The Journal · mabon

15 September 2026 · 13 min read

Part One, Mabon, the Fruit Harvest and Returning to Our Roots

Mabon is the turning point.

The leaves have begun to change colour, the mornings carry a cooler breath and the golden light of late summer has softened into something deeper. Hedgerows are heavy with berries, apples hang from laden branches, pears ripen quietly on their trees and everywhere the earth seems to be offering one final abundance before the year begins its descent towards winter.

This is Mabon.

Within the modern Pagan Wheel of the Year, Mabon is the second of the three harvest celebrations:

Lughnasadh marks the first harvest, traditionally associated with grain and the fruits of early summer. Mabon brings us into the fruit harvest and Samhain completes the cycle as the final harvest of crops, nuts and culling those animals that are not likely to make it through the winter months, the threshold into winter.

Mabon is also the Autumn Equinox, the moment when light and darkness reach their annual point of balance. In the Northern Hemisphere, the 2026 Autumn Equinox falls on 23 September in the UK. From this point onwards, the nights gradually become longer than the days and the Wheel begins turning more deliberately towards darkness and perhaps this is why Mabon can feel so poignant.

It is a celebration of abundance, but it is also a celebration of impermanence.

We gather the fruit because we know it will not remain on the trees forever. We preserve what we can, we give thanks for what has grown and we begin to understand that letting go is not the opposite of abundance.

It is part of it.

The magic of the second harvest

Mabon is often described as the fruit harvest and there is something particularly beautiful about this distinction.

The first harvest is about grain, the seeds that have been planted, nurtured and transformed into nourishment. The second harvest is softer, it is the harvest of orchards and hedgerows. Apples, pears, blackberries, elderberries, hawthorn berries, grapes, plums and other autumn fruits remind us that growth does not always arrive through force. Sometimes it ripens slowly, quietly and almost imperceptibly.

The fruit simply becomes ready.

This makes Mabon a beautiful season for reflection.

• What have you been growing?
• What has quietly ripened within you?
• Which dreams that once felt like tiny seeds are now beginning to bear fruit?
• Perhaps more importantly, what are you ready to gather in?

Mabon asks us to pause before immediately rushing towards the next thing.

To look around.

To notice.

To count the blessings that have accumulated almost unnoticed.

The word Mabon itself is relatively modern, having been popularised in the twentieth century as a name for the Autumn Equinox. The seasonal observance it describes, however, draws upon much older human relationships with harvest, changing light, food preservation and gratitude for the earth's abundance.

For modern Witches and Pagans, Mabon has therefore become a beautiful meeting place between ancient seasonal rhythms and contemporary spiritual practice.

What better place to explore that meeting than through tarot and oracle cards?

Rooted Remembrance: coming home to ourselves

Rae Serafina Barker's Rooted Remembrance Tarot feels almost made for Mabon and the Autumn, Winter months.

At its heart, the deck is an invitation to descend into the roots of deep knowing and memory, to anchor into what matters and reconnect with the magic that has always belonged to us.

These are profoundly Mabon themes.

Autumn teaches us about roots, above the ground, everything appears to be changing. Leaves fall, flowers disappear, the landscape transforms. But beneath the earth, the roots remain. They hold. They remember. They wait.

There is a wonderful metaphor here for our own lives.

We can experience enormous external change while something much deeper within us remains constant.

Mabon invites us to find that place.

The part of ourselves beneath the noise, the part that remembers who we are when we stop performing, pleasing, rushing and striving. The part that knows.

This is where Rooted Remembrance can become more than a tarot deck during the Autumn Equinox. It can become a seasonal companion.

A way of asking:

• What have I grown?
• What has sustained me?
• What needs to be gathered?
• What needs to be released?
• What do my roots remember?

The Deep Place: descending beneath the surface

If Rooted Remembrance helps us find our roots, The Deep Place Oracle invites us to go further. Rae describes the deck through three realms: the Above, the Below and the Liminal.

The Above speaks to the visible world.

The Below carries the unseen, subconscious, shadows and mysteries.

The Liminal occupies those fascinating spaces in between, neither one thing nor another, but the threshold where transformation can happen.

