First Day of Fall 2011

Mid-Autumn Festival - Montreal

Mid-Autumn Festival - Viet Nam

 In other news... Jupiter and the Pleiades can be seen rising above the eastern horizon tonight - as you know, I'm partial to the Seven Sisters, so I'll be out there looking (if I can keep the mosquitoes from sucking all my blood, that is)


Happy Autumnal Equinox!

This is from a blog entitled Daily Kos

At 5:05 AM EDT, the Northern Hemisphere passes from Summer into Autumn as the sun passes over the equator heading south to give the Earth's Southern Hemisphere its turn at Summer. 
The Autumnal Equinox is also known as: Alban Elfed, Autumn Equinox, Fall Equinox, Cornucopia, Feast of Avilon, Festival of Dionysus, Harvest Home, Harvest Tide, Mabon, Night of the Hunter, Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Witch's Thanksgiving, and the first day of autumn

Pagans generally call the Autumn Equinox Mabon, though that's a fairly modern name, and some groups dismiss it. Neo-Druidic traditions call it Alban Elfed, and in some circles it's called Meán Fómhair (from the Irish name for September, "Middle of Autumn"). Others simply call it Second Harvest, or Mid-Autumn . . . and there's nothing wrong with just calling it the Autumn Equinox.

For those that observe the Oak King/Holly King duality, Mabon marks the ascendancy of the Holly King. Now he is the more powerful of the two, waxing stronger until he stands at the height of his power at Yule, the Winter Solstice.

For the rest of us, this is the time when the Goddess shifts from Mother to Crone, and it's in this aspect she's celebrated at Mabon rituals. The God grows old and tired, soon to die at the upcoming Samhain. The year is almost done. They move into old age, as they do every year. As the world does. As we all will.

Autumn, as I said, is an ominous season, and the specter of Death always looms large. The coming Winter symbolizes that inevitable turn of the Wheel, and the growing dark and the reaping of the crops are reminders of our journey towards it.

This should make us all the more mindful of what we have, and makes it all the more appropriate that Mabon should be a time of thanksgiving and joy. Gather with family and friends. Celebrate. Share. Feast.

    "Once more the liberal year laughs out O'er richer stores than gems or gold: Once more with harvest song and shout Is nature's boldest triumph told." - John Greenleaf Whittier

Sunrise at Stonehenge

This is from the web site for The Stonehenge Tour Company
 
Each year on the 23rd September Druids and Pagans gather at Stonehenge early in the morning to mark the Spring Equinox and to see the sunrise above the stones.

It's an ad hoc celebration that brings together England's New Age Tribes (neo-druids, neo-pagans, Wiccans) with ordinary families, tourists, travelers - usually about 100 people!
For many, the impulse to arrive at Stonehenge in time for the Solstice and Equinox is a little like all those people drawn to the strange rock in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It's akin to a spiritual experience. Anyone who has witnessed the crowd become silent as the sky begins to brighten can attest to that.

This is the third of the four ‘sky points’ in our Wheel of the Year and it is when the sun does a perfect balancing act in the heavens.

This is the point of the year when once again day and night are equal - 12 hours, as at Ostara, the Spring Equinox. The Latin word for Equinox means 'time of equal days and nights'.
After this celebration the descent into winter brings hours of increasing darkness and chillier temperatures. It is the time of the year when night conquers day.

After the Autumn Equinox the days shorten and nights lengthen. To astrologers this is the date on which the sun enters the sign of Libra, the scales, reflecting appropriately the balanced day and night of the Equinox. This was also the time when the farmers brought in their harvested goods to be weighed and sold.

Here in Wiltshire (as with the rest of rural Britain), it was traditional to drink dandelion and burdock cordials at this time, as these herbs help to cleanse the blood and are a good tonic for the body after its winter hardships.
 
The full moon nearest to the Autumn Equinox is called the Harvest Moon and farmers would harvest their crops by then, as part of the second harvest celebration. Mabon was when livestock would be slaughtered and preserved (salted and smoked) to provide enough food for the winter.

At the South Pole they will be celebrating the first appearance of the sun in six months. However, at the North Pole they will be preparing for six months of darkness.

During Medieval times, the Christian Church replaced Pagan solstices and equinox celebrations with Christianized occasions. The Autumn Equinox celebration was Michaelmas, the feast of the Archangel Michael.

The small group 'non-obtrusive' nature of this tour means you can have a real authentic experience, a great photo opportunity and valuable insight into ancient Britain.

Tonight, even though it's raining, I'm going to get a little fire going in the fire pit out on the back porch - I will burn some dead branches from the tree that fell during the storm... I will throw on some dried herbs (mugwort and the like) and say farewell to Summer... and some other things...

Visit both sites for some interesting information:

http://www.stonehengetours.com

http://www.dailykos.com

Photos: courtesy of Stonehenge Tours and Google Images for mid-autumn celebrations