The Autumn Equinox Blues

Last updated on: September 21, 2016 at 4:43 pm by Jason Mankey

The Autumn Equinox Blues 2016-09-21T16:43:17-06:00 Jason Mankey

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I’ve always looked at the Autumn Equinox as one of the “big rituals” on my calendar. Fall is probably my favorite season, and Lammas is too early for that celebration while Samhain is generally too focused on the dead. The Autumn Equinox hits the sweet spot right in the middle.

My sunflowers have seen better days.

Culturally in the United States, September is a month with lots of things going on that signify change both socially and naturalistically speaking. I’m sure you know the drill by this point; there’s the start of school, the end of vacations, (for some of us) football, shorter days/longer nights, perhaps cooler weather . . . .

All of those things are completely worth celebrating and Halig/Mabon/Harvest Home/The Fall Equinox provides a good place for doing so. But for whatever reason I’m not feeling it so much this year, and if social media is any indication a lot of you aren’t feeling it either.

So why has the build up to this year’s Equinox been so lackluster? I’ve got a few ideas . . . . (And certainly it’s possible that this has been the best Halig/Mabon/Harvest Home ever for you, and that’s OK.)

The Fall Equinox Has the Worst Name My feelings towards the word “Mabon” have waxed and waned during my time as a Pagan, but over the last two years I’ve tried really hard not to say it. I appreciate people trying to make me feel better about it, but it no longer works for me. I don’t think the Pagan world is likely to join me calling the holiday Halig soon either. (Though I’ve seen it in a couple of other places the last two years, there is hope!)

My personal annoyance with the word “Mabon” seems to be a catching thing too. There are a lot of us, and as a result I never know what to call the holiday. Halig and Harvest Home are unknown terms to a lot of people, and the Autumn Equinox lacks a certain panache. The Fall Equinox is the only holiday that has a name that actively bothers some people.

While I’m no longer a fan of the word “Mabon” I don’t get upset when other people use it. It’s been in circulation for nearly forty years now and conveys a great deal of information. Besides, people can call a holiday whatever they want, as long as they are cool with allowing others the same courtesy. I do admit that I shouldn’t let bad feelings about a name get in the way of celebrating a celestially auspicious event, but here we are.

Twenty years ago discussion about something like the name of a sabbat didn’t take place in “real time.” Today it’s a meme or a quick blog post, and it’s harder to avoid. Our community has always had disagreements, but they are harder to escape from today with the rise of social media.

“Harvest Rest” by George Cole, from WikiMedia.

The Passing of Gavin Frost A lot of the articles I generally expect to see about the Fall Equinox this time of year were instead about the passing of Gavin Frost and the fall-out over some of his obituaries. People who had never known of Frost during his lifetime were now writing about his legacy (or lack thereof). I found the whole thing a bit strange. I get the outrage around the Frosts, but maybe it would have been better to express that while he was still alive?

I kind of live in the Pagan Blogosphere in a way a lot of other people don’t due to working for Patheos at Patheos Pagan and there were several days last week where I didn’t want to go online or read anything. It’s hard to get excited about a sabbat when I’m watching my friends fight online. Arguing online is a part of the experience, but it sometimes felt like there was no middle ground in those conversations. I don’t need people to write about the Equinox to celebrate it, but it doesn’t hurt.

“The County Election” by George Caleb Bingham. Take a good look at this picture, it’s the kind of thing Trump would like to see. From WikiMedia.

Donald Trump & The Presidential Election I’ve lived through a lot of Presidential elections in my life, but none of them have prepared me for this go around. Donald Trump isn’t just a terrible candidate, he’s the worst and least qualified candidate to perhaps ever run for the Presidency. He’s unsuited in temperament and experience for the highest office in the land, and the fact that he’s in striking distance of actually winning the White House is absolutely terrifying.

I wasn’t a big fan of George W. Bush or Mitt Romney, but I didn’t think they’d lead to the end of the American way of life, but I feel that way with Trump. This is a guy who bragged about the size of his penis (“And he referred to my hands if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you there is no problem. I guarantee you.”) during a Presidential debate, and is so thin skinned that he’s never seen a Twitter war he won’t engage in. He’s also a liar.

I get that some people don’t like Hillary Clinton and she’s certainly got some skeletons in the closet (though not literal ones), but the size and amount of her transgressions just don’t compare to Trump’s. The Donald is an absolute terror, and it’s hard to get excited about anything while he’s in spitting distance of the Presidency.

And I’m rather sure that some of you reading this are planning to vote for Trump, but really, this is not the guy we need in the White House. I get the “throw the bums out” mentality and the need for an outsider, but Trump is not the candidate you are looking for. He was mostly a failure as a businessman (he wasn’t self made, he inherited his wealth), and I would argue as a person too.

Perhaps it’s just hard to think about the Equinox while you are fearing for the future of your country . . . .

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