Hello people, I'm Ginny Matherl and I am a fourth early generation witch. In today's video we're going to be looking at Mabon. Mabon is the equinoctal festival that is part of the wheel of the year and I want to look at the traditions behind it and the meanings through it and how you might celebrate it. So I was talking with a friend of mine the other day and I mentioned Mabon coming up and they were like, what's Mabon? And it suddenly occurred to me that of course if you don't live this life, you don't necessarily know and Mabon is one of the lesser known festivals. The main Mabon actually comes from an ancient Welsh deity and this name is quite a modern interpretation and it was ascribed to the festival in the fifties. However, it is a much older festival because we've been celebrating the harvest ever since we started harvesting. Mabon falls upon the equinox on the 23rd of September at 7.49am which means that is when the sun is directly above the earth's equator. This gives us an equal time of night and day as it's not quite equal but for all intents and purposes we're going to say it is and therefore the world is in a time of balance. It is from this point that the sun now steps a little further south and continues on this path all the way up to the winter solstice around the 21st of December. We are saying effectively, good by summer and looking towards the dark and half of the year. But before we embrace all that is the darkness and winter we can have a little respite and gratitude and that is what Mabon is. It is a harvest festival looking at the abundance that the earth has provided for us in order to get through those winter months and that is why we celebrated. The Anglo-Saxons knew the month of September is holy monoth, meaning the holy month of month of offerings really is what they were about but could desist the time when we offer up our thanks to the deities of this world and express our gratitude to them. I mean this is now carried on isn't it and to the Christian faith where they have the decoration of the altar. I mean I can't imagine anything more pagan than doing that and putting marrows and tomatoes and a tin of beans round your altar to say thanks. That is such a pagan tradition. It makes me smile to see it in the Christian faith. I mean really you cannot fail but to walk through the earth at this time and see the abundance that is so obvious of the proud oaks dropping their acorns the straight pines releasing their cones. It has a verdant and magical time of the year. There is a fair amount of symbolism that runs through the Mabon scenery and one of my favourites is that of the cornucopia, the horn of plenty which is literally a horn that spills plentiful goods. Now the tradition stage that should you own a horn of plenty you will never want for any food or clothes or needs because it will provide all of those for you. Owning a horn of plenty will provide you with great a good fortune and I'm really pleased because I have just bought my own cornucopia. I think they called it a Viking drinking vessel but traditionally a cornucopia is simply a horn. Cornucopia is provide all the greatest things that you need and want. Should you be in need of cash? Simply leave coins in your cornucopia. The cornucopia calls all the things that you need to. You simply place the object that you desire inside the cornucopia and ask it to provide and it will. Well that's the theory behind it whether it works or not I'll let you know but I am very pleased with mine. The cornucopia itself has a long and illustrious history. It was held in high regard by not only the Celtic nations but by the ancient Greeks and also the new world, California when it was advertising for settlers to come called itself the cornucopia world. I love my cornucopia so I'm hoping that it's going to give me great wealth and great benefits for the rest of the year. I'm not very good at money spells myself. It's not something that I can really get on board with only because the energy that you need to call that money to you tends to be very low level energy and low level energy brings low level responses such as your car breaking down or bad luck happening to you so therefore I don't tend to do money spells myself. However this is an easy one because the cornucopia will absorb all the bad luck that might come behind that money. September's moon also reflects this time of year because it's often known as a song moon or the wine moon. This of course is the time that wine is made and we sing as a result and they're probably not very well after all the wine but yeah there should be a lot of singing. Now the equinots this year falls on the 23rd and this is the same day that the sun moves into the star sign Virgo so it's very very auspicious for Virgoans everywhere. This is your six months. Virgo is known for being almost relentlessly loyal, they're deeply loving. They have a very very high moral code and this equinox hopefully will bring balance back to them because they can be extremely harsh on themselves if you're a Virgo then this next six months this time is for you just remember to not be harsh on yourself and repeat that as needed. So the ancient pagan way to celebrate Marbon would simply be to have a feast. It is a time of celebration and the best way to celebrate is to gather with your friends and family and eat and drink and be merry. And finally this is a slightly more saucy time of year. The harvest is a great time for abundance and it's also a great time to worship deities and the Celts used to do this through a lot of sex magic which is slightly not spoken about anymore is it but sex magic at this time of year will be very wonderful and so why not have a go. The one thing that the thing is about sex magic is no one really wants to learn about sex magic from an old witch that is myself. We need the younger generation to come forward and teach this kind of stuff to us all and you and your partner can have good fun at this time and bond yourself closer together because after all is that not the point of sex magic or to have a baby. But should you not care to celebrate Marbon in such an intimate way here are some ideas for you. The first one is one of the oldest traditions and that is to set out an altar. Tradition stated that you should always put the best of each crop that you grow to place upon your altar and this is a marvellous way just to think about the abundance and gratitude that we have for this world at the moment. Other ways are to plant your autumn seeds and bulbs so it is the time to get planting. You can do this as simply as planting some herb seeds to put on your window sill or should you feel like it you can always take some acorns and go out into the woods and have a little you know have a little plant then you can come back in the spring and you know do a bit of growth magic on them works wonders. Planting does then connect us deeply with this earth and it is what the earth wants the earth is here to grow things and most seeds need to be cold and dark in the winter in order to germinate in the spring. Essentially Marbon is though of time for feasting and so what better way than to sit down with your friends and have some seasonal recipes. Apples are always great at this time of year as are anything to do with pumpkins and squash. Should you wish for that pumpkin pie early? I'm not a great fan of pumpkin pie myself I've had a jaw achingly sweet and it slightly may hurt however I do love butternut squash chips those are delicious. Go to patreon.com forward slash a journey medall to check out my covered meeting this month we're doing clammer magic and I'm going to show everybody how they will appear so much more beautiful with the use of it and I'm going to prove it to during the sessions as well. A great subject come and join me at patreon.com forward slash journey medall because there is something there for everyone otherwise please don't forget to like and subscribe because that is how I manage to keep going. It's patron is not for you I would love it if you could just share my videos with everybody else and so therefore I will get more subscribers and I'll be able to keep making these videos because it is a bit touching go at times whether I can have carry on and in the meantime I hope you have a wonderful mabon. Let me know in the comments how you're going to celebrate it and what your traditions are because I love hearing what you get up to and I will see you in a very short time.