Creating Circles and Ceremonies: Rituals for All ... - reading...

228 Creating Circles & Ceremonies
Your altar is a great place for fruits such as squash and apples set in an old wooden bowl.
You will also want to add pomegranate, in association with Persephone. Decorate your altar
with orange, brown, and yellow altar cloths and candles. Arrange colorful autumn leaves and
small gourds, nuts, dried corn, seeds, acorns, pine cones, etc. Also you might want to add a
bowl of water, since autumn is associated with water, emotion, and relationship. Keep in
mind that this same bowl of water can be used for scrying at Samhain.
Throw a “going away party” for the Green Man, and charge seeds for next year’s crop.
Prepare a meal for your loved ones—or at least make some special food to share. Give
thanks for all that you have harvested in this time. Remember that “an attitude of gratitude is
the guidance of the Gaia-dance!” Write down on a piece of paper the things you have planted
in your life this year, which you are now harvesting. Read your list aloud,
saying, “For all these things, I give thanks.” And then burn the paper.
Autumn Equinox - September 21
Harvest Home, Mabon, Festival of T hanksgiving
T heme: Descent1 By Ruth Barrett
Once again, light and dark are balanced in equal length of day and night. The exact date of
the Autumnal Equinox fluctuates each calendar year between September 20 and 23. Whereas
Spring Equinox symbolically manifests the equinox’s equilibrium as that of an athlete poised for
action, the Autumn Equinox’s theme is that of rest after labor. 2 It is a time of re-balancing after
intensive work. In earlier times, the Autumnal Equinox marked the middle of the harvest season
and began the intensive preparation for winter. This season was known as the harvesting or
reaping tide, a time of inward turning as well as celebration. It was a time of great cooperation
within the community, of celebration and hard work to ensure that as much as possible of every
foodstuff was carefully gathered in and preserved against the barren months of winter. 3
In Ireland, there is Michaelmas (around September 29), which traditionally was the time
of the goose harvest and a time to begin the picking of apples for making cider. 4 The Harvest
Home was a feast given by the farmer for the workers, both paid and voluntary. The last
sheaf of wheat was prominently displayed, generally hung in the house, and replacing the
previous year’s last sheaf. This last sheaf itself was called the cailleach, or “hag,” and the
way it was cut was thought to affect the destiny of its cutter. 5 The last bit of corn in the
farmer’s fields was the visible symbol of the end of harvest, and all over Ireland, the cutting
of it was attended with some ceremony. Harvest knots—small ornamental twists or knots of
plaited straw—were made and worn as a sign that the harvest was complete.
In ritual we enact the descent of the goddess Persephone into the Earth. She who has
gone through her journey as the Kore, the maiden goddess daughter of Demeter, now becomes
Queen of the Underworld. We cover ourselves with a black cloth as we welcome the
darkness and the wisdom contained within.
Seasonal Questions and Ideas
• Ask yourself these seasonal questions:
What is my personal harvest?
What have I brought into manifestation this year?
What can I do to honor the generosity of the Earth that sustains me?
How might I thank my loved ones and acquaintances who have supported my
creativity this year?
How can I best acknowledge and celebrate myself for hard work completed this year?