Autumn Equinox 2024/Mabon

22nd September, 13.44 pm BST

The great wheel clunks into place as the Sun dips into Libra, ushering in my favourite season of breathtaking beauty. Nights are now clearly longer, and the leaves on the trees are beginning to lose their chlorophyll, revealing the browns, reds, yellows, oranges, and even sometimes purple hues that hide behind the summer greens.
As the air cools noticeably, we begin to don our overcoats, jumpers, and cardigans, looking to conserve energy and produce for the darker days ahead.

Conversely, those readers in the Southern Hemisphere will feel the change on the opposite side of the world as a herald to the spring season: days are lightening, and life is pushing forward to new growth.

Mabon, traditionally, is the culmination of the busy harvest season. The grains have been gathered, and hay has been cut and stored. Now, it is time to collect fruit, nuts, and berries. As I recently found a hazel tree nearby that had begun to shed its wares, I took some for myself and left some for the wildlife to share. This act of sharing and preserving is a small but significant step towards a more sustainable future, and I will savour those gifts at Yule in remembrance of a year well lived.

The Hazel Corylus avellanais and its close relative, the Filbert Corylus maxima, are common sites in the UK, Europe, and Western Asia. Shrubland, hedgerows, and light woodland will support the growth. It is a vital part of the flora and fauna ecosystem, supporting many species through the seasons. Though officially a shrub, as it grows from many shoots from the ground, it will often be referenced as a tree.  

The fast-growing, flexible shoots were used to fashion wattle baskets, containers, and fencing, a multipurpose plant that earns its keep. The nuts, the tree's fruit, can be stored for a few months if kept dry and free from pests, then eaten raw, roasted, or even ground to make a paste, which is delicious when baked into cakes!

Many revere Hazel and Filbert for their gift of wisdom. William Lilly, in Christian Astrology, references Hazel as associated with the planet Jupiter and Filbert as a plant of Mercury. We can see the connection to truth, knowledge, wisdom, and intellectual pursuits. Indeed, in many cultures, Hazel was deemed The Tree of Knowledge. It is said Hermes Himself carried a staff made from the wood.

Celtic lore describes the nine magical hazel trees that stood between the human world and the edge of the world of deities, that dreamlike space where wisdom comes to us through meditation and prayer. These nine shrubs hung fruit-laden branches over the stream that separated the conscious from the unconscious realm.

As the fruit dropped into the waters below, the sacred salmon swimming upstream in the river below were making their laborious journey up to their mating sites. These fish were said to ingest the holy fruit while on their travels. This symbol of striking against the current of the water speaks to the effort it takes to gain wisdom and experience. The salmon would then bear the marks on their skin as a shiny spot, denoting the number of nuts ingested and the amount of wisdom they had imbibed.

Humans often describe the wisdom we receive from life's struggles as being wizened, grey-haired, or wrinkled of skin; we wear our internal life experience on the outside. So, wear your age and wisdom with pride—it is a sacred marker!

Many communities in times gone by would see fish as representing true wealth. Way before currency was invented, sustaining oneself every day was seen as a daily blessing. To consume a blessed salmon meant not only physical and intellectual sustenance but also spiritual wisdom.

Picture Credit

Heather Marie Morse offers a Mabon Tarot Pull to make the most of this unique time of equal day and night.

The Astrology

If you remember the previous article for Lammas, the weather here I predicted would warm but would not stifle or sizzle, and that played out. We were blessed with a couple of days of azure skies and bright sun, one of those being my birthday, which, even now, looking back on the pictures, brings me joy from the memories of the glorious warmth and a day of relaxation with my beloved husband, smelling the roses in the grounds of Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire.

Our chart for Mabon has Sagittarius on the Ascendant. It may surprise you that since beginning this series at Imbolc 2023, this is the first time we have had a fire sign rising in the UK chart!

As I have been tracking these seasonal shifts of the wheel, I have noticed that the weather patterns are indeed connected, certainly here in the UK. It may be worth looking at the rising sign in your corner of the world at the turn of the wheel and noting any correlations to the weather during that season. With Sagittarius rising, I anticipate a few unseasonably hot days (two days, two weeks?) just before the weather faces the cool autumnal temperatures. I will keep you posted!

Areas of Europe could undoubtedly use some dry weather to assist in cleaning up. Unseasonable excessive rain and floods have devastated many parts of Europe, leaving many homes submerged in water. Saturn in the 4th house and Mars in Cancer in the 8th house mutually apply due to Saturn’s retrograde motion. The free-flowing trine energy between the two planets has caused chaos and devastation. Riverbank defences are literally being broken, causing a deluge of water to destroy homes and property.

Having just come off of a partial Pisces Lunar Eclipse, we find Jupiter, lord of Pisces, as also the first house domicile lord. He is far from home in the 7th house, in his detriment in Gemini, sorting through all the myriad pieces of information he has collected over the summer since his ingress in July. The Moon approaches with her monthly collection of titbits to add to the workload before Jupiter has time to assemble all the pieces into a reasonable whole. This Gemini Moon trines the Sun in Libra, which gives flow to the energy of communication and curiosity. The information the Moon collects may not necessarily be accurate, but it will be topical and crafted for the masses' approval!

Mercury, exalted in Virgo in the 10th, hosts the Gemini party but is swiftly on its way to hitting the trine to Uranus in the 6th and then Pluto in the 2nd. Work and finances will surely be big on the agenda and in the mainstream view. With so many significant political events on the horizon, there is no surprise that these are the most intensely contested topics: Uranus is looking to break new ground, and Pluto is desperately trying to hold on to the old.

Venus, as the lady host to the Sun, is in trine to Jupiter, but only long enough to wave goodbye as she prepares for her yearly dive into the depths of the dark Scorpionic waters. It feels symbolic that the host of the sign leaves right after the Sun enters; what is it that Venus does not want to be brought to light? Why is she donning her ninja gear and hiding in the shadows? What deals are being done behind closed doors and with secret handshakes? Who knows! The world is clearly looking at one big event coming very soon, and no doubt some deals are being agreed that the public is not meant to be party to.

As we move into the Autumn season and begin to ease into the darkness, it is worth considering the wisdom of the hazel tree and how our experiences are borne on the spiritual and emotional plane as much as on the intellectual. So be mindful of your personal boundaries as we head toward the time of year when the veil between this world and that of the unseen world is thinnest. Gather your crops and prepare for Samhain. See you then!

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Saffron Dennis is an astrologer, crystal therapist, horticulturalist and tarot reader based in the East Anglia region of the UK. You can book her for a reading or as a speaker at your local or online event at divinebaytree.com