Autumnal Equinox

Happy Mabon to all Pagans! To any non-Pagans, happy first day of Autumn! I wish I had remembered sooner, I guess I've just been busy. I'm enjoying the colorful leaves, I even risked looking like a leaf peeper by taking some pictures this morning.





Often around Mabon we remember the myth of Persephone and Demeter. While eating grapes this morning, though, I recalled the story of the god Dionysus (aka Bacchus). As a god of the harvest he, like Demeter, symbolizes the death and rebirth cycle of nature. He has appealed to me since I first began researching him last year.

Unfortunately I don't live near a place where I can pick my own grapes, but we can pick our own apples! That has been a tradition in my family since I was little. We always go apple picking every year. They went last weekend, so there will be plenty of apples for me to make yummy stuff with when I go home this weekend. If anyone has any awesome apple recipes they think I should try, please post them or a link to them.

Happy Ostara!

It's the Spring Equinox! A day for new beginnings and saying goodbye to the cold winter that kept us all inside for WAY too long. Sadly we can't be sure that means we won't get anymore snow. It's still early. But we can hope! The weather for this weekend looks good, maybe the rest of the snow will melt.

I plan to clean the house this weekend. I've been wanting to for a few weeks now, but life gets in the way. It's time to change my sheets and blankets especially. The nights are warmer now, so there's no need for the winter blankets anymore. This will be a weekend long project, because we do have other plans for today. The vet is doing a herd check at the farm that my sister and I do 4-H with, so we're planning on helping our aunt catch cows. We get to watch sonograms and who knows what else.

I'm not sure what else my weekend will bring, but it's going to be fun. Planting flowers will have to wait until the places around here start selling them. We live right across the road from a nursery, and we know the owners! Usually that means we can get some good deals. I want to do some baking tonight also, so I'll have a recipe to share soon!

Happy Mabon!

For those who may not know what Mabon is, (I am still technically trying to help newcomers xP) it is the day of the Autumn Equinox. Today there is equal time of light and dark. For me, it is a day to celebrate the turning of the Wheel of The Year. After today the days will be a little shorter, and the nights a little longer.

I did not think I would be able to do much to celebrate today, because I don't usually get to do much. The rest of my family is not Pagan, so we don't have a big meal or do other things I would love to do. The day was in my favor though, because my mom, out of no where, decided to make corn chowder! We had some corn on the cob that she used to make it. Corn on the cob = I had corn husks! So, I got to do something I have been wanting to do since I was little. I got to make a corn husk doll. Then, while procrastinating on my homework, I was browsing some other blogs. I was really looking for ideas of what to write for this Mabon post, but what I found was an idea of what I can bake for Mabon instead! I made apple crisp. It was good. In our haste to eat it while it was hot we cut two pieces out before I could take a picture. So now I have a picture of the crisp in the pan, and on my plate with some vanilla ice cream.

Just about my whole family was in the mood for Autumn things. My mom with the corn chowder, me with the corn husk dolls and apple crisp, and then my sister who decided to make a scare crow! I have no clue why it's dressed for winter. She does have to spend all night outside, so maybe it's a good thing!

I hope everyone has (or had) a good Mabon! I know mine was better than I expected. =)