Video:How to Set Up a Mabon Altar

Transcript:How to Set Up a Mabon Altar

Hi, I'm Winifred Tannetta for About.com, and I'll be talking with you about making an altar for Mabon.

Start With a Spirit Candle When You Set Up a Mabon Altar

So what I have here is a Mabon altar, set up with items that I have gathered from around the land and from my own personal collection for an altar.

What we're going to start with first is our spirit candle. This candle represents energy coming in from above onto the earth plane. And then we have our goddess candle and our god candle.

Consider Four Directions When You Set Up a Mabon Altar

And then we have our four directions. So for the east, we have feathers and incense; in the south, we have just fire; in the west, we have a bowl of water. In the north, we have salt and some crystals, but you could also put some rocks if you wanted to.

Represent the God and Goddess When You Set Up a Mabon Altar

Some other items we have on our table today are our chalice, which represents the Goddess, which we have also filled with ale. You could use mead, beer, or cider or fruit juice. We also have cakes -- if you can make it from scratch, that's even better.

Other items that we have on our table today are something to represent the Goddess, so we have a statuary and a crystal. And for the God, I have an animal horn.

Include Harvest-Related Items for Your Mabon Altar

And then what we want to move onto is the season we're focusing on. So this is for Mabon, so these would be items representing the Harvest.

Things that you could do to represent the harvest could be actual agricultural tools that you may have or even gardening tools that you may have in your own yard that you use in your own harvest. I also have a wheat broom that I rolled several years ago.

Add a Basket When You Set Up a Mabon Altar

On the table, we also have a basket. A basket is another agricultural tool that you use to bring in the harvest with. And in the basket, we have some apples and some corn, representing the season that we're celebrating.

Think About the Equinox When You Set Up a Mabon Altar

So here we have everything represented to help us celebrate the harvest. Also, we want to think about the equinox, which is a time of balance. The sun and the moon are about balance. They balance the day and the night.

What I chose to represent the day and the night are two cards from my tarot deck - I have the sun card and I have the moon card. And that helps me to represent the balance of the sun and the moon.

Use a Wand to Set Up a Mabon Altar

In calling our circle, many people find it useful to use either a wand or an athame. I prefer to work with a wand, so that's what I have here today, but some people do choose to work with an athame. If you're not comfortable using either one of these tools, you can also just use your hands.

Thanks for watching. To learn more, visit us on the web at About.com.