Today we celebrate the autumn equinox, a day of equilibrium between the two opposing poles of day and night. This day also serves as a reminder to embrace equally the light and shadow within us in the form of archetypes. Carl Jung identified archetypes of human thoughts, feelings & behaviors within the collective unconscious that we all recognize and inherit. These archetypes have two opposing poles to them, the light and the shadow, that need to be embraced equally for us to have wholeness and true acceptance of ourselves. In Mabon practices, the mother archetype is celebrated on the autumn equinox, specifically the shadow side. The dark mother is a representation of the capacity for mothers to hurt and neglect their children. Attached is a lovely article on why the dark mother within all of us needs to be embraced so we can stop perpetuating society’s pressure on mothers to strive for perfection in everything they do.