Autumn Equinox

Autumn Equinox

 

It is the time of the Autumn Equinox or Mabon and the harvest is winding down.  The fields are nearly empty, because the crops have been plucked and stored for the coming winter.  Mabon is the mid-harvest festival and it is when we take a few moments to honor the changing seasons and celebrate the second harvest.  On or around September 21, for many Pagan and Wiccan traditions it is a time of giving thanks for the things we have, whether it is abundant crops or other blessings.

For the Nordic, it is time for a Winter Finding ceremony to bid farewell to the passing summer and to prepare for the rigors of winter. The Norse, like the other pre-industrial societies of Europe, depended heavily on a successful harvest in the fall to make it through the winter and so they took this time to thank the Gods for all that had been given during the harvest and to ask their protection during the cold of winter.   

In some Germanic countries, people worried about the fate of their grain harvest.  If there was a great deal of wind during the harvesting season, it could be because Odin wanted a share of the crop. To keep him happy, a few spare sacks of flour were emptied into the wind.

Depending on your individual spiritual path, there are many different ways you can celebrate Mabon, but typically the focus is on either the harvest aspect or the balance between light and dark.  While we celebrate the gifts of the Earth, we also accept that the soil is dying. We have food to eat, but the crops are brown and going dormant.  Warmth is behind us, cold lies ahead.

 

Find Some Balance

Mabon is a time of balance, when there are equal hours of darkness and light and that can affect people in different ways.  For some, it's a season to honor the darker aspects of the Goddess, calling upon that which is devoid of light.  For others, it's a time of thankfulness, of gratitude for the abundance we have at the season of harvest.  Try a ritual to bring balance and harmony to your home.

Veterans

Veterans Day is an official United States holiday which honors people who have served in armed service also known as veterans.   A holiday celebrated by Nordic groups around the world is Einjerhar or the feast of the fallen. This is held on November 11, Armistice or Veterans Day, and honors those who have fallen in battle and joined Odin's warriors in Valhalla.  Generally some hold a quiet ritual and honor the ancestors and relatives who have died in war or served.  They also honor those who have given their lives for our country.

 

Honor the Darkness

Without darkness, there is no light.  Without night, there can be no day.  Despite a basic human need to overlook the dark, there are many positive aspects to embracing the dark side, if it's just for a short time.  After all, it was Demeter's love for her daughter Persephone that led her to wander the world, mourning for six months at a time, bringing us the death of the soil each fall.  In some paths, Mabon is the time of year that celebrates the Crone aspect of a the Goddess.  Celebrate a ritual that honors that aspect of the Goddess which we may not always find comforting or appealing, but which we must always be willing to acknowledge.  Call upon the Gods and Goddesses of the dark night and ask for their blessings this time of year.

Get Back to Nature

Fall is here, and that means the weather is bearable once more. The nights are becoming crisp and cool and there's a chill in the air. Take your family on a nature walk and enjoy the changing sights and sounds of the outdoors.  Listen for geese honking in the sky above you, check the trees for changing colors of the leaves and watch the ground for dropped items like acorns, nuts and seed pods.  If you live in an area that doesn't have any restrictions on removing natural items from park property, take a small bag with you and fill it up with the things you discover along the way.  Collect with respect and honor.  Bring your goodies home for your family's altar.  If you are prohibited from removing natural items, fill your bag with trash and clean up the outdoors!  Recycle what you find.

 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. 

Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States.   Mabon is the Pagan's Thanksgiving, a time to appreciate and give thanks to the Goddess for her bounty and to share in the joys of the harvest.  A magical Mabon beverage: hot apple cider.  Apples rules the heart, cider alone is a self-love potion.  By spicing it with cinnamon, ruled by the Sun, we are in essence, ingesting the sunlight.

 

Mabon Balance Prayer

Equal hours of light and darkness
we celebrate the balance of Mabon,
and ask the Gods to bless us.
For all that is bad, there is good.
For that which is despair, there is hope.
For the moments of pain, there are moments of love.
For all that falls, there is the chance to rise again.
May we find balance in our lives
as we find it in our hearts.

