Autumn – WytchenCrafts

A blessed Mabon to all. Depending upon where you live in the Northern Hemisphere, you may begin your celebrations on the 22^nd, in the UK it is the 23^rd. Either way, it is a time for the last harvest rituals which set us up for the winter months.

Not everyone farms any longer as may have been the case in years past. But the idea would be that everyone put by all the food they could to last through the cold harshness of winter. We can still do our own version of this if we have small gardens or by simply stocking our larders with things which can last throughout the coldest months. I am personally always happy to do whatever I can to stay out of supermarkets!

For our personal Mabon celebrations, we have the obvious many ways to feel in touch with the Sabbat. I love a beautifully Autumnal look for my personal altar as I am sure everyone does for theirs. But what else can we do?

If you are a young parent with young children, you might choose to begin teaching them about the Sabbats and this one is a lovely one to begin with if you have not already begun teaching them. You could teach them about why we celebrate Mabon, of course, but also how to help provide for those who do not have as much as perhaps you do. Then again, I understand what it is like to be a young parent as I have been there so as we know, it is hard to help provide for others when you have little yourselves. Still, it is an idea that they could at least be taught. Making colourful decorations for the Mabon feasting table or even their own altars is also lots of fun.

This is also the time of the Autumnal Equinox which, of course, means that the nights will get longer through the Autumn and Winter months. If your children are at an age to start noticing this, something we would do is have a child mark the time of the sunset on the calendar each night/afternoon. It is also a good time to teach them about the Sun King’s death and how to mourn.

And if you want a very special event to add to your celebrations, you can always go to the Stonehenge Autumn Equinox Tour 23 September 2022 https://www.stonehenge-tour.com/stonehenge-day-tours/stonehenge-mabon-pagan-druid-access-tour.

However you choose to celebrate, I hope you enjoy and your family does as well. Many thanks for reading and warmest blessings to all whom this way wander x

By Isabella @TheWandCarver

Instagram: @iseabail_witchwriter

“To make a countryman understand what feuille-morte colour signifies, it may suffice to tell him, it is the colour of withered leaves in autumn. “

— John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690

My favourite time of the year – Autumn! She is on her way! And the trees coming alive with colour; the freshness in the air signifies the Autumnal change from a fairly sweltering Summer. Funny how I would think the trees are coming ‘alive’ with colour when in fact, they are dying, the leaves are that is.… but I think that, in and of itself, has great significance to the time of year and its representation. We think of Autumn, being the time before Winter – when for many the world looks barren, plain, and dead – as the ‘old woman’ status of the world during the season. I rather think it more like the ‘late middle-aged woman’. She is still invigorating and colourful. She still has much to do and enjoys fun as much as the next. She dresses herself in bright colours – reds, purples, yellows, and feuille-morte: which in French literally means ‘dead leaf’ but think of the hues of those dead leaves! The colour name, feuille-morte refers specifically to a brownish-orange or yellowish-brown colour. I think that gives our late middle-aged season just that little bit more flair, don’t you? She deserves it.

Autumn time of the crone mollie kellog — Autumn Crone ~ art by Mollie Kellogg

Of course, the colourfulness of her dress does not completely cover the knowledge that she is dying. She knows it. We know it. But something we may not think about is that the sap is going to carry on rising within the tree just as the movement through Winter, or the ‘death’, is going to carry on shifting… until the Sun rises on Spring and the tiny green leaves will unfurl from the tree where the Autumn Crone enjoyed her last hurrah just months before. And she is reborn as a young Spring Maiden again with a pretty green frock and time to enjoy. One thing you can be assured of – her spirit never died. It has been there all along, resting up for her new adventure and her new youthfulness. And so, it is with us all.

My heartfelt thanks to those who read this. Warmest blessings to all whom this way wander x