This makes the deck particularly beautiful for Mabon as the Equinox itself is a liminal moment. The day is neither fully dominant nor the night. The year is neither summer nor winter. We are standing between what has been and what is coming. Mabon therefore gives us permission to inhabit the in-between. We do not have to know exactly where we are going, we can simply acknowledge where we are.

There is a tendency in modern life to rush through transitional periods. We want answers, we want plans, we want certainty.

But nature does not rush. An apple does not become ripe because we demand that it does.

A leaf does not turn red because we tell it to. A tree does not apologise when it releases its leaves. Mabon teaches us another rhythm.

Ripen. Gather. Release. Rest.

Stone + Shadow: embracing the darker half of the year

Then there is The Stone + Shadow Oracle, this is perhaps the deck of the three that most clearly speaks to the descent that follows the Equinox. Rae describes it as an exploration of ancient memory, rooted presence and underworld journeys, inviting us to descend, remember, return, break away and come alive.

There is something beautifully autumnal about that.

As the light diminishes, we are naturally drawn inward. The trees begin releasing what they no longer need. The earth receives fallen leaves. Seeds disappear beneath the soil. The landscape itself becomes an illustration of shadow work.

Nothing is wasted.

What appears to be an ending becomes nourishment for what comes next. This is one of the great mysteries of autumn. The falling is part of the growing.

The releasing is part of the becoming and the darkness is not necessarily something to fear.

Sometimes darkness is simply the place where transformation happens unseen.

A Mabon Tarot and Oracle Spread

For this reading, place Rooted Remembrance Tarot in the centre and keep The Deep Place and Stone + Shadow beside you.

You can use all three decks, or simply choose whichever deck calls to you.

The Fruit Harvest Spread

1. The Seed: What did I plant earlier this year?
2. The Root: What has quietly sustained me?
3. The Fruit: What is now ready to be gathered?
4. The Fallen Fruit: What opportunity, dream or expectation has naturally reached its ending?
5. The Shadow: What am I reluctant to acknowledge?
6. The Liminal Doorway: What is changing within me?
7. The Harvest Gift: What blessing am I being invited to recognise?
8. The Rooted Wisdom: What should I carry with me into the darker half of the year?

You could pull cards 1 to 4 from Rooted Remembrance, card 5 from Stone + Shadow, card 6 from The Deep Place and then return to Rooted Remembrance for the final two cards.

• Don't rush the interpretation.
• Look at the imagery.
• Notice the first thing your eyes are drawn towards.
• Pay attention to what feels comfortable and what feels uncomfortable.

A Mabon reading is not necessarily about predicting what will happen. It is about listening to what is already happening.

A Mabon Meditation: Beneath the Autumn Tree

• Find somewhere quiet.
• Light a candle if you wish.
• Place your tarot or oracle deck nearby, but do not draw any cards yet.
• Close your eyes.
• Take a slow breath in.
• slowly breathe out.
• Again slow deep breaths
• Allow your shoulders to soften.
• Imagine yourself standing in an autumn woodland.

The ground beneath your feet is soft with fallen leaves. The air is cool. You can smell earth, moss and the faint sweetness of ripening fruit. Ahead of you stands an ancient tree. Its branches are wide. Its roots disappear deep into the earth.

Walk towards it. Place your hand against the bark. Feel its texture beneath your palm.

Ask silently:

What have I grown this year?

Do not search for an answer.

Simply listen.

Perhaps an image appears.

Perhaps a memory.

Perhaps a person.

Perhaps nothing at all.

There is no wrong answer, now look at the branches, some leaves remain. Others have fallen. Imagine each fallen leaf carrying something you are ready to release.

A fear.

An expectation.

A disappointment.

A version of yourself that no longer fits.

You do not have to force anything away, simply allow the leaves to fall. Now turn your attention towards the roots, imagine them travelling beneath you, deep into the earth. They connect with everything that has come before.

Ancestors.

Teachers.

Experiences.

Mistakes.

Joy.

Loss.

Love.

Wisdom.

You are not separate from the path that brought you here.

You are part of it.

• Take a deep breath.
• Say quietly:

I honour what has grown.

I gather what nourishes me.

I release what has finished.

I trust what is becoming.

