Modron - Mabon: The Autumal Equinox

 A time of renewal. Modron is the harvest of fruits of the Earth Mother, who in her aspect of eternal Goddess enters the 3rd trimester of her pregnancy. This is the time when the dying Sun God begins his journey across the western ocean to sojourn with the eldest aspect of the Goddess, in the land of the dead at Samhain.

We slice apples to reveal the mystery within our rituals -- the mystery, a five pointed str symbolizing all elements of life. We eat them to remind us that, as witches, we walk between the worlds; that of consensual reality and that of the magical Otherworld. At this festival we stand between the pillars of ligt and darkness, ready to descend, with all those goddesses whose myths are associated with the Underworld, into the long night of the year. Modron is the year's sunset and in this dusk we carry what we can of the Sun's noonday strength at Litha with us into the dark. After Modron we continue toward Samhain, and having travelled the sacred wheel of the year, continue the cycle around.

To understand sacrifice better, let’s look at the dance the Wiccan God and Goddess perform throughout the Wheel of the Year and see where They are at Mabon. The God is represented as the life of the Sun. At Yule, when the Sun’s strength begins to wax, the Goddess gives birth to the God. By Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, He is at His peak. By Lughnasadh he wanes. Since by Samhain He is journeying to the land of the dead, with the Autumnal Equinox, when day and light are equal and night begins to wax, it makes sense that Mabon would be the day of His death. His sacrificing Himself so that the land can rest and be reborn anew in Spring, for the good of the Earth and His people, is like the king in Snorri’s saga.

This story teaches us that sacrifices on Mabon are not just for personal gain, but also to help the world be a better place. What can we sacrifice from our lives to make the Earth a better place? We can give time by recycling items instead of throwing things away. We can sacrifice the aesthetics of our lawns by using a mulcher on lawnmowers rather than bagging and throwing away the clippings. We can give up a little comfort by setting the heat and cool of our homes to more moderate temperatures. We can offer up eating meat as often as we do because of the harm the meat industry does to the environment.

                                                      Josie

SOURCES
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usla&c=holidays&id=13515
THE WICCA BIBLE by Ann-Marie Gallagher