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greenwitchcrafts · 3 months ago

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September 2024 Witch Guide

New Moon: September 2nd

First Quarter: September 11th

Full moon: September 17th

Last Quarter: September 24th

Sabbats: Mabon- September 22nd

September Harvest Moon

Also known as: Autumn Moon, Child Moon, Corn Harvest Moon, Falling Leaves Moon, Haligmonath, Leaves Turning Moon, Mating Moon, Moon of Brown Leaves, Moon When Dear Paw the Earth, Rutting Moon, Singing Moon, Wine Moon, Witumanoth & Yellow Leaf Moon

Element: Earth

Zodiac: Virgo & Libra

Nature spirts: Trooping Faeries

Deities: Brigid, Ceres, Chang-e, Demeter, Freya, Isis, Depths & Vesta

Animals: Jackal & snake

Birds: Ibis & sparrow

Trees: Bay, hawthorn, hazel & larch

Herbs: Copal, fennel, rye, skullcap, valerian, wheat & witch hazel

Flowers: Lily & narcissus

Scents: Bergamot, gardenia, mastic & storax

Stones: Bloodstone,carnelian, cat's eye, chrysolite, citrine, iolite, lapis lazuli, olivine, peridot, sapphire, spinel(blue), tourmaline(blue) & zircon

Colors: Browns, dark blue, Earth tones, green & yellow

Issues, intentions & powers: Confidence, the home, manifestation & protection

Energy: Balance of light & dark, cleaning & straightening of all kinds, dietary matters, employment, health, intellectual pursuits, prosperity, psychism, rest, spirituality, success & work environment

The full Moon that happens nearest to the fall equinox (September 22nd or 23rd) always takes on the name “Harvest Moon.” Unlike other full Moons, this full Moon rises at nearly the same time—around sunset—for several evenings in a row, giving farmers several extra evenings of moonlight & allowing them to finish their harvests before the frosts of fall arrive.

• While September’s full Moon is usually known as the Harvest Moon, if October’s full Moon happens to occur closer to the equinox than September’s, it takes on the name “Harvest Moon” instead. In this case, September’s full Moon would be referred to as the Corn Moon.

This time of year—late summer into early fall—corresponds with the time of harvesting corn in much of the northern United States. For this reason, a number of Native American peoples traditionally used some variation of the name “Corn Moon” to refer to the Moon of either August or September.

Mabon

Known as: Autumn Equinox, Cornucopia, Witch's Thanksgiving & Alban Elved

Season: Autumn

Element: Air

Symbols: Acorns, apples, autumn leaves, balance, berries, corn, cornucopia( Horn of Plenty), dried seeds, equality, gourds, grains, grapes, ivy, pine cones, pomegranates, vines, wheat, white roses & wine

Colors: Blue, brown, dark red, deep gold, gold, indigo, leaf green, maroon, orange, red, russet. Violet & yellow

Oils/Incense: Apple, apple blossom, benzoin, black pepper, hay/straw, myrrh, passion flower, patchouli, pine, red poppy & sage

Animals: Dog & Wolf

Birds: Goose, hawk, swallow & swan

Stones: Agate, amethyst, carnelian, lapis lazuli, sapphire, yellow Agate & yellow topaz

Food: Apples, blackberries, blackberry wine, breads, carrots, cider, corn, cornbread, grapes, heather wine, nuts, onions, pomegranates, potatoes, squash, vegetables, wheat & wine

Herbs/Plants: Benzoin, bramble, corn, ferns, grains, hops, ivy, milkweed, myrrh, sage sassafras, Salomon's seal, thistle, tobacco & wheat

Flowers: Aster, heather, honeysuckle, marigold, mums, passion flower, rose

Trees: Aspen, cedar, cypress, hazel, locust, maple, myrtle oak & pine

Goddesses: Danu, Epona, Inanna, Ishtar, Modron, Morgan, The Morrigan, Muses, Pomona, Persephone, Sin, Sophia & Sura

Gods: Bacchus, Dionysus, Dumuzi, Esus, The Green Man, Hermes, Mannanan, Thor & Thoth

Issues, Intentions & Powers: Accomplishment, agriculture, balance, goals, gratitude & grounding

Spellwork: Balance, harmony, protection, prosperity, security & self-confidence

Activities:

•Scatter offerings in a harvested fields & Offer libations to trees

• Decorate your home and/or altar space for fall

• Bake bread

• Perform a ritual to restore balance and harmony to your life

• Cleanse your home of negative energies

• Pick apples

• Collect fall themed things from nature like acorns, changing leaves, pine cones, ect)

• Have a dinner or feast with your family and/or friends

• Set intentions for the upcoming year

• Purge what is no longer serving you & commit to healthy changes

•Take a walk in the woods

• Enjoy a pumpkin spice latte

• Donate to your local food bank

• Gather dried herbs, plants, seeds & pods

• Learn something new

• Make wine

• Fill a cornucopia

• Brew an apple cinnamon simmer pot

• Create an outdoor Mabon altar

•Adorn burial sites with leaves, acorns, & pinecones to honor those who have passed over & visit their graves

The name Mabon comes from the Welsh/Brythonic God Mabon Ap Modron, who's name means "Divine/great Son", However,there is evidence that the name was adopted in the 1970s for the Autumn Equinox & has nothing to do with this celebration or this time of year.

• Though many cultures see the second harvest (after the first harvest Lughnasadh) & Equinox as a time for giving thanks before the name Mabon was given because this time of year is traditionally when farmers know how well their summer crops did & how well fed their animals have become. This determines whether you & your family would have enough food for the winter.That is why people used to give thanks around this time, thanks for their crops, animals & food

Some believe it celebrates the autumn equinox when Nature is preparing for the winter months. Night & day are of equal legth & the God's energy & strength are nearly gone. The Goddess begins to mourn the loss she knows is coming, but knows he will return when he is reborn at Yule.

Related festivals:

• Sukkot- Is a Torah-commanded holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelites were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. Originally a harvest festival celebrating the autumn harvest, Sukkot’s modern observance is characterized by festive meals in a sukkah, a temporary wood-covered hut, celebrating the Exodus from Egypt.

• Mid-Autumn festival- September 17th

Is also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival. It is a traditional festival celebrated in Chinese culture, similar holidays are celebrated by other cultures in East & Southeast Asia. It is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture; its popularity is on par with that of Chinese New Year. The history of the Mid-Autumn Festival dates back over 3,000 years. On this day, it is believed that the Moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of Autumn.

During the festival, lanterns of all size and shapes – which symbolize beacons that light people's path to prosperity & good fortune – are carried & displayed. Mooncakes, a rich pastry typically filled with sweet-bean, egg yolk, meat or lotus-seed paste, are traditionally eaten during this festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is based on the legend of Chang'e, the Moon goddess in Chinese mythology.

• Thanksgiving- This is a secular holiday which is similar to the cell of Mabon; A day to give thanks for the food & blessings of the previous year. The American Thanksgiving is the last Thursday of November while the Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated in October

• The Oschophoria- Were a set of ancient Greek festival rites held in Athens during the month Pyanepsion (autumn) in honor of Dionysus. The festival may have had both agricultural and initiatory functions.

-Amidst much singing of special songs, two young men dressed in women's clothes would bear branches with grape-clusters attached from Dionysus to the sanctuary of Athena Skiras & a footrace followed in which select ephebes competed.

Ancient sources connect the festival and its rituals to the Athenian hero-king Theseus & specifically to his return from his Cretan adventure. According to that myth, the Cretan princess Ariadne, whom Theseus had abandoned on the island of Naxos while voyaging home, was rescued by an admiring Dionysus; thus the Oschophoria may have honored Ariadne as well. A section of the ancient calendar frieze incorporated into the Byzantine Panagia Gorgoepikoos church in Athens, corresponding to the month Pyanopsion (alternate spelling), has been identified as an illustration of this festival's procession.

Sources:

Farmersalmanac .com

Llewellyn's Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kines

Wikipedia

A Witch's Book of Correspondences by Viktorija Briggs

Encyclopedia britannica

Llewellyn 2024 magical almanac Practical magic for everyday living

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ckret2 · 4 months ago

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Chapter 63 of human Bill Cipher trying to debate his way out of still being the Mystery Shack's prisoner. Soos has found the stolen Journal 4 in Bill's possession and has to decide what to do about it in light of everything else he's learned about Bill lately.

[*you may notice chapter 61 is missing! This plot was done sooner, so I'll be posting chapter 61 sometime after 64. It's not chronological so you're not missing anything!]

Soos stared dumbfounded at the journal with a 4 on the cover that he'd pulled from Bill's hiding place. Ford had lost Journal 4 last fall—he'd said gnomes had stolen it. How in the world had Bill gotten it?

Soos sat in the attic window seat and flipped through it. The first few pages were Ford's journal entries—his observations of the dimensional rips they were glueing shut in Gravity Falls post-Weirdmageddon, a hand-drawn map highlighting various places around the globe he wanted to investigate, a few drawings and observations of paranormal beings he hadn't seen his first time in town, half a sketch of a gnome that ended with a jagged scribble across the page followed by a page that said "Shmebulock" over and over.

And then a page that said, in an unfamiliar handwriting of jagged, narrow gray letters: "CURSED BOOK! If your name is Mabon Mason Pines, STOP READING NOW or ENJOY YOUR HEX!"

Bill had written page after page of some weird code of gray and yellow-green dots and dashes. A few sentences in English—every one of them was a threatening message to Ford. "Everything would have been fantastic if you'd just helped me finish, Fordsy." "You'll regret not siding with me when you had the chance." "You should have known better than to let your idiot brother turn you against me." "Sixer, you're lying to yourself every time you say you never worshiped me, and you know it. You spent the first third of your life running away from the god you were raised with and the second third chasing after me. Don't waste your last third denying it. YOU'RE MINE." A small, worrying diagram of what looked like the interdimensional portal. And a sticker.

Wait, hold on.

A sticker. One of Mabel's. The rest of the page was the same as the others, the two-tone dots and dashes, except for the sticker, and an arrow drawn from one paragraph to the sticker.

