Crafting Your Inner Harvest, One Leaf at a Time
As the Wheel of the Year turns to the Autumn Equinox, also known as Mabon, we enter a sacred moment of balance.
Day and night meet as equals. The earth exhales. The last fruits ripen on the vine. The air grows heavy with the scent of soil, cider, and change.
This is the season of gathering, both literally and symbolically.
Of giving thanks for what has bloomed.
Of acknowledging what’s been hard-won.
Of choosing what to carry with us into the darker months ahead.
Today we celebrate by creating your own Gratitude Garland, a string of handmade (or nature-found) leaves that each hold something you’re thankful for from this turning year.
This is a simple but profound act of magickal reflection.
Each leaf becomes a charm.
Each word, a whispered blessing.
And the garland as a whole becomes a visual spell of sacred remembrance.
🍂 What You’ll Need:
You can make this as rustic or elaborate as you like.
The magick is in the intention, not the materials.
Basic Supplies
- Paper or card in autumn tones (brown, gold, orange, deep red)
- Pen or marker
- Scissors
- String, twine, or ribbon
- Hole punch (optional)
- Optional Decorations
- Pressed leaves
- Glitter or gold leaf
- Dried herbs (like rosemary, sage, or thyme)
- Ribbons or fabric scraps
- Washi tape or stickers
- Acorns, conkers, or mini pinecones to tie on
- You can also gather fallen leaves from outside if you prefer to work with nature directly—just be gentle and ethical in your gathering.
Crafting Your Gratitude Garland
1. Set Your Space
This isn’t just arts and crafts.
It’s ritual. It’s memory. It’s intention.
Light a candle. Burn some incense. Play music that feels autumnal and comforting.
Lay your materials out like sacred tools. Maybe open your windows and let the cool Equinox air flow in.
Take a deep breath. Centre yourself.
Say aloud:
“I pause to honour the harvest within and around me. May this crafting be an act of remembering, celebration, and devotion.”
2. Cut or Collect Your Leaves
Cut out leaf shapes from card or paper.
You can trace around real leaves or use a simple stencil.
Aim for 6–12 leaves, but there’s no fixed number.
If you’re using real leaves, make sure they’re dry and not brittle.
Each leaf will hold a single word, phrase, or image that represents something you’re grateful for.
3. Reflect on Your Harvest
Ask yourself:
What have I grown or changed in myself this year?
What challenges have I faced—and what have they taught me?
What small joys or synchronicities made this year feel magickal?
Who or what am I thankful for right now?
What do I want to carry with me into the darker months?
Let your answers emerge slowly.
Write one on each leaf, just a word or two is enough.
Examples:
"Strength"
"The courage to say no"
"Returning to nature"
"Found my voice"
"Trusting the unknown"
4. Weave Your Garland
Use your hole punch or thread to string your leaves together on your twine, ribbon, or string. You might arrange them in the order the events occurred, or intuitively.
Decorate with your chosen extras, such as, herbs, beads, feathers, bits of fabric.
Let it become a spell of texture and colour, made by your own hand.
As you tie each leaf on, say:
“I honour this part of my journey. Thank you.”
5. Display With Intention
Hang your garland where you’ll see it often: above your altar, across a window, over your bed, or in your kitchen.
Let it remind you, as the days grow darker, that you have already grown so much.
You might choose to burn, bury, or compost it at Samhain or Winter Solstice as a ritual release, or keep it until next year’s Equinox as a thread through the turning cycle.
A Final Blessing
Even though you’re crafting alone, you are not alone.
Others in our community are doing this too, at their kitchen tables, by candlelight, in stolen moments of quiet.
Together, we’re weaving a collective garland of gratitude.
A shared offering to the Earth. A spell cast across the turning season.
Let your leaves be part of that invisible thread.
And if you feel called, you’re welcome to share your garland in our community or here in the app, we’d love to witness your harvest.