An Autumn Ritual

An Autumn Ritual, Called Mabon in the Celtic Calendar
You will need:

A deep dish filled with fallen leaves
A small bowl of berries or nuts
A deep empty bowl
Timing:

Between September 21 and 23 in the northern hemisphere, and between March 21 and 23 in the southern hemisphere.

The Spell:

Take a leaf (you can do this with others if you wish, who do the same actions and say the same words, in turn), naming what is being left behind that did not work out, gently dropping the leaf into the empty bowl and saying: “Go in peace, what did not flourish in the harvest of my life.”

Next, take a berry or nut, naming what can be taken forward from the previous months, saying: “This is the good harvest to sustain me in the months ahead until spring breaks through.”

Continue until you have named all that is lost and gained, then scatter any remaining leaves and berries or nuts outdoors, saying: “What is lost and what is gained are now set free in equal measure. Blessings be on all 

Ideas for Autumn 

Write messages and notes for deceased loved ones on autumn leaves and let the wind carry them where they need to go.
Carve sigils and symbols to promote spirit work into pumpkins and place on altars or around your property.
Collect pinecones and pine boughs and tie in bundles to be placed around a room you want to discourage spirits from visiting during the thinning veil time (i.e. your bedroom, bathroom, etc.).
Read a favorite book or book passage in a graveyard to the local spirits and ghosts. Bonus points for also playing or singing a favorite song.
Enchant candles you place in your jack o’ lanterns to greet and guide spirits peacefully and with love.
Erect an ancestor altar; include pictures, items, food that were favorites of deceased loved ones (including pets!!).
Pour an additional drink or fill a small plate with part of your meal as a tribute to household spirits or ghosts.
Do your divination outside during dawn or dusk times.
Invite spirits and ghosts to join you in watching your favorite holiday movies (”Nightmare Before Christmas”, “Halloween”, “Hocus Pocus”, etc.).
Leave birdseed or bird/animal safe homemade crackers outside for your local messengers of the dead.
Bury offerings for the Underworld and Kerberos (again, assuming they’re critter-safe).
Make crockpot soups and stews enchanted with prosperity, healing, love, and warmth
Paint sigils in water/sugar under or on top of baked goods before popping into oven for charging.
Pick up debris in a local graveyard while talking pleasantly to the spirit occupants.

Autumns Return

“As autumn returns to earth’s northern hemisphere,
and day and night are briefly,
but perfectly,
balanced at the equinox,
may we remember anew how fragile life is –
human life, surely,
but also the lives of all other creatures,
trees and plants,
waters and winds.

May we make wise choices in how and what we harvest,
may earth’s weather turn kinder,
may there be enough food for all creatures,
may the diminishing light in our daytime skies
be met by an increasing compassion and tolerance
in our hearts.”

– Kathleen Jenks, Autumn Lore

“The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really wise.”

~Euripides (484 BC – 406 BC)

“The ancients celebrated a full barn with crops and that the family and friends were all safe and well. It is also a time of balance, a balance of what we have and what we will have or have not in the future. Honour both the darkness and the light in our lives. A time for focusing on life, death and rebirth, a time to consider where we are and where we need to be. This is the time of the Crone and her consort as he prepares for death and rebirth. She carries the sickle and scythe and is preparing to reap what has been sown. The earth dies a little each day; we embrace this descent into the darkness before we can truly appreciate the light and warmth when it returns. The Druids call this celebration Mea’n Fo’mhair and honour the Green Man the god of the forest. The Norse call it the Winter Finding, which runs until October 15th, which is the Norse New Year. The Ancient Mayans observed September 21st as a special time in their calendar. In Japan there is a six day celebration around the Equinox. The Welsh make up Corn Dollies and hang them around their house, hoping for a good month. Other names for Mabon include: The Second Harvest Festival, the Wine Harvest and the Feast of Avalon. The burning of a large wicker figure around this time was common for the Druids.”

Await the Harvest

To all those law of attraction, abundance manifestation, and easy life, high vibration, anti negativity sorts, you’ve got it all wrong.

Sure, if I wanted the easy life, I’d utilize “the secret” and manifest an easy life. How would this benefit me though? If I drive all I view to be uncomfortable from my life, what’s left? What if I seek abundance every day, as so many new aged “feel good” posts recommend?

If you’ve ever seen those “law of attraction”, “manifest your desires”, and “abundance manifestation” posts, which dot the landscape of social media, you’ll likely be familiar with paradise culture.

It’s the sort of vile thing you see in every community, from Christian to conspiracy theorist. Among the Christians, it’s the prosperity doctrine. Among the conspiracy theorists, it’s what life would be like “if the Elite weren’t hiding it all from us”. Among the new agers, it’s “law of attraction”. Among witches, it’s “abundance manifestation”, and among the Satanists, it’s “lesser black magick”.

Obviously, everyone fails at achieving the above but they all have the same excuse; they just use different wording. For the Christians, you didn’t believe strongly enough or give enough. For the conspiracy theorists, you simply didn’t wake up. For the new agers, you didn’t ascend to dimension b42. For the witches, you didn’t do the spell right, and for the Satanists, you just didn’t have enough favor with whatever demon, devil or fictional character from a medieval book of fables.

What unites all these groups is that they are all peopled by slaves and all the slaves seek paradise, just by different names. All of these people would be perfectly happy being perfectly happy, having everything provided to them, where they have no need to work. Did you know there’s a name for this sort of place, other than paradise? It’s called a ranch. In fact, did you know that on the ranch where the most expensive cut of meat is raised, the cattle want for nothing? In fact, they’re treated like family, until they’re sent to the slaughter house.

Now, I’m sure you all can understand the exchange being made here? Did you think it would be different for you? If after you’re given all these things you signed in the blood of your fellows for, your blood wouldn’t be demanded in turn? How foolish you are! Then, ranchers don’t build livelihoods by slaughtering sentient creatures, now do they? They do it by slaughtering stupid animals!

Meanwhile, as all of you make animal noises about “abundance” and “a paradise hidden from you”, people like us know that an easy life, isn’t a life worth living.

Autumn Equinox Rites and Rituals for a Hedgewitch

Another liminal time, where darkness and light are equal, this is the perfect opportunity to take stock of what you have harvested from your
efforts, and what still needs to be achieved before Samhain and the coming of winter.

After this, you will need to let go, even as the autumn leaves fall from the trees.

Go to a deciduous tree, and watch as its leaves change colour.

Know that this is the winding down of the year, and that your life is reflected in the season.

You have worked hard, and now the magic appears even as the bright colours of autumn turn the woodland into golden and fiery hues, reflecting and honouring the last of the bright sunshine of the warmer days.

Keep a vigil on a tree, and weave a spell of release into a specific leaf, something which you need to let go of in order to move forward. Return to that tree every day and note when that specific leaf has fallen.

The magic has been set in motion.

Now you must let go as the tree has let go of the leaf, to allow the past to fall away, to nourish you and inform you even as you dream it all up
again.