Blessed Beltane!
A Blessed Beltane to you!
Beltane is a celebration of life. This is the night of the Greenwood Marriage. It is about sexuality and sensuality, passion, vitality and joy. And about conception. A brilliant moment in the Wheel of the Year to bring ideas, hopes and dreams into action. At the height of Spring and the flowering of life. The Goddess manifests as the May Queen and Flora. The God emerges as the May King and Jack in the Green. The danced Maypole represents Their unity, with the pole itself being the God and the ribbons that encompass it, the Goddess. Colors are the Rainbow spectrum. Beltane is a festival of flowers, fertility, sensuality, and delight.
Traditional celebrations of Beltane include Maypoles, bonfires, planting rites, and Handfastings. Well, not everyone has a Maypole, or has the space for a bonfire. So, there are many ways to celebrate Beltane in a much simpler fashion. Be it a small love spell or fertility spell. Or simply making/buying a Bundt cake and placing a skewer or straw in the middle, wrapping ribbons around it like a mini Maypole. Or even lighting a red candle and dancing around it while singing a song (one I’ve done personally before going into a Led Zeppelin Tribute concert 3 years ago). The veil is also the thinnest this time of year - the only other time it’s this thin is during Samhain. This is a great opportunity to venerate and honor the spirits, and guard against malicious ones with salt along your windowsills or doors. Bake cookies as offerings to the Fae. Give yourself a tarot reading or have someone else do it for you- this time of year is excellent for divination. Adorn yourself, your altar, your home with flowers. Pleasure yourself. Make love with your partner. Soak in a rose water and pink salt bath. Work on your grounding exercises. Perform solitary spells for abundance, protection, fertility, romance, love, sex, and divination! Plant seeds and begin building a magical garden. Dedicate an altar to Flora, Cernunnos, Bes, Pan, Hera, etc - any deity you can think of who rules fertility, marriage, romance, and abundance. Let your imagination guide you as you celebrate life, love, abundance, sensuality, delight, passion, vitality, and joy.
Beltane - 1st of May
Love, Life, Fire
Element: Fire
Colors: Green, pink, blue, yellow, red, brown, and white.
Flowers, trees and plants: Almond tree, ash tree, watercress, clover, elder, foxglove, honeysuckle, rowan, sorrel, hawthorn, ivy, lilies of valleys, marigold, meadowsweet, mugwort, woodruff, angelica, hyacinth, daisy, lilac, primrose, rose, St John’s wort, yarrow, patchouli.
Food, drinks and herbs: Mint, thyme, milk, products containing milk, breads, grains, oats, cherries, strawberries, wine, salads, oysters, spices, spicy food, mushrooms.
Decorations: Maypole, ribbons, beads, flowers, flower chains, fire.
Stones/crystals: Emerald, malachite, amber, sapphire, rose quartz, orange carnelian, green agate.
Animals: Swallow, dove, swan, cat, lynx, panther, stag.
