Last night, as my daughter was playing in the bathtub, I decided to forgo my usual “straightening up the bathroom” routine—mostly because of the nasty cold/allergy battle I’ve been fighting—and instead start planning our Mabon activities. Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year, and I look forward to it starting in April or May! Even though my allergies always betray me at the beginning of September without fail, this falling leaf, sweater-weather season is always wonderful.

The first thing I know we’re going to do this year is create our own talking stick. We used to have one that I made as a teenager, but I have no idea where it disappeared to. It was also sort of goofy—I painted it hot pink, of all things, and glued silly jewels all over it. It worked for me, but now that I have a family, I want one that all three of us can personalize. So this weekend we’ll be taking a fall walk to find the perfect talking stick. After my daughter picks it out, we’ll take turns carving off the bark and decorating it until it’s ours. For talking stick directions, click here.

Something else we’re going to start doing this month is combining our altar with a seasonal table. Our curriculum materials are Waldorf-based, and we just picked up the most perfect seasonal table ever for a buck at a yard sale. We usually keep our alter in my bedroom—just so company doesn’t get weirded out by it, I suppose—but I think if we combine it with our seasonal nature table it’s going to work well. If not, we can always scrap the idea next month. I think my daughter is going to have a blast with it; I just wish we had some nice silk play scarves to go with it. That will have to go on our wish list!

To celebrate the autumn harvest, we always bring in some gorgeous colors of corn to arrange around the house. We don’t grow our own, so we head to the little local produce stand not far from our home. We usually pick up a couple of gourds to display as well. This year, we’ll be doing an idea I learned from Celebrating the Great Mother: making Native tribal corn necklaces. To do this, you take lots of different colors of corn off their corn cobs, soak them until they’re pliable, and then thread them like you would beads. (Other cool ideas, such as apple stamping and door blessings, can be found in the same book.)

We’re also definitely going apple-picking this autumn, and using the apples we pick in plenty of yummy recipes—including a homemade apple pie, apple strudel, and fried apples. My husband’s planning on using some apples in a few savory fall dishes as well.

What are your plans for Mabon and the rest of the month? Share them here at Pagan Journey.