The Autumn Equinox is upon us. Mabon, with its twin Ostara, form the dividing line between the dark (lower) and light (upper) quadrants of the annual wheel (in the northern hemisphere). Symbolically (and literally in terms of their placement on the wheel), these two sabots could not be further apart. Ostara heralds long days, bright and warm, filled with growth, abundance, potential and the impulse to get out, explore the world, meet new people. Mabon warns of shortening days of darkness and cold, the world shrinks into itself and we turn our attention to practical issues of survival, wood in the shed, food in the pantry, hey in the barn and an impulse to lean on tried and true methods, familiar people and routines.
Of course Mabon isn’t all doom and gloom. We look forward to cozy nights, rich feasting from the recent harvest and holiday celebrations with family and old friends. Likewise, Ostara doesn’t just mean flowers and bunnies, There are long sweaty days of hard labor planting and plowing and the unending lassitude of too many dry days that make us long for a refreshing summer shower. It is here where we arrive at what connects these two sabots – The idea of balance and the perspective we need to become aware of it.
There is a legend, variously attributed to Jewish and Arab sources, which tells the story of a magickal ring with the power to make sad people happy and happy people sad. The inscription upon the ring read simply: “This Too Shall Pass”. It is a reminder of the impermanence of all things and conditions. This wisdom is at the heart of many traditions. In the West we find it in The Book of Ecclesiastes in the old testament and in the philosophy of stoicism, while in the Eastern traditions it is associated with Buddhism. Often it is mean to be cautionary, reminding us not to become too accustomed to good times or good fortune. Less often it is deployed to remind us that things can only get “so bad” (always darkest before dawn). We seldom contemplate this wisdom in a time of stability which is neither joyful or stressful. This is where the “practice” of the equinox” comes in.
Mabon is the second of three festivals. The first, Lammas (South-Eastern Spoke), is mostly about the joyful aspects of harvest time. We begin to see our labors pay off and so can begin to breathe a sigh of relief. The darker side is the dawning realization that summer doesn’t last forever, although many postpone this realization for as long as possible. Samhain [Halloween] (North-western Spoke) is perhaps more somber. As the last harvest festival it carries the understanding that “this is all you get from this year’s labors, make it last”. As a day of remembrance for the dead it also has a melancholic, even “spooky” aspect. Of course, as humans are inclined to do, we find ways to meet these realizations with celebration. The whole harvest season is a mixture of joy and release, sorrow and foreboding, with Mabon falling right in the middle.
And here we are, The Autumn Equinox (Western Spoke). In many traditions, the west is the direction that corresponds with death (where the day and the Sun go to die). We can think of it as The Sunset of the year. At Sunset we may look back upon our work with a sense of satisfaction in our accomplishments or regret for things left undone. We may eagerly await the heavenly shades of twilight or dread the dark of night. The whole symbolic palette of Sunset is made most vivid at Mabon when we, in a sense, experience a years worth of sunset in a day.
We are very fortunate that nature has furnished us with two sabots of equanimity (if we use this time to seek it). If you are reading this now there is a pretty good chance that your life affords you a certain degree of stability. We all have problems and Joys and it would be easy to entertain the platitude that these balance each other out. However, if you have had a challenging day, year, life, it might not be easy to feel how fortunate you are even if it is objectively so. Likewise, if you are fortunate enough to have had a day, year or life filled with opportunities and success, you might not feel inclined to dwell much on the pain and setbacks that we all must face. It is easy to see that the happy person might not be eager to put on the ring of “This Too Shall Pass”. What is more surprising is how often the sad person is similarly reluctant. If we are honest with ourselves, however, we might see that we sometimes like to wallow in our misfortune more than is wise. There are many reasons for this. Sometimes it is because we do not dare to hope for better times for fear of disappointment. Sometimes it is because we know our misfortune is the result of our own poor planning or foolhardiness and that better times might need our help in the form of working on ourselves.
Whether you look back on the season of light now passing with satisfaction or disappointment, whether you face the darkness now upon us with anticipation or dread, I ask you sit quietly in the beautiful light of this setting sun and place that ring upon your finger. Remember that the beautiful light you see all around you is the result of the mixing of sun and shade, the transparency of space and the filtering grace of air, the clarity of the darkening sky and the reflective sheen of cloud. Everything we experience and know is this blendedness and boundedness, one thing shading off into another thing, one moment being both the consequence of the last and the cause of the next. Feel that ring around your finger and understand that joy and sorrow surround and define the space of self.
Now, whether you consider yourself a “pagan” or not, if you are allowing your life to be guided, at least in part, by the practice of The Wheel of the Year, I ask you to wear that ring as a magickal talisman for both protection and attraction. The self is bounded by the ring of passing joy and sorrow. There are many spiritual traditions that speak to the transcendence of self by “taking off this ring”. There are times where such teachings may be quite salutary (at the moment of death for example). But on this day of balance, instead of transcendence of the self with its round of time and the waxing and waning of the seasons, let us embrace these cycles and see how they all must have their place because they all contribute to the on-goingness of life. Let us know that we stand in that balance and are charged with maintaining that balance. The first step in maintaining it is in honoring it. Let us finally endorse the way things are, what they have been, and what they will become with a “So Mote It Be”.
Blessed Be Friends