ahhtherapy ~newsletter ~September 2026
Living Better. Living well. It begins with the exhale ~”Ahh”
“Autumn is on the threshold… A still center before the wheel turns.” ~ May Sarton
Hey there….
So… maybe you’ve never heard the word Mabon before. Or maybe you celebrate it every year….
Or, probably more accurately, maybe you’ve simply noticed the change: the light becoming softer, the evenings arriving a little earlier, the first leaves beginning to turn, that almost imperceptible shift in the air that tells us summer is beginning to loosen its grip.
Yesss… this is it.
This is where Mabon begins….
Mabon is the name commonly given to the Autumn Equinox, which arrives each year around September 21–23. It is one of two moments on the Wheel of the Year when day and night come into balance (equal light, equal darkness), before the Earth begins tipping us toward the longer nights of fall and winter.
But it’s more than just a day.
It’s a feeling.
Or even a pause.
And I have always found something deeply beautiful about that pause.
We spend SO much of our lives working to move forward. Doing, planning, caring for people, thinking about what still needs to happen, trying to fix or finish or hold everything together. We rarely pause.
And the pause is the heart of it all.
Because the pause is life.
And then nature steps in to remind us to do so. She gives us this brief moment in which she seems to say:
Stop.
Look around.
Notice where you are. I’ll make it worth your while:)
Late Summer: The Gathering-In
Of course, Mabon isn’t the only tradition that recognizes this stretch of the year as its own meaningful threshold. Another practice dear to my heart is Traditional Chinese Medicine, which names a fifth season between summer and autumn – Late Summer, connected with the Earth element. It’s my favorite season.
Summer carries Fire energy ; outward, active, social, expansive. Late Summer begins gathering some of that energy back in, asking us to digest what we’ve experienced, appreciate what has grown, and find our footing before moving more fully into autumn.
That gathering-in is really what the Earth element is about. Earth is associated with stability, nourishment, care, balance, and our ability to feel supported from within.
Earth also holds a connection to the Spleen and Stomach, making digestion part of its wisdom… What we consume, what we carry, and what we are still learning to process….This can be a season of digesting our lives too: making sense of what we’ve experienced and finding a way to integrate what we’ve moved through.
The Heart of the Harvest
The Autumn Equinox has been honored for thousands of years through harvest, gratitude, feasting, and preparation for colder months. The name Mabon is much newer (coming from the Welsh Mabon ap Modron), and became associated with the modern Wheel of the Year much later.
But the heart of the season is ancient. Human beings have always noticed the shortening days, cooling air, changing crops, and the sense that the outward season is beginning to turn inward.
And maybe that’s another reason it’s so precious.
Harvest. Balance. Gratitude. Completion. And the much-needed rest after labor.
Those same themes show up plainly in the land itself. Mabon is traditionally considered the second harvest on the Wheel of the Year, when fruits, nuts, grains, apples, squash, and so much of the Earth’s abundance have reached fullness.
Naturally, it invites us to look at our own lives in much the same way.
What has grown?
What is fuller than it was a year ago?
What have you been tending without realizing how much it has changed?
And what may be asking to be gathered in, appreciated, or perhaps gently released?
There are many layers to this season, and over the next few emails we’ll move through some of them more deeply – balance, abundance, release, and love among them. But what I love most about Mabon is that none of these ideas live only in the abstract. They’re reflected back to us everywhere: in ripening fruit, leaves beginning to loosen from their branches, the softening light, and even our own instinct to come home a little earlier, cook something warm, light a candle, and pull inward.
But first, I simply want you to feel Mabon.
Because seasonal living does not have to mean attending elaborate festivals or following a complicated spiritual practice. Sometimes it is simply paying attention to what is already happening around you.
The Colors, Crystals & Plants of Mabon
Mabon carries the colors of the changing Earth: deep red, burnt orange, golden yellow, brown, maroon, dark green, and amber. They’re the colors already appearing outside : in the trees, the produce, and the shifting light.
Its crystals carry that same earthy quality: citrine for abundance, amber for golden light, tiger’s eye for grounding, smoky quartz for balance and release, and obsidian for protection and the journey inward.
The herbs and plants tell a similar story. Sage for clearing what’s finished. Cinnamon and clove for warmth and abundance. Mugwort for dreamwork as the nights grow longer. Oak and its acorns for steadiness, strength, and endurance.
Apples and apple trees may be among the most important symbols of Mabon. They can be stored, cooked, baked, pressed into cider, and used to nourish us well beyond the harvest season. Symbolically, apples are connected with abundance, love, wisdom, nourishment, fertility, and hidden magic. Slice an apple sideways and you’ll find a natural five-pointed star within its core.
And Then There’s the Food…
And then there’s the food, which might honestly be the best part. Squash, root vegetables, nuts, bread, grapes, and cider ; simple harvest foods that feel warm, grounding, and deeply comforting.
The kind of food that makes you want to come home, light a candle, and put on a sweater. Nothing elaborate- just real, nourishing food- the kind you share around a table with people you love and actually take the time to savor.
But you don’t need all of it.
You don’t need every color, crystal, herb, or symbol on some list. Take what actually resonates, the few pieces that mean something to you, in your actual life, right now.
Maybe it’s a candle in an amber glass, an apple on the counter, or a walk beneath the changing trees.
The spiritual and the ordinary were never really separate.
Bake something. Light a candle. Walk outside.
Just notice.
Sometimes life gets loud . It just does, and there’s no shame in that. When it does, noticing is often what brings us back. Such a small act, pausing and paying attention….
A Season to Begin. A Season to Release.
It’s during these moments of change and transition that nature offers us something steady to hold onto. The seasons don’t ask for explanations, performance, or certainty rushed into place. They just keep turning, cycle after cycle, reminding us we were never meant to stay in one energetic season forever.
A season to begin.
A season to grow.
A season to gather.
A season to release.
A season to rest.
“To everything, turn, turn, turn.
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.”
That’s the bridge between Late Summer and the Autumn Equinox. Before we step into whatever is next, we can pause to honor what we’ve just moved through- naming our harvest, our wins, and our hard-won lessons. We make space for joy alongside loss, abundance alongside release, light alongside shadow.
Both, not either.
There’s such quiet comfort in remembering that change doesn’t mean something has gone wrong. The trees turn gold because that’s their nature. The light softens because that’s its nature too. The Wheel turns because it’s supposed to, and the Earth doesn’t resist its own turning.
Mabon gently invites us to ask where we might stop fighting ours too.
Want to Be Held in This Sacred Window?
On September 22nd, I’ll be gathering a small circle to honor this threshold together : through grounding, reflection, ritual, intuitive practices, Reiki, and simply being in sacred space as the Wheel turns.
There’s something different about marking a seasonal threshold in community rather than letting it pass unnoticed. It gives us space to hear what’s underneath the noise… What we’re grateful for… What needs balance… What may finally be ready to release…
If you’ve been craving a moment to exhale, be witnessed, and step into autumn with intention rather than just momentum, this circle is for you.
Reserve Your Spot →
For today, though, I’ll leave you with something simple: look outside, notice what’s ripening and what’s already changing, and ask yourself what season you’re actually in, not the one you think you should be in.
There’s wisdom waiting for you there, a beautiful place to start tuning in.
With so much warmth,
Shana