A yellow smiley, its round edges filled in with black marker to make a triangle, over the words "Good job!"

Soos stared at the sticker.

####

A couple of weeks ago, Melody had texted to let Soos know that there was a mess in the upstairs bathroom, and the kids said they'd been fighting a werewolf ghost.

When Soos had gotten home the next morning, Melody had pulled him aside and quietly told him she hadn't wanted to worry him and the Stans, but she did not think it was a werewolf ghost.

When Soos saw the bathroom, he didn't think it was a werewolf ghost either.

It was a scene from a horror movie. Menacing magical sigils painted all over the walls in blood and toothpaste, Bill's zodiac painted on one mirror, the other mirror broken, glass and water all over the floor. It looked like the site of a really wet demon summoning. This contained none of the hallmarks of ghostly or werewolfish activity. Why would Bill do this?

Soos was kind of reluctant to ask Bill. Bill still sorta scared him sometimes. Sure, he looked like a lost 18-year-old, but Soos knew what teens were like in a fight. So he asked Mabel instead.

Mabel pursed her lips uncomfortably. "Ask Dipper."

So Soos asked Dipper.

Dipper winced and. "Promise you won't get mad."

Soos considered that. "Yeah, I guess that's a fair deal."

Dipper confessed that Bill got accidentally locked in the upstairs bathroom for like a whole day, because he and Mabel didn't hear him yelling. Not because they were out of the house when they shouldn't have been. They were just... somewhere else in the house. Doing something loud. For the whole day.

While Bill was trapped alone.

####

Soos had vented to Abuelita about cleaning the bathroom. Like sure, he got Bill was annoyed about being stuck, but that seemed excessive.

Abuelita had made the observation that sometimes people in profoundly bleak and oppressive situations would just... destroy whatever was around them. Like punching a hole in the wall or snapping a pencil when you were angry, but much more so. Not because they wanted their surroundings to be destroyed, but because that was the last and only thing they had power over, and they needed to feel like they were in control of something. Even if that thing was merely changing their environment from ordered to chaotic.

Bill didn't have control over very much. He probably hadn't since he died. Soos didn't know what kind of space triangle afterlife Bill had been in before he showed up as Toga Lady, but it couldn't have been great if he'd come straight back here.

Soos could remember the one time weeks ago he'd let Bill into the bathroom to shower and forgotten to come back and let him out. How Bill had screamed so all the Mystery Shack's tourists could hear; how he'd seethed in Soos's face, how he'd said he'd rather blow their collective cover and throw them all on the mercy of the town's law enforcement than remain locked in the bathroom a second longer than they'd agreed upon. Soos had thought Bill was just impatient and hotheaded.

Standing in the bathroom, looking at the material evidence of Bill's claustrophobic terror—the broken glass, the spilled blood—he wondered.

####

The same day, he had felt a breeze in the gift shop and found the trap doors to the roof left open. He'd climbed up, shut them, and in between tours he'd visited his office to check yesterday's security tapes.

He saw Wendy coming into the shack to hang out the morning before. That was fine. Soos had discovered she did that from time to time on days the shack was closed, but she wasn't doing anything bad and she hadn't brought it up yet, so Soos didn't bring it up either. Maybe she just needed a private place to hang. Teen stuff. He was just glad Wendy felt that safe at the Mystery Shack. Maybe she'd just gone up to hang out on the roof and forgot to shut the trap doors...

And then, right there on screen, Soos saw Bill letting himself into the gift shop, through the door, which he shouldn't be able to open. A chill shot up Soos's back. The door curse was their only real means of containing Bill. If he could use doors now, he was out, there was no way they could trap him without doing something crazy like locking him in the bunker and hoping he didn't kill himself.

Or could he use doors? Soos thought back to the frantic messages on the bathroom wall, written in Bill's own blood—his desperation over being unable to escape. Maybe he could use doors but not doorknobs. That was okay, maybe?

On tape, he saw Wendy run into Bill. He saw Wendy take Bill onto the roof. Out in the open air, where he could just... do whatever. But he didn't do whatever. Soos fast-forwarded the tape until Wendy and Bill came back down, and Bill simply returned to the living room.

He'd had the perfect opportunity to shove Wendy off the roof or escape. He didn't take it.

If all Bill was using his new door skills for was ducking into the gift shop and hanging out on the roof with Wendy, Soos thought maybe it would be kinda mean to take that away from him. There weren't a lot of other places Bill could go in the shack. (Soos kept seeing the blood on the bathroom wall. He kept trying to imagine what kind of helplessness would drive someone that far.) Maybe Bill needed the open air.

So Soos had put the security tape on his desk, not sure what to do about it.

####

A couple of day after that, while Soos was restocking the gift shop in between waves of tourists, he'd seen Wendy reading an oddly dull-looking booklet instead of one of her usual magazines. He tilted his head to glance at the cover. The Oregon state driving manual. "Aw dude, gonna get your learner's permit?"

"Think so," Wendy said. "Don't tell my dad."

Soos remembered Wendy groaning about her dad wrangling her into doing errands if she ever got her license. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks."

"What made you change your mind? You were totally against getting a license a week ago."

"It's probably those stupid Gleeful Auto commercials that have been worming into my dreams." Wendy laughed. "I'm just waking up in the morning like, neeeed caaar."

"Oh yeah! Heh, funny coincidence, Melody says she had a dream like that too. Sometimes she gets these like, dreams about monsters watching her in bed? But one time, the monster was Bud Gleeful, whispering in her ear about a big car sale. She totally woke up laughing!"

"Ha! Annoying car commercials should be banned, man. Why do we need to be told multiple times a day to spend thousands of dollars?"

"You make a salient point."

They fell silent for a moment as Wendy read a couple more paragraphs. Then she said, "That, plus... I was talking to Goldie the other day."

Soos looked up from the t-shirt he'd been putting on a clothes hanger. "Oh. Yeah?"

"About where we wanna go when we get out of town."

"Huh." Very casually, Soos asked, "What did Goldie say?"

"He wants to go on some big vacation. Like a world cruise or something, I dunno."

"Huh." Soos wondered if that was true. He tried to imagine Bill Cipher as a tourist. Floating triangle in a Hawaiian shirt with a camera hanging from a strap and a fanny pack. What kind of places would he even visit? Soos bet he wanted to visit the pyramids. Heh. (Was that stereotyping? Maybe that was stereotyping.)

"And I told him I'm moving to Portland for college."

"Oh, hey, I didn't know you were thinking about college."

"I... actually, never told anybody else before," Wendy said. "I've been thinking about it for years, but part of me felt like it's just a fantasy? But Goldie said when he got out of high school, he did the same thing—moved to another town, made a new group of friends, all that. And... I don't know, actually talking to him out loud about it just... made it feel real, you know? So I thought, if I'm gonna move to Portland, I should probably start planning for it. Starting with how I'm getting there." She held up the driving manual.

Soos nodded slowly. "Huh. Yeah. That's a pretty mature way to look at it."

And that was what Bill was talking to Wendy about on the roof? Just... listening to a teen vent and helping her figure out her future?

And so, Soos took the security tape off his desk and put it in a drawer.

####

A few days later, Soos had heard the downstairs bathroom sink running for several minutes, assumed someone had forgotten to turn it off, and went to turn it off himself—and had caught Bill, in the dark, half undressed, washing himself in the sink.

After Soos had backed out and profusely apologized, he'd asked, "But—how come you're washing in the sink? I can let you in the upstairs bathroom if you need—"

"Worry about your own grooming habits and leave mine alone," Bill snapped. "As long as I don't smell, what do you humans care how I do it. Soap is soap and water is water."

It took Soos several days to realize he didn't think Bill had had a shower since he got locked in the bathroom. And nobody had noticed, because Bill made sure nobody noticed, because he'd been keeping himself clean in the bathroom he couldn't get locked in.

####

Dipper would go all summer without showering if he could get away with it; Stan showered like once a week and had constant old man smell; Abuelita also showered weekly and had a more refined old lady smell; Soos didn't know when Ford showered, but he'd never caught him doing it and Ford always smelled weirdly like burned hair. Soos showered almost daily during tourist season—that Mr. Mystery suit was hot—but outside that might go three days at a time. Mabel showered near daily.

From what Soos had observed, Bill was showering like, at least twice a week. He didn't know how often Bill cleaned himself in the sink in between.

That meant he was showering more often than two-thirds of the house.

Yet he was the only one in the house living under the threat of being thrown in the tub at 3 a.m. if someone decided he hadn't bathed enough for their tastes.

The reason Bill had refused to shower during his first week of imprisonment was so he could use the condition of his body as a bargaining chip—with no physical possessions in the world, his own body was the only bargaining chip he had—to try to buy a little more dignity. In return, his captors had taken more dignity away. They permitted Bill less autonomy over how to take care of his body than the household's children had.

Dipper had never gotten forced into a bathroom he couldn't let himself out of.

####

The day after the eclipse, Ford had pulled Soos aside and said quietly, "Soos, as soon as you have some time—could you repair the door to the kids' room? Before the end of the day? The latch has been broken since the tooth fairy's attack."

"Uh, sure, I can probably do that," Soos said. "How come?" The latch had been broken for a couple weeks, and the Pines hadn't been worried about it before.

"Right now, the door can swing freely with just a push," Ford said. "I think Bill's figured out how to use that to get in. Which is worrisome, since he shouldn't be able to use any doors..."

"O-oh." Soos thought about the swinging door into the gift shop. "Yeah, uh... sounds bad. Byyy the way—how'd you figure out he knows how to use the door?"

"Dipper says Bill somehow got in and out of the room last night," Ford said. "Mabel fell asleep in the living room and Bill carried her upstairs. I really don't like the thought of Bill being able to get his hands on the kids while they're asleep and defenseless."

Ford was mad at Bill for tucking a kid into bed? That was the big red flag? "No problem! I'll fix the door right after work."

The next time Soos visited his office, he took the security tape out of his drawer, rewound it, stuck it back into the tape recorder, and let that day's security camera footage overwrite and erase the evidence of Bill's visit to the gift shop.

