Mix it up this Mabon with one of these unique Fall Equinox ideas.
The Fall Equinox – also known as Mabon – is the precise moment when days and nights are of equal duration, just before the nights begin to overshadow the days.
If you’re looking to spice up your Fall Equinox festivities this year, these ideas are for you.
Fall Equinox Idea #1: Make an Offering to the Moon
In China, both equinoxes (spring and fall) are honored as times when yin and yang (universal feminine and masculine energies) are precisely equal. In contrast to the Spring Equinox, however, when tradition recommends making offerings to the sun, the Fall Equinox is a time to make offerings to the moon, as the feminine principle ascends. Lunar-charged offerings might include lemons, a round candle, moonstone, labradorite, coconut milk, ornamental cabbage, jasmine, and tuberose. Place your chosen offering(s) on an altar along with an image of the moon. The next morning, place crystals/biodegradable items on the earth. You can burn any remaining candles down as desired throughout the remainder of the season.
Fall Equinox Idea #2: Partake of Pomegranates
In Ancient Greece, the Fall Equinox marked the time when the goddess Persephone returned to her underworld home. Although her marriage is popularly characterized as being initiated by an abduction and/or rape, this may not be precisely as it seems. In fact, some authors and devotees make a good case that Persephone is quite happy with her husband Hades and her sacred role as queen of the underworld. With this in mind, consider incorporating foods and/or beverages containing pomegranate into your Fall Equinox celebration. (This is the fruit Persephone famously consumed in the underworld, ensuring her yearly return.) Do this as a way of honoring your own willing descent into the symbolic underworld (i.e. the dark half of the year).
Fall Equinox Idea #3: Honor Archangel Michael
In the Christian tradition, the Fall Equinox was co-opted as a celebration of the fiercely positive and protective St. Michael the Archangel. (The church decided to call it Michaelmas and observe it on September 29th.) But Archangel Michael isn’t picky about whom he helps: he is happy to come to the aid of whomever requests it, regardless of faith or lack thereof. So for your unconventional Fall Equinox celebration, you might place a prayer candle to Archangel Michael on your altar, light it, and invoke his fiery wall of protection. Feel free to request that he protect you, your loved ones, your home, your car, and any other person, place, or thing you desire.
Fall Equinox Idea #4: Sweep and Decorate Your Ancestors’ Graves
The Fall Equinox is a doorway from the bright half of the year to the dark half. This makes it an appropriate time to honor and communicate with our loved ones on the other side. Indeed, in some parts of Japan, Autumnal Equinox observances include cleaning and adorning the graves of loved ones. So bring a broom, some potted chrysanthemums, and anything else you may like to offer. Perhaps light some candles and smudge with some incense while you’re there: not only to honor those to whom the graves belong, but also to celebrate your own eternal nature and eventual journey to the other side.
Brightest Mabon blessings!
Did you try one of these Fall Equinox ideas? How did it go? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
My parents used to make special meals celebrating the seasons and the elements. My mom made moon shaped rice cake desserts filled with sweetened bean jam, and traditional Asian pastries celebrating the moon. I remember drinking special teas to celebrate the change in seasons. We had seasonal vegetables pickled and canning our veggies during these ocassions. Prayers sent to Ancestors, flowers, incense and candles were the norm. Graveyard visits to honor our relatives. My dad adopted an American dessert just to celebrate fall, he learned how to make his delicious pumpkin pie. Now my parents are gone but my husband , daughter and I continue my parent’s traditions of celebrating the seasons.🙏
I would love to have a way to honor my grandparents and ancestors that have passed but I do not live near their graves and I don’t have pictures or items of them. I can work on getting pictures for some but what are ways I can honor them aside from sweeping their grave?
Christiana, you can certainly light them candles and/or incense, and create an altar with offerings to them of things that remind you of them or that they enjoyed during their lifetimes.