The Harvest Moon

Mabon marks the Autumn Equinox, the second of the two days each year when light and dark meet in perfect balance. It usually falls between September 20th and 23rd, and it’s a sacred pause—a golden hush—before the dark half of the year gently begins to tip the scale.

Though the name Mabon is a modern addition, drawn from the Welsh god Mabon ap Modron (a divine child of light and youth), many witches and pagans use it as a poetic title for the season. This Sabbat is the second of the three harvest festivals, sitting between the grain-first feasting of Lughnasadh and the ancestral descent of Samhain.

It’s also sometimes called the Witch’s Thanksgiving. And it’s easy to see why—Mabon is a time to reap what we’ve sown, to feast in community or solitude, to reflect on cycles completed, and to gather what will sustain us through the winter ahead.

At Mabon, we celebrate abundance, balance, and transition. The fields are heavy with fruit, the gardens burst with color, and the days grow shorter with every breath. We celebrate the full bounty of the earth, but we also begin to acknowledge the coming stillness.

This is a moment of equilibrium. Just as Ostara welcomed spring’s light with equal day and night, so too does Mabon close the sunlit chapter. From here, we spiral inward.

Spiritually, we honor the sacred balance between inner and outer, rest and labor, giving and receiving. There is both fullness and loss in the harvest: apples fall as gifts, but vines wither. We begin to say goodbye, even as our arms overflow.

We honor cycles. We give thanks. We prepare.

Traditional Symbols and Themes

Mabon’s themes are steeped in balance, gratitude, preparation, and release. It’s a liminal time—ripe with opposites and bridges between. These archetypes and images often guide both Wiccan and Pagan practice during the season:

The Earth Mother: She who gives the bounty—corn, gourds, apples, and wheat. A mature form of the Goddess.
The Green Man: He is the Wine God, the Stag fading into shadow. The Horned God in his mature form.
The Crone Approaches: Though she is not yet fully here, the whisper of the Crone stirs at the edges of the harvest fire.
Apples, Wine, Pumpkins & Seeds: All are symbols of mystery, nourishment, and sacred knowledge—especially the apple, which contains the pentacle in its heart when cut across.
Equinox Balance: A time to honor both shadow and light within ourselves. A moment to take stock of what we’ve gained, what we’ve lost, and what we carry forward.

How to Celebrate Mabon

There’s no one way to honor the harvest, but here are a few ideas to welcome Mabon into your heart and home:

Feast with gratitude – Cook a meal using seasonal ingredients: apples, squash, corn, mushrooms, grapes, cider, and root vegetables.
Decorate your altar or home – Use autumn leaves, acorns, pinecones, sunflowers, gourds, candles, and woven wheat or corn dolls.
Clean & clear your space – Just as we prepare the land for winter, we can prepare our home for rest. Declutter, smudge, or sweep with intention.
Offer thanks – Write down what you are grateful for from the past season. Burn the list, bury it, or place it on your altar.
Make offerings, feed animals.

Modern Magic & Practice

In Wiccan traditions, Mabon is seen as a turning point on the Wheel of the Year—a reminder to reclaim balance before the world tilts fully into darkness. It is a time for gratitude rituals, divination, and introspection.

This is also a potent time for shadow work:

What have you harvested from your efforts this year?
What can you release so your roots grow stronger?

You might also use the energy of the equinox for setting boundaries, especially energetic ones. As the sun wanes, protection and clarity become key themes in magical work.

Path / Tradition	Practices & Rituals	Spiritual Themes
Wiccan	Seasonal Sabbat rites with balance rituals, wine blessings, and invocations of the Harvest Goddess and Horned God. Apples, candles, and gratitude offerings.	Balance between light and dark, honoring the waning sun, gratitude for harvest, preparation for descent.
Traditional Witchcraft	Offerings to spirits of the land, crossroads rites, burial of apple seeds or charms, honoring ancestral ties.	Local spirit reverence, animism, seasonal decline, honoring boundaries between worlds.
Druid / Green Witch	Gatherings in sacred groves, poetic storytelling, honoring trees in transition, and singing to the land.	Connection to nature’s wisdom, community memory, cyclic flow between fullness and rest.
Hearth & Kitchen Witch	Canning, fermenting, spice blending, baking with intention; kitchen altars adorned with fruit and candles.	Sacred domesticity, transforming labor into magic, feeding body and spirit, honoring abundance.
Dianic Witch	Circles for aging, wisdom, and rebirth. Ceremonies that honor the Goddess in her Crone-aspect and rites of balance.	Feminine power in transformation, descent into shadow, honoring maturity and inner knowing.
Eclectic / Hedge	Blended rituals using apples, tarot, ancestor work, and firelight ceremonies. Crossing veils, walking liminal paths.	Personal mythology, spiritual autonomy, bridging seen and unseen, honoring the turn inward.
Animist / Spirit Worker	Communing with land spirits, creating spirit houses with natural materials, or tending grave sites or sacred trees.	Honoring death-in-life, threshold work, gratitude to nature beings, maintaining sacred relationship.

Ritual Ideas

Apple Divination – Cut an apple crosswise to reveal the pentacle star. Use the seeds for simple “yes/no” questions or plant one in a small pot to manifest a new goal.
Equinox Candle Ceremony – Light two candles: one for light, one for shadow. Speak aloud the gifts of each in your life and give them thanks.
Gratitude Spiral – Place candles, stones, or autumn leaves in a spiral on the ground. Walk the spiral slowly, saying something you’re grateful for with each step inward.
Wine Blessing Ritual – Pour wine or juice into a goblet, raise it to the sky, and thank the vine for its gift. Sip mindfully while focusing on the sweetness of your life.

Crafts, Recipes & Offerings

Apple butter – Stir with intention and sing spells of sweetness.
Pumpkin bread – Baked with cinnamon and nutmeg, perfect for a cozy ritual snack.
Pressed-leaf bookmarks – Beautiful and useful, honoring the turning leaves.
Harvest wreath – Use vines, herbs, dried flowers, or grain stalks to weave a seasonal blessing.

As the wheel turns and the golden light fades, Mabon invites us to pause in sacred balance—between light and shadow, fullness and release, motion and stillness. Whether you honor the season with song, spell, soup, or silence, this is a time to gather what nourishes you, give thanks for what has come, and gently prepare for what lies ahead. Light a candle, bless an apple, walk among falling leaves—your ritual can be as grand or simple as the moment allows. However you celebrate, may this harvest bring you warmth, wisdom, and wonder.