####

And now, today, carrying Journal 4 in both hands, Soos trudged downstairs, trying to figure out what to do with it. He had to return it to Ford, obviously—but Bill and the Stans were already in the middle of a discussion that sounded a lot more like an argument. Flinging a stolen journal into the middle of the proceedings would just make it worse. Maybe he should wait until they were finished and everyone had cooled down a little—?

While Soos was upstairs, the discussion had apparently moved into the kitchen. He hovered awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs, watching.

"What do you mean, you need kitchen access," Stan was asking, "you already have kitchen access. It's never been off-limits! Even after you peed in the sink!"

"It's not kitchen access if I need to ask someone else for permission to eat anything but snacks."

"No one's making you ask for permission! You can take what you want!"

"Okay, fine. So what can I eat?" Bill gestures at the shelves. "Go on. List anything you can think of. Anything."

Stan grimaced, and glanced at Ford to see if he was willing to walk into the obvious trap first.

Ford looked at the nearby shelves. "Cereal."

"One point for Stanford Pines! Cereal! So am I supposed to eat dry cereal for every single meal, or—?"

"No, of course not."

"All right, then what else?"

"Brown meat," Stan said. "We've got plenty of brown meat. It's good for you!"

"You didn't give me can opener rights," Bill said.

"Huh."

"So no brown meat," Bill said. "No canned soup, no canned chili, no canned fruit, no canned vegetables—"

Ford cut in, "Some of the cans have pull tabs, you don't need a can opener for those."

"Terrific observation! As soon as you realized I could open those cans myself, you moved them all under the counter because you thought I'd use the sharp edges as weapons!"

"It's... possible to open cans without a can opener, I did it sometimes while roughing it in other dimensions—"

"Yeah, wearing off the metal rim with a rock, right? Lemme just go outside and grab a rock—oh wait." Bill crossed his arms.

Ford sighed, and turned to Stan to suggest something else.

Stan surveyed the available supplies, spotted the bread, and said, "You could make sandwiches!"

"With what filling?"

"Uh..." Stan kept looking.

Meats and cheeses, of course, were kept in the fridge. Along with jelly, condiments, most vegetables... tuna or spam weren't options, they were canned... "Hey, we leave out some meats that don't need refrigeration. Sausages and stuff."

"Right, right. The ones that don't need refrigeration because they're wrapped in plastic you need a knife to cut," Bill said. "Sometimes I bite the plastic open with my teeth and rip off chunks of sausage with my fingernails, that's always fun! Then you put the leftovers in the fridge, and I'm out of luck until we buy another sausage."

"You could put... peanut butter on your sandwiches?" Ford tried. "Peanut butter's nutritious."

Bill fixed him with a hard look. "For the past five weeks, every time I've gotten a meal without asking someone else to help feed me like a baby, I've had nothing but peanut butter and banana sandwiches, peanut butter and jerky sandwiches, peanut butter and raisin sandwiches, and peanut butter and potato chip sandwiches. And we're out of bananas, jerky, and raisins." He pointed at the tortillas. "Once I decided to get creative and made myself a cold peanut butter quesadilla! I can't even add spices, because guess where the breakable glass spice jars are kept?"

"Pasta," Ford tried. "We could keep the pasta out."

"Oh, wow, that'd be great! I just love pasta! But I can't open the microwave and I can't turn on the stove! How do I heat the water, Stanford?"

Ford frowned. "Hm."

"I can cook, you know—not that any of you bothered to ask! It might not suit your tastes, but it suits mine! I wouldn't need your help to eat if you didn't make me need help! I am sick to death—" his voice went thick and took on an uncharacteristic waver, "—of having to beg to... eat." He cleared his throat, squeezed his eyes shut, and rubbed his eyelids with one hand. "Sh-shouldn't even—need to eat." He clenched his jaw to keep it from trembling.

Stan and Ford exchanged a guilty look. Stan said, "You don't have to beg— I mean, we know the, uh... position you're in..."

Bill was silent for a moment as he tried to get a tough face back on. His voice came out as a rough whisper—too thick to get any louder without breaking. "I had to negotiate to get burnt eggs."

Ford winced.

Soos was dumbfounded.

When had Bill had to negotiate for food? He could all too easily understand how it might have happened—Bill was an annoying guy, sometimes they had to pull out dumb bargains to get him to do stuff. But bargaining for food should never be on that list. Meeting Bill's basic nutritional needs couldn't be dependent on whether he was annoying that day. If it was, he'd starve.

It sounded like he was starving. Right under Soos's roof. He hadn't even noticed.

He thought about the piles of junk food trash upstairs and the bag of chips Bill had hurled across the room.

Ford said, "We'll... discuss it."

"We'll figure something out," Stan said. "I mean it."

Bill nodded silently. Head down, without uncovering his eyes, he hurried out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.

He nearly bumped into Soos's chest without noticing him. Soos backed up a step, tucking Journal 4 under his arm. "Whoa, hey!"

Bill froze, head jerking up. "You." His voice was thick and his glare was watery and poisonous. "Don't you have anything better to do than eavesdrop?" He tried to elbow past Soos, smacking his leg with his umbrella. "Move."

Soos realized uneasily that Bill's face looked a little slimmer than it had when he'd arrived.

He stepped in Bill's way. "Can't go upstairs right now. Attic's being cleaned."

"I didn't ask you to clean!"

"I'm not cleaning for you, dawg. It's just gotta be cleaned."

"Fine! Whatever!" Bill veered around the staircase and stomped down the hall, muttering, "Can't decide when I eat, can't decide when I shower, why should I get to choose when my hovel's swept..."

Soos's leg hurt where Bill had smacked it. (Bill couldn't even control whether or not he cried; all he had control over was making someone else hurt.)

In the kitchen, Stan murmured, "Didn't even realize we don't keep anything decent out on the counters. They're so crowded..."

"Chip bags take up a lot of space." Ford sighed. "I assumed he'd get a serving with everyone else whenever Mrs. Ramirez cooks."

"He does, but she only does dinners. And he'll only eat it if he watched her cook it. I've seen him get lunch with Mabel, but I don't know what he does when she's not..." Stan spotted Soos on the stairs. He tiredly called, "Soos? You need something?"

"Uhhh..." Soos hid the journal behind his back. "Nope! I just thought I'd come downstairs! For no reason." He awkwardly walked up the stairs backwards, journal still tucked behind him. "And—and now I'm going up again." He stopped at the landing and scooted sideways up the next flight of stairs. "See ya."

He pressed the journal to his chest and returned to the attic.

####

When Soos and Abuelita moved into the shack, the first thing Soos had done was turn Ford's ground-floor study into a bedroom for Abuelita. Because she was a little old lady, and not quite as steady as she used to be, so Soos didn't want her constantly going up and down the stairs—because falling once, just ONCE, could send her to the hospital or worse. That was how serious it was! You don't mess around with that!

Bill tripped and fell on the stairs so often that they could use it to tell when he was awake. And nobody had thought to offer him a cane? Did anybody even ask if he was alright?

When Bill first arrived and tried to murder everyone, naturally, he came out of it pretty banged up and bruised. That was to be expected. It was self-defense. They'd gotten used to seeing Bill with scrapes on his arms and legs, rope burns around his ankles, and the angry purple-black bruises of chain links over his arms. But in all the weeks since then, Soos hadn't seen Bill bruise-free once. Bruises on his shins and arms, scrapes on his elbows and knees. Soos had seen him with a four-inch burn on his forearm. Bill had brushed it off.

In Bill's first few days in the shack, he'd resorted to peeing in the kitchen sink because nobody had bothered to give a guy who couldn't open doors a way to use the bathroom. And they were the reason he couldn't open doors in the first place!

He threw up in the living room in the middle of the night and went upstairs to sleep on couch cushions on the floor and nobody had talked about it.

He burned off all his hair and was so upset about it that he stole Soos's zodiac blanket and hid under it for half a week, and everyone but Mabel just ignored him.

In less than a month in the Mystery Shack, Bill had lost a tooth.

He had been dragged out of the house during a weird weather phenomenon while terrified out of his mind. Soos had seen Bill cowering on the ground in fear, Ford looming over him, grabbing him by the collar and snarling in rage. Bill had been pleading with everyone in hearing range not to make him go, and had come back in such a state of shock he could hardly walk.

And yet, he'd protected the whole town from getting hurt in zero gravity—and he'd brought a pet for Soos.

They'd tried to execute Bill two days later.

####

Soos sat in the window seat, flipping through the remaining filled-in pages in Journal 4. The last few pages were packed with stickers. A cat that said PURRFECT! A smiling fish that said A REEL PAL! Bill had started a little collection of pizza slice stickers for some reason. A couple of holographic rainbows, a smiling scratch-and-sniff sun. (Apparently, the sun smelled like lemons and oranges. Astronomy facts!)

Soos reached the current page. Bill was using several pieces of paper—regular printer paper and notebook paper, folded in half—like a bookmark. Soos unfolded them. A list of animals ranked by fuzziness. (Soos was satisfied that he'd been placed under the "smooth and squishy" category, but wondered whether he should be bothered by the fact that he shared the category with pigs and slugs.) A drawing of Bill riding a looping rocket ship and waving a fishbowl helmet above him. A drawing of a blue house with a couple of kids and a pig in the window. Several drawings of shape people kinda like Bill: a pink heart person labeled "Me in Flatworld," a stern-looking red stop sign wearing sunglasses labeled "Bill's parole officer," Bill dancing, the pink heart protecting Bill from some villainous-looking shapes—all clearly Mabel's art.

Several notebook pages in someone else's handwriting detailing names, addresses, and contact information, with statements Soos couldn't make sense of—as if maybe someone had been asking somebody else questions and writing down their answers. He thought the questions might be about how some people had reacted to the end of Weirdmageddon. He got the impression the people being discussed had known that Weirdmageddon was coming. He got the impression they were disappointed it hadn't happened. There were several questions at the end: How will we rendes-vouz? (Whoever was writing didn't know how to spell rendezvous, but to be fair Soos wasn't 100% sure either.) What supplies do you need? What are your interim orders?

