion gave me some tadpoles to get started! I love the sound of the water fall, it is so peaceful.

Today dawned raining and misty and I remembered the birth of Louisa (my daugher who is expecting Harry) - before she was born we had been in a drought time and the moment she was born the rain came down! So maybe this rain today is a sign....

I am not doing alot for the Equinox.. here is one of my previous posts from years gone by: Autumn Equinox 2007

I may light a few candles but for some reason I felt I must post this letter from Daisy....

Hi Robyn,

Here is some information about Mabon, the Autumn equinox for you on 21st March.

First of all, it has only been called Mabon for about fifty or sixty years, for some reason it never had a single name like the other equinox or solstices but was referred to in the Northern Hemisphere as Harvest Home, Feast of Ingathering. Basically it is festival to give thanks for the harvest and to secure the blessing of the Goddess through the winter months. It is now when the Goddess passes from Mother to Ageing Crone and prepares for the death and rebirth of her Consort.

It is a festival of equal light and dark. It is a time to finish off old business and a time to adjust yourself in preparation for Samhain and its time of rest, reflection and relaxation through the winter. We must give thanks to the now waning sunlight for lighting our summer days and honour the Green Man, the God of the forest.

An ideal way to celebrate the equinox is to sit down to a lavish meal with your family wearing your finery. A lovely symbol to decorate your house with is the horn of plenty or Cornucopia, [ you can sometimes get wicker ones in garden shops] you can fill this horn with fruit spilling out of it such as apples, and for you probably lemons etc and decorate with some trailing ivy.

Honour the Green Man by taking a walk through a wood and maybe leaving in a nook an offering or cider or wine together with some pine cones and acorns and seeds [ you might have to be creative here, but you probably have pine trees]

Symbols - apart from the horn of plenty, wine, gourds, pine cones, acorns, apples, pomegranites vines and ivy and dried seeds.

Herbs and Flowers - Ferns, Honeysuckle, Milkweed, Myrrh, Rose, Sage, Soloman's Seal, Passionflower, Tobacco Plant, Thistles.

Food - Bread, Nuts, Apples, Pomegranates, Potatoes, Carrots and Onions.

Incense - Myrrh, Sage, Benzoin

Colours - Red, Orange, Russet, Maroon, Brown, Gold

Stones and Crystals - Sapphire, Lapis Lazuli and Yellow Agate

Rituals - Making Wine and gathering herbs to dry and seeds for next year. Walking in the woods admiring nature's harvest

Spells for - Protection, prosperity, security, self confidence, harmony and balance

Goddesses - Epona, Persephone, Modron, Morgan

Gods - The Green Man, Hermes, Mabon and Thor

Rituals are pretty free and easy for this festival, basically it is mainly about harvest suppers and thanksgiving for the harvest.

There you go, hope this is of use
Love and Hugs
Daisy xx