Beltane
Southern Hemisphere Date: Oct 31
Northern Hemisphere Date: May 1st
About Beltain
Beltain (fire in the sky), celebrates the spring holiday and is a significant fire and fertility festival that begins at sunset on 30th April. Halfway around the year from Samhain, when we honour the dead, Beltain is the festival that honours all of the living.
During Beltain the young God has blossomed into manhood, and the Goddess takes him on as her lover. This is a time to celebrate the coming together of the masculine and feminine creative energies
It is the second most important Sabbat after Samhain, when the veil between the worlds is once again at its finest. During Beltain it is believed that mischeivous elves and faries make themselves known and care should be taken during magical practices.
Beltane has long been celebrated with feasts and rituals. The name means fire of Bel; Belinos being one name for the Sun God, whose coronation feast we now celebrate. As summer begins, weather becomes warmer, and the plant world blossoms, an exuberant mood prevails. In old Celtic traditions it was a time of unabashed sexuality and promiscuity where marriages of a year and a day could be undertaken but it is rarely observed in that manner in modern times.
In the old Celtic times, young people would spend the entire night in the woods “A-Maying,” and then dance around the phallic Maypole the next morning. Older married couples were allowed to remove their wedding rings (and the restrictions they imply) for this one night. May morning is a magickal time for wild water (dew, flowing streams, and springs) which is collected and used to bathe in for beauty, or to drink for health.
The May pole was a focal point of the old English village rituals. Many people would rise at the first light of dawn to go outdoors and gather flowers and branches to decorate their homes. Women traditionally would braid flowers into their hair. Men and women alike would decorate their bodies. Beltane marks the return of vitality, of passion.
Ancient Pagan traditions say that Beltane marks the emergence of the young God into manhood. Stirred by the energies at work in nature, he desires the Goddess. They fall in love, lie among the grasses and blossoms, and unite. The Goddess becomes pregnant of the God. To celebrate, a wedding feast, for the God and Goddess must be prepared. Let Them guide you!
Fires were burned as beacons across the land to symbolise the suns return to the sky and fertility to the land. Livestock were driven between the fires to protect them from disease. Fertility to the ancients was a matter of life and death, and so the sick and frail passed between the fires to obtain the sun’s healing blessings.
In Scottish Gaelic Bealtuinn means May Day. The word originally meant “Bel Fire”, and Beltain is associated with the Celtic God Bel. Fires were traditionally built at Beltain, and people would jump over the fire. Wishing for a husband or a wife, young unmarried people would leap the bonfire, and young women would leap it to ensure their fertility, couples leaped it to strengthen their bond. Older married couples were allowed to remove their wedding rings (and the restrictions they imply) for this one night