 
 

Temperance and harmony protects the rhythm of daily life.

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssB7xFurTgw&list=PLAA4961880F8EE3EB

Autumn Equinox

Winter Finding

Getting Back to Nature

God's Eyes

Thanksgiving

Einherjar

Dark Goddess

 

Mani

Mani

mAni

Appeal: Tides, Night, Emotions, Dreams, Mystery

In mythology, a lunar deity is a God or Goddess associated with or symbolizing the Moon.  These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related to or an enemy of the solar deity.  Even though they may be related, they are distinct from the solar deity.  Lunar deities can be either male or female, and are usually held to be of the opposite sex of the corresponding solar deity.  Male lunar deities are somewhat more common worldwide, although female deities are better known in modern times due to the influence of classical Greek and Roman mythology, which held the Moon to be female.

The Moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth.  Its prominence in the sky and its regular cycle of phases have, since ancient times, made the Moon an important cultural influence on language, calendars, art and mythology.  The Moon's gravitational influence produces the ocean tides and the minute lengthening of the day.  In Norse mythology, Mani (Manni, d) was the man who drove the chariot that carried the Moon across the sky.  He is the brother of Sunna the Sun and the son of Mundilfari.

Mundilfari named his children Mani and Sunna because he thought they out shown all other things in creation except those two celestial bodies.  A girl who was blonde of hair with golden curls that looked like rays of sunshine.  A boy with raven black hair and silvery eyes who seemed to prefer the night, the girl was always pleasant and kind as was her brother and they played contently as children.  The Gods were not pleased with his boasting and they took his children and placed them in giant carts to guild the sun and the moon on their courses.  Mani flies through the night sky in his horse-driven chariot, chased by a wolf Hati.  Whenever the wolf gets too close, a lunar eclipse takes place.

Mani lights the way for the hunters at night illuminating the forest with his silvery eyes.  He doesn’t travel on his nightly journeys alone.  He has two companions, a girl named Bil and a boy named Hjuki. These children are brother and sister and once had a very cruel father.  Mani observed them being mistreated and moved by compassion, came to steal them away.  They now accompany and assist him on his nightly journey. 

The tale of Hjuki and Bil is said to be the origin of the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill. 

At Ragnarok, the wolf will capture the Moon and devour him plunging the night into unbroken darkness.

 

The Man in the Moon refers to any of several images of a human face, head or body that certain traditions recognize in the disc of the full Moon.  Scholarly theories have been proposed about Mani's potential connection to the Northern European notion of the Man in the Moon and a potentially otherwise unattested story regarding Mani.
 

Monday is the day of the week between Sunday and Tuesday.  The name of Monday is derived from Old English Mōnandæg and Middle English Monenday, which means "moon day".

 

There really is no Ancient Rune for Manni or the Moon.  Many use d as a sign for Moon, freedom or passion.  There are also different phases to the moon - G Waxing Moon, m New Moon, M Full Moon or T Waning Moon.

There is also a blue moon - Most years have twelve full Moons that occur approximately monthly.  Every two or three years, there is an extra full Moon.

A black moon - A black moon occurs when there are two dark cycles of the moon in any given calendar month.

And each month's full Moon has a name, depending on the culture. 

 

Hail Mani, God of the Moon,

I thank you for your luminous light,

In our darkest hours.

I acknowledge your power,

Over our earth and seas

I praise you for your promise of,

Magic and mystery.

I honor your breath taking beauty

On your nightly journey.

Hail Mani, God of the Moon.

 

Esbats

Mani

Mani's Day

Moon (Rune)

Sunna and Mani

Supermoons

Hela

Hela

Appeal: Death, Morgue, Fate, Cemetery, Funeral, Hospital

Death comes to everyone, the one promise in life is death.  In Norse mythology, Hel (Hella, Holda, Hela, h) is a Dark Goddess who presides over a portion of the dead in Helheim, the Kingdom of the Dead.  Hela's hall is located in Elvidnir and is connected to another Norse World, Niflheim.  It was icy cold and filled with slush, cold mud and snow.  But like its ruler, Helheim had many levels or sides, and is described differently throughout records. 

