![\"2010](\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/2010-10-04_0351.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAs I’ve said here for the last six weeks, at the garden level, most of the \u00a0harvest is already done, but the big cash crops like wheat, corn and soybeans aren’t ready until late September or early October. \u00a0This is the time, in the plains states, when the huge custom combine companies will sweep the fields of wheat. \u00a0It is also the time when the corn pickers and soy bean harvesters enter the fields. \u00a0These crops are the chief cash crops in Minnesota. \u00a0So, it’s the harvest moon that hangs over this work, which often goes into the night, not over the warmer nights of August.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The harvest moon is the full moon nearest to the fall equinox. \u00a0The moon today is 90% full and waning and today is the autumnal equinox or what neo-pagans call Mabon. \u00a0The aspect of the equinox that speaks most deeply to me is the transition I mentioned yesterday from a day dominated by light toward a day dominated by dark. \u00a0This process now tips over in favor of the dark, though today is, roughly, a day when the two balance, 12 hours for each.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Crone, Ian Harriot<\/a><\/p>\n But there are other ways of marking Mabon. \u00a0The Wiccans celebrate Mabon as the transition from Mother to Crone for the Goddess and the preparation for the death of the God. \u00a0You may recall from earlier writing about the Third Phase that the Wiccans mark the year into thirds: \u00a0Maiden-Mother-Crone. \u00a0So we now enter the seasonal equivalent of the Third Phase, the harvest either full in or almost so and a time of enjoying the fruits of the harvest, of resting, of concentrating arrives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n (Hades and Persephone in the underworld Seated on A Throne in the form of an Eagle’s head with Cerebus before Them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/i>Artwork Location\u00a0 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France)<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n An ancient Greek myth, the story of Demeter and Persephone, explains this seasonal turn, too. \u00a0This is the time when Persephone pays for having eaten the pomegranate seeds while in the underworld. \u00a0She returns to live with her husband Hades and reign as his queen. \u00a0Her mother, the goddess of grain, of the harvest and fertility, goes into mourning as her daughter disappears. \u00a0Plant life shrivels as she withdraws from it, only reviving when Persephone returns in the Spring and with her Demeter’s joy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fall \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Harvest Moon Yes, today we move beyond the first harvest festivals, the fairs and markets of August, into the period most … Continue reading Mabon. Fall Equinox. 2013<\/span>