Hi, my dear friends!
Only ten days left before the important natural event of the year - the Day of the autumnal equinox. I decided to change the order a little when I wrote about each such event a little after the fact and write in advance so that we all have the opportunity to prepare for this important event.
The energy that surrounds us during this period is in many respects similar to the energy that we meet on the day of the Vernal equinox. But still there is a fundamental difference. If the spring equinox sets us up for active activity (if you remember, we then talked about planning your life), then the autumnal equinox is the time of summing up and preparation for the "dead period".
Such natural changes are well explained by the myth of Persephone.
The story of Persephone, the sweet daughter of goddess Demeter who was kidnapped by Hades and later became the Queen of the Underworld, is known all over the world. It is actually the way of the ancient Greeks to explain the change of the seasons, the eternal cycle of the Nature's death and rebirth.
According to Greek Mythology, Persephone, the queen of the underworld, was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, the goddess of harvest and fertility. She was also called Kore, which means "maiden" and grew up to be a lovely girl attracting the attention of many gods. However, Demeter had an obsessed love for her only daughter and kept all men away from her.
The most persisting suitor of Persephone was Hades, the god of the Underworld. He was a hard, middle-aged man, living in the dark, among the shadows of the Dead. But his heart softened when he saw Persephone and was amazed by his youth, beauty and freshness. When he asked Demeter to marry her daughter, Demeter got furious and said there wasn't the slightest chance for that to happen. Hades was heart-broken and decided to get Persephone no matter what.
One day, while the young girl was playing and picking flowers along with her friends in a valley, she beheld the most enchanting narcissus she had ever seen. As she stooped down to pick the flower, the earth beneath her feet suddenly cleaved open and through the gap Hades himself came out on his chariot with black horses. Hades grabbed the lovely maiden before she could scream for help and descended into his underworld kingdom while the gap in the earth closed after them.
The other girls had not seen anything because everything happened very quickly. They didn't have a clue for the sudden disappearance of Persephone. The whole incident, however, had been witnessed by Zeus, father of the maiden and brother of the abductor, as well as by Helios, god of the Sun. Zeus decided to keep silent about the whole thing to prevent a fight with his brother while Helios wisely thought it better not to get involved in anything that didn't concern him.
A distraught and heartbroken Demeter wandered the earth looking for her daughter until her good friend Hecate, goddess of wilderness and childbirth, advised her to seek for the help of Helios, the all-seeing Sun god, in order to find her daughter. Helios felt sorry for Demeter, who was crying and pleading him to help her. Thus she revealed her that Persephone had been kidnapped by Hades. When she heard that, Demeter got angry and wanted to take revenge but Helios suggested that it was not such a bad thing for Persephone to be the wife of Hades and queen of the dead.
Demeter, however, could not let it gone. She was furious at this insult and deeply believed that Hades, who after all had only dead people for company, was not the right husband for her sweet daughter. She also got angry at Zeus for not having revealed this to her. To punish gods and to grief, Demeter decided to take a long and indefinite leave from her duties as the goddess of harvest and fertility, with devastating consequences. The earth began to dry up,harvests failed, plants lost their fruitfulness, animals were dying for lack of food and famine spread to the whole earth, resulting in untold misery.
The cries of the people who were suffering reached Olympus and the divine ears of Zeus. The mighty god finally realized that if he wouldn't do something about his wife's wrath, all humanity would disappear. Thus he tried to find another solution to both calm Demeter and please Hades. He promised Demeter to restore Persephone to her if it can be proved that the maiden stays with Hades against her will. Otherwise, Persephone belongs to her husband.
The crafty Hades learned this agreement and tricked his reluctant bride, who was crying all day and night from despair, to eat a few seeds of the pomegranate fruit. This was the food of the Underworld and every time someone ate even a few seeds of this, then, after a while, he would miss life in the Underworld. When the gathering in front of Zeus took place and Persephone was asked where she would like to live, she answered she wanted to live with her husband. When Demeter heard that, she got infuriated and accused Hades that somehow he had tricked her daughter.
A great fight followed and Demeter threatened that she would never again make the earth fertile and everyone on Earth would die. To put an ed on this quarrel, Zeus decided that Persephone would spend half months with her husband in Hades and half months with her mother on Olympus. This alternative pleased none of the two opponents, nevertheless that had no other option but accept it.