Hela is referred to as a daughter of God Loki and is usually honored at Samhain and Yule and on the dark and waning moon.  Her appearance is described as half black skeleton and half white flesh, half dead and half alive.  She has great maternal aspects and she is known to help people in their times of need.  Hela also had another side to her and she is quite capable of becoming vengeful towards anyone who might attempt to interfere with, or stop, the progression of natural law.

The Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, features various poems that mention Hela.  It details that Hela rules over vast mansions, her servants in her underworld realm and as playing a key role in the attempted resurrection of the God Baldr.    

When Loki tricked Hoder into using the shaft of mistletoe as an arrow hitting Baldur, it killed him at once.  Frigg desperately wanted to have her beloved son returned to her from the land of the dead, so she asked if there was anyone among the Aesir who would go to Hela for her, find Baldur, and then give Hela a ransom; so that Baldur would be allowed to return home.  It failed and Baldur was remanded to Helheim until Ragnarok.  When someone dies and enters Hela’s realm, it was almost impossible for anyone on Earth to get them back.  Even the Gods could not evade death.

When human warriors died in battle, their souls were split evenly between the Goddess Freya and God Odin.  Freya had the privilege of taking the first half of the souls of those warriors who had been slain in battle, while the remaining souls of the dead warriors belonged to Odin.  But souls of people who had died from sickness or old age, and for the souls of any other people whose deaths had not occurred through battle (like Baldur's) were sent to the Goddess Hela.

Her realm is below the World Tree and is separated from the world of the living by a rapid river that the dead have to pass.  The Prose Eddas say that the entryway to Hela's realm was guarded by the hellhound named Garm.  Once through the gates, she judged them and decided whether their spirit was good or bad and to what degree.  Then, after Hela had made had her assessment, she gave each soul it's just reward.  Depending upon how they had been judged, the souls of the dead were settled into one of the nine levels of Helheim, which ranged from what might be seen as a form of paradise, all the way down to the dark horrors of Nastrand and Nidhogg.  Nastrand was the house or level for criminals.  Nidhogg was a dragon that devoured the corpses of evil-doers, meaning no Ragnarok or visiting love ones.

Hela and her army of the dead do play a role at the start Ragnarok.  She is not mentioned once the battle commences and it is unknown whether she plays a role after Ragnarok.

She is often a misunderstood Goddess as many Goddesses of the Underworld are. Hela was not some form of death deity, who had specifically been created to rule over the Land of the Dead, nor did she gain her decaying appearance when she became the ruler of that realm.  She had simply been born with the bones on the left side of her body exposed.  It had not been created purposely, nor had it been done out of contempt, or as a means of punishment.  It simply happened.  When Odin brought Hela to Asgard, its inhabitants found themselves extremely uncomfortable because of her appearance.  They were weak when they should have been strong, and they were extremely insensitive to Hela’s feelings; so much so, that they made her feel alone and ostracized.

It was for that reason that Odin gave her Helheim, to be her own and for her to rule over.  By Odin giving her Helheim, Hela finally found a place where she could feel comfortable, just being herself; a place where no one would see her as anything other then what she truly was.  As thanks, she gives Odin a gift of two ravens, Hugin and Munin.

Hela is a Goddess who was given a home and a duty to do, and she did her job exceptionally well.  She took her responsibility, that of judging people’s souls, quite seriously and then, after she had judged them, she granted them the type of existence within her realm that she felt they deserved; which might have been anything from a heaven-like Otherworld, all the way down to the horrors of a Christian type of Hell.  Hela is a Goddess who should be respected and admired, rather than feared.  Unless, of course, you have done something unworthy, which might give you reason to fear her.  But that’s not really Hela's problem, is it?  It is yours.

Hel is a fictional character, the Asgardian Goddess of death in the Marvel Comics universe, based on the Norse Goddess, Hela. The ruler of Hel and Nifleheim, the character has been a frequent foe of Thor.  Hel is also one of the incarnated Goddesses in the New Zealand TV comedy/drama "The Almighty Johnsons".  The part of Eva Gundersen / Hel is played by Brooke Williams.

