Beltane/May Day

This is the time when sweet desire weds wild delight.

The Maiden of Spring and the Lord of the Waxing Year meet in the greening fields and rejoice together under the warm sun.

The shaft of life is twined in a spiral web and all of nature is renewed.

We meet in the time of flowering, and dance the dance of life.

In the old ways of pagan people, the wiccans whose religion was drawn from the earth and the cycles of the seasons, Beltane was the time for celebrating fertility, sexuality and the sacred union of the Goddes and the God, female and male to produce new life. Traditions abound for the celebration of Beltane or May Day.

Beltane Fires simulated the sun as a life giving agent at the beginning of summer, and represented the male energy of fertility. On the eve of Beltane all fires in the community were extinguished. On the morning, at sunrise, the community gathered on their sacred Beltaine Hill and ritually kindled fire. Most used the friction of a wooden spindle in a wooden socket to kindle the fire constructed of nine sacred woods. The gathering of the sacred woods would be done between Spring Equinox and Beltane, so that the woods were dry for the fire. The nine sacred woods were:

Birch - Goddess; Oak - God; Mountain Ash (Rowan) - tree of life; Willow - death; Hawthorne - purification; Hazel - wisdom; Apple - love; Vine - joy; Fir - rebirth.

From the sacred fire, each household took a burning brand back to their homes and relit their fire from this sacred flame. The bonfire was also used for purification of the livestock through a ritual to the Divine power while driving the cattle through the sacred fire before returning them to the hills for summer grazing. People were purified by jumping through or over the sacred fire.

May Flowers were gathered during "Maying" a term referring to celebrations for all the traditions of May Day. Maying included outings to the woods for picnics, gathering flowers and making love. Wreaths of flowers were exchanged as gifts to be kept as amulets from May Day until June when they would be placed on the Midsummer Fires of Summer Solstice. Some flowers were particularly significant, cowslips picked before dawn on May Day and spread about the house were a charm of protection; the dew from the Hawthorne flowers gathered before dawn splashed on the face helped you to see your true love more clearly; Hawthorne flowers gathered for purifying were hung in the house and on the doorway for protection; well-dressing with small posies of flowers honoured the spirit of the well from which was drawn the water supply for the community.

Beltane traditions continue to this day and you might want to create your own in ways that suit your environment here are some ideas for that:

Wake before dawn and go outside to gather dew - all the better if there is a Hawthorne tree handy - and wash your face with that dew, purifying and clearing your true sight, the inner eye that sees that which others may not.

Draw water from your tap into a dark bowl and place it outside in your garden, on your balcony, a window ledge. (If you are a country dweller and have a well source for your water then use your well for this.) Make a small offering of flowers. Bring your offering to your bowl/well and take a moment to bring forth deep gratitude for the supply of clean water that comes so easily to you. Make your flower offering to your well saying "With grateful thanks I leave this gift to the guardian spirit of this well. May all water flow forever free"

Gather some flowers from your garden - or buy some local spring blossoms from a store - breathe into them your gratitude as you acknowledge their amazing capacity to reproduce year after year reminding us of the fertility of mother earth. Make a gift of these flowers to someone you love just because it is Beltane.

Go to a local park and find the daisies growing in the grass and make a daisy chain and wear it in your hair as a celebration of your own fertility.

Prepare a Beltane feast of fresh local foods, decorate your table with fresh flowers, and drink from a May Bowl. The traditional May Bowl uses sweet woodruff a herb held sacred to the Lady as it comes into full bloom at this time with its fragrant white blossoms. To make a May Bowl place sweet woodruff in a deep glass punch bowl pour over it white wine, sparkling water, strawberry juice/wine and if available, some strawberries. Drink and make a toast,

to the glory of May

to our Lady and our Lord

in perfect union

in perfect love

do we drink this wine of May

to the Gods!

Save your flowers allowing them to dry and use them as a sacred gift for the celebration of Summer Solstice in June.

The Faeries are said to be most active during the month of May - you may not see them as you did when you were a child, but if you sit very still in the woods, you may catch a glimpse of a movement, the glint of sun on a faery wing, or feel a sense of their presence.

Beltane blessings to you

Medwyn

Sources: Starhawk - The Spiral Dance; Pauline Campanelli - Wheel of the Year; Adam McLean - The Four Fire Festivals.