The Mabon ritual welcomes the coming second harvest and gives thanks for the first harvest. A designated leader may say the words that guide the group through the ritual or the speaking portions may be divided among group members. If you enjoy this ritual, you can learn more about the CUSP (Climbing Up the Spiral Pathway) tradition at our website or in the book called CUSP: A New Way to Walk An Old Path.
Setting: The ritual area is decorated with haystacks, corn stalks, grapes, apples and fruits and vegetables of the time. A bowl or basket of walnuts in their shells and a small candle for each participant is on the altar. Also provide a container of sand, large enough to hold all of the candles standing.
The Opening: “We are gathered here to celebrate Mabon, to give thanks for the first harvest and welcome in the boon of the God and Goddess. Today, we spend time with our circle friends and family, grateful for all we have received and all that we are to receive. Raise your hands to one another to cast the circle through us.”
The Joining: “Reach your hands out to one another to join together for the time of this ritual.” [The group touches hands, palm to palm, fingers up.]
“Pull your energy up from Mother Earth and down from Father Sky and blend with it with your own personal energy at the solar plexus. Move that energy from your solar plexus out your right hand, projecting into the left hand of the person next to you. Receive the energy through your left hand from the right hand of the person on the other side. Feel the energy as it courses hand-to-hand, person-to-person, heart-to-heart, and spirit-to-spirit, joining us together for the duration of this ceremony. See the strands of energy wrapping around one another, blending the energy of the Divine with our own personal energies into an impenetrable bond that connects us. As you lower your hands, continue to feel that we are joined together by our combined energies, even though we are no longer touching. Those who are within the circle become the circle. Those who manifest the will, become the means. The circle is cast.”
The Invitation: The elements are welcomed with an elemental chant, such as the one below:
[The Group Replies] “Be with us now.”
“We welcome the Lord of the Hunt and Protector of the Harvest, He who has kept our crops safe and brought the beasts of the forest to us. We welcome the God of the Green who runs with the mighty stag and brings the Sun to our sky each morning. Be with us now.”
[The Group Replies] “Be with us now.”
The Activity (The Boon Nuts): Each participant is given a few of the walnuts from the altar and a sharpie pen. They write their wishes for the others in the group onto the walnuts and then push the walnuts, one by one, into one of the bales of hay.
The circle leader or another designated person takes the group through a short guided meditation, showing them the fields that are now emptying as the harvest is finalized. Show them the apple trees, the blackberry bushes, the nut trees that are heavy with gifts from the God and Goddess. Show them the blessings we have been given and are to receive. Bring them out of the meditation gently and have each person file past the hay bale and pull a nut from the bale. This will be one of their blessings or the theme for their boon for the Mabon season. As they take the boon nut, they light one of the small candles and place it in the sand to burn down to solidify their boon.
The Communion: Pieces of bread, cake or cookies are provided, as well as a drink. No one consumes until all do so together. Everyone holds up their cake.
“We share this cake in joyful celebration of the bounty provided to us by the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. We take it within us to allow their blessings to dwell in our bodies and we return a piece of the cake back to the earth to return it to the elements from which it came.” Everyone crumbles a bit of the cake on the ground.
[The Group Replies] “As within, so without.”
“We share this drink in joyful celebration of the bounty provided to us by God and Goddess. May their blessings flow within us for all time.” Everyone lets a bit of the drink drip onto the ground.
[The Group Replies] “As above; so below.”
The Graciousness: “We give thanks to the earthly elements of which all things are formed and forged for blessing our ceremony and for the bounty they provide to us. We give thanks to God and Goddess for blessing our ceremony and for the blessings They provide to us. May there be peace between us now and forever. So be it.”
The Untwining: “Reach your hands out to one another and feel the energy that still pulses between us, joining us together. Begin to gently unwind your energy strands away from those of the others in the group and pull it back into yourself. You will find that there is additional energy created by the synergistic effect of the circle. Feel the energy slow as it passes through your hands from person to person. See the strands unwinding one from another and moving back into the person from which they came. When your energy has returned to you, move your hand away from the persons next to you and touch the ground to release any residual energy. The circle is open, but unbroken.”
In our group, we then come together for a Thanksgiving feast.
Katrina Rasbold writes books that are available at Amazon.com and runs a magical shop full of cool, needful things in Roseville, CA (also with online sales) called Botánica de La Reina.