Mabon Ritual Essentials

Below is a list of ritual essentials to incorporate into your Mabon potions, spells and rituals, foods and decor or altar spaces. I think Mabon is the most “normal” sabbats of them all. For me, it’s much more about medicine making, drying flowers, baking breads, drinking coffee, tea and wine, and anxiously watching the weather report, wondering when I can switch over to my fall and winter wardrobe. I also tend to do the most self-care during this time so I invest a lot of my spiritual work into that. But Mabon is what you make it and while I am happy to inspire your journey, I provide this list so you can truly make your practice your own. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom to check out the ritual essentials I’m personally using this year and why I’ve selected them.

Intentions & Magical Workings: agriculture, ancestral healing, balance, concentration, death, endings and mourning, equality, goals and accomplishment, gratitude, grounding, healing, love, planning, preparation, sharing, success, transition, wisdom.

Colors: brown, green, orange, red, gold, burgundy

Plants: hazel, cedar, blackberry, chrysanthemum, marigold, grape, echinacea, hyssop, ivy, sage, tobacco, yarrow, spruce, pine, cedar

Essential Oils: lemon, mugwort, pine, violet leaf, rose, peppermint

Animals: eagle, goose, salmon, squirrel, stag, swan

Deities: Demeter, Dionysus, Epona, Hermes, Inanna, Ishtar, Juno, Jupiter, Mabon, Minerva, Morrigan, Persephone, Osun, Oya, The Muses, Thor, Thoth, Yemaya, Vulcan

Crystals: amber, gold, hematite, onyx, topaz

Symbols: baskets, scarecrows, wreaths, scythes

Foods: apples, barley, bread, carrots, corn, gourds, melons, nuts, oats, potatoes, wheat, beer, cider, wine

My personal choices to work with Mabon are:

Intention: Transition

I’ve been delaying this work for a while because it’s a scary thought to entertain something completely different from what I’ve known for so many years. But among my family and friends, I have been making an effort to call myself a writer and creative director rather than a business owner. I love writing and I love art and creativity. I don’t love the admin side of things even though I thought for a long time that I wanted to be this boss CEO. I’ve learned so much about myself these past two years and knowing my soul yearns for creativity over the grunt work is something I am learning to accept. Aside from that, I really want to move into the lifestyle space and I think ititss finally time that I make an effort to start transitioning to this new path.

Animal: Salmon

I really wanted to choose goose but I’m going with salmon, mostly because I can’t stand fish. I had a really bad experience when I was about eight when I nearly choked to death on a fish bone. I almost lost consciousness and haven’t like fish ever sense. Not even in the spiritual sense. So it seems this sabbat, I am really forcing myself out of my comfort zone. Interestingly enough, salmon represents determination, courage and wisdom which I didn’t know when I made this choice. It was based purely on intuition but seems my third eye was working overtime and guided me to the right decision.

Color: Brown

I had a color palette for many, many years which consistent of mostly neutrals. Then early this year, I thought that color palette reflected in me hiding my light so I went crazy with purple and orange for a while. But after some reflection, I have realized the color palette wasn’t about my light. In fact, it was one of the few things in the past decade where I made a very intentional choice for myself. It was something that I specifically decided I wanted and I enjoyed it for many years, despite how many complaints I got from family and friends (yes, they really complained about my color choices.) So I’m reclaiming my color palette so brown it is.

Symbol: Wreaths

I dried a lot of flowers this year and while I have made many wreaths with artificial flowers, I’ve never tried a dried flower wreath. I’ve been following @botanicaltales journey with dried flowers for a long time and having fun getting inspiration from her. I have an abundance of yarrow and cock’s tails so I think I’m going to start with those.

Crystal: Onyx

My first thought was hematite which I use all of the time so I challenged myself to choose something that is quite unusual for me. Onyx helps you find the strength to overcome feelings of grief, poor choices, and general life sadness; something I’ve been struggling through a bit recently. It also gives you the confidence and grounding needed to put plan to action. I’ll really need this if I’m going to be serious about transitioning to some of the bigger plans I’ve been sitting on.

Plant: Sage

Officially entering my wise woman era. I kid. I planted a sage plant last year that I thought had died but to my surprise, not only did it make a reappearance but it’s huge. I’ve already starting drink sage tea weekly to increase mental clarity but I’m working on a tea blend now for the fall. Perhaps I’ll share it here once I make one that I like.

Deity: The Muses

I’ll tell you a secret, I haven’t worked with deity energy in such a long time. It used to be something I really enjoyed in the early days of my practice but sat it down at some point. Lately, I’ve been getting clear messages to work with the Muses and the most significant growth I have ever had is when I followed an intuitive ping even though I had no reason why I needed it.