[Elspode]

Luna Lushede Coven held our Mabon celebration at the park right down the street, providing a great deal of amusement for the twenty or so people who were playing softball nearby. We had 42 in attendance, a pretty good average for this particular Sabbat.

While we have our normal coven Full Moon and New Moon Esbats every month privately, our Sabbats are always open to the public, held in a public place (because our house is nowhere near big enough), and pretty much indistinguishable from your average Baptist church outing, except for the robes, standing in a large circle, and....okay, it isn't at all like a Baptist outing, except that we have a potluck afterward. Except for on Mabon.

A few years ago, we decided that Mabon should be a time for us to share the bounty of the harvest with a needy Pagan family or individual in our community, so instead of having a ritual and a feast afterward, we ask people to bring nonperishable food and other items to donate, and the cash donations we usually collect are also given directly and totally to the beneficiary (this money is normally used strictly to finance the rituals themselves as we buy the main dish, and provide all plates, cups, ice, plasticware, napkins and hall rental where applicable-we are a non-profit organization in the State of Missouri, and no, that doesn't mean we don't pay normal taxes...we do, lots of them).

This year, our beneficiary was an individual who has been out of work for over a year, and was in imminent danger of losing his home. Happily, he started a new job last month, and things were looking up, but he still needed the $85.00 we collected, as well as the entire back-end of the Explorer load of grocery items. He was very grateful, and once again, we feel like we've done a good Mabon deed.

Our ritual at this time of year honors the God, who has 'died' and begun his journey to the Underworld. We offer thanks for the bounty of the second harvest (the fruit harvest, as it were) and for all the good things we have enjoyed throughout the last turning of The Wheel. In years past, we have placed bird seed in our cauldron upon the altar, and attendees come up, take a handful, and meditate upon the bounty they've received in the past year, then cast the seed to the Earth, asking for blessings for the coming year, symbolically sharing their bounty with the Earth and its creatures.

This year, we did something different. I bought a buttload of cornstalks, and we piled them up inside the circle. We asked everyone to spiral in, hand-in-hand, pick up a stalk, then place it against the tree that was at the center of our ritual space. As they did so, they said aloud the things they were thankful for in the past year, and their hopes for the coming year. In this way, we pool our energies and share our blessings, leaving the stalks gathered together as a symbol of unity and good will.

We also dedicated two coveners and another community member to the Wiccan path. We do a lot of these dedications throughout the year during sabbats. Dedication simply means that you vow to study and follow the Wiccan path for a year and a day. It is not a lifetime committment, but it is the first step for those wishing to make Wicca their paths, so it is kind of cool. We also provide a white cord for each new dedicant to wear on their ritual garb.

It was a very good ritual, despite the fact that our socialization afterward was cut short by a rainstorm.

We have quite a few people who attend our open rituals regularly (we have had as many as 70-75 at Samhain and Yule celebrations), and we also had several new faces this time around. We've gotten several comments about how nice the proceedings were, and that makes us feel pretty good. People have a need to come together with a common bond, and even though many of our attendees paths vary a bit, we still unify for Sabbats as one group, united in acknowledging the Goddess, the God, and the turning of The Wheel.

Not a bad way to spend an afternoon, if I do say so myself.