GODS AND GODDESSES

At this turn of the wheel Mabon we at Muin Mound honor the deity whose name has been given to this day Mabon and his mother Modron. Legend has it that Mabon was abducted from his mother at three years old. He was raised in captivity until the knights of Arthur freed him from his tower imprisonment. As part of Arthurian Legend the Search for Mabon is also included in the Welsh Mabinogion, the epic tale of heroic deeds. As deities in the Celtic pantheon Mabon and Modron bring us the second harvest festival of the season. The earth Goddess Modron brings forth her fruit and this fruit comes into the physical realm as grapes and wine and apples. Mabon is a time when we begin to remember our dead in Avalon. Ancients brought the newly picked apples to the burial cairns of their ancestors and offered them as a symbol of their wish to be united with their beloved friends and relatives one day in the land of Avalon, the land of apples.

Mabon is also known as Maponos and Maponus. His name means "great son" Modron means "great mother." Mabon's myths over lap those of the hero Gwyn Ap Nuad and may be the same identity. Mabon was a great horseman and hunter. Hounds always figure into the tales of the great ones and for Mabon this is no exception. Mabon was noted for his prized hunting hounds. His life cycle as a minor solar god is not unlike that of the maiden/mother/crone of the moon phases. He is the innocent in his youth, the strong virile man in his prime and the sacrificial God in his old age. Some consider that he figures in the lost Celtic creation myths and that he was the first live carved out of the primal void of the divine womb. While there is little information available on Madron, this alone would make her the embodiment of the great Earth Mother of creation.

Taken from Celtic Myth and Magic by Edain McCoy

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