Bring Balance at Fall Equinox

I composed my song Balance in All Things for use in group rituals for either fall equinox or spring equinox. That vision came to life this autumn in a Mabon ritual to bring balance. In this post, I’ll share that ceremony, with how-to instructions for you, dear reader. I hope you’ll incorporate these ideas in your own rituals, whenever in the year you need balance magic.

Cast the circle

Because this was to be a largish ritual at a Mabon festival, with about 150 people attending, we did the purification and casting of the circle itself before the people came in. The participants were diverse in their traditions and level of experience, so we decided to create sacred space in a more focused way and then invite people to enter.

The people then came in through a festively decorated gate. We set up two pathways in, and each side had a person smudging and a person sprinkling the people with salt water. This purifying team was instructed to waft/sprinkle people as they passed by, rather than doing the individual purification you’d do in a small group ritual.

Kathryn (co-author of this ritual) emphasized this by telling the crowd outside the gate to think of it as “a spiritual carwash”. This worked well to keep this moving. If people get bored waiting a long time to get into circle, that starts the ritual off with lower energy. Get ’em in and get started, I say.

Once the participants were inside and standing in a large circle, we had them strengthen the circle using “hand to hand, heart to heart”. Even though we had already cast with athame and sword, the circle wouldn’t feel complete to the participants without some kind of circle casting they were part of. It takes a really long time for each person to say “hand to hand, heart to heart” and place their hand (clasped in that of the person on their right) onto their heart, so I suggest that you have this start in each of the four quarters and proceed around simultaneously. Make magic, but efficiently!

Calling quarters

As you design rituals, I encourage you to pick a theme and keep reinforcing its central images and ideas within each element of the ritual. This ritual was primarily about balance, with harvest as the secondary theme. Notice how the ideas and actions to come later in the ritual are incorporated into the quarter calls. I wrote these calls so that they all have exactly the same pattern. Ritual benefits from structure and repetition. When you prepare pre-written quarter calls, be sure to use large print and break up the text into a separate paragraph for each sentence. This will make the calls much easier to read aloud.

Calling the east and air

We call upon you, spirits of the east, to guard this circle. Join with us to celebrate this day of Fall Equinox, when the powers of day and night stand in balance. Spirits of air, we bid you to bring us balance. Bring the balance of the in-breath and the out-breath, the balance of the gentle breezes and the cleansing gusts. Like the feathers of the winged ones, may that which we no longer need dance away on your winds. At this time of harvest, share with us the bounty of your inspiration. Spirits of east, spirits of air, be here now.

Calling the south and fire

We call upon you, spirits of the south, to guard this circle. Join with us to celebrate this day of Fall Equinox, when the powers of night and day stand in balance. Spirits of fire, we bid you to bring us balance. Bring the balance of the flames dancing high and the embers burning low, the balance of gentle warmth and cleansing blazes. Like bits of tinder, may that which we no longer need burn away in your flames. At this time of harvest, share with us the bounty of your strength of will. Spirits of south, spirits of fire, be here now.

Calling the west and water

We call upon you, spirits of the west, to guard this circle. Join with us to celebrate this day of Fall Equinox, when the powers of day and night stand in balance. Spirits of water, we bid you to bring us balance. Bring the balance of water slaking our own thirst and water slaking the thirst of the land, the balance of the gentle trickles and the cleansing torrents. Like waters conjoined, may that which we need to bring into our lives be purified within your sacred well. At this time of harvest, share with us the bounty of your love. Spirits of west, spirits of water, be here now.

Calling the north and earth

We call upon you, spirits of the north, to guard this circle. Join with us to celebrate this day of Fall Equinox, when the powers of night and day stand in balance. Spirits of earth, we bid you to bring us balance. Bring the balance of the enjoyment of this feast day and the conservation of food for winter, the balance of the gentle valleys and the mighty mountains. Like seeds planted in your soil, may that which we need to bring into our lives be nourished within the body of Mother Earth. At this time of harvest, share with us the bounty of your sustenance. Spirits of north, spirits of earth, be here now.

