Mabon Ritual

To prepare the self:

Bathe as usual and anoint with oil of an appropriate scent for the season. Wear fire-safe clothes in colors of orange, dark red, yellow, brown, violet, or deep gold. Wear magickal jewelry and flowers or a hair wreath made of plants of the season.

To prepare the circle:

Sweep. ¤ Lay out cord. ¤ Position altar with red and yellow or autumn-themed cloth. ¤ Position God and Goddess candles. ¤ Position other God and Goddess representations. ¤ Add Earth bowl and salt at north. ¤ Add incense burner and incense. ¤ Add candleholder and orange, dark red, yellow, brown, violet, or deep gold candle at south. ¤ Add goblet and water at west. ¤ Put pentacle at north. ¤ Put wand at east. ¤ Put athame at south. ¤ Put chalice at west. ¤ Add bolline to south. ¤ Add matches to south. ¤ Add match holder to north. ¤ Add wet napkins to west. ¤ Add bell to west. ¤ Add libation bowl to north. ¤ Add any decorations for the season. ¤ Have paper and a pen ready to write a letter. ¤ Have a black candle set in a holder in the cauldron. ¤ Have an empty horn of plenty and fake or real but non-messy fruits to put inside it. ¤ Have materials for wish tree and the withered tree from Lammas at the left of the altar, and blessing oil or other honoring oil. ¤ Put an apple on a plate on the right of the altar, and have handy cider or carrot juice. ¤ Have yarn ready for finger-knitting. ¤ Complete with feasting foods of the season.

Begin ritual:

Cast the circle. Sit inside and focus, and invoke the God and Goddess.

Meditation (to seasonal music if desired):

The Witches’ Thanksgiving is punctuated by the God’s preparing to leave His body. He knows he will only be separated from Her Earth through the Samhain season, where He will visit the Summerland while the Earth misses His presence. The Earth will freeze over soon, so now we respectfully begin to reap as much as possible for the second harvest. We reflect and give thanks for all that has been harvested, literally as well as figuratively, and we prepare for the season of sleep, for the looking within, for the dark, short days of winter. We seek to turn our thoughts inward and ponder the mysteries as the death of the God approaches, and we ask ourselves how we can improve the lot of others less fortunate than ourselves. From here on out, the night will be longer than the day; today, they are exactly the same, and all is in balance.¹

Opening Honor:

Take the black candle and carve a rune of transition and change with protection, such as rune RAIDO. This is to symbolize the dying God’s descent into the underworld and your hope for His safe return from the mysteries. He must die so that He can be reborn from the mother and nourish us again, so we must thank Him for His sacrifice, and for what He and the Goddess have given us this year. Light the black candle and place it in the cauldron. Now write a letter while in Their sight, about how your wishes have come true this year and how much you have been given. If you’ve had a bad year, ask Them for strength upon His rebirth to make a better year next time; make sure you thank for the good parts. Make it a heartfelt letter and read it aloud or to yourself . . . before you burn it with the flame of the black candle and allow it to be consumed by fire in the cauldron.² After the fire dies down, remove the black candle from the cauldron and put it on the pentacle (the God has not yet been swallowed by the crone’s cauldron; he is but at death’s door), and gather the ashes. Scatter them or bury them when the ritual is over.

If you have an inspirational animal or a particular animal with which you feel aligned, communicate with its spirit and let it fill you. If you do not have such a relationship with an animal and you wish to, enter a soul search to find one. If you have a particular method of divination which you like, feel free to use it; however, it is suggested here that you simply meditate and try to realize what natural connection occurs to you. If nothing comes or you are not particularly aligned with any animal, try one that is related to your zodiac sign, or simply choose the element you are most aligned with and choose an animal that lives in that element. (Earth, Air, and Water are easy to think of animals to choose from, but you might choose poisonous or especially vicious animals for Fire.) Once you have an animal to envision, ask it to help guide you through the Mabon and Samhain seasons until the Child of Light is again born and grows strong, and to help you avoid pitfalls that are so easy to make in this time of sleep.³

Pour a glass of a chosen toasting beverage and lift it to the black candle still burning behind the cauldron. Ask for the harvest to carry us through the coming winter, offer to lend your strength to Mother Earth, and give thanks, deeply, for the bounty already bestowed. Drink to the God’s impending crossover and pour a libation. Put out the black candle.

Mabon Activities:⁴

Wish Tree can be worked on now. Take flowers off of the tree and put them around the base, and anoint the bare parts with blessing oil or other anointing oil; meditate on each wish as you do so and think about what wishes have come true.

You may remove the seasonal flowers and sunflowers from your corn dolly of Lammas. She can hold pine cones and fallen leaves, and be bedecked with ivy or brown vines. She should still be pregnant.

Ritual Core:

Ask for the God and Goddess to keep you in Their light even as Their power wanes. Ask Them to fill the horn of plenty with Their strength, enough to get you through the winter without as much of Their attention. Hold the horn aloft until you feel it is filled with Their power, and then drink from the horn of plenty like a cup. Feel Their presence fill you, and keep it tucked away for sustenance through the Mabon and Samhain seasons. Thank Them again with a toast and a libation.

BANISH THE LUGHNASADH SEASON AND INVOKE THE MABON SEASON with banishing and invoking pentagrams. Ring the bell and say “it is done” or “so mote it be.”

Follow-up:

Greet the new season with a toast and pour a libation. Now celebrate the God’s impending crossover with a feast. Begin the feast by cutting the apple, separating the stem from the bottom, to see the five seeds inside arranged in a pentagram. Eat one bite from both sides, acknowledging your acceptance of both sides of life: Light and dark, male and female, life and death. Put the remainder of the apple in the libation bowl.⁵ Now begin the feast. Make sure to share everything you’ve eaten with the libation bowl.

Finger-knit and tie your rope to the previous years’ ever-growing rope. Meditate on the meaning of this weaving to symbolize the journey. Think about previous Mabons you might have celebrated, and what has transpired in your life since you finger-knitted for Lammas.

Closing:

Thank the God and Goddess for coming and put out their candles with a pinch or a snuffer, and thank all elementals, then earth and close the circle. Put anything that was given in the cauldron into the libation bowl also, excluding the candle and its holder. When the circle is broken, the first thing you should do is go outside and bury the contents of the libation bowl, then commence cleaning up. Document anything important in your Book of Shadows. Change any decorations around your house that you have to reflect the new season.

Alternatives and Additions:

If you wish, you may leave goodies out for the little people, animals, or whatever you choose. You may dedicate this food to them before the ritual’s core.

This Sabbat is conducive to magickal workings having to do with spells for protection, wealth and prosperity, security, feeling of self-confidence, and balancing magick. If magick is to be done, do it right before the feast.

If dancing, singing, or any other personal or individual merriment is scheduled, it can be done either after the feast and the core of the ritual, OR it can be done after the circle is broken.

Footnotes:

1--Groups can alternate speaking lines of this as a chant, and use “we” instead of “I.”
2--Groups can feel free to write the letters beforehand and share them in circle to save some time, or they can simply be burned communally but unshared. The ashes can be collected and disposed of in some group-oriented way, or everyone can take home a bag of the ashes as a charm to help through the long nights of winter.
3--Working partners might have dual visions of their animal guides traveling together. A coven leader might lead a meditation for the group, or help people without animals find them.
4--With groups, it may be preferable to do these activities outside circle, or in such a way that the High Priest and Priestess lead and allow everyone else to contribute in a small way, so that it does not take up the entire ritual.
5--Working partners should each take a bite of the apple and then switch; in coven situations, just pass each piece around to make sure everyone gets a bite.