Soos stared at the notebook papers.

He flipped back through the journal again, looking at each page more closely.

Sometimes the two-tone dot-and-dash segments had a stray human word: a few characters he recognized from his Teach Yourself Japanese workbooks, sometimes words Soos thought might be Arabic but honestly he didn't have a clue. At one point he listed half a dozen human names that Soos didn't recognize. The most common character was a stretched-out letter M (Mabel?), followed by a 6 knocked on its side (Sixer?).

The dot-and-dash segments had occasional amateurish illustrations. Sometimes they were human stick figures; sometimes the stick figures' heads had symbols off of Bill's zodiac wheel. He saw Stan's fish symbol, Gideon's star symbol, and Mabel's shooting star symbol. Ford's stick figures were the only ones with hands; Bill consistently gave them six fingers. The doodles were like particularly esoteric cave drawings; they were so bad that Soos couldn't tell what most of them were supposed to illustrate.

Except for one featuring Bill (as a triangle) and Mabel and some other inscrutable figures in a really awesome car with flames on the side, its coolness limited only by the fact that it was all in gray and yellow-green crayon. When Soos had been in high school, there had always been a couple of kids who didn't know how to draw anything except expensive cars or name-brand sports shoes, but they drew them in extreme realistic detail. Apparently, Bill was that kind of artist. Nothing but stick figures and the sickest crayon car Soos had ever seen.

It didn't do anything to dispel Soos's impression of Bill as a lost alien 18-year-old.

On one page, in sloppy lines of handwriting that meandered drunkenly up and down the paper, Bill had written, "I don't get why you won't give me a second shot. I asked you to join my gang. I serenaded you in a pyramid. I got a fantastic makeover. I offered you godhood. I showed you my dimension. I didn't torture you until I had to. I even made you a skin couch! I know how much you've always wanted a leather furniture set! I've given you everything from chicken zombification magic to jelly beans, what does it take? What am I missing?"

Soos reread Bill's other messages to Ford. All that "you'll regret not siding with me" junk wasn't threats. It was the impotent rage of a socially inept teenager who didn't understand his own creepiness had driven his friends away. It was the whiny moan of some guy going "Why doesn't she like me anymore" about an ex-girlfriend who had told him five times she didn't like him anymore because he didn't listen to her. Like that guy Wendy dated last summer. So like, a jerk, but not a terrifying world-ending monster jerk, just an annoying creep jerk. A regular jerk. A human jerk.

Soos stood, gave one last look at this journal—clearly stolen, definitely a violation of Bill's "no writing materials" restriction, completely stuffed full of mysterious messages to outsiders and some kind of weird alien code that could say anything at all and might have been super dangerous—and he slid it back into the ripped seam in the attic seat cushion where he'd found it.

He finished vacuuming up the potato chips Bill had flung across the room, thinking about how offended Bill had been that Soos had given him any food except what he'd asked for, remembering what Abuelita had said about people who destroy the things around them when they feel like that's the last and only thing they still have power over.

Enough was enough.

####

(Hope y'all enjoyed! Next week we may interrupt our regularly-scheduled programming to post a TBOB-based chapter I'm inserting early into the fic—it depends on if I get it done by next Friday. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to hearing y'all's thoughts on this chapter!)

#bill cipher #human bill cipher #soos ramirez #gravity falls #gravity falls fic #gravity falls fanart #fanart #my art #my writing #bill goldilocks cipher

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witchboxco · 1 year ago

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Mabon Altar Ideas & Correspondences

Mabon, also known as the Autumn Equinox, marks the midpoint between the summer and winter solstices. It's a time to celebrate the abundance of the harvest season and express gratitude for the blessings of the year. One way to honor this occasion is by setting up a Mabon altar, adorned with items and symbols that resonate with the energy of the season. Here are a few ideas for when you’re putting your altar together.

The Altar Cloth: Choose an altar cloth in rich autumnal colors such as deep red, orange, or brown. These colors represent the changing leaves and the bountiful harvest.

Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables: Incorporate apples, pumpkins, squash, and corn, or any local harvests you have in your area. These are traditional symbols of the harvest and abundance during Mabon.

Candles: Use candles in colors associated with Mabon, such as gold, yellow, orange, or deep red. These represent the changing colors of the land. Alternatively, you could use black and white candles to represent the balance of dark and light on the equinox.

Crystals: Consider placing crystals like citrine, amethyst, or jasper on your altar. These stones resonate with the energies of balance, gratitude, and abundance.

Symbols of Balance: Include items that represent the balance of day and night, such as a yin-yang symbol or two candles, one for the sun and one for the moon.

Leaves and Acorns: Collect fallen leaves and acorns to symbolize the changing season and the promise of new growth in the future.

Chalice and Bread: A chalice filled with wine or cider and a loaf of bread represent the traditional elements of water and earth, symbolizing the harvest's bounty.

Deity Representations: If you work with specific deities in your practice, add representations of them to your altar. Some gods and goddesses associated with Mabon include Demeter, Persephone, and the Green Man.

Mabon Correspondences

Colors: Deep red, orange, yellow, brown, and gold.

Herbs: Sage, marigold, hops, and thistle.

Foods: Apples, grapes, nuts, grains, and root vegetables.

Symbols: Scales, cornucopias, and the autumn wreath.

Activities: Apple picking, making wreaths, offering prayers of gratitude, and sharing a feast with loved ones.

Intentions: Reflect on balance in your life, give thanks for your blessings, and set intentions for the darker months ahead.

May you be blessed with abundance and gratitude.

#mabon #mabon altar #pagan #paganism #witch #wicca #neopagan #witchcraft #occult #magick #wiccan #autumn #autumnal equinox #autumn equinox #fall equinox #witches of tumblr #witchblr

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high-priestess-house · 4 months ago

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𝕸𝖔𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖗, 𝕸𝖆𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖓 & 𝕮𝖗𝖔𝖓𝖊

First, we have a crescent moon that is in a growing stage. In the center, there is a circle representing the full moon. Last but not least, the crescent denotes the diminishing moon.

Triple Moon is considered to be symbolic of all things divine feminine power – from intuition to creative energy, and wisdom. It indicates the three life stages of a woman.

The waning moon symbolizes the Maiden through innocence, youth, new life, starts, rebirth, excitement, witchcraft, and growth.

The full moon represents the Mother: fulfillment, fertility, ripeness, potency, understanding, caring, security, and authority.

The waxing moon symbolizes the Crone: serenity, maturity, knowledge, experience, knowledge, wisdom, fulfillment, death and rebirth. In its whole, the symbol is associated with the eternal cycle of birth, life, and rebirth.

Sometimes called the Triple Goddess symbol, the triple moon is frequently seen on the crowns or headpieces worn by the High Priestesses.

Each aspect within the Triple Goddess is associated with particular seasons and other natural phenomena, as well as human characteristics and elements of life on Earth. These associations can be used to call on the appropriate aspect of the Goddess during magical work, ritual worship, and prayer.

The Maiden is represented by the waxing moon and associated with the start of the growing cycle of late winter and springtime. The Wheel of the Year sabbats Imbolc, Ostara and Beltane are associated with the Maiden phase of the Triple Goddess. The Maiden represents beauty, fresh potential and new life. In human beings, she is associated with the qualities of innocence, youth, self-confidence, intelligence and independence, and with activities relating to exploration, discovery, self-expression, and creativity. Goddesses who represent the Maiden include the Greek goddesses Persephone and Artemis, the Celtic Rhiannon, and/or the Nordic Freya, among others.

The Mother phase of life is represented by the full moon- the fullest part of your life. In the Wheel of the Year it is associated with the harvests of Lughnasadh and Mabon. In the human realm, she is associated with nurturing, responsibility, adulthood and the fullness of life. As the giver of life, she is the aspect most associated with manifestation. Goddesses who represent the Mother include the Greek Demeter and Selene, the Roman Ceres, and the Celtic Danu and Badb.

The Crone phase of life is represented by the waning moon- when the cycle comes to an end and a new beginning starts. The Crone is full of wisdom and life experience. In the Wheel of the Year she is associated with Samhain and Yule, when the days shorten and the growing season officially ends. The Crone is the wise elder aspect of the Goddess, and governs aging and endings, death and rebirth, and past lives, as well as transformations, visions, prophecy, and guidance. Although feared as an archetype for millennia, she is the one who reminds us that death is part of the life cycle, just as the Moon's dark phase precedes the New Moon. The Crone is often represented by goddesses associated with death and the underworld, such as the Greek Hecate, the Russian Baba Yaga, and the Celtic Morrigan and Cailleach Bear.

The Triple Goddess is indeed a diverse and complex expression of the divine feminine. For those who worship her, she provides constant opportunities to learn and grow through connecting to her three aspects. Whether you recognize ancient goddesses as aspects of the Triple Goddess, or simply honor the Maiden, Mother, and Crone archetypes, you can make a conscious effort to align your worship with the cycles of the Moon for an even deeper, more rewarding spiritual connection.

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readychilledwine · 3 months ago

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Tainted Love pt 2

Eris Week - Day 3 - Healing and Betrayal

Summary - You had never planned on falling in love with Eris when Beron assigned you to spy on him.

Warnings - injuries, angst, Lucien and Eris's relationship, miscommunication

A/N - Is it a character week if I'm not rewriting something last minute 🤔 Happy @erisweekofficial day 3! This may get a part 3 that jumps in time. I'm not happy with it, but that's normal for me lately with my writing (and that's okay). Plus, I want to write some Mabon magic ritual smut for funsies.

🐕Find pt 1 here🐕

🍂Eris Week Masterlist🍂Eris Masterlist🍂Master Masterlist🍂

Healing Halls were Eris's least favorite place to be. The smell was potent. The air was too stale. The environment was lifeless. He had hoped Rhysand in all of his glory would have found a way to change that.

But Rhysand was just one male. One male who couldn't even get his hound to correctly communicate why they had warned him about you in the first place. At least the shadowsinger had the decency to look guilty.

