Mabon – The Autumn Equinox

This is my favourite Wheel of the Year festival. I think it’s because I was born (and have almost always lived in) the “moderate north” of Europe. So for me, the winter solstice and perhaps even the summer solstice would be special in the far north Nordic countries where things are more extreme, in terms of dark nights and endless days. I find the summer festivals are a bit more of a Mediterranean thing of heat and sunny delirium.

Where I am in southern England, I think we notice the turnings more – the subtle moments where things tip or pivot. It’s the flow that counts, more than the high points. So now – at this fulcrum when the nights are as long as the days and we have 12 hours of sun and the same of “darkness” – it’s a moment for looking both back and forward. We can be grateful for the more hedonistic summer and prepare for the mystical mysterious winter. Everything is in balance and we know we aren’t going to get any more stifling days but we also don’t have to deal with the sapping absence of light yet, either. The weather is perfect (or maybe just past perfect). Like squirrels, we can start storing things up for the assault of winter. I hope for all of us that it’s not literally food that we have to store, but more like reserves of resilience and careful planning that will get us through the deprivation.

For me it’s the time of the mushroom, that bizarre and beautiful life form that’s not quite plant and not quite animal. Of course they fruit all year but instinctively this feels like their special time when they smash out all the hits, especially the star fungus, the bright red fly agaric, which frankly to me just looks too stunning to be true. It’s especially hedged around by myth and folklore but it’s only one of many that look like they have come straight from our imaginations. As we know, much of the real life of the fungus happens underground in the thin strands of its mycelium – again a great symbol for this time of year when the prime energies are the more subtle ones.

I don’t know about you, but I find a strange consciousness lurks around fungi. To make a huge generalization, plants are showy and exuberant, while fungi – which of course can also be as exuberant as any species – seem to have a knowing and a subterranean awareness when they are live fruit. Perhaps that’s me getting carried away because, like many people, I love this time of year. If spring is the peak time for growing potential, autumn is the same for inner work, when it all feels possible, and you can plan for special projects and creative work. We feast a little bit, celebrate and then get on with it. We enjoy the harvest and we also share it, to make sure we are on the right side of the gods and goddesses – the forces we will need in the dark months to come.

This blog was written by Adam Gordon, Cygnus Magazine Editor, Watkins Commissioning Editor and Watkins Media Office Manager.