Before we know it, Summer will fade away and the Autumn Equinox will be here. As witches, we feel the changing of seasons in our hearts and in our bones. And we often want to reflect the changes inside of us on our immediate environment. One easy way to celebrate this shift in seasons is by cleansing, re-charging, and decorating our sacred space. So, in this Witches’ Cabinet post, we will explore ways to refresh and establish a powerful Mabon altar.

First, What is the Significance of Mabon?

Mabon, also called the Autumn Equinox, occurs annually around September 21st in the Northern Hemisphere and around March 21st in the Southern Hemisphere. While many pagans and witches refer to it as Mabon, this is actually a Welsh term and doesn’t apply to every culture’s Autumnal Equinox celebration. In fact, many different cultures have honored and acknowledged the Equinox and have different names for it. BUT no matter what you call it, the point is that it is the first official day of Autumn and the second harvest festival on the traditional Wheel of the Year. The reason it’s called the Equinox is because the day is equal length to the night on this day.

The themes present on Mabon include: balance, the Sun, manifestation, the harvest, prosperity, family, gratitude, death and resurrection. Colors are all Autumn colors: deep reds, maroon, brown, tan, gold, yellow, orange, and dark greens. Gods and goddesses of the harvest include Mabon, Modron, Demeter, Persephone, Pomona, Hades, Rhiannon, etc. Mabon foods to present as offerings on your altar: water, wine, bread, corn, pumpkin, squash. Consider these elements when refreshing the decorations in your home and when building your Mabon altar.

Next, Why Build and Keep an Altar?

When I first came to the pagan path, I heard the word altar mentioned so many times. And I wondered, what is the point in keeping an altar? Is it really worth the effort and time? To be honest with you, I didn’t keep an altar for many years because I was in the broom closet, as they call it. This means I felt uncomfortable sharing my spiritual beliefs and practice with the people in my life. I was raised in a fundamentalist, extreme Christian household and so any religion outside of their own was considered wrong. And if you said the word pagan or witch? Oh no! That was Satanic. Of the devil himself! So, I was afraid to talk about my beliefs. And so I considered the world my altar. At one point, I made myself an altar in a concealable basket with a lid. Then kept it hidden under my bed. Yes, both of these things worked. HOWEVER, once I decided to come out of the broom closet and build an actual altar out in the open, I realized what I had been missing!

Altars are a way to keep your beliefs going strong. In more ways than one. First, your altar acts as a sacred space where you can focus on your connection to your higher self. As well as any spirits or energies you might want to work with. These spirits and energies could include the gods, ancestors, fairies, elementals, elements (earth, air, fire, water), angels, saints, animal spirits, spirits of plants, and much more! It is a place where you can perform ritual, cast spells, perform divination, study, meditate, and pray. The energy at your altar will feel closer to Source energy than anywhere else in your home, because you will cleanse and charge it with the purest of divine vibrations. It can also act as a means of showing your family and friends that you are not afraid of what people think of you.

How to Put Together Your Mabon Altar

First, how you put together your Mabon altar is entirely up to you. You may decide to create a small altar in your kitchen, on a shelf in your bedroom, or even a portable altar that you store in a shoebox beside your bed. Whatever you feel is best for you and your lifestyle is most important. Your Mabon altar is a reflection of your personal energy and is a space where you honor the seasons of your life. It is also a space where you can meet freely with any energies that influence your spiritual path, i.e. gods, goddesses, ancestors, elementals, animals, etc.

If you’ve never set up an altar and this is all new to you, trust me…it’s simple. Choose a surface to act as your altar. A bookshelf, a corner of a counter, a nightstand, the top of a buffet table, etc. Then clear everything off it and physically clean any dust or debris. Next…

1. Spiritually Cleanse Your Altar and Tools

The most important step in building a Mabon altar, and the first step, is to spiritually cleanse your altar and your tools. To spiritually cleanse, also called purify, means to remove any energetic residue that’s attached itself to your space and tools. We can achieve a cleansed altar space in many different ways. Some of our favorite ways to cleanse are with smoke, with water, and with sound. I also use my crystal chakra wand to cleanse my sacred space from time to time.