Azriel was supposed to him you were playing a dangerous game, that you were spying for Beron, yet in doing so pushing all of Eris's wants. That as far as Rhys could tell from your mind, you were loyal to Eris, but feared losing your position with Beron would lose Eris a valuable tool.

You were right. Had you let Eris begin calling the shots, you would not have gotten half the things accomplished you did.

And because of Azriel's anger, his miscommunication, Eris had almost lost you.

Your hand was still cold as Eris held it, warming it and your bed with his magic. Blood was dried and clinging to him like a second skin. Yours, his, the guards, his father's. He had never lost control the way he had tonight and he prayed he never would again.

Your pain, the way it shot down the bond and settled in his bones and skin, it would haunt him. It was an ache that would linger. Regardless of your breathing. Regardless of your cheeks regaining their soft blush.

He had never felt panic like he did when he and Azriel had found you. The sheer desperation that set in seeing you lifeless, of hearing your heartbeat slowing to a stop, was also going to linger. You had been saved my a miracle he'd forever repay to the Mother in her glory but it left him with needs.

He just needed you to breathe. To open your eyes and wake up. He held no concerns in the world other than you and you alone. Regardless of what you had done to him.

Eris knew deep down you wanted to tell him, that you love him, that none of this was meaningless or fake.

No one was that good of an actress. No one would fake the look of love you had in your eyes when you saw him. No one could fake the way you looked in his arms, in his bed. No one could fake the bond sitting in his chest.

It was such a special thing, a blessing. To be able to feel the female he loved so intimately. To know that right now, the dreams playing in your mind were happy. That you weren't in pain.

Azriel stood and squeezed Eris's shoulder, “I'm going to go get you a drink.” He grunted in response, eyes never leaving your sleeping form. They had given you the best healers and medicines, but the wounds were deep. Scars dancing your back like lightning would forever remind him of what his father had done.

He felt a tremor of his new power run through his body again and shook his shoulders to recenter himself. He had not expected the weight her instantly felt when he gained Beron's power, but he had not been expecting to gain it so soon. His more primal instincts were heightened.

The need to protect.

The need to fight.

Needs for other activities he only wanted to enjoy with you.

He had to shake that as well, smiling as you sighed and adjusted in the bed.

“Wake up, sunflower,” his voice held an air of command he knew he would have to be careful with. “Open your eyes for me.”

Your fingers twitched in his, your nose scrunching slightly as the medical smell hit you. You could hear Eris, feel his presence in your chest. The words you would say to him if you could. You felt your senses slowly coming back. Soon it wasn't just Eris you could hear, but the ping of glass bottles, the crackle of a hearth.

The air was off. It wasn't a lingering scent of bonfire and fallen leaves, but instead a soft musk and Cyprus.

Night Court.

You were in the Night Court.

He commanded you again, calling for you like a king to his soldiers and forcing your body to respond to him with a soft whine as you curled your toes and slowly opened your eyes.

Eris was on you in seconds, helping you sit up before his arms were around you. A new 3rd emotion hit him, undeniable relief. His hand lingered on your heart as he pulled back, “I'm glad you are okay.”

“I-”

“I know,” he interrupted. “I know. I know everything. Rhysand read your mind."

You nodded, but the words still needed to be said, “I never meant to hurt you. As soon as the bond snapped, I wanted to tell you, but it felt like-”

“It was too dangerous,” he put it simply. “I know.”

“Beron-”

“Is dead,” the words seemed to tilt your world upside down. “When I felt what he did to you, when I saw what he had done, I couldn't stop myself.”

You had to process that slowly, word by word, “How do you feel?”

“I feel everything,” he took a deep breath “Anger, joy, mourning. I thought it would bring me nothing but happiness, but seeing him-”

“It's complicated. Because he was your father. Because he was not always the monster you learned he was. Because you will never get to fix that bridge, but at the same time you get to heal and relax.”

He nodded at your words. “I don't know what I would have done if you died, y/n. I would have burned that whole court down, consequences damned.” Eris took a deep breath as he laced his blood stained fingers into yours. “You played such a dangerous game, sunflower.”

“I wanted to help you, take him down from the position I held.”

Eris took your chin in his, “And you almost died. The one being who has helped me cope with my past, who has made me feel whole, who has helped me heal my inner child. You almost died.”

There was silence again as the door opened and Lucien and Madja came in. The youngest son of Autumn didn't speak as he began to look over your lingering injuries and Madja began to mix something. He didn't even look at Eris. Nor Eris him. The sadness in both of them was clear. “Lucien?”

He glanced up at you, “Yes?”

“Did you get to see your mother?”

Lucien's lips twitched up, “Not yet. I was told I had to help heal you or my favorite pieces of me would get attached to a wall.”

Your eyes went wide as you gave Eris a dirty look, “I regret nothing.”

“Jerk.”

“Asshole,” Eris fired back at Lucien.

“Rather be an asshole than a limp dick.”

The two of them bickering back and forth lightly. There was no malice in their words.

“Eris,” you interrupted. “I think you should take Lucien to her.” The brothers both went still at your words. “And take a bath while you're there.”

Lucien hid his smirk at that as well as he could, “Because you smell like rot.”

“He smells like change,” the words were slow. “Like the beginning of healing, a cycle turning.”

“A grove of trees that seemed to be dead have come back to life in Autumn,” a purr from the doorway made you glance over there. “They are blooming white flowers.”

Rhysand commanded the room while he entered it. Sitting across from you as Madja moved to give you a vial before leaving. “Take that,” Eris tilted your hand to your lips. “Are you referring to the grove near summer? The one that stopped producing nearly 100 years ago?”

Rhysand nodded as he looked solely at you, “It appears that they needed new Leadership to bring new life. I think your dear mate knows something about that.”

More eyes looked to you as you glared at Rhys. “I found research in Beron's office that pointed to Autumn dying from the lack of magic being put back into the lands. Your father evidently was not taking part in some hunt?”

Lucien chuckled, “Oh it's a hunt alright.”

“Mabon,” Eris rolled his eyes. “It's not exactly a hunt, sunflower.”

“It's our Calanmai,” Lucien explained. “Not surprised you don't know what it is considering females aren't allowed to know but are expected to partake if chosen.”

You only nodded before looking at Eris, “That needs to change.”

Eris looked to Rhys. The High Lord put his hands up, “Eris, let me give you advice Helion's father gave me. Being a powerful High Lord means nothing if you are not good to your fae. To be good to your fae means to put their safety and needs first. To do will heal your court, but, to heal your court you have to heal yourself. Think of all the lies and things hidden from you. The betrayals you faced,” a pointed look your way. “It this how you want Autumn to be from this point forward?”

Eris shook his head, “No.”

“Then you must look inward, heal the parts of you that have been tainted by Beron, and with those things healed, your court and land follows.”

Eris raised a hand to Lucien wordlessly, waiting for his baby brother to take it. A tanned hand laid in his, a metal eye whirling, “Where are we going?”

“Home,” Eris said. “To mother. Thank you for healing my mate, Rhysand. But I fear her stay has come to an end.”

The Lord of Night nodded, “Be better, Eris.” It was the last sentence before magic ripped you through the fabrics of the world and the familiar halls of the Forest House appeared.

Lady Autumn sat at her piano, long graceful fingers kissing the keys as she played freely for the first time in 300 years. There was a smile on her face that both of her sons knew. A smile saved for her private moments with her boys. Lucien stumbled to her, making her hands stop.

“Mama,” his tone was filled with broken emotion, bliss that had Eris grabbing your hand, lacing your fingers together as you both watched. “Mama!”

“Lu,” her own voice whispered as she stood and rushed to him. “My baby.” Their hug was a moment that you felt. It was a fracture in your mate's soul beginning to fill.

“We should give them privacy,” you pulled him away as Lucien and Lady Autumn fell to the ground holding each other. “Unless you need to see this?”

“No. We can go,” Eris glanced at you. “This seems like a good beginning.”

You could only nod as sobs of joy filled the air, “For healing Autumn or you?”

“Both,” he tried to sound confident. “For healing both.”

General Taglist:

@hnyclover @glitterypirateduck @slytherinindisguise @mischiefmanagers @bloodicka @starsinyourseyes @the-sweet-psycho @mariahoedt @rinalouu @sarawritestories @starryhiraeth @starswholistenanddreamsanswered @cumuluscranium @loneliestluvr @eternallyelvish @azrielsmate3 @daughterofthemoons-stuff @meritxellao @aria-chikage @hungryforbatboys @lilah-asteria @fandomrejects @sleepybesson @tayswhp @itsswritten @milswrites @littlest-w01f

Tainted Love Taglist:

@unfortunately-a-dazai-kinnie @kennedy-brooke @y0urm0m12 @slytherinindisguise @river-of-woe @darling006 @endless-worldss @sharknutz @saltedcoffeescotch @mal-adaptive-dreams @chaos-on-stand-bi @wrensical003 @bookwormysblog @mp-littlebit @ratgirl2020

#elizabeths.updates #send asks #send anons #acotar #acotar x reader #eris fic #eris acotar #eris x reader #eris x y/n #eris x you #eris vanserra fic #eris vanserra x y/n #eris vanserra x reader #eris vanserra #eris vanserra x you #eris vandaddy #erisweek2024 #erisweek2024 day 3

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whimsigothwitch · 1 year ago

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In exactly one week it is Mabon, the second harvest festival of the year. (21st-24 Sep) With Mabon we celebrate equal day and night, the days getting shorter, we express our gratitude and harvest fruits and vegetables.

Correspondences for Mabon: Symbols | Leaves, apples, acorns, pumpkins, harvested fruits & vegetables. Colors | Brown, red, orange, yellows, black. Spells | Gratitude, balance, prosperity, shadow work, releasing. Crystals | Citrine, aventurine, tigers eye, agate, quartz. Herbs and flowers | Sage, rosemary, cinnamon, marigold, myrrh. Food | Apple pie, pears, pumpkins, nuts, grains, bread, vegetables, soups. Activities | Apple/pumpkin/pear picking, forest walks, decorate your altar/room with autumn decorations, cook for family and friends, make hot apple cider, make a simmer pot, clean your space.