Calling the God and Goddess

Next, a priestess dressed as the Harvest Goddess and a priest dressed as the Harvest God entered the circle. They called the deities into themselves and spoke, as inspiration led them, of their pleasure in joining their people to celebrate the harvest. It’s always a joy to work with ritualists who feel comfortable letting the spirit speak through them. However, with someone with less experience, you might want to write out their speeches in advance.

The body of the ritual

Introduction of the magic

In designing this ritual, Kathryn and I wanted to give the people a chance to seek balance. We reasoned that finding balance could mean either adding something or subtracting something, and could be focused on balance of the self or balance of the world. This next speech helped people begin thinking about what kind of balancing to choose.

On this day of Fall Equinox, the powers of day and night stand in balance. Our magic tonight will be to work with this balance. Balance is dynamic, always shifting. Tonight you will choose. What do you need to balance? Will you seek inner balance, within yourself? Will you seek outer balance, lending your magic to bring better balance to the world? Together in community, we will share this opportunity to seek sacred balance.

Musical magic

The song Balance in All Things has 3 simple chants that lay over top of one another, as well as two couplets. I had taught all the parts of the song earlier in the weekend, both during a bardic circle, and in a chant workshop the Crow Women gave at the festival. Each time, I invited the people present to be part of our Main Ritual, with the stipulation that they had to come to a run-through which took place a few hours beforehand.

I ended up with two guitar players, a drummer and several singers, as well as the Crow Women’s own percussionist Charlie on glockenspiel, and our own Tara on ukulele. We parked the percussion in the middle of the circle, and for each of the three chants, our band of musicians strolled in a circle around the center. Here’s a recording of the song, so you can hear the parts to be described next.

Balance, balance…

I said; “Feel yourself upon the earth. Feel the balance between your inner world, and world and people surrounding you in this sacred space.” Then we sang the chant; Balance, balance… Given that the chant has only one word, most of the people in the circle sang along.

Equal day and equal night…

I introduced the next layer of the song, saying; “Feel the day and night in perfect union on Mabon, the Sabbat of the fall equinox”. Then our merry band sang equal day and equal night and… Many people sang along. I really prefer that the assembled people participate in music, rather than just standing and listening. That’s why I made a point to introduce the song earlier in the weekend.

Welcome the autumn…

Before we sang the third layer of the song, I asked the people what they love about autumn. They called out their answers. “Bright leaves!”, “Pumpkin lattes!”, “Cooler weather!”. Then I said; “Feel summer receding and autumn being born from this perfect moment. Let the joy of the harvest season fill you”. Then we sang; Autumn, the joy of autumn, welcome the autumn…

Inner balance

Next I said; “Tonight you may choose to seek personal balance. For you to be a more balanced person, for you lead a more balanced life, what must you do? Must you release something by letting it blow away like a feather or burn away like flame? Must you nurture something by letting it flow into the sacred well or by planting seeds in the earth? Meditate upon these questions as you listen to this song.” Our pickup choir then sang Balance in all things in autumn and spring; equinox’ lesson: balance of our being.

Outer balance

Finally, I introduced the last segment of the song Balance in All Things. “Tonight you may choose to support balance in the world. What does your community need, your country need, the planet need, to come into balance? How can you offer your magic to support the changes you wish to see in the world? What must you release, or what must you nurture? Meditate upon these questions as you listen to this song”. And then we made our final circuit around the center, singing; Bring to everyone in spring and autumn equinox’ blessing: balance of all beings. Notice how the introductions of these couplets previewed the magic choices to come next. Repetition, repetition, repetition…

The magical action

Now it was time for the participants to do their magic. Kathryn explained each of the four choices. People could go to the east, south west or north, where tables were set up in the circle. Because there was a substantial number of people, she suggested they pick one direction. In a smaller group, you could encourage people to visit every station.

