Mabon, the autumn equinox (C.21st September): The light is leaving, it is a time to prepare for the winter months, this is the time when the tide turns away from the outer world to the inner, a time of change on many levels and I find there is always a feeling in the air of things being the way they should be. As with the spring equinox, day and night are perfectly balanced, althought this time it's the darkness preparing to take it's turn. The 2nd harvest festival, it is again a time for feasting, but this time the emphasis is very much on abundance rather than the sacrifice of Lammas. A celebration of the merry 3: apples, grapes and hops - cider, wine and beer! A time to eat, drink and be merry! sweet cakes and biscuits are baked and happily eaten, it is a time to build strength of body and mind.
For some reason, this festival has always made me feel very aware of trees. I think because the leaves are falling, and everything is looking so beautiful at the moment, and something about the ageless wisdom of ancient trees seems to match very closely with the waning of the year, but I always want to be in nature at this time, and around trees in particular. This year I gathered lots of acorns for decorating the table (as well as pine cones and lots of other seasonal bits and pieces), and asked everyone who came to our Mabon feast to pick the acorn that they felt most drawn to, to keep as a talisman for the coming year. I like acorns, I see them as little nuggets of potential, to see giant oak trees and think that they were once just an acorn is bewildering to me, we all know that to be the case, but it doesn't make it any less astounding. So I think carrying around an acorn is a good reminder of the potential we all have, and the cyclical nature of life: "The mighty oak, a tiny seed doth sow, from tiny seed, a mighty oak shall grow"
It was at this point that I left the room and Mr Boo got hold of the computer and took over this post....I am leaving his rantings here so you can all see what I have to put up with...
Those who came from a tiny oak seed should be called by their proper name- "the little fucking leaf people"- and should be given much respect. Although small, they are agile and elegant and are considered good luck if eaten whole and uncooked on a Wednesday; obviously though this is not the case during the rainy season when they should be cooked thoroughly in case of damp-induced mould. They have a curious flavour, not unlike truffles and they always leave me with a warm feeling inside that more than makes up for the difficulty in catching the sods in the first place.
Overall, I think my feelings are best summed up by this poem by reknowned pervert, insaniac and poet Walt Whitman-
I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous of dark green,And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,But I wonder'd how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone therewithout its friend near, for I knew I could not,And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it and twined around it a little moss,And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight in my room,It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends,(For I believe lately I think of little else than of them,)Yet it remains to me a curious token, it makes me think of manly love;For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there in Louisiana solitary in a wide in a wide flat space,Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near,I know very well I could not.
Indeed, indeed Walt; and make no mistake.
TTFN.
The Boo Bear, 10-4 over and out.
(I wrote this all myself I did.)
ps You should all try Mr Boo's miracle elixir, guaranteed to prolong life and bring out the tree hugger in you. Only $16 a teaspoon. Same day delivery. Stains are your own responsibility. The size of your wood may go up as well as down.
Aaaand back to me....sorry about that...oh, my muscles hurt from laughing now!
Well, all I was going to add really was that everybody who attends the feast brings along an autumnal vegetable which we carve and put candles in to form the centre piece of the table, but somehow that seems very tedious now....Oh, much fun! xx
For some reason, this festival has always made me feel very aware of trees. I think because the leaves are falling, and everything is looking so beautiful at the moment, and something about the ageless wisdom of ancient trees seems to match very closely with the waning of the year, but I always want to be in nature at this time, and around trees in particular. This year I gathered lots of acorns for decorating the table (as well as pine cones and lots of other seasonal bits and pieces), and asked everyone who came to our Mabon feast to pick the acorn that they felt most drawn to, to keep as a talisman for the coming year. I like acorns, I see them as little nuggets of potential, to see giant oak trees and think that they were once just an acorn is bewildering to me, we all know that to be the case, but it doesn't make it any less astounding. So I think carrying around an acorn is a good reminder of the potential we all have, and the cyclical nature of life: "The mighty oak, a tiny seed doth sow, from tiny seed, a mighty oak shall grow"
It was at this point that I left the room and Mr Boo got hold of the computer and took over this post....I am leaving his rantings here so you can all see what I have to put up with...
Those who came from a tiny oak seed should be called by their proper name- "the little fucking leaf people"- and should be given much respect. Although small, they are agile and elegant and are considered good luck if eaten whole and uncooked on a Wednesday; obviously though this is not the case during the rainy season when they should be cooked thoroughly in case of damp-induced mould. They have a curious flavour, not unlike truffles and they always leave me with a warm feeling inside that more than makes up for the difficulty in catching the sods in the first place.
Overall, I think my feelings are best summed up by this poem by reknowned pervert, insaniac and poet Walt Whitman-
I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous of dark green,And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,But I wonder'd how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone therewithout its friend near, for I knew I could not,And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it and twined around it a little moss,And brought it away, and I have placed it in sight in my room,It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends,(For I believe lately I think of little else than of them,)Yet it remains to me a curious token, it makes me think of manly love;For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there in Louisiana solitary in a wide in a wide flat space,Uttering joyous leaves all its life without a friend a lover near,I know very well I could not.
Indeed, indeed Walt; and make no mistake.
TTFN.
The Boo Bear, 10-4 over and out.
(I wrote this all myself I did.)
ps You should all try Mr Boo's miracle elixir, guaranteed to prolong life and bring out the tree hugger in you. Only $16 a teaspoon. Same day delivery. Stains are your own responsibility. The size of your wood may go up as well as down.
Aaaand back to me....sorry about that...oh, my muscles hurt from laughing now!
Well, all I was going to add really was that everybody who attends the feast brings along an autumnal vegetable which we carve and put candles in to form the centre piece of the table, but somehow that seems very tedious now....Oh, much fun! xx
Traditional symbols and associated bits and bobs...Colour: autumnal browns and oranges
Flowers/fruits: pine cones, apples, hops, grapes, fallen leaves
Gods/Goddess: Bacchus, Dionysus, any fate goddess'
Symbols: acorns, pine cones, trees
Foods: sweet honeyed cakes, abundant seasonal veggies, grapes
