Mabon/Autumn Equinox 2022?
Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 11:57 am
There's a loose collection of various pagans in my area that get together for the sabbats, we hold circle and have a potluck, and then we scatter again to the winds; I'll be attending that ritual but I'm also intending to have my own in private.
In addition, I will be spending extra time that day with my garden. I'll harvest, and cut back. I'll keep my gratitude front in my mind as I work: these plants have done so much for me, you know? We worked together for them to thrive, and in return they gave me their flowers and their vegetables, their fruits and their roots. I generally talk to plants, my garden in particular, but this is different. For most of these plants, on the autumnal equinox I am their Reaper and with my sickle I'll take more than leaves and fruit -- and that's something I don't take lightly. In this moment I get the chance to understand the weight of the cycle of life and death: how heavy the sickle, how free the soul?
Then I dial myself back to reality to clean up. I separate healthy cut greens from anything I'd turn my nose up at, and the healthy greens go to compost (and maybe I 'accidentally' drop some for the wild bunnies. Oops!). I like to sit in the garden after that, if the mosquitos will let me, and observe. There's a lot going on out here that has nothing to do with me, is not concerned with me, and does not even consider me when I am not present and when I'm quiet and still I get to see it. If I'm really lucky, I get to be part of it when the bees investigate my sweat, or a jumping spider uses me for a momentary perch.
That said, as hot as it's been the last few years, I anticipate continuing to tend my garden and harvest from it well into November, so I'll probably *also* be planting a few last-minute seeds too. My confused tomatoes last year were still trying to put out fruit in December because we hadn't had a hard frost, temperatures were still above freezing at night, and in the day it was high-60's, low-70's! The tomatoes wouldn't fully ripen, so I ended up frying and pickling a lot of green tomatoes.
What are your plans? How do you usually celebrate? Are you looking forward to it?
In addition, I will be spending extra time that day with my garden. I'll harvest, and cut back. I'll keep my gratitude front in my mind as I work: these plants have done so much for me, you know? We worked together for them to thrive, and in return they gave me their flowers and their vegetables, their fruits and their roots. I generally talk to plants, my garden in particular, but this is different. For most of these plants, on the autumnal equinox I am their Reaper and with my sickle I'll take more than leaves and fruit -- and that's something I don't take lightly. In this moment I get the chance to understand the weight of the cycle of life and death: how heavy the sickle, how free the soul?
Then I dial myself back to reality to clean up. I separate healthy cut greens from anything I'd turn my nose up at, and the healthy greens go to compost (and maybe I 'accidentally' drop some for the wild bunnies. Oops!). I like to sit in the garden after that, if the mosquitos will let me, and observe. There's a lot going on out here that has nothing to do with me, is not concerned with me, and does not even consider me when I am not present and when I'm quiet and still I get to see it. If I'm really lucky, I get to be part of it when the bees investigate my sweat, or a jumping spider uses me for a momentary perch.
That said, as hot as it's been the last few years, I anticipate continuing to tend my garden and harvest from it well into November, so I'll probably *also* be planting a few last-minute seeds too. My confused tomatoes last year were still trying to put out fruit in December because we hadn't had a hard frost, temperatures were still above freezing at night, and in the day it was high-60's, low-70's! The tomatoes wouldn't fully ripen, so I ended up frying and pickling a lot of green tomatoes.
What are your plans? How do you usually celebrate? Are you looking forward to it?