Mintlaw Holistic Centre
Natures Health Guide
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…
WEEKLY OGHAM READING
MHC Weekly Ogham Reading: a brief message to take with you through your week.
Huath/Hawthorn: ‘Flowers or Thorns, Choose Which to Be’
September’s Full Moon
This month’s Full Moon falls on 2nd September at 06.22 BST (05.22 UTC) on the 11th degree of Pisces, with the Sun on the opposite 11th degree of Virgo.
Fun fact: The time it takes between full moons is known as a Synodic month and is 29.530587981 days long! At Full Moon, the entire face of the Moon is illuminated by the Sun’s rays. This key Moon phase lasts only a moment; the instant when the Sun and the Moon are aligned on opposite sides of Earth, which means that the exact time for a Full Moon varies throughout the planet. The Moon can appear to be Full a day before or after the exact moment of Fullness, when more than 98% of the Moon’s disc is illuminated.
This Moon is sometimes known as a Harvest Moon, however this year is a one in three years occurrence when the September full Moon is further away from the equinox than the October Full Moon (1st October), which is why this year, it is not known as a Harvest Moon, October’s Full Moon will be called this (did you follow that?). The named Harvest Moon is the only Full Moon name which is determined by an equinox rather than the month that it appears in. When not referred to as a Harvest Moon, this Moon is called the Grain or Corn Moon as this is the time for bringing in the crops, as celebrated in the first of three harvest festivals at Lughnasadh.
This is the Moon phase when things begin to come to fruition, we reap what we have sown throughout the year. Plans are showing signs of completion, now there is no going back. It is a time to be in harmony with others and of celebration and emotions of all kinds are heightened. This is a time to manifest what you intuitive know.
What do you think you have planted and nurtured throughout the year? What will you begin gathering in? Do you feel pleased or disappointed with your crops? How would you improve this next year?
THE JOY IN HEARING…
This enchanting photo was on the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids (OBOD) Facebook page.
‘The earth has music for those who listen.’~ George Santayana Beautiful Image by Roeselien Raimond: http://www.roeselienraimond.com/
Weekly Ogham Reading
MHC Weekly Ogham Readings – brief sayings to take with you through your week.
Uilleand/ Honeysuckle: ‘Bind or Unwind’
They grow up quickly…
3 months on and Clootie’s calf is growing up in the Cairngorm reindeer herd – ahh bless!
