The Autumn Equinox, Goddess Modron and a Rosehip recipe for the colder months
A look at some of the names for the festivals in the Wheel of the Year, how the Welsh Mabinogion influenced the name for the Autumn Equinox and ways to harness the medicinal gifts offered by rosehips
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The Wheel of the Year has turned once again which means that this newsletter edition is open to everyone, with five more in the archives for this year so far. Follow the link via the button below to read them. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive all of the editions by clicking the button above. Thank you.
Hello everyone,
Welcome to the sixth of this year’s eight free editions of this newsletter in line with the Pagan Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year.
I hope you’re all doing well as we edge towards the final week of September with noticeably chillier temperatures and longer nights. As I stood in my back garden, optimistically pegging out my washing this morning, I did ponder whether I’d stick to my usual ritual of waiting until Samhain (31 October) to turn on the heating!
Autumn Equinox
6 short months ago I was writing about the Spring Equinox and explaining what is going on with the earth’s rotation around the sun. Here’s a visual recap:
So on the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes the sun is shining directly over the equator giving us equal hours of daylight and darkness on both occasions. In the Northern hemisphere we call the Equinox that falls at 07:50BST on 23 September the Autumn Equinox, however, in the Southern Hemisphere, this will be the Spring Equinox (Happy first day of Spring to those in Southern climes!). Also for a bit of wider context, the tilt of the Earth’s axis as she travels around the sun will become less tilted towards the sun on the approach to the Winter Solstice (20/21 December) giving us the least hours of daylight of the year, and the longest night.
If you look at your local sunrise and sunset time tomorrow, you’ll notice that they aren’t exactly at the same time (06:53BST and 19:03BST for me here in Yorkshire). This is because sunrise and sunset are measured when the top edge of the sun can be seen over our (local) horizon, rather than measuring when the centre of the sun reaches the horizon. The day when equal day and night actually occurs according to sunrise and sunset times will fall on Monday for me here in Yorkshire and this is known as the equilux. Take a look at your local sunrise/sunset times and let me know when you’ll be experiencing the same hours of daylight and darkness in the coming days.
The Autumn Equinox also heralds the first day of Autumn according to the Astronomical calendar. If you read the newsletter edition linked below, you’ll know all about the difference between Astronomical and Meterological Spring.
How will you be marking this special occasion in the Wheel of the Year? I’d love to hear in the comments below. For inspiration, take a look at my Equinox and Solstice rituals which you can find via the button below.
Mabon
According to some depictions of the Celtic Wheel of the Year, the name given to the Autumn Equinox is ‘Mabon’, however, this name isn’t as old as the Wheel herself. Rebecca Beattie writes in her book Wheel of the Year that when the concept of the Wheel travelled to the USA, new ‘Celtic’ names were added to four of the sabbats (festivals) - Ostara, Litha, Lughnasadh and Mabon with the reason behind this supposedly to make the Wheel sound more ‘authentic’. That said, it’s a matter of personal choice what we choose to call these seasonal transitions and having the name ‘Mabon’ points us in the direction of an ancient Welsh text which I’ll talk more about next.
Goddess Modron
When I was looking in stories and myths for a feminine deity to symbolise this time of year, I found a number of the deities for Autumn to be masculine Gods. As with many myths, feminine archetypes are often only part of a story to progress the ‘hero’s journey’ rather than them going on a journey themselves. This is something that I learnt from Sharon Blackie (see below) on one her recent online courses and in her book If Women Rose Rooted, and is an idea that has planted a seed and got me thinking about how our folklore in the British Isles lacks an alternative ‘heroine’s journey’.
Cue Modron. Let’s call her Goddess Modron. She is a Welsh Earth Mother from the Medieval text the Mabinogion. Her name appears several times in the Kilhwch and Olwen story of this text, mainly in reference to a hero’s journey to find her son, Mabon, who was taken from her at only three nights old. Despite her purpose in the tale being the mother archetype, I love the fact that the quest that the hero(s) embark upon to rescue Mabon involves a whole menagerie of animals: an ouzel (see below), a stag, an owl, an eagle, and a salmon. Many first nation stories tell of more-than-human allies helping a human on a quest or journey and this story has many parallels. With regard to how Modron plays a part in the rescue of her son, as an Earth mother, I believe that the animals’ willingness to help the hero(s) find her son is thanks to a deep respect for Modron and an opportunity to offer reciprocity for her appreciation for the more-than-human beings that inhabit the Earth.
Rosehips
In the U.K, September is a time of red and purple abundance in the hedgerows with rowan berries (see above), hawthorn berries (haws), sloes and rosehips be-jewelling the bushes. Looking back to the first edition of this newsletter, almost a year ago, I shared that:
[Rosehips] protective properties were first made common knowledge during WWII when UK government scientists realised that, weight for weight, rosehips contain over 20 times more vitamin C than oranges! As a result the Ministry of Food recommended rosehip syrup for children’s health and created a national week for rosehip foraging with Scouts, Guides and other groups would head out to harvest this powerful gifts from nature.
Source: The Woodland Trust
From Mabon to Samhain Samhain is an excellent time to gather Rosehips before the first frost. Click on the button below to access my recipe for rosehip syrup - a powerful tool to have in your cupboard to protect against the inevitable Winter colds.
That’s all from me for this edition.
The next edition of this newsletter, which comes out on the next Full Moon on 29 September, will only be available to Moontime Musings paid subscribers. Please consider subscribing for just £3 a month or £35 a year to help support the time and energy that goes into creating these newsletters. Please feel free to share this free edtion with your friends and family.
Thank you for reading and Autumn Equinox blessings.
Charly x