Traditional Date: St Michael and All Angels (Michaelmas), September 29th.
Astrological Date: Autumnal Equinox, Sun 0° Libra
See also: Calendar of Festivals
These meditations on the Solar Festivals are intended to be performed on or near the appropriate date. Please see the Calendar for more details.
The time around the Autumnal Equinox or, in the Christian calendar, the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels known as Michaelmas, has traditionally been a time for the celebration of a successful harvest for as long as men have tilled the land.
You will recall that the preceding Solar festival, that of Lughnasadh or Lammas, is also a harvest festival. Let us remind ourselves of some of the things that were said about that occasion.
Lammastide represents the full ripening of the crop so that it is ready for harvest, the cutting of the first ears and the baking of the first bread. Lughnasadh is the festival of the corn god Lugh. Lugh, who represents the growing crop, must die each year in order for the seed to ripen and so yield the harvest. This tradition of the death of the corn god is perpetuated in a well-known folk song, John Barleycorn.
There were three men came out of the West
Their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die.
As the song progresses, John Barleycorn is cut off at the knee with scythes, then thrashed about the head with sticks, and his remains are ploughed into the ground. In the penultimate verse, we are left in no doubt: These three men made a solemn vow, John Barleycorn was dead.
As Lammas represents the start of the harvest, so Michaelmas signifies its end. Many churches will hold their harvest festivals at about this time. So, on one level, the meaning of Michaelmas is that "all is safely gathered in". But there is a deeper, and rather darker, significance that we must look at here.
The important point is that now, John Barleycorn is unquestionably dead. The process of his slaying has been completed. It is time to dispose of the corpse.
A longstanding tradition of the Mabon festival is the burning of a wicker image of a man. This might look like an echo of human sacrifice, but it this is not, in fact, the case. Mabon is not a time of sacrifice, it is the ritual cremation of the body of the corn god.
Like many of the festivals, as well as being a time of ending Mabon is a time of new beginnings, of fresh starts. In many cultures the Autumnal Equinox marks the start of the year. Our own society still reflects this: at one time, the school and university years traditionally started at Michaelmas, and the terms observed by the British law courts still do. Considering the year to start at this time of twilight and slowing down is very much like the old practise of considering each day to start at sunset on the previous evening; a practise that was customary in ancient times and which continues to this day in the Jewish and Moslem calendars.
The name of Mabon comes from a character in Celtic mythology. Mabon was a great hunter who, as a child, was abducted from his mother, Modron, and imprisoned in the Otherworld. He remained there until the Spring, when he was rescued by Merlin and restored to light. The form of this story is familiar enough; it is rather like that of Orpheus and Eurydice in Roman myth, which itself reflects the earlier Greek story of Demeter and Persephone. However, there are important differences.
The Persephone, or Eurydice, character is taken by the King of the Underworld and held there as his Queen. Mabon, on the other hand, is taken by demons and subjected to torments during his stay. His restoration to a glorious life is reminiscent of Christ's harrowing of Hell. Christ's principal lieutenant at this time is the Archangel Michael. The very word "harrowing" describes exactly what is happening in the agricultural world around the time of Michaelmas. This is not a coincidence.
Michael is depicted slaying the serpent. This is usually interpreted as the Devil, but of course the Devil never dies. The serpent is a representative of the demons that are being slain. Mabon's demons are his own demons: in human terms his own negative thoughts and negative personality traits. Human demons. Our demons. We all have them; that which we would like to get rid of from our own consciousness or our own character.
The ancients knew that to burn was to purify; and in burning a wicker image of themselves they sought to purify and cleanse their own psyches. There is a long, dark winter ahead and we can easily fall prey to demons, largely of our own making, if we are not properly cleansed and prepared for it in advance.
Today, therefore, we shall be performing a visualisation exercise that is intended to drive out our personal demons. It can sometimes be a slightly painful exercise because, after all, these are "our" demons and we are always reluctant to give up anything that is "ours". But you really need to be rid of these demons, they are bad for you. Think of the process of casting them out as something like lancing a boil, to get rid of all the nasty, putrid matter inside, so that cleansing and healing can take their proper, natural course. In this way we mark our own new beginning, the preparation of our minds, bodies and spirits for the winter that is to come, the winter heralding another new year.
Mabon: Prepare yourself for meditation in the usual way. Sit comfortably and relaxed. Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths to cleanse your body and mind of everyday cares and concerns.
Picture yourself, sitting quietly in a large, empty room. The walls and floor are quite plain, there is nothing else here, only you.
Now turn your consciousness inwards. Look inside yourself, into your very heart, your soul. Do you see something there you don't like, something that does not belong? Pluck it out. Take hold of the thought, the idea, the negative aspect of your character, or whatever it is, grasp it with the hands of your psychic body and draw it out: a nasty, black, sticky, stringy mess. Form it into a ball in your hands; a black, sticky, rubbery sort of ball.
Now reach inside again and take another negative thought or emotion. Draw it out. Add it to the black, sticky ball in your hands. Keep doing this, again and again, until there is no negativity left in you, nothing disharmonious or harmful at all in your psyche.
After continuing in this way for some time, you find you are not alone in the room. You look up, and you see before you an Archangel. It is Michael, clothed in red and carrying a huge, fiery sword. Take the black ball of negativity you have in your hands and throw it at him with all your might. Michael swings his sword, and the ball of negativity vanishes in a great burst of flame.
Now all is quiet. Sit here peacefully for a moment, resting, recovering your natural, harmonious energies. And then, when you are ready, return to objective reality, in the place and the time where you tarted your meditation. Put your consciousness in the centre of your head, just behind your eyes; and when you are ready, open your eyes.
Take a few hours, or a few days, to absorb the significance of this meditation. If you wish, you may repeat the meditation several times during the period around the Festival concerned.