A Witches Bible - Janet Farrar, Stewar Farrar 1981

Autumn Equinox, 21st September
The Sabbats
The Sabbats and Rites for Birth, Marriage and Death

The two Equinoxes are, as we have pointed out, times of equilibrium. Day and night are matched, and the tide of the year flows steadily. But while the Spring Equinox manifests the equilibrium of an athlete poised for action, the Autumn Equinox’s theme is that of rest after labour. The Sun is about to enter the sign of Libra, the Balance. In the Stations of the Goddess, the Spring Equinox represents Initiation; the Autumn Equinox, Repose. The harvest has been gathered in, both grain and fruit, yet the Sun — though mellower and less fierce than he was — is still with us. With symbolic aptness, there is still a week to go before Michaelmas, the festival of Michael/Lucifer, Archangel of Fire and Light, at which we must begin to say au revoir to his splendour.

Doreen Valiente (An ABC of Witchcraft) remarks that the most frequent spectral appearances of certain recurrent hauntings are March and September, “the months of the Equinoxes — periods well known to occultists as being times of psychic stress”. That would seem to contradict the idea of the Equinoxes being times of balance; yet the paradox is only an apparent one. Times of balance, of suspended activity, are by their nature the times when the veil between the seen and the unseen is thin. They are also the seasons when human beings ’change gear’ to a different phase, and therefore times of psychological as well as psychic turbulence. That is all the more reason for us to recognize and understand the significance of those natural phases, so that their turbulence exhilarates instead of distressing us.

If we look at the Tree Calendar which Robert Graves has shown to underlie so much of our Western magical and poetic symbolism, we find that the Autumn Equinox comes just before the end of the Vine month and the beginning of the Ivy month. Vine and Ivy are the only two of the month-trees which grow spirally — and the spiral (particularly the double spiral, winding and returning) is a universal symbol of reincarnation. And the bird of the Autumn Equinox is the Swan, another symbol of the immortality of the soul — as is the wild goose, whose domestic variety is the traditional Michaelmas dish.

Incidentally, blackberry is a frequent substitute for the Vine in the symbolism of northern countries. Folk-tradition in many places, particularly in the West of England, insists that blackberries should not be eaten after the end of September (which is also the end of the Vine-month) because they then become the property of the Devil. Might we guess that this means: “Don’t try to cling to the incoming spiral once it is over — look onward to the outgoing”?¹

Lughnasadh marked the actual gathering of the grain harvest, but in its sacrificial aspect; the Autumn Equinox marks the completion of the harvest, and thanksgiving for abundance, with the emphasis on the future return of that abundance. This Equinox was the time of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the greatest mysteries of ancient Greece; and although all the details are not known (initiates kept the secrets well), the rituals of Eleusis certainly based themselves on corn-harvest symbolism. The climax is said to have been the showing to the initiate of a single ear of grain, with the admonition: “In silence is the seed of wisdom gained.”

For our own Autumn Sabbat, then, we take the following interrelated themes: the completion of the harvest; a salute to the waning power of the Sun; and an acknowledgement that Sun and harvest, and men and women also, share in the universal rhythm of rebirth and reincarnation. As the Book of Shadows declamation says: “Therefore the Wise Ones weep not, but rejoice.”

In the Book of Shadows ritual for this festival, the only substantial items are the High Priestess’s declamation “Farewell, O Sun …” and the Candle Game, both of which we have retained.

The Preparation

On the altar is a dish containing a single ear of wheat or other cereal crop, covered by a cloth.

The altar and Circle are decorated with pine-cones, grain, acorns, red poppies (symbol of the Corn-Goddess Demeter) and other autumnal flowers, fruit and leaves.

The Ritual

After the Witches’ Rune, the coven arrange themselves round the perimeter of the Circle, facing inwards.

The Maiden fetches the covered dish from the altar, places it in the centre of the Circle (leaving it covered) and returns to her place.

The High Priestess says:

“Now is the time of balance, when Day and Night face each other as equals. Yet at this season the Night is waxing and the Day is waning; for nothing ever remains without change, in the tides of Earth and Sky. Know and remember, that whatsoever rises must also set, and whatsoever sets must also rise. In token of which, let us dance the Dance of Going and Returning!”

With the High Priestess and High Priest leading, the coven dance slowly widdershins, hand in hand but not closing the ring head-to-tail. Gradually, the High Priestess leads inwards in a spiral, until the coven are close to the centre. When she is ready, the High Priestess halts and instructs everyone to sit in a tight ring about the covered dish, facing inwards. The High Priestess says:

“Behold the mystery: in silence is the seed of wisdom gained.”

She then takes the cloth from the dish, revealing the ear of grain. All contemplate the ear of grain for a while in silence. (See Plate 14.)

When she is ready, the High Priestess rises and goes to the East candle. The High Priest rises and goes to the West candle, and they face each other across the seated coven. The High Priestess declaims:²

“Farewell, O Sun, ever-returning Light,

The hidden God, who ever yet remains.

He now departs to the Land of Youth

Through the Gates of Death

To dwell enthroned, the judge of Gods and men,

The hornèd leader of the hosts of air.

Yet, as he stands unseen without the Circle,

So dwelleth he within the secret seed —

The seed of new-reaped grain, the seed of flesh;

Hidden in earth, the marvellous seed of the stars.

In him is Life, and Life is the Light of man,

That which was never born, and never dies.

Therefore the Wise Ones weep not, but rejoice.”

The High Priestess raises both hands high in blessing to the High Priest, who responds with the same gesture.

High Priestess and High Priest rejoin the coven (who now stand) and lead them in a slow dance deosil, gradually spiralling outwards towards the perimeter of the Circle. When she judges that the spiral movement has been sufficiently emphasized, the High Priestess closes the ring by taking the hand of the last witch in the chain and speeds up the pace till the coven are circling fast and joyously. After a while she cries “Down!” and everybody sits.

The Maiden replaces the dish with the ear of grain on the altar, and the cloth which covered it beside the altar.

The Great Rite is now enacted, followed by the wine and cakes.

After the wine and cakes comes the Candle Game, as described for Imbolg; and that should put everyone in the right frame of mind for the party stage.