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autumnsvoice87 · 2 months ago

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Spoonie Sabath- Mabon

Mabon is here! The fall Equinox is here! Fall has officially begun and spooky season is already in full swing! This is my favorite time of the year. So for those that are new, Mabon is a celtic pagan holiday on the wheel of the year. When it was first introduced to me, I was told it was like a witches Thanksgiving.

It is the second harvest festival where they celebrate the good fortunes they have had this growing season. They give thanks to the Gods who are in charge of harvests and firtility, For without firtility, there couldn't be a harvest of crops! Mabon is the pagan holiday that rests on the Autumn Equinox.

Some witches take out the pagan part of Maybon and just celebrate the balance of light and dark on the equinox as well as just the harvest aspect. The spring and fall equinox is when the day light is equal to night time. It is often a symbol of balance so a witch may focus on balancing their energy, their body, their life etc. So today is another Spoonie list of celebrating this witch's holiday.

Coloring. Coloring can be a great way to balance stress out. There are many coloring sheets out there for fall. Some are kids coloring pages, and some are adult coloring. Whatever one you prefer is just fine. If you have problems with hand jerks or trembles, the kids' coloring sheets would be easier. It's also a great activity to do with kids if you have children or are babysitting for others. Some coloring pages you can get by downloading and printing off the internet. For a designated witchcraft one, they have some on Amazon. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/844987948812638690/

Light a candle. You can light an orange or red candle for Mabon instead of doing a full bonfire. Bonus points if it smells like apples, or pumpkin spice! If you can tolerate scented candles (not everyone can) they are readily available at the Dollar Tree or at Dollar general. There are many instances where people are not able to do bonfire's anyway but it is a favorite pasttime for celebrating the Equinox.

Fall foods. Many of us spoonies are probably not able to engage in baking and cooking up a great feast. Here are some cheats to consider. At wal-mart, they have mini pies for 75 cents (in my area anyway). You can get a Mini Pie for yourself or each of your family members. They are already baked and ready to go. You could warm them up in the microwave if you want to warm them up. Another idea is to get freash baked bread from the bakery. It's already baked good to eat. Pumpkin spice oatmeal for breakfast! or Apple Cinniamon is another oatmeal I love. For a meal for your family, a crock pot meal like chili is a must-have. Chili is easy to make. Just dump a bunch of canned beans, choice of meat and vegetables, and seasoning in a crock pot. There are many crock pot meal recipies out there to choose from. Baked potatoes are a good one, too. You can put them in the oven and you won't have to stand for very long.

Going outside. Going outside to enjoy the weather is good idea if weather permits. You can use a picker upper grabber to pick up leaves, acorns and pinecones to decorate your altars or your shelves. If you are a pagan parent, this a fun activity for kids too. A scavenger hunt is fun and you can do it on your own or with family. Use your mobility devices if you have them. Electric scooters and wheelchairs are aweseome for this if you have them. If you are not able to go outside, maybe have a family member go out and bring the scavenger hunt inside. Have them hide things they found in nature so you can try and find them. I know this isn't doable for everyone but even just sitting outside and watching the squirrels is good enough.

Cleansing your home. Cleansing your space of negative energies is a way to get rid of that no longer serves you. Many witches cleanse once a month anyway, but sometimes those of us with limited spoons can't always cleanse as often as we like. It also depends on the method of cleansing. Opening windows and smoke cleansing is what is most preferred and most taught method. Depending on our living situations, it's not always ideal. Some ideas to cleanse with minimal energy are to use sound cleansing music on youtube. There are several videos out there for sound cleansing. You can even use your own tools such as rattles, Bells, or drums if you have them. Another cleansing method is to use a spray. You can make your own using water and essential oils or using plain salt water works. It is something that is easy, and all you have to do is spray the room!

Stones. If you have a cage necklace, putting a gemstone associated with Mabon in it is a great way to celebrate. This is a great option if you don't have any energy to do anything else. Saphire, Yellow and Red Agates, Amethyst, Lapis Luzille, and Cornealian are the gemstones associated with Mabon. Right now, I am wearing Amethyst.

Donating to charities. Part of Mabon is giving thanks for the abundance we have in life. You could make a one-time donation to a charity of choice. Giving thanks for our abundance are in congruent with giving to people in need. Many of us Spoonies are probably on fixed incomes and may not be able to donate money. This is fine. Giving back to someone in need is the goal here. If you have any clothes collecting dust, you can donate to nursing homes, homeless shelters, and womens shelters. If you crochet or knit, you could make hats, scarves, and mittens for donations as well. Maybe a witchy friend needs some help with research.

Decorating. Mabon is a great time to do some decorating for fall and for spooky season. For us (spoonies), it can seem daunting and out of reach to do a whole house of fall decor. So let's pick one spot and decorate to the best of our ability. I have a general altar by my bedside on my nightstand. It can also be one spot in a book shelf, or even just one ornament. The goal is to decorate on a smaller scale so it is not so overwhelming. Also, it is okay to ask for help. If you have a PCA or friend/family member who can help you, it would be ideal. You may be able to cover more ground that way if you can get help with this activity.

Journaling. Journaling may end up in every article I write. So what do you journal about during Mabon? Start a gratitude journal, or write in the one you already have if you have one. Also, you can journal your goals and intentions for the upcoming year. This you can do laying down or sitting. Journaling helps us to see what we did accomplish and what we didn't . You may journal about new steps, new ideas, and anything that may help you accomplish your goals and intentions this year. Another option to journal about is journaling thoughts and ideas that no longer serve you. Journal about those negative thoughts about yourself or others and release the negativity to re-energize yourself.

Reading and doing research on Mabon or other fall celebrations around this time of year. There is so much to learn about this history of ancient pagans and their lore. Read some stories such as persephone's abduction and descent back into the underworld. Mabon is actually relatively new and based on Gerald Gardner's Wicca. Wicca is a neo-pagan religion that uses witchcraft. History is important to learning about making your own practice yours. https://www.reddit.com/r/witchcraft/comments/1flpdd7/happy_mabon/ This is just an overview.

Meditate. Meditation can be done laying down or sitting up. Whichever method you may prefer. Meditation on balance can be done in any way you can. Youtube has tons of meditation videos you can do to balance your energy. Youtube also has Mabon music and meditation videos, specifically for Mabon.

Celebrate Late. If you are not able to celebrate on the 20 or 21st and still want to, celebrate on a different day. In my opinion, you can celebrate anytime from the 18th-24th. Some older festivals lasted for days anyway.

If you don't have the energy, celebrate it when you are able to. Don't push yourself just because you feel you have to. If you miss this holiday, dont worry about it! You're still a pagan witch! Ancient pagans relied on the lunar calendar, and it is likely that the second fall harvest didn't land on the equinox.

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irlangelsdiary · 2 months ago

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✿ A list of most (if not all) wicca holidays

✮ Lammas (Lughnasadh) – Pagan/Wiccan Aug 1st

Lammas, also known as Loafmas or Lughnasadh, commemorates the harvest of the first grains, primarily for breadmaking. Lughnasadh itself is named after Lugh, a Celtic deity associated with grain. Lammas celebrations include feasting, crafting corn dollies, and participating in games and contests as a way to honor Lugh and the bounty of the season.

✮ Mabon (Fall Equinox) – Pagan/Wiccan Sept 21st

Mabon, celebrated at the fall equinox, marks the transition to the approaching darkness of the coming winter months. Mabon celebrations involve giving thanks for the harvest, making offerings of fruits and vegetables, and performing ceremonies to honor the equinox’s change from the light half of the year to the dark. Decorations made of corn, squash, vines and pumpkins are common.

✮ Samhain (All Hallows Eve) – Pagan/Wiccan Oct 31st

Samhain today marks the end of the harvest, the start of the Pagan/Wiccan New Year, and the honoring of our ancestors and the dead. Samhain celebrations include lighting candles, setting up altars, and modern activities like costume parties, trick-or-treating, and jack-o’-lanterns.

✮ Yule (Winter Solstice) – Pagan/Wiccan Dec 21st

Yule, celebrated at the winter solstice, marks the day on which the “sun is reborn.” Yule celebrations include the burning of the Yule log, kissing under the mistletoe, decorating homes with holly and evergreen branches, and performing rituals to welcome the return of the sun’s warmth and light to the world.

✮Imbolc (Candlemas) – Pagan/Wiccan Feb 2nd

Imbolc heralds the first signs of spring and is dedicated to Brigid, a Celtic goddess of poetry and fire who was later canonized by the Catholic Church. Imbolc celebrations include candlelit processions, the lighting of a hearth fires, and sending blessings to the fields and farm animals.

✮Ostara (Spring Equinox) – Pagan/Wiccan May 21st

Ostara, celebrated at the spring equinox, marks the beginning of the light half of the year and the arrival of spring. Ostara is celebrated by the coloring and decorating of eggs, planting of seeds, and performing rituals that honor the balance of light and dark.

✮Beltane (May Day) – Pagan/Wiccan May 1st

Beltane is a joyful fertility festival that welcomes the height of spring and celebrates the divine feminine and masculine coming together in fruitful union. Beltane celebrations include dancing around the Maypole, wearing wreaths or crowns of flowers, the crowning of a May Queen, and the lighting of bonfires.

Litha/Midsummer (Summer Solstice) – Pagan/Wiccan June 21st

Litha, celebrated at the summer solstice, marks when the sun is at its maximum power and the longest day of the year. Litha celebrations include lighting bonfires, outdoor feasts, and rituals that honor the warmth and light of the sun and the season’s abundance.

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darkforestfae-tea · 3 months ago

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𝐆𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲, 𝐌𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐲!

Mabon marks the Fall Equinox! Typically observed on September 21 in the Northern Hemisphere, Mabon spans from September 21 to September 29. It is a time of balance, when day and night are equal in length, symbolizing harmony and equilibrium. Many cultures celebrate this period as a time of thanksgiving and reflection, honoring the bountiful harvest and the changing of the seasons. Traditional festivities might include feasts with seasonal foods like apples, pumpkins, and squash, along with activities such as gathering with loved ones, giving thanks, and preparing for the colder months ahead.

