Mabon Ritual
Facilitated by Galadriel
September 20, 2008
At The Web on Galen Road
Who Is Mabon?
The Great Son of the Great Mother Modron, Mabon is for that reason often celebrated as the God of young men, hunter, musician, lover and comrade. He is connected to Apollo and Gwyn ap Nuad (Kind of the Fairies and the Underworld).
Although most sources name him the Young God, His position on the Wheel of the Year belies that. He represents the dying sun, the sun as it turns from dominance to the lesser portion of the day at the Autumnal Equinox. His strength diminishes between now and Yule when the Dark reigns in the longest Night but is defeated by the rising Sun of the new year. From this, one would think that Mabon is the Sun God in his maturity, the God who has accepted the sacrifices of the Harvest at Lammas and Mabon and who rules over land as it enters it dormant rest. This is not the working of youth. It is the wisdom of the Sage.
Some Celtic traditions claim Mabon as the first God who brought life from the Void by drawing it from the womb of the Great Mother. In that we would see another mother-son pairing as in Isis and Horus.
Mabon was honored at Hadrian’s Wall. His sacred sites are scattered through out northern England and southern Scotland. Because of his positioning at the Equinox, he sometimes seen as a masculine Persephone who descends to the Underworld of Fairy and returns in the spring as Corr Derga. He can be celebrated as Celtic Dionysus who blesses the grape harvest and wine, though this might be more typical of the Gaulish Mabon since the Ancients’ wine making and grapes were more successful in France than England.
Giving his scanty and contradictory record, Mabon asks us to seek His name and blessing and learn more of who He is through trance and channeling.
Who is Modron?
Modron, The Great Mother Goddess, is mother to Mabon, Owein and Morfudd, daughter of King of the Fairies Afallach. There is a connection between Modron and the Morrigan because they are the Washerwoman at the Ford, but Modron always appears by herself.
In the ‘Washer at the Ford’ the tale is told that each evening the village dogs went out and barked at nothing, their hackles on end and their teeth barred. The dogs were fierce in their challenge to this unknown unseen thing, so much so that the villagers were afraid to approach the ford after sunset. All, that is, except the hero Urien of Rheged which is to say Cumberland.
One night, Urien took it upon himself to investigate this phenomena. He went alone to the ford, but saw nothing but a lovely woman washing clothes. She was not one of the villagers, of that he was sure. Being a lust lord, he approached and seduced her, or rather took her without even asking what she thought of him. When they had finished, rather then cursing him she blessed his efforts saying she had been sent to the ford to sash clothes endlessly until she conceived a child by a Christian man. She explained she was the daughter of the King of the Fairies, and as such seducing a Christian was more difficult than one might think.
Urien, who had thought he was the one doing the seducing, agreed to return in a year when she would present him with a son. He did, and not only did the Fairy Maid bear him a son Owein who became King of Rheged in his own right and is buried in Penrith, but bore him a twin daughter Morfudd too.
There is little enough information on either Modron or her daughter Morfudd. Again we are invited to seek Them out in trance and tell their stories too.
Ritual
Summoner
Smudge as all enter the Circle
Grounding
Circle Casting
Calling the Quarters
Evoking the Mother Goddess Modron
Evoking the Sun God Mabon
Welcoming the Ancestors & Spirits (Merlin)
Ritual Intent: Our 2nd Harvest
The First Harvest was at Lleunasadh and the Full Moon past when we gave thanks for what we had and released what we were finished with. Again we approach the Gods and recognize the harvest continues. The layers of our souls are peeled back like an onion as we prepare for the 3rd Harvest at Samhain.
At this Equinox season, we are reminded of the balance we hold between light and dark, the world of humans and the world of Fairy. We walk between them, suspended in belief and doubt, joy and fear, knowing and mystery. In this season, we take inventory of our soul to prepare them to meet the Dead at Samhain. What shall we harvest and place on the balance scales as salt? What shall we plant, and place on the balance scales as meal?
Opening a Gateway for the children (Summoner)
Blessing the Salt and Meal
Meditation: We ask to meet the Gods and Goddess of the Season and to find the truth of what we have done and should do. Following the Meditation, approach the scales and acknowledge the working you have done and shall do.
The Talking Stick: When you have the talking stick, you are the center of the Universe. The community listens. What you say is important and understood to be honest and from the heart. We all agree not to speak if we do not hold the stick. We can signal our joy at your speaking with our finger twinkles. We are not in the circle to reply to your truth, but to witness it and honor you. We can pass with a simple greeting or not speak at all. What you say in the Circle remains here with us.
The Children Return to the Circle as we sing:
We are the ole people, we are the new people
We are the same people stronger than before.
Cauldron of changes, Feather on the Bone
Arch of Eternity, Hole in the Stone.
Release Mabon, God of the Sun
Release Modron, The Great Mother of Fairy
Release the 4 Directions
Grounding
Opening the Circle with Song:
The Circle is opened but unbroken
May the love (joy, peace) of the God & Goddess
Go in your heart.
Merry Meet and Merry Part
And Merry Meet Again