Thus the lovely maiden Persephone became the rightful wife of Hades and Queen of the Underworld. During the six months that Persephone spent in the Underworld, her mother was sad and not in the mood to deal with harvest. Thus she would leave the Earth to decline.
According to the ancient Greeks, these were the months of Autumn and Winter, when the land is not fertile and does not give crops. Whenever Persephone went to Olympus to live with her mother, Demeter would shine from happiness and the land would become fertile again and fruitful. These were the months of Spring and Summer. Therefore, this myth was created to explain the change of the seasons, the eternal cycle of the Nature's death and rebirth.
Now the energies of Mabon will gradually increase. The first leaves begin to turn yellow, the weather becomes cooler, vital activity in nature is on the decline. After September 23 (Day of the autumnal equinox) the next 10 days or two weeks these energies will be especially active, during this it will be a very favorable period to assess how ready we are to accept them and correct those moments that need it.
Despite the fact that the autumnal equinox differs from the spring equinox with much more vivid colors and abundance, this is the period when nature prepares to plunge into winter sleep. In traditional society, this was also the period of transition from the active phase of life, when people were actively engaged in agricultural work, to more passive, winter. If we talk about modern society, then we hardly see a decline in social activity in the autumn-winter period. Rather, it happens the other way around, because the period of summer holidays is coming to an end. In this way, I propose to focus on the psychological characteristics of this period and once again return to the gender roles of the Wheel of the Year.
If we project the period of Mabon for the period of human life, then we are talking about a period of decline in social activity. Most often this occurs in connection with a certain age. Usually the first signs of Mabon's energy in our life we begin to feel since the age of 40. But this can also mean the end of some significant period in life. For example, you begin to feel that you have lost interest in the type of activity that you previously did.
Since any equinox is a period of equilibrium, it is favorable for establishing harmony in our life, bringing it into a harmonious, balanced state.
What to look for in this period
How much are you ready to accept the inevitability of changes?
This is about all areas of life.
If it's about age changes, how much are you willing to take them for granted? This is especially true of changes in appearance. The struggle to preserve the young appearance is a huge industry today. Many people not only spend huge sums of money, but often sacrifice their health in order to maintain a youthful appearance. In a simpler version, this is manifested in absurd attempts to follow the youth fashion. I do not want to say that to look young and strive for it is bad, but everything should be harmonious. Unfortunately, I know many women who, instead of enjoying the beautiful age, spend time chasing after the spirit of youth. They suffer so much from the fact that the youth has passed, that they lose their present.
In a career this can be manifested in the fact that a person no longer has enough energy to compete with younger and more active people. Instead of suffering in this regard, you should look, maybe it's worth changing the field of activity and moving from practice to theory, to start sharing experience?
You may also have a feeling that in your field of activity you have reached the limit and are no longer developing. This is a difficult moment. On the one hand, your position is quite stable, but on the other hand the job no longer brings you satisfaction. This may apply to other spheres of life.
It is also worth remembering that you do not have to prove anything to anyone. Maybe you should focus on what you have long wanted to do? Writing, drawing, music, traveling. This list can be continued. In the world there is so much more interesting.
How much do you get involved in different situations?
As we have already said, the equinox is a very favorable period for achieving balance. Pay attention to your emotional manifestations. If you constantly react too emotionally to any situation, it takes away your energy. The best indicator is a traffic jam. At the end of this post, you will also find my favorite video on the topic that everything that is going on in our lives, even a traffic jam, is not just happening and we need wisdom to react calmly.
Who am I? Where I am?
At some point, we begin to evaluate our "location". This is often called a middle age crisis. But it is important to remember that we usually evaluate our position in society and we are oriented at the social standards of success. But should we actually meet this standard? The wisdom of the age is given to us in order to understand that our spiritual comfort is much more important than the external attributes of success.
Of course, all these issues and problems can arise not only during the autumn equinox, but the energy of Mabon can help to find answers more successfully.
To summarize, I also want to draw your attention to the fact that unlike the vernal equinox, when we paid much attention to planning our life, Mabon is a favorable period for summing up the results.