People often take this opportunity to connect with nature, perhaps by taking walks in the crisp autumn air, collecting colorful leaves, or setting up altars with symbols of the season. It's also a time for introspection, to consider what has been achieved over the past months and to set intentions for the future.

In modern times, Mabon encourages a moment of pause in our busy lives, reminding us to appreciate the abundance around us, to cultivate gratitude, and to seek balance in our own lives. Whether through quiet reflection, community gatherings, or simply enjoying a warm cup of cider while watching the leaves fall, Mabon offers a beautiful reminder of the cyclical nature of life and the ever-present opportunity for renewal and growth.

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This post will consist of several sections:

Correspondences

Activities

Common Rituals

Broom Closet

and more! Ready to begin?

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𝓒𝓸𝓻𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓹𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼:

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Animals:

Coyote

Blackbird

Owl

Goose

Stag

Squirrel

Wolf

Symbols:

Cornucopia

Pentagram

Herbs:

Rosemary

Safflower

Thyme

Rue

Rose Hips

Marigold

Saffron

Dried Apple

Oak Moss

Crystals:

Amber

Amethyst

Tiger’s Eye

Citrine

Garnet

Peridot

Yellow Topaz

Ruby

Decor:

Apples

Autumn Leaves

Acorns

Animal Bones

Sunflowers

Pine Cones

Gourds

Balance Scales

Harvest Foods

Pomegranates

Grape Vine

Themes:

Harvest

Gratitude

Balance

Reflection

Shadow Work

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𝓒𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓸𝓷 𝓡𝓲𝓽𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓼:

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-Adorn your space with seasonal fruits and vegetables, such as pumpkins.

-Reflect on what the summer season revealed to you about yourself.

-Create an "I let go" list of things you wish to release from the summer.

-Simmer cinnamon to attract abundance.

-Establish your goals for the Fall season, which extends until December 21st.

-Ignite a candle and meditate to catch a glimpse of what the upcoming season holds.

-Tidy up and declutter your home, then pass a cinnamon broom for abundance.

-Indulge in a flavorful spiced tea or coffee. Savor each sip. Take a moment to reflect on your blessings and what you are grateful for.

-The Fall Equinox is on September 22nd at 9:04 pm (EST). Set a reminder and declare, "This season will be my best one yet."

-Trim your hair to release old energy.

-Recharge by visiting a pumpkin patch, farmers market, or spending time outdoors.

-Place an apple beside a coin for good luck and prosperity.

-Create a besom and utilize it to cleanse your home of negative energies.

-Create your own custom Mabon Incense mix.

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𝓜𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓷 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓻𝓸𝓸𝓶 𝓒𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓽

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This list is for those witches who may still be in the closet. These activities can pass as “Autumnal Activities” to others! Here are some subtle yet enchanting ways to celebrate your craft:

Nature Walks: Collect leaves, acorns, and other natural items to use in your spells and crafts. It’s a great way to connect with nature and gather supplies without drawing attention.

Pumpkin Carving: Carve symbols or sigils into your pumpkins. Not only are they festive, but they can also serve as protection or intention-setting.

Candle Making: Create your own candles with herbs and essential oils. You can infuse them with specific intentions and use them for rituals later on.

Baking: Make seasonal treats like apple pie or pumpkin bread. Incorporate herbs and spices that have magical properties, such as cinnamon for prosperity or nutmeg for luck.

Herb Drying: Harvest and dry herbs for your witchy cabinet. Hang bundles of rosemary or lavender in your kitchen to dry; it looks like you're just readying them for cooking.

Gardening: Plant bulbs or prepare your garden for winter. This is a great way to work with the earth and practice your green-thumb magic.

Reading: Dive into books about folklore, mythology, or herbalism. It’s a cozy way to expand your knowledge and connect with ancient traditions. (Kindle has a phone app, if you cannot have physical books)

DIY Crafts: Make wreaths, potpourri, or sachets with found natural items. These can be used for decoration or as part of your magical practice.

Tea Time: Brew different herbal teas. Experiment with blends that have magical properties to set intentions or simply relax.

Moon Watching: Keep track of the moon phases and spend time outside during the full moon. This can be a meditative practice and a way to align with lunar energies.

By incorporating these activities into your routine, you can celebrate your witchy side while blending seamlessly into the autumnal festivities. Happy enchanting!

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𝓜𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓐𝓹𝓹𝓵𝓮𝓼

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Apples are a common symbol of Mabon/Autumn Equinox for many pagans, wiccans, and witches. They can be incorporated into many different kinds of spell work for abundance, health, renewal, planting the seed of an idea/intention & knowledge. Apples can be used in magick by cutting them in half horizontally to reveal the star inside. Spell ingredients can then be sprinkled on top. Other ways of using apples is to dry then to decorate your altar or space with. You can gather apples to return to the Earth by burying them to give thanks for the Harvest. Cooking with apples is a perfect way to celebrate Mabon. Whether you make a warm apple pie, a spiced cider, or a savory apple stew, these dishes can be shared with loved ones to honor the season. The act of cooking itself becomes a ritual, infusing each dish with your intentions and gratitude.

Additionally, apples can be used in divination practices. By peeling an apple in a single strip and tossing the peel over your shoulder, the shape it forms when it lands can reveal the initial of a future partner or give you insight into a question you hold in your heart. Scrying with apple seeds is another method; by placing seeds on a hot surface and watching their movement, you can glean messages and guidance.

Incorporating apples into your daily routines during Mabon can also help you remain connected to the cycles of nature. Enjoying a fresh apple as a mindful snack, reflecting on its journey from blossom to fruit, can be a simple yet profound way to express appreciation for the Earth's bounty. Decorating your home with apple-themed items, such as candles, wreaths, or even apple-scented essential oils, can further enhance the seasonal ambiance.

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𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓗𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓜𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓷

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Mabon, also known as the Autumn Equinox, is a significant festival in the Wheel of the Year, celebrated by many Pagans and Wiccans. The name "Mabon" itself is relatively modern, coined by Aidan Kelly in the 1970s, yet the festival's roots stretch back to ancient times. It marks the second of three harvest festivals, following Lammas and preceding Samhain. Occurring around September 21-23 in the Northern Hemisphere, Mabon represents a time of balance when day and night are of equal length. This event symbolizes the gradual descent into the darker half of the year, as the days grow shorter and the nights longer.

Historically, many cultures have celebrated the equinox with various customs and rituals. In ancient Greece, the festival of Eleusinia honored Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, and her daughter Persephone. The myth of Persephone's descent into the underworld and her eventual return is a powerful allegory for the changing seasons and the cycle of life and death. Similarly, in ancient Rome, the festival of Pomona celebrated the goddess of fruits and orchards, reflecting the importance of the harvest season. In the British Isles, the equinox was a time of thanksgiving and community gatherings, with people coming together to celebrate and share the bounty of the harvest.

Modern Mabon celebrations often involve giving thanks for the earth's abundance, reflecting on themes of balance and gratitude, and preparing for the coming winter months. Rituals may include offerings of fruits, vegetables, and grains, as well as meditative practices to honor the seasonal shift. Many contemporary Pagans and Wiccans also incorporate elements of ancient traditions, such as feasting, storytelling, and connecting with nature. Mabon serves as a reminder of the cyclical nature of life and the importance of living in harmony with the rhythms of the earth.

𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘴. 𝘉𝘺 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘩𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Thank you for Reading! I absolutely love sharing my knowledge & learnings with others. I try to make posts a few times a week! & they are all organized on my profile.

Until we cross paths once more! Best wishes to all you wonderful witches! Warm regards, Tea.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

For Support on my Blogs:

Facebook: The Black Dahlia Emporium

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Pagans & Witches Amino @ darkforestfae

#mabon #sabbats #witch #pagan #pagan witch #paganism #witchcraft

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aspens-apothecary · 1 year ago

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Mabon Celebration Ideas!

As some of you know, this Saturday is Mabon, the celebration of the Autumn Equinox. Some also refer to it as the "Pagan Thanksgiving", as you celebrate the bountiful harvest and are thankful for the earth and its many gifts.

Mabon marks the time of equilibrium, where the days and nights are of equal length. During this time, it is good to set intentions that involve decrease, such as ending unhealthy habits, self-destructive behaviors, or bad relationships.

Decorating for Autumn

This a great time to decorate for the coming autumn and spooky seasons leading up to Samhain! I like to open the windows and then cleanse my space(usually a simmer pot and smoke cleanse) and after, i actually physically clean the house.I then close the windows and stir my simmer pot, while setting new intentions for the household until the spring equinox. I then collect the things I want to decorate with(the usual fall decor; pumpkins, pine cones, leaf garlands, gourds and an autumn wreath on the door) and then decorate to my hearts content!

Release and Move Forward

Another thing I usually spend time on is meditation, centering myself, letting go of past baggage from the year and setting new personal goals and intentions until spring.

Find a nice spot outside, where you feel connected to the world around you. Take a journal with you, and meditate. Write down what you want the next few months to bring into your life. Set those intentions in any way you choose.

Have a nice Hearty Meal

Who doesn't love a good meal with great people? You can make a roast, hold a potluck Mabon dinner ect, I usually host a bonfire night and everyone brings their own dishes to feel the group. During covid, I made a pot roast for my fiance and I! You could also do a picnic!

Fall Activities

Apple Picking, Corn Mazes, going to a Pumpkin Patch, all fall activities that are fun for the whole family, as a cute date, or great solo fun!

Honor Persephone and Demeter

If you are one to honor deities/spirits during the holidays, Persephone and Demeter are two that will definitely fall into Mabon.

According to the myth, Autumn is the time where Persephone must leave her beloved mother and travel to Hades, to fulfill her role as the Queen of the Underworld. Each year she lets go of the concerns of the upper world, and willingly descends to guide the souls of the dead over the threshold of Life and Death.

Creating an altar, and leaving offerings for them in honor of their sacrifice is an amazing way to celebrate.