Gently float it away

On the eastern table, there was a box of feathers and an arrangement of dried flowers and stalks. In order to achieve balance through letting go, a person could take a feather, use their breath to blow onto it the thing to be released, and then place it into the arrangement. Be sure to use a heavy vase to hold your arrangement, as this can be topheavy. Because we were outside, it was important to keep the feathers in a box that closed, but if you’re indoors, and open basket would be prettier.

Burn it away

On the southern altar was a flaming cauldron and a basket of pieces of paper. In order to achieve balance by burning something away, a participant could crumple the paper thinking of what they wanted to release, then drop the paper into the flames.

Here’s my favorite way to create a flaming cauldron. First, put some big, sturdy rocks onto the table to protect the table from the heat. Place a cast-iron cauldron on the rocks. Be sure you’re using a cauldron (or dutch oven) that is meant to be placed directly onto a fire. If it’s able to withstand direct flames outside, it should be able to withstand direct flames inside. Into the cauldron, place a layer of unscented Epsom salts. (You can find this in the pharmacy section of the grocery store. After the ritual, you can relax in a hot bath with the leftover Epsom salts in it!)

Next, pour denatured alcohol into the Epsom salts until the Epsom salts are just barely covered. The alcohol doesn’t need to be puddled above the salts. We lit the flames when the quarter was called. It takes a few minutes for the flames to get going, so be patient. How long the flame lasts depends on the size of your cauldron. My little one at home burns ten minutes, but the larger one we used in this ritual burned for at least half an hour. After ritual, you can put out the flame but capping the cauldron with its lid. Be sure to budget time to let it cool before you move it–it will be very hot.

Pour it into joined waters

On the western altar was a large, empty bowl and several carafes and pitchers of water.

To nurture something as a way to bring balance, a participant could pour water into the “sacred well”, to be activated there through “the mingled power of community”.

Plant it in the nourishing earth

On the north altar was a large pot of earth and a bowl of cornmeal. A person was able to “plant” something they want to grow in their life, by “sowing” it in the “ground”.

We used a pot of potting soil because it’s nice and rich to see and smell and touch. We used cornmeal mainly because the Forest Service has asked us never to strew seeds about on the land we were meeting on. On private land, though, I recommend using seeds that the land would benefit from, like native grasses or wildflowers.

Integrating the song

After all the people had completed their chosen magic, we asked them whether they had found more balance, and they called out that they had. (In a smaller group where people know and trust one another, you could invite people to share what they had released or increased, and why.)

Then we sang the Balance in All Things song, for the first time singing all the chants at the same time. As it’s performed on the album Seasons, we started with balance, balance, then added on equal day and equal night, and then added on top of that welcome the autumn, the joy of autumn. After pyramiding up, we pyramided back down. It sounded lovely.

Sealing the magic

The Harvest God and Goddess returned to the center. One by one, the quarter callers brought the elements to them to be blessed. The dried arrangement full of feathers was brought in, then a candle to represent the cauldron (the cauldron itself being too hot) and their magic was activated and completed by the priestess and priest. The bowl, now full of mingled waters, was brought to the deities, who poured the waters on the ground. Finally, the pot of earth was brought in, and that was also scattered onto the ground. The priest and priestess spoke eloquently about how the elemental magic that had been done would bring more balance to us and our world.

Completing the ritual

At this point, we brought the ritual to its conclusion. The Harvest Goddess and God invited the assembled people to come to the harvest table in the center of the circle and help themselves and one another to grapes and home-baked bread. We sang Harvest Chant, which I wrote about earlier this year in this blog post.

As the feeding frenzy died down, our ritual team released the directions and then sang May the Circle Be Open. We didn’t ask the people to get back into a big circle to do this, just let them enjoy being in the center in a merry crowd.

Please feel free to borrow the words and ideas from this Fall Equinox ritual. Balance is something we can promote all year long, it’s just particularly appropriate on the two days in the year when day and night are equal in length. Here’s wishing you a happy Mabon, and a life of balance, within and without.

Most of the photographs in this blog were taken by Victor Gibbs.
He distributes his photos through Smugmug: https://adventuring.smugmug.com/browse

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