Make a Cleansing Mabon Simmer Pot and Spray

If you’d like to cleanse your Mabon altar with Autumn vibes, make a simmer pot on your stove using Autumn herbs and fruits. Here’s what you’ll need:

• A large pot or dutch oven
• Water
• Slices of apples: invokes Autumn vibes and represents the change of seasons
• Cinnamon sticks (powder works if it’s all you have): to strengthen and protect
• Bay leaves: to purify and raise the vibrations
• Whole cloves: to purify and bring vitality
• Spray bottle

What to do:

1. Set your pot of water on the stove and turn it on low-medium heat.
2. Add your apples, cinnamon sticks, bay, and cloves.
3. Allow the water to come to a simmer and let simmer on stove for 3 hours, filling your home’s air with cleansing Mabon vibes.
4. When done, remove from heat and let it cool.
5. Strain the herbs and fruit out of the water and put in a spray bottle.
6. Spray the simmer pot water around your home and specifically over your Mabon altar space and tools to spiritually remove negative energy.

2. Then Charge It

After you’ve cleansed your Mabon altar space and tools, it’s time to charge your space with positive energy. One of the rules of magic goes like this: when you cleanse space of negative energy, you should always replace it with POSITIVE energy. This is called charging. An easy way to charge your Mabon altar for the Autumn season is by playing high vibrational music in the space. You can also say a prayer and ask your guides or gods to fill your altar space and tools with positive, prosperous energy for the season to come. I also enjoy dancing to the music near my altar space and then visualizing the energy I’ve raised as going into my altar and tools.

3. Set Up Your Mabon Altar with Autumn Vibes

NOW for my favorite part of the whole process…decorating! Mabon altars are some of the most fun to build, in my opinion. It’s truly the first Autumn sabbat and brings in all the comfy, cozy Fall feels! We talked about the elements and colors to include: the harvest, the Sun, Autumn colors like red, yellow, gold, and brown. You can also think about the animals that represent the Autumn season including the deer, squirrel, wolf, fox, dormouse, hedgehog, pig, turkey, crow, etc. Then consider the plants: corn, gourds, pumpkin, sunflower, apple, wheat, rue, sage, rosemary, oak leaf, maple leaf, acorns.

Here are a few things I always include on my Mabon altar:

• Candles in gold, yellow, red
• Gold candleholders with sun and moon symbols
• Incense and incense burner (typically made of Fall scents and herbs)
• Offering bowls, cups, baskets
• Dried Autumn leaves and acorns
• Crystals that symbolize Autumn: goldstone, tiger’s eye, moss agate, butterscotch jasper, red jasper, carnelian, orange calcite, etc.
• Small pumpkins and gourds (you can pick these up from your local grocery store!)
• Fresh or dried sunflowers and calendula in vases
• A vessel containing moon water
• Animal figurines or artwork of deer, squirrels, pigs
• A framed photo or artwork of whatever god and goddess I’m working with for that Season
• An herb bundle for cleansing purposes
• A golden bell for cleansing purposes and to initiate ritual

4. Last Mabon Touches

After I’ve set up my Mabon altar, I like to finish it off with little last minute touches. For instance, sometimes I add string lights to the altar. Sometimes I’ll spray an Autumn-themed perfume, body spray, or herbal spray over my entire altar and tools. I’ll light my candles, light the incense, and fill my offering bowls and baskets. Then I’ll say a prayer or chant and invite the new Autumn energy to flow through the space, filling it with positivity, health, beauty, and prosperity. I make sure to refresh my water and fresh offerings every day or as often as I need to. And, on the actual day of Mabon, I perform ritual and/or cast my magick at the altar. This feeds my altar and my magick…a sort of positive feedback loop that keeps the Autumn energies flowing all season.

What Do You Do With Your Altar when Mabon is Over?

I get asked this question a lot by those who are beginning on their spiritual journey. What do you do with your altar when Mabon is over? The answer is this – whatever you feel is best! There’s no one right or wrong way to maintain your altar. Sometimes I will change my altar based on the upcoming sabbat.

So, in this case, you would break down your altar again. Cleanse, charge, and then decorate for Samhain. OR you can keep your Mabon altar the same through the entire Autumn season and maybe just add a few different elements for Samhain. The choice is yours!

Then learn how to set up your Yule Altar!