• When you are ready, slowly return to the room.
• Open your eyes.
• Place your hands upon your deck.
• Ask:

"What do I most need to remember as the Wheel turns towards darkness?"

• Now draw one card.

Let that be your Mabon message. Take a moment to write up your meditation and your Mabon message.

Mabon Spell for Gratitude and Abundance

This is a gentle spell rather than a spell for material gain, it is about recognising abundance.

You will need:

One apple or dried apple

A small candle

A piece of paper

Pen

A pinch of cinnamon

• Place the apple beside your candle.
• Write down five things you are grateful for. They don't have to be enormous. Perhaps it is a conversation,

A morning walk.

A creative idea.

A friend.

A warm home.

A lesson.

Your own resilience.

• Light the candle.
• Hold the apple in both hands and think about everything that went into bringing it into being: seed, soil, rain, sunlight, blossom, pollination, time.
• Then say:

"As fruit ripens upon the tree,

May I recognise abundance within me.

For what has grown, I give my thanks.

For what has fallen, I release.

For what is coming, I make space.

Rooted I stand and grateful I remain.

So may it be."

• Sprinkle a tiny amount of cinnamon around the candle if desired.
• Leave the apple beside the candle for a while.
• Later, eat it mindfully.

The spell is completed through consumption: receiving the harvest rather than simply asking for more.

Creating a Mabon Altar

A Mabon altar doesn't need to be elaborate. In fact, the most beautiful altar may simply be a gathering of things that belong to the season.

Try:

Apples and pears

Blackberries or other seasonal berries

Fallen leaves

Acorns

Conkers

Pinecones

Small stones

Autumn flowers

A beeswax or autumn-coloured candle

A small bowl of grain

Your tarot or oracle decks

A favourite crystal

Photographs or tokens representing people you are grateful for

Place your three Rae Serafina Barker decks together at the heart of the altar.

Rooted Remembrance represents the roots.

The Deep Place represents the descent and liminal spaces.

Stone + Shadow represents the deeper mysteries of autumn and the journey towards the dark.

Together they create a beautiful symbolic journey:

Root to Descent to Remembering to Transformation to Return.

Mabon Incense Blend

Autumn has its own scent.

Warm spice.

Dry leaves.

Woodsmoke.

Apple.

Earth.

This simple loose incense blend can be made using dried culinary ingredients.

You will need:

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

1 tablespoon dried apple peel

1 teaspoon crushed cinnamon

1 teaspoon dried lavender

2 dried cloves

½ teaspoon dried orange peel

A tiny pinch of ground cloves

5 drops of cinnamon oil

5 drops of rosemary oil

5 drops sweet orange oil

A small pinch of Dragons Blood resin

A small pinch of Frankincense resin or 5 drops of Frankincense oil

A teaspoon of honey

• Place the ingredients in a mortar and gently grind them together while thinking about your intention. Mix the honey in last.
• As you mix, say:

"Earth beneath me,

"Autumn around me,

Harvest within me.

I release what has finished

and welcome what is becoming."

• Burn only a small amount on a suitable heatproof charcoal incense burner, in a well ventilated room and never leave burning incense unattended.
• If you prefer not to burn incense, place the mixture in a small bowl and allow the fragrance to naturally scent your altar.

A Mabon Fruit Harvest

Perhaps the simplest way to celebrate Mabon is to eat the harvest.

Prepare a plate of:

Apple slices, pears, blackberries, grapes, figs, nuts, seeds and a little honey, some chutney and savory biscuits if you like.

• Place it on your altar before your meal.
• Give thanks.
• Then share it.

Because abundance is not only about having enough. It is also about having enough to give and perhaps that is one of the deepest lessons of Mabon. The fruit tree does not keep every apple for itself. The hedgerow does not ask who deserves the berries.

Nature gives.

We gather.

We share....

....and the Wheel turns.

In Part Two, we will move deeper into the Mabon season with a complete seasonal ritual, a longer guided meditation, a second tarot and oracle working, a Mabon fruit cake filled with autumn apples and berries, a warming Mabon-inspired drink and a final ritual of release and gratitude for the turning of the Wheel.

•♡• May your path be illuminated, your intuition trusted and your cards always reveal the wisdom you seek. Until next time... welcome to The Guilded Veil •♡•