Haglaz or Hagalaz is the name of the h-rune ᚺ, meaning hail, precipitation, transformation.  The Elder Futhark letter has two variants, single-barred ᚺ and double-barred ᚻ. The double-barred variant is found in continental inscriptions while Scandinavian inscriptions have exclusively the single-barred variant.  The Hagalaz rune, above all others, represents the concept of balance; yin/yang, male/female, positive/negative, black/white.  Challenges are occurring in your life, but these are to be embraced rather than feared. A hailstorm, for example, may seem daunting and scary at first, but if you catch a hailstone you will realize that it is only water and is not to be feared.

Hela, great Goddess, daughter of Loki,
She who guards the spirits of the dead,
Our friend [Name] has come to you now.
As [Name] kneels before you, Hela,
Know how much she was loved in this life,
And how many she loved in return
Before she crossed over.
She was an honorable soul,
A soaring spirit,
A brave warrior.
Watch over her, Hela, as she crosses the bridge,
From this life to the next.
And welcome her with glory,
That she may live on forever in our hearts
And memories.

Dark Goddess

Hela

Hela's Day

Who Are Your Divine Friends?

Crone Goddess

Crone Goddess

In common Neopagan usage the three female figures are frequently described as the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone, each of which symbolizes both a separate stage in the female life cycle and a phase of the moon.  Many Pagans add in a fourth Dark Goddess, while others mix the Crone and Dark Goddess together. 

The Crone represents wisdom, repose, death and endings represented by the waning moon T.  For male wiccans, the crone would be the sage.  In early cultures, she is often depicted as a grandmother, a wise woman or a midwife. Her own child baring days are past - she is now the wisdom keeper, seer and healer; whose knowledge is sought out to guide others during life's hardships and transitions.  She mediated disputes, she had influence over tribal leaders and she cared for the dying as they took their final breaths.

In today's society, where we worship youth and beauty, this aspect of the Goddess is the most frightening and misunderstood.  In the Middle Ages, the Crone Goddess became the Wicked Witch and Hag of our fairytales.  Her knowledge and wisdom was persecuted by the Church's fear.  The very word implied a wrinkled, hunchbacked old woman, unwanted and unloved.  Women who had reached an advanced age were dismissed as useless hags and there was nothing to celebrate about it at all.

Fortunately, times are changing, and more and more women are welcoming this aspect of their life.  Older women are living longer and they have busy, active social schedules.  More women in their fifties, sixties, and even seventies are far more willing to embrace their sexuality and womanhood.  These women are reclaiming the name of Crone in a positive way and see it as a time to joyfully welcome one's position as an elder within the community.

Her color is black and she is associated with the waning or new moon, autumn and winter. She is the dark moon, the wintertime, old age and knower of mysteries.  The Crone time brings the harvest of experience, when we reap the accumulated benefits of all that we have learned. 

Elli is the Norse Goddess of old age, who overcame the mighty Thor in a wrestling match. This pissed him off quite a lot.  But no one can stand against the mighty power of age, not even the Gods.

 

Invocation of the Crone

Behold the Crone...
Dancer of Time
Completion of the Sacred Cycle

She Who is Wisdom
Beloved, respected and feared
Honored as Grandmother, Ancestress and Hag

In the end, there is beginning,
Death brings Birth, Life renews through Her

Behold the Crone, Dancer of Time
Mother of worlds, Maiden of re-birth,
Child of the next generation

Dancing through Time
She Who cuts the cords…Of life and death,
Grandmother of all

The Crone comes……..
Silently, powerfully, relentlessly
Crossing space and time,
Holding the threads of life and death,
Mistress of endings and beginnings

Speaking through elders
I am the Crone….
The Grandmothers….The Wisdom of Age….

I am Hecate, I am Kali, I am the Eternal One

I cross space and time,
Holding the threads of life and death,
Mistress of endings and beginnings

I am completion of the Cycle
Maiden….. Mother….. Crone.....
I have come as the Goddess,
And in me... all life renews
All things are possible

The Crone comes dancing
Silently, powerfully, relentlessly,
To all

Crone Goddess

Dark Goddess

Divine Friends