Mintlaw Holistic Centre
Natures Health Guide
Weekly Ogham Reading
a brief message from the Tree People to take with you through your week
Ruis/Elder: ‘Seek the Ancestors’ and ‘Wear your Wisdom Lightly’
Life’s Purpose
Something to think about, especially in these challenging times. Think of the small things you have done from the heart and see how you are aligned to your life’s purpose…
Mabon Altar
Sharing my Mabon/Alban Elfed/Autumn Equinox Seasonal Altar…
What can you see on the altar and how do you connect it to this season? What do you have on yours?
Mabon Blessings
May the Bounty of the Goddess and the Sacrifice of the God Balance and Guide you!
Third thoughts on the Mabon/Alban Elfed
There are many activities that are appropriate for this time of the year. Do any of them call to you?
Things to do to connect with this festival.
- celebrate your abundance/harvest
- collect seeds – mine are packaged and labelled
- cook with seasonal produce
- de-clutter
- gather last of the herbs – my herbs for drying are safely stored, ready for use
- make apple cake/pie/crumble – I’ve made an apple cake with apples from my tree
- make rose hip syrup – I’ve just made mine!
- make wine
- offer libation of wine, cider etc. to the earth – I did this at the base of my apple tree
- walk in fields/woods – frequently!
What can the energies of this festival help you with?
- attaining harmony
- being grateful
- bringing balance
- bringing equality
- bringing prosperity/abundance
- connecting to the underworld
- giving thanks
- let go before withdrawing (to emerge later)
- sacrificing something
Leaves shudder And blush at your passing, Lord Remembering the days of summer When you, Green and pollen bright Danced in the warm, caressing winds Proud and vital as the upthrusting oak. But now the sword-edge of frost Looms from the mist Balancing night and day A blade Poised at your throat. You shudder, And the leaves shudder with you. You grip your heart to the branch Savouring that one last touch Then you leap Spiralling through the crisp air As you dive upon the frost-blade Dying the leaves Red with your willing sacrifice. You rise, your lips Pale as the blade buried within you And make your way to the darkened shore At your feet, the leaves rustle and sigh And shudder And blush at your passing ~Lionrhod, Mabon 1994
Weekly Ogham Reading
a brief message to take with you through your week
Beith/Birch: ‘Push the Boundaries for your Own Sake’
Second thoughts on Mabon/Alban Elfed
This festival is usually celebrated between 20th-23rd September and celebrates the second harvest of fruits and vegetables. The grain harvest being gathered since Lughnasadh (Lammas) is safely in and is now joined by an abundance of fruit and vegetables.
The Goddess is in her zenith as Harvest Queen/Mother Nature, releasing the reward of labour and reverence of her Land that was promised in the days of Spring and Summer, before She turns into the her Crone aspect for winter, bringing decay, destruction and death. The God has sacrificed himself with the cutting of the last grain before he can return in the spring.
Alban Elfed comes from Welsh, meaning ‘light of autumn’ and is used by some modern pagan and druids. The name Mabon was probably applied quite recently. Mabon is a Welsh deity, son of Modron, who is an Earth/Mother Goddess. Mabon is the Child of Light and has similarities with Lugh. He was abducted from his mother when he was three days old (or three years old) and was thrown into a prison for eons until he was saved by the knights of King Arthur, after asking many creatures, or in some accounts he is rescued by the animals. Whichever way he emerges reborn as a Sun God and becomes his the champion and protector of his Mother, Goddess of the Land. He is a God of Hope and Freedom; he frees caught animals and weakens the chains of all those who are unjustly imprisoned. He protects all that is wild and free and is honoured whenever animals and people are defended or freed.
Mabon, the Child of Light with his mother, before his abduction 
The God Mabon as Protector
What did you begin working on earlier in the year that you can now harvest. What do you have in abundance? What do you need to gather to sustain you through the winter months? What do you hope for? How will you free yourself from a difficult situation or relationship?
First thoughts on Mabon/Alban Elfed
It is the time of the Autumnal Equinox
The Earth is tilted on its axis, meaning that as it orbits the Sun, the Sun illuminates the northern or southern hemisphere more depending on where the Earth is along its orbit. However, at two points in the year the Sun will illuminate the northern and southern hemispheres equally. These are known as the equinoxes. This year the Autumn Equinox falls on 22nd September at 2.30pm (last year it was on 23rd September at 8.50am).
Briefly, night and day are of equal length and in perfect equilibrium; dark and light, masculine and feminine, inner and outer, all in balance. From this cusp of transition, the days begin to wane, and darkness begins to defeat the light. The natural cycle is moving towards completion; the Sun’s power is waning; the nights grow longer, and the days are shorter and cooler. The sap of trees returns to their roots deep in the earth, changing the green of summer to the fire of the flaming reds, oranges and golds of autumn. We are returning to the dark from whence we came.
Which areas of your life are balanced, and which need balancing? What is fading and needs to be let go? What will you withdraw from? Where will you focus your inner light as the outer light fades?
Weekly Ogham Reading
a brief message to take with you through your week
Uilleand/ Honeysuckle: ‘Cling on to bring Sweetness’
Mother Nature
Well done Mother Nature, the Green Goddess – with grateful thanks for all you provide…
