"What Is...?" Wednesday

Mabon 

Autumn Equinox is the time of the descent of the Goddess into the Underworld. With her departure, we see the decline of nature and the coming of winter. This is a classic, ancient mythos, seen the Sumerian myth of Inanna and in the ancient Greek and Roman legends of Demeter and Persephone.


In September, we also bid farewell to the Harvest Lord who was slain at Lammas. He is the Green Man, seen as the cycle of nature in the plant kingdom. He is harvested and his seeds are planted into the Earth so that life may continue and be more abundant.


Mabon ("Great Son") is a Welsh god. He was a great hunter with a swift horse and a wonderful hound. He may have been a mythologized actual leader. He was stolen from his mother, Modron (Great Mother),when he was three nights old,but was eventually rescued by King Arthur (other legends say he was rescued by the Blackbird, the Stag, the Owl, the Eagle, and the Salmon). 


All along, however, Mabon has been dwelling, a happy captive, in Modron's magickal Otherworld -- Madron's womb. Only in this way can he be reborn. Mabon's light has been drawn into the Earth, gathering strength and wisdom enough to become a new seed. In this sense, Mabon is the masculine counterpart of Persephone -- the male fertilizing principle seasonally withdrawn. Modron corresponds with Demeter.


From the moment of the September Equinox, the Sun's strength diminishes, until the moment of Winter Solstice in December, when the Sun grows stronger and the days once again become longer than the nights.


Symbols celebrating the season include various types of gourd and melons. Stalk can be tied together symbolizing the Harvest Lord and then set in a circle of gourds. A besom can be constructed to symbolize the polarity of male and female. The Harvest Lord is often symbolized by a straw man, whose sacrificial body is burned and its ashes scattered upon the earth. The Harvest Queen, or Kern Baby, is made from the last sheaf of the harvest and bundled by the reapers who proclaim, "We have the Kern!" The sheaf is dressed in a white frock decorated with colorful ribbons depicting spring, and then hung upon a pole (a phallic fertility symbol). In Scotland, the last sheaf of harvest is called the Maiden, and must be cut by the youngest female in attendance.

Tarot Tuesday

The Empress

The Empress is the Great Mother card. She is the life force that gives birth to all creation. She is abundant and fruitful. Everything in life is born through her. She depicts the true nature with which we are born. When well placed during a reading she indicates that the questioner is using their talents to the full, and when reversed she indicates the opposite or a blockage in this area of your life. In other words, she symbolises a block to using ones inherent gifts and an inability to reach full creative potential.

The Empress is also the card of Maternal Love. It brings wonderful influences and benefits. No matter what the current circumstances, they can only be helped and improved by the appearance of this card.

The number of the Empress is 3 which stands for Creation. She also represents fertility, so children born of and with love may be a relevant factor now. In relationships, there will be a lot of love and affection. Expressions of generosity and kindness will be sincere and genuine. It is also a card of creativity; creative seeds are planted and will flourish and grow. This might be a work of art, a piece of writing or a musical endeavor.

When the Empress makes an appearance in a tarot spread, she is relatively easy to interpret. When representing someone other than the querent, she is almost always going to stand for a mother figure. If she's not the actual mother, then she is very likely someone who plays a similar role for the querent in one way or another. 


If the Empress is situated in such a way that she represents the querent herself, then it should be taken to mean that she is at a point in her life when she's feeling somewhat maternal, although this does not have to be in a traditional sense that revolves around children. She may also be feeling protective or "motherly" in regards to a new business venture or a new relationship.

On another note...I'd like to introduce you to a terrific new forum called The Magician's Grotto. I recently signed up as a member because ThelmicWaves is such a wellspring of information for me about the tarot, specifically the Thoth tarot deck I recently bought. The topics range from herbalism, spirituality, magick and the Tarot and a wonderful group of people to exchange ideas and information with. I found it extremely refreshing to join such a knowledgeable, high energy, fantastic place to learn and contribute!

Of Magma And Mentos

Mariah, my room mate Coral's youngest daughter, and her classmates have been learning all about volcano's. For two weeks we have been quizzing her on "volcano lingo" and what supplies were needed to construct a working model of one. Yesterday, was the proud conclusion of their lessons when each child and their volcano were lined up outside on the lawn to drop mentos into their diet coke bottles so cleverly hidden inside of the projects.

The weather was a perfect 68 degrees and it went rather well as only a few children ended up wearing the exploding magma, much to their chagrin. There were ribbons awarded to the most dramatic eruption and everyone had a spectacular time. I, however, must remember to remove the volcano from my trunk before I go shopping this Friday because it is so large that I nearly couldn't get the trunk of the poor Acura to shut.

Just like my last blog post, Mother Nature is an amazing creature and I never cease to marvel at her demonstrations of magnificence. I almost sense a theme happening, I wonder what the universe will bring to my attention tomorrow?

Greatest Show On Earth

Yesterday afternoon, I got to marvel at the power of Mother Nature. It wasn't like last year when the clouds were so black it was almost night and a tornado hit a few miles down the road causing thousands of dollars worth of damage. I will never forget thinking of how I never wanted to see the sky looking like that again.... thank goodness here in the Pacific Northwest, those occurrences are rare indeed.

It was a gloomy, rainy day with partial clearing in between storms but in the afternoon the weather gave one last hurrah with a spectacular thunder and lightning show before blowing past. The clouds rolled in producing the best lightning I've seen in a long time and in the distance the rain looked like white streaked ribbons against breaks in the clouds that allowed brilliant rays of the sunshine to stream through.

As I sat in the parking lot at the children's school, I simply stared... the occasional Oooo and Ahh escaping my lips on the more elaborate flashes that tore across the sturbulent sky. I found myself thinking "Who needs to spend so much money on those fancy-dancy lazer light shows when you can catch Mother Nature's greatest show on Earth." All we have to do is slow down and notice.