Wiccan Mabon / Fall Equinox Sabbat

Solitary Ritual Guide


On September 21st, Wiccans and other pagans celebrate Mabon, the Fall Equinox.

This sabbat, decorate for fall, honor the harvest, and reflect on passages and balance in life.
Adorn the home with fall colors.Table cloths,, flowers, centerpieces, and items from the wild can be part of a fall equinox display. Now is the time to bring in cones, acorns, and horse chestnuts to show off the rich browns of the fall’s bounty. It’s time to choose pumpkins and make pies, pick apples, and enjoy the last of the season’s ripe corn. Visit a farm or peruse the fresh, seasonal produce at a local market before winter begins to descend. At the table, bless the harvest time through seasonal prayers, songs and rhymes.

Decorate the Home With Bounty From An Equinox

Walk In The Garden

A walk in the garden this time of year means enjoying the changing colors of the leaves. Flowers and vegetables are setting seeds. Pick them and save them for the new year.

Pagans and Wiccans can also string up herbs and seeds in the home to decorate. Plan for a healthy winter in the garden. Add mulch and begin to cover crops that need to last a little longer into the frosty days.

Drink and Make Wine, Cider, and Beer to Celebrate

Fall

Grapes and apples are ripe – now is the time for wine and cider. Drink wine and make it to celebrate the harvest. Visit a farm and pick apples, or honor the grain harvest by making beer.

Mabon is a Time To Honor Those Who Have Died

As the northern hemisphere descends into darkness, it is important to honor the darkness that has touched lives this year. What deaths and other passages have happened? Honor the dead. Visit a burial site and place fall flowers, or hold a ritual in a meaningful natural location.

Fall Equinox is a Time to Appreciate the Stability of the

 Home

Fall equinox is also a time to consider the stability and balance of the home. Think about the year that has passed. What has made home life more or less stable? Think about the year to come. What changes can be made? Mabon is a good time to set plans in motion for the new year – traditions that will add to the stability of home and hearth. Whether it’s a daily prayer, a walk, or a home blessing, plan one thing that will create a rich tradition for the home this year.

For Wiccans and other pagans, sabbats are a time of personal reflection. Think about the meaning of balance and the idea of harvest in life. This is a time when people can consider how they are reaping what they have sowed in the months and years before. Mabon is a time to appreciate the turning of the year towards the dark. Fall equinox is a celebration of the local harvest and of the harvests in the home.


Pagan traditions for Halloween or Samhain are so rich that it is easy to forget about the other fall Sabbat – Mahon, the fall equinox. This is a less prominent pagan holiday of the fall season, but it’s a chance to celebrate the continuing harvest and richness of the year, while preparing for the darkness of the late fall and winter months.

On Mabon, the coming of  fall means that day and night are equally divided. Night is about to overcome the light as the year turns towards the winter solstice.