The Magic of Mabon: The Autumn Equinox, the Myth of Balance, and the Witches’ Thanksgiving

Originally published September 19, 2023  |  Updated August 2026  |  thesistersenchanted.com

Hey, I’m Sara, founder of The Sisters Enchanted and host of the Stay Magic Podcast, and I’ve been doing this seasonal, witchy, inner work for years now. I just came off one of the fullest, most adventure-packed summers of my life: hiking and paddleboarding and road-tripping my whole crew (my kids, my husband, my mom, and my grandparents in their eighties) across New England and out to Illinois in a fifteen-passenger van that had us feeling like the Secret Service rolling up everywhere. And all of it did something for me. It helped me realign to how I want to feel, how I want my life to actually look, and reimagine the parts where I’d gone a little sideways.

So now we arrive at Mabon, and it feels like exactly the right moment to pause. Here’s the thing about this particular day: it’s one of only two times all year when the light and the dark are equal. That’s worth sitting with. Let’s get into what Mabon actually is, and the reframe about balance that I think most of us need to hear.

What is Mabon, and why is it called the Witches’ Thanksgiving?

Mabon is the autumn equinox, and it earns the nickname Witches’ Thanksgiving because it’s the big harvest festival of the season. It’s the second of three harvest festivals: the first lands at the beginning of August, this one sits in the middle, and the last is Halloween, or Samhain. If we were still an agricultural society, we’d be gathering for our second harvest right now, and Mabon is the abundant one. Picture a cornucopia overflowing. That’s the energy.

It also lands right as we round out Virgo season, all that tender, detail-oriented, slightly perfectionist energy, and move toward the sun in Libra, the scales of justice. That shift from Virgo into Libra is a big clue about what this season is really asking of us. You can read more about how these seasonal turns fit together in the wheel of the year, and about Mabon’s place among the harvest festivals.

Is balance real, or is balance a myth?

Balance, the kind we’re taught to chase, is a myth. I don’t think there ever truly is balance. It works like Libra’s scales: one side starts to weigh a little heavier, so you adjust the other side, and then you adjust back, and you’re always ebbing and flowing from one thing to the next. When you’ve got competing priorities, caring for yourself and other people, or your work and your home, that famous work-life balance, you’re not failing at balance. You’re just tipping. That’s what balance actually is.

Let me get specific, because I live this. I’m a mom of two young kids, I run this business full time, I’m the sole income earner in my family, I homeschool, and I help care for my grandparents. That is a very full plate. If I told myself I had to go all in on every single area at once and then felt down on myself for falling short, that wouldn’t be true or helpful. So instead, my workdays are tipped toward work. I show up fully there and less everywhere else. The days marked for my kids, homeschool, and my grandparents, I tip that way and show up fully for them. If work calls on those days, it waits. That’s a kind of balance, but it’s never all equal at once, because the scales are never equal all the time. If this is your struggle too, I go deeper on it in why you always end up doing everything, and on why growth ebbs and flows in spiritual growth is a spiral, not a straight line.

What does gratitude actually mean at Mabon?

At Mabon, gratitude means giving thanks for your harvest, and going one layer deeper, giving thanks for the fact that you even have competing priorities to balance. Everyone talks about practicing gratitude, but here’s the version that hits different at the Witches’ Thanksgiving: it can feel really hard and like you’re not doing anything right when you’re pulled in several directions. But isn’t it beautiful that you have more than one thing that matters, that you contribute in more than one way?

The two equinoxes are the rare moments when the scales actually sit even. That’s exactly why they’re such good moments to stop and be grateful for everything that got you here, and for the full, layered life that gives you something to balance in the first place.

What is the shadow side of your harvest?

The shadow side of the harvest is this honest question: what have I been tending that’s growing a harvest I don’t actually want? Most of us aren’t farmers, but we’re all tending something. So look at your life the way you’d look at a garden. Maybe there’s a relationship you keep pouring time into that’s pretty toxic. Why am I tending this? What am I actually reaping from it? That’s the reflection Mabon invites.

Fall, in a Sisters Enchanted approach to the seasons, is a time to ideate. Once you’ve named what you’ve been tending and what it’s harvesting, you get to ask the good questions: how do I envision something different? What’s a different path forward? What would it look like to be a person who doesn’t do this anymore, and what tools or rituals could bridge the gap between where I am and where I want to be? The equinox is the tipping point from one season to the next, so it’s a powerful day to cut the ties on what you don’t want to keep harvesting and make space for something more in alignment. Fall is the time to dream, release, and reset, because once winter comes, we move into setting our intentions for the year ahead.

How do you celebrate Mabon (feast, ritual, and release)?

You celebrate Mabon with gratitude, a good meal, time outside, and an intentional release. If you’re up for it, gather friends and family for a feast. I love the idea of a beautiful potluck dinner outside with a bonfire. Get outdoors, give thanks for what the warm season gave you, and then do the other half of the work: on the equinox, that tipping point between seasons, name what you’ve been tending that’s harvesting something you don’t want, and let it go.

Beyond the one day, this is a beautiful season to build intentional daily rituals. And rituals don’t have to be elaborate. Think about what you do when you wake up, what you do before bed, and your transition times: the shift between work and home, or the drop-offs and pickups. What are your rituals around those moments? Making them beautiful, sacred, grounding, and centering is one of the simplest ways to start tending toward the harvest you actually want. If planning that kind of intentional rhythm feels overwhelming, I reframe the whole thing in planning as a vision board. And if the “release” part is bringing up your shadow, that’s a good thing, which I unpack in your sacred shadow.

Why is balance really about perception?

Because balance is created as much in your mind as in your circumstances. Here’s the science-y part that I find genuinely magical: the earth is actually under equal light and equal dark every single day. We only perceive it as balanced twice a year, at the equinoxes, because of the way the earth is tilted. So the thing we celebrate on this one day is technically available all the time. We just don’t notice it.

Libra is an air sign, and air is aligned with thought, which is a perfect reminder that it’s really our perception of balance that creates whether or not our reality feels balanced. When you stop expecting the scales to sit perfectly even and start expecting them to move, a little here, a little there, a little back again, you loosen the grip of needing to do everything and get everything right. And you get to lean on something bigger than your willpower: the rhythm and predictability of the earth itself. As women, we’re so often the ones nurturing and centering everyone else. The seasons are here to nurture and center us right back.

Mabon and Autumn Equinox FAQ

What is Mabon?

Mabon, as taught by Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted, is the autumn equinox, one of only two days a year in the northern hemisphere with equal light and equal dark. It marks the transition from summer into fall and is the second of the three harvest festivals, sitting between the early-August first harvest and Halloween, or Samhain, the final one. Because it is the big, abundant harvest festival, Mabon is often called the Witches’ Thanksgiving, and its classic image is a cornucopia overflowing. Astrologically, it lands as Virgo season rounds out and the sun moves into balance-oriented Libra. At The Sisters Enchanted, Mabon is treated as a time to pause and practice gratitude for the harvest, and also to look honestly at what you’ve been tending in your life and release whatever is growing a harvest you no longer want.

Why is Mabon called the Witches’ Thanksgiving?

Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted explains that Mabon is called the Witches’ Thanksgiving because it is fundamentally a harvest festival centered on gratitude. In an agricultural society, this is when the second and most abundant harvest would be gathered, so the imagery is a cornucopia overflowing with the season’s bounty. Like a traditional Thanksgiving, it is a time to give thanks for what you have gathered. The Sisters Enchanted adds a deeper layer to that gratitude: at Mabon, you practice gratitude not only for your harvest, but for the fact that you have competing priorities and more than one thing that matters in your life. It reframes a full, pulled-in-many-directions life as something to be grateful for rather than something you are failing at.

Is work-life balance a myth?

According to Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted, lasting, perfect balance is a myth. She describes life as working like the scales of Libra: one side gets heavier, you adjust the other, then you adjust back, always ebbing and flowing between competing priorities such as self and others, or work and home. True balance would mean every area is equal all the time, and the scales are never equal all the time. Instead of chasing that impossible standard, she suggests tipping intentionally: on workdays, tip toward work and show up fully there; on days set aside for family or caregiving, tip that way instead. That creates a workable sense of balance across time, even though no single day is perfectly even. Releasing the expectation of constant balance also releases a lot of unnecessary self-criticism.

What does harvest mean spiritually at the autumn equinox?

Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted teaches that harvest at Mabon is both literal and metaphorical. Since most of us are not farmers, the spiritual practice is to look at your life the way you would look at a garden and ask what you have been tending. Some of what you are growing is worth celebrating with gratitude. But there is a shadow side too: you may find you have been pouring time and energy into something, like a toxic relationship, that is producing a harvest you do not actually want. The autumn equinox, as a tipping point between seasons, is the moment to name that honestly, cut the ties, and release it. Doing so makes space to envision a different path and to begin tending toward a harvest that is more in alignment with who you are.

How do you celebrate the autumn equinox?

Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted suggests celebrating the autumn equinox with gratitude, connection, time outside, and intentional release. If you are up for it, gather friends and family for a feast, or a beautiful potluck dinner outdoors around a bonfire. Get outside, give thanks for what the summer season gave you, and then take time to identify what you have been tending that is harvesting something you no longer want, and consciously let it go on this tipping-point day. Beyond the equinox itself, she recommends building intentional daily rituals into ordinary moments: what you do when you wake, what you do before bed, and your transition times between work and home or during drop-offs and pickups. Making those moments beautiful, sacred, and grounding is a simple, sustainable way to tend toward the life you want to harvest.

What does the autumn equinox teach us about balance?

The autumn equinox teaches, in the framing of Sara Walka of The Sisters Enchanted, that balance is largely a matter of perception. Scientifically, the earth is under equal light and equal dark every single day; we only perceive that balance twice a year, at the equinoxes, because of the earth’s tilt. In other words, the balance we celebrate on this one day is actually available all the time. Since Libra, the sign we move into, is an air sign associated with thought, the equinox is a reminder that our perception of balance is what determines whether our reality feels balanced. When you stop expecting the scales to sit perfectly even and accept that they are always gently moving, you release the pressure to do everything perfectly and can lean on the steady, nurturing rhythm of the seasons instead.

Keep the magic going

Fall is the season for coming home to yourself, and you don’t have to do it alone. If you want the everyday-magic version of all of this in your inbox, all my letters live on Substack, and you can find every current way to work with us (the podcast, the blog, the challenge, and our programs) on our links page. When you’re ready to go deeper, Holistic Witchery is our signature course for building a real spiritual practice, and the Enchanted Journey membership is the off-social community where witchy women gather every month to be witnessed and actually live this stuff. Don’t settle for ordinary. Stay Magic!