Other

Other things you can do include cleansing ritual baths, Divination for the new few months, hiking, offerings for the local nature spirits, make a gratitude list for the last few months and thank the earth for her gifts

Mabon Symbols:

Cornucopia (horn of plenty), pinecones, seeds

Colors: Orange, red, yellow, brown, copper, dark yellow, dark green

Foods: Corn, beans, squash, apples, pumpkins, cider, root vegetables, pomegranate, wine

Herbs: Yarrow, rosemary, sage, mugwort, rosehips,

Stones: Amber, citrine, cat’s eye, aventurine, sapphire, jasper

Flowers: Sunflowers, thistle, marigolds

Deities: Mabon, Green Man, Demeter, Persephone, Morgan, Pomona, Inanna

Animals: Owl, stag, blackbird, salmon

I hope this gives you a few ideas! Add your own ideas to this list! These are just the ways I like to celebrate!

#pagan witch #witchblr #witchcore #witchcraft #beginner witch #witch tips #witchy vibes #mabon #mabon 2023 #autumn #autistic witch #autumn equinox #witchcraft spells #witchy #witchcraft supplies

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greenwitchcrafts · 1 year ago

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December 2023 witch guide

Full moon: December 26th

New moon: December 12th

Sabbats: Yule December 21st-January 1st

December Cold Moon

Known as: Drift Clearing Moon, Frost Exploding Tree Moon, Moon of the Popping Trees, Hoar Frost Moon, Snow Moon, Winter, Aerra Geola, Maker Moon, Heilagmanoth, Long Night's Moon, Oak Moon, Wintermonat, Moon of the Long Night, Little Spirit Moon, Wolf Moon & When the Deer Shed Their Antlers Moon

Element: Fire

Zodiac: Sagittarius & Capricorn

Nature spirits: Snow, Storm, & Winter Tree faeries

Deities: Athena, Fates, Hades, Hathor, Hecate, Ixchel, Minerva, Neith, Norns, Osiris & Persephone

Animals: Bear, deer, horse & mouse

Birds: Robin, rook & snowy owl

Trees: Fir, Holly & Pine

Herbs: Bay, cedar, chamomile, cinnamon, English ivy, evergreen, fir, frankincense, holly, mistletoe, myrrh, pine & sage

Flowers: Christmas catus, holly & poinsettia

Scents: Cedar, cinnamon, frankincense, ginger, lilac, myrrh, nutmeg, patchouli, pine, rose geranium, rosemary, saffron, violet & wintergreen

Stones: Bloodstone, blue topaz, cat's eye, garnet, jacinth, obsidian, peridot, turquoise, zircon, ruby & serpentine

Colors: Black, blood red, gold, green, red, silver, black & white

Energy: Alchemy, darkness, endurance, death & re-birth, higher education, publications, reaching out to others, religion, spiritual paths, travel & truth

Today, December’s full Moon is most commonly known as the Cold Moon—a Mohawk name that conveys the frigid conditions of this time of year, when cold weather truly begins to grip us.

This full Moon has also been called the Long Night Moon (Mohican), as it rises during the “longest” nights of the year, near the December winter solstice. This name is doubly fitting because December’s full Moon shines above the horizon for a more extended period than most full Moons.

In Europe, ancient pagans called the December full Moon the “Moon Before Yule,” in honor of the Yuletide festival celebrating the return of the sun heralded by winter solstice.

Yule

Also known as: Alban, Arthan & Winter Solstice

Season: Winter

Symbols: Baskets of clove studded fruit, Christmas catus, decorated evergreen trees, evergreen boughs, gifts, gold pillar candles, hung mistletoe, poinsettias, wreaths & Yule logs/small Yule log with three candles

Colors: Gold, green, orange, red, silver, white &yellow

Oils/incense: Bayberry, cedar, cinnamon, frankincense. Myrrh & pine

Animals: Bear, boar, deer (stag), pig, squirrel & tiger

Birds: Eagle, goose, kingfisher, lapwing, owl robin & wren

Stones: Bloodstone, garnet, ruby, alexandrite, blue topaz, cat's eye, citrine, clear quartz, diamond, emerald, green tourmaline, jet, kunzite & pearl

Foods: Caraway cakes, cookies, eggnog, fruits, ginger tea, nuts, pork, spiced cider, turkey, wassail & lamb's wool (ale, sugar, nutmeg & roasted apples)

Herbs/plants: Bay, bayberry, birch, blessed thistle, cedar, chestnut, cinnamon, evergreens, fir, frankincense, ginger, holly, ivy, juniper, mistletoe, moss, myrrh, oak, pine, rosemary, sage, valerian & yellow cedar

Flowers: Chamomile, poinsettia & yarrow

Goddesses: Alcyone, Aphrodite, Ameratasu, Bona Dea, Brighid, Cailleach Bheur, Demeter, Diana, Fortuna, Frau Holle, Frau Perchta, Frigga, Gaia, Hel, Great Mother, Idunn, Isis, Ishtar, Kolyada, La Befana, Maat & Tiamat

Gods: Apollo, Attis, Balder, Bragi, Dionysus, Divine Child, Green Man, Helios, Holly King, Horned one, Horus, Janus, Lord of Misrule, Lugh, Mabon, Marduk, Mithras, Odin, Ra, Saturn & Surya

Issues Intentions & Powers: Darkness, divination, light, messages/omens, purification, rebirth/renewal & transformation

Spellwork: Earth magick, happiness, harmony, love & peace

Activities:

• Set up & decorate a Yule altar

• Clean, organize & cleanse before decorating your home

• Make witch's balls to hang on your tree (protective & pretty!)

• Decorate & bless & Yule tree

• Stay awake until dawn to observe the cycles of nature

• Give gifts tomyour family & friends

• Donate your time or helpful items to charity

• Go caroling

• Hang mistletoe in your doorways

• Make Wassail

• Prepare a Yule Log

• Host a Yule feast

• Craft your own decorative wreath

• Decorate your house with Yule colored candles

• Welcome the Sun

• Go on nature walks & leave offerings to nature

• Meditate & reflect on the passing year

“Yule” comes from Old English geol, which shares a history with the equivalent word from Old Norse, jól. Both these words referred to a midwinter festival centered around the winter solstice, which traditionally marked the halfway point of the winter season. After the solstice—the shortest day of the year—the days again begin to grow longer, so it’s thought that Yule was a celebration of the re-appearance of the Sun &the fertile land’s rebirth.

The celebration of Yule is one of the oldest winter celebrations in the world. Ancient people were hunters & spent most of their time outdoors. The seasons & weather played a significant part in their lives. The customs and traditions associated with it vary widely.

Scholars have connected the original celebrations of Yule to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the heathen Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht ("Mothers' Night")

Some believe it marks the rebirth of the Sun (the God) from the Earth (the Goddess) & the cold days of winter will soon begin to wane. The Goddess is seen in her virgin Maiden aspect

In towns and cities throughout Sweden during the Christmas season, large goats are constructed out of straw. It is thought that the tradition originated in ancient times, perhaps as a tribute to the god Thor, who was said to ride in a chariot pulled by goats. In Sweden the goat came to be associated with the Christmas celebration, and the Yule goat is now considered by many to be a companion or counterpart to Santa Claus.

Related festivals:

Christmas- An annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ as the son of God, primarily observed on December 25th

Hanukkah- A Jewish festival commemorating the recovery of Jerusalem & subsequent rededication of the Second Temple at the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE.

Hanukkah is observed for eight nights & days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. The festival is observed by lighting the candles of a candelabrum with nine branches, commonly called a menorah or hanukkiah.

Kwanzaa- An annual celebration of African-American culture from December 26 to January 1st, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually on the sixth day. It was created by activist Maulana Karenga, based on African harvest festival traditions from various parts of West & Southeast Africa. Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966.

A Kwanzaa ceremony may include drumming and musical selections, libations, a reading of the African Pledge & the Principles of Blackness, reflection on the Pan-African colors, a discussion of the African principle of the day or a chapter in African history, a candle-lighting ritual, artistic performance & finally, a feast of faith (Karamu Ya Imani).

Saturnalia-

is an ancient Roman festival and holiday in honour of the god Saturn, held on 17 December of the Julian calendar & later expanded with festivities through to 23 December. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, in the Roman Forum & a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying & a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted & masters provided table service for their slaves as it was seen as a time of liberty for both slaves and freedmen alike.

A common custom was the election of a "King of the Saturnalia", who gave orders to people, which were followed & presided over the merrymaking. The gifts exchanged were usually gag gifts or small figurines made of wax or pottery known as sigillaria. The poet Catullus called it "the best of days".

Other celebrations:

Feast of Epona-

Eponalia is the feast day of Gaulish Goddess Epona, the Divine Mare & in the time of the Roman Empire it was celebrated on December 18th.

Epona is known to be one of a very few Gaulish deities whose names were spread to the rest of the Roman Empire. This seems to have happened because Roman cavalry units stationed in Gaul followed Her & adopted her as their Patroness. This may have started because many of the cavalry troops were conscripted from Gaul as they were superb horsemen. From Gaul the Romans took Epona with them including to Rome where She was given her own feast day on the 18 December. They worshipped her as Epona Augusta or Epona Regina & invoked her on behalf of the Emperor. She even had a shrine in the barracks of the Imperial Bodyguard.

Hunting of the Wren-

A traditional custom carried out on the Isle of Man on the 26 December, St. Stephen's Day. It consists of groups of people going around villages and towns singing and dancing a traditional song and dance around a decorated wren pole.

The earliest and most common folklore story accounting for the origin of hunt the wren tells of a fairy/enchantress/witch whose beauty lures the men of the Isle of Man to harm, for which she is chased and is changed into the form of a wren. It is therefore in punishment for her actions that the wren is hunted on St. Stephen's Day

Sources:

Farmersalmanac.com

Llewellyn's Complete Book of Correspondences by Sandra Kines

A Witch's Book of Correspondences by Viktorija Briggs

Llewellyn's 2023 magical almanac: practical magic for everyday living

Wikipedia

Encyclopedia Britannica

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