The candles burn both black and white upon the altar, symbolising the union of night and day, life and death, order and chaos and becoming a beacon of balance in our lives. The altar is also decorated with fruits and berries symbolic of the seasonal harvest of the vine.
Autumn Equinox is celebrated on 21st September in the Northern hemisphere and 21st March in the Southern Hemisphere and is the second harvest festival, the fruit festival. This is when the vine ripened fruit and the orchard trees are harvested in great bounty.
During this festival we celebrate the abundance of the earth, and make wine from the excess fruit, to preserve the richness of the fruits of the earth to give us joy throughout the year.
Both equinoxes are times of equilibrium. Day and night are equal and the tide of the year flows steadily, but whilst the Spring Equinox manifests the balance before action, the Autumn Equinox represents the restful balance after action, the time to take satisfaction in the work of the summer and reap its benefits.
Autumn Equinox is also known as Alban Elfed, Autum Equinox, Autumnal Equinox, Cornucopia, Feast of Avilon, Festival of Dionysus, Harvest Home, Mabon, Night of the Hunter, Second Harvest Festival, Wine Harvest, Witch’s Thanksgiving and the first day of Autumn.
This is the time of the Vine. The God, who was Lord of the Greenwood in the summer and the Corn King at Lughnasadh, now dances his last dance upon the earth, as Dionysus, Greek God of wine, music and dance, before making his descent to the underworld to take up his role as Dread Lord of Shadows.
The Lord of Light, the Sun King, His power waning, exists briefly in balance with the Dark Lord before giving way to the growing power of darkness, but the power of the sun is encapsulated in the grape and the fruits of the earth. The wine will remind us of his power throughout the year.
The leaves falling from the trees and rotting into the earth are a reflection of the Horned God’s journey from the Greenwood to the underworld, deep into the womb of the Mother, where He will reside until He begins to emerge with the new green shoots in the spring.
The Autumnal Equinox marks the completion of the harvest, and thanksgiving, with the emphasis on the future return of that abundance.The Eleusinian mysteries – the sacred mysteries of Hekate, Demeter and Persephone – took place at this time, during which the initiate was said to have been shown a single ear of grain with the words “In silence is the seed of wisdom gained”.
The theme of the Autumn Equinox is the completion of the harvest, the balance of light and dark, and of male and female, and an acknowledgement of the waning power of the sun and the waxing power of the Dark Lord.
Orphic Hymn 46 to Licnitus :
“Liknitos Dionysos, bearer of the vine, thee I invoke to bless these rites divine: florid and gay, of Nymphai the blossom bright, and of fair Aphrodite, Goddess of delight. ‘Tis thine mad footsteps with mad Nymphai to beat, dancing through groves with lightly leaping feet : from Zeus’ high counsels nursed by Persephoneia, and born the dread of all the powers divine. Come, blessed God, regard thy suppliant’s voice, propitious come, and in these rites rejoice.”
