Wishing You and All Our Beloveds a Most Merry Beltane

Hail to Thalia, Grace of Flowering and Mirth!
Hail to blessed Flora, and to Maia Majestas!
We bow in gladness to The Lord and The Lady!
We merrily welcome the King and Queen of Faery!

Song of Beltane

by Caitlin Matthews

I am the calm, I am the quickening,
I am the intoxication and the force,
I am the silence, I am the singer,
I am the stallion galloping to its source.

I am the bright pavilion and the feasting,
I am the wedding couple and the bed,
I am the morning chorus and the heartbeat,
I am the goal to which all paths are led.

While in the Southern Hemisphere, our brothers and sisters observe Samhain today; in the northern lands, we celebrate Beltane, Beltainne (pronounced Bel-tinna), Cetsamhain (‘opposite Samhain’), and Walpurgis (German), among its many names.

The medieval Church tried to rename this celebration Roodmas in an attempt to shift the common people’s allegiance from the Maypole (an obvious phallus and symbol of life) to the Holy Rood (the Cross–symbol of their God’s death and resurrection).

Similarly, in more modern times, in countries that have attempted to completely eradicate all folk traditions and spirituality, such as the former Soviet Union, May Day was changed to a day for military and workforce demonstrations.

In both instances, when those in power are not forcing the people to obey, these appropriations have not been as popular.

Dancing with the Flame

As mentioned yesterday, Beltane is a reference to ‘Bel-fire,’ the fire of the Celtic God of light (Bel, Beli, or Belinos). He, in turn, may be traced to the Middle Eastern God Baal.

Whatever you choose to call it, this is a Fire Festival celebrating the beginning of Summer, when the breezes are scented and even the nights are getting warm.

Today we celebrate Life’s creative ecstasy. The veil is thin as we dance the mysteries of fertility, beauty, and Nature’s flowering.

This is our great festival of love, lust, and fruitfulness. This Sabbat honors the great creative life force in all things. The young Oak King has won the hand of the Maiden Goddess and with their union, She becomes pregnant.

We honor and emulate the divine union of the Lord and Lady. Celebrations include the obvious pleasures of sexual coupling, like most all of Nature is doing everywhere right now!

And we observe this magical time by weaving a web of life around the Maypole and leaping the Beltane fires for luck.

Lilacs, roses, lily-of-the-valley, and other blossoms can be brought inside on this day to represent the fecundity of the sweet Earth. And I especially adore May wine–made with white wine infused with (pesticide-free!) sweet woodruff blossoms.

But hawthorn’s flowers, so beloved by the Fair Folk, should never be cut and must remain outdoors, else grave misfortune befall you. Also, think twice about bringing honeysuckle into the house unless you DO want a wedding soon!

For many generations in my family, cut flowers have been bred and tended as gifts of love, hospitality, and grace. However, I am learning to think twice about cutting blossoms. That’s because living blooms are Earth’s laughter (as Emerson noted), but a cut flower is but a smile.

Still, though, sometimes they call to be placed in our home, so I choose only eco-friendly flowers that I know are grown as exuberant expressions of the gardener’s love for life.

And when I ask permission to snip a few of my own blossoms on special occasions, which one should unfailingly do, it is sometimes granted to me. Respect and honor are essential when communing with any of our Green kindred, particularly when you are removing some of their potential for regeneration.

This is a time of focusing on your own fertile possibilities! You might make a wish today and plant the seeds of your own desires, most appropriate for this most magical Full Flower Moon.

And I certainly hope you remembered to wash your face in the dew first thing this morning, ensuring youth and beauty forever.

Magical Trysts

Wiccan handfastings are common at Beltane. However, the wise grandmothers knew very well that most lusty trysts formed in the merry month of May were not likely to last, so actual marriages were avoided and considered bad luck during this month.

Instead, smitten couples were encouraged to enjoy their pleasures but wait at least one lunation before the serious business of marriage.

That’s why June is considered a much more favorable time for a lasting union and to this day is the most popular wedding month. Besides, June is named for the Roman Queen of marriage and childbirth, the Goddess Juno.

But if a pregnancy resulted after the Beltane revelries, well, so what? The mother was considered blessed, and the child was sure to be magical. Both were supported and welcomed by the whole village, and all was well.

Don’t you just love this wise way to work with our sexy nature? Rather than condemn it, shame it, and forbid it to take its course?

The Fair Ones

At Beltane, we remember the arrival of the Tuatha de Danann in Ireland, and we honor on this day the Great Mother-Goddess Danu (or Danann). The Tuatha de Danann (meaning, “the people of Danann”) were the fourth invading culture to arrive in Ireland, many centuries before the Christian era.

They were quite beautiful and astonishingly advanced, being highly skilled in science and metalworking. Understood as a race apart from humans, they inhabited Ireland for about two hundred years, until the fifth and last invaders, the Milesians (Gaels), conquered them.

When the Tuatha de Danann had been finally defeated, they withdrew to the hollow hills, where they reside to this day.

Now known as the Sidhe (pronounced “shee”), they are the source of much of our lore about the Celtic Gods, Goddesses, and our communion with the Shining Ones, that is, the Faery races.

So this is an important time to give offerings to our Cousins and co-walkers. The activities of the People of Peace are now growing and will reach their height at the Summer Solstice.

Remember the Others

Speaking of which, this year, I was reminded of Abigail Adams’ famous (but failed) reminder to her husband, John, as the Founders were framing our country’s new form of government. “In the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make,” she wrote him, “I desire you would remember the ladies.”

If only he and the others had remembered to “be more generous and favorable to them [women] than your ancestors.”

We are still trying to live up to that, with mixed results. But this Beltane, I feel compelled to add, “Remember the Others.”

We are not the only intelligent, free-willed beings on this planet, and we are certainly not the smartest or most evolved. The Lordly Ones, our Cousins, and the Faery Beings that we share this world with have been here far longer than us, and they should be taken into account when it comes to human affairs. Our ancestors certainly did, much to their benefit.

Those Others should also include the plant and animal life that we so foolishly take for granted. Environmental degradation and deadly human activities, like toxic wars, are triggering catastrophic planetary responses affecting, not just human lives, but the well-being of all that lives. This Beltane would be a good time to make a commitment to being more helpful to the Earth, to help ease that harm, even if only a little.

Accommodating a better relationship with the Spirits of the land where you live and the Otherworldly contacts of your place would also be a step in the right direction. This is not transactional. I would caution you about asking for favors or other ideas you might have picked up from Hollywood or fictional fantasies.

Instead, learn to listen. Learn to be supportive and kindly without asking for anything. We owe them, not the other way round.

Now then, my dears — enough talk! Get yourself outside!

Light your Bel-fires, sing to your trees, dance with the Wild Ones, and surrender to this most ancient enchantment.

Revel in the sensuous delights of life and love.

May your magical rites be most gladly savored!
Blessed Be!