Izumo Kagura Mabon Sabbat

Items needed: Cauldron, leaves, and a bell.

Purify and cast Circle.

_____________ invoke Goddess:

“Sovereign Lady of the Harvest, compassionate Queen of the night, by whatever names we call Thee - _________ - we know that You hear us. We give thanks this night for the fertility of the earth's harvest; there is more than enough to share with all. You give to us the energy to reap the goodness that we have sown, and you enhance our strengths at this time, so that we may share our abundance equally with all. We join together in your presence, with those we love to give true thanks for our good fortune. We welcome you here to share our Mabon celebration. Hail and welcome, blessed be.”

______________ invoke God:

“Green man of forest and fields, Lord of light, by whatever names we call Thee - __________ - we know that You hear us. As we begin the journey toward he cavern of the dark, we thank You for the courage to look at ourselves, both our light and our dark sides. For like this equinox, we must balance ourselves between forces, and reap the benefits of both. Continue to challenge us, for through the trials of change, we learn to grow and to weave these lessons into the fabric of our lives. This harvest, may we reap the joys of successful endeavors. We welcome you here to share our Mabon celebration. Hail and welcome, blessed be.”

______________ say:

“Blessed be this season of Mabon, time of the second harvest, the harvest of fruit and wine. Tonight all things are in balance: Goddess and God, Life and Death, Light and Dark. Tonight the darkness will conquer the light, leading us deeper into the waning year. This is the time of harvest, of thanksgiving and joy, of leave-taking and sorrow. Now day and night are equal, in perfect balance, and we give thought to the balance and flow in our own lives. The Sun King is transformed into the Lord of Shadows, we follow him into the dark. Life declines; the season of barrenness is upon us, yet we give thanks for what we have reaped. We turn the wheel and weave a cord of life that will sustain us through the dark.”

______________ say:

“O-Inari-sama, the Lady of Foxes, Fire, and Harvest; Lucifer-sama, the Falling Lord of the Morning Star. We offer thanks unutterable unto thee, for this thine sweet light, making beautiful the world and your bountiful harvest to keep us fed! O Great Kami, all 8 million of you, we welcome you and thank you for your presence. We ask you all to hear our prayers. We thank you for your many blessings. O Great Kami, we are grateful to Inari for this the full Harvest Time, when the crops we harvest in the fields and in our lives. We ask for beautiful weather to help the harvest time to be fruitful and bountiful in the fields and our harvests to bring prosperity in our lives. We ask you all to help purify us of our pollutions at this, our ritual of purification. Bring us back into alignment with you, cleansing us, purifying us and making us free from the pollution that is in our lives. We thank you!”

______________ say three times while making cutting motions through the air to
release any impurities:

"Rin-pyo-tosha-kai-zin-retsu-zai-zen.”

______________ scatter leaves over the altar and say:

“Leaves fall, the days grow cold.
The Goddess pulls Her mantle about Her
As You, O great sun God, prepare to sail Westward
Wrapped in the coolness of night.
Fruits ripen, seeds drop,
The hours of the day and night are balanced.
Chill winds blow from the North wailing laments.
In this seeming death, O blessed Goddess,
I know that life continues.
For Spring is impossible without the Second Harvest,
As surely as life is impossible without the harvest of death.
Blessings upon You, O fallen God,
As You journey into the lands of winter
And into the Goddess’ loving arms.
This is a time of transition and endings,
When we must look inward and evaluate what
We must harvest from our own lives.”

_______________ say:

"We honor Thee, Autumn Queen, and Thy consort, the God of the Harvest.
The Wheel has once more turned, and the change of season begins.
What will be is. What was will be.
The Equinox is upon us, and the time to reflect is at hand.
All time comes together, here and now in this sacred space.
Time itself slows and for a moment
We feel the changes as we pass
From one season to the next.
Now is the moment when we look back on the past year
And acknowledge one thing that we must leave behind
So that we may grow again in the Spring.
Now is the time to reap our own second harvest
Before we can be allowed to rest.”

Each person names one thing in their lives that they have left behind this year.

_____________ say:

"As the Wheel turns, the seasons pass, and the years give 'way
To the next,
Guide us, Wise Ones,
Lest we forget
Every beginning has an ending
And every ending is a new beginning.
Just as we must say goodbye to
Parts of us with the harvest
We must also recognize that which we have gained."

Each person names one thing in their lives that began over the past year.

________ say:

"As the days grow colder, and the nights last longer,
May we remember the summer past. Our memories will warm our souls
From a season of hard work and hard play,
We must remember the myriad of things
That we have to be thankful for.”

Each person names one thing that they are grateful for from the past year.

Everyone should close their eyes and feel the seasons pass within the circle from
summer to autumn. Feel the energies within yourself and earth slow, readying themselves for the dormancy of Winter. Feel yourself attune to the subtle energies of Autumn, the balance of it as day and night are equal for a single moment.

When everyone has opened their eyes, __________ say:

"Between the worlds we stand in this sacred place.
All time is here and now.
As we leave this circle, the season shall have changed,
And we will have changed with it.
May we use the short time before
The chill of Winter
To draw strength and power from within
That the lessons we have learned
Will not be forgotten or abandoned
As we continue on our individual paths.”

_____________ ring the bell three times (once for the passing of the first three
seasons).

_____________ say:

"In Life is Death, and in Death is Life.
The Sacred Dance goes on and on
From whence we came, we shall return,
And come again.
Seasons pass, and pass again,
The circle stays unbroken.
Autumn is more than a time of harvest
It is the stillness before the cold,
When we prepare to purified and cleansed
By the deep snows.
We count our abiding blessings
And give thanks for all that we have.
We also recognize that, at times,
For us to truly appreciate some gifts
We must lose them.
All is impermanence, as all is change.
We give thanks for the flow of seasons
That allows us to grow.”

Everyone say together:

“Harae-tamae, kiyome-tamae, Rokkon-shojo!
Harvest Kami you have helped to purify our souls,
You have washed away any impurities,
And you have purified our bodies.
Summer is past, Autumn is here.
Let us celebrate this season of harvest!
Let our hands work for peace and justice
Let us work to heal the land,
Gather round our harvest table
Let us feast and bless the land.”

Everyone clap, clap, bow, clap.

Bless the Chalice:

“Reaping Mother, I offer this wine in Your honor,
As we drink it fill us with the nectar of Your love.”

Bless the Cakes:

“Fallen God, I offer these cakes in Your honor,
As we eat them, fill us with the power of Your spirit.”

Eat the simple feast and open Circle

Eidolon Moon's Notes:

This ritual makes me feel very nostalgic and puts me in close contact with my ancestors. I wrote this ritual at a time when I felt like too many things around me were changing and I was standing still, so part of this is to help clear away the old. I always tend to think of Mabon as the time when we reap what we sow, this is the Harvest festival for me.

Once again, there is use of Japanese in this ritual, which can be changed or eliminated. I have it in there because when we did this ritual it was me, Maia, Dorian, and my husband; all of us are able to do the Japanese without a problem. If I were to use this in a different group, I would either translate it into English or change it.

I love to bake at this time of the year, so for this ritual we tend to have a nut bread or something similar for our cakes. I also like to get one of the non-alcoholic wines or sparkling apple juice for this ritual, really make it feel a little special, dress it up some. Mabon always feels like such a pivotal turning point for me... I love Samhain and Imbolc but I think my heart rests in Mabon.

A quick pronunciation guide:

Rin - it should rhyme with 'tin'
pyo - pee-yoh (the yo is like yo-yo)
tosha - toe-sha
kai - should rhyme with 'sky'
zin - another one that rhymes with 'tin'
retsu - ret-sue (the first part is said like the name 'Rhett')
zai - rhymes with 'buy'
zen - rhymes with 'ten'
harae - hah-rah-ay
tamae - tah-may
kiyome - key-oh-may
rokkon - row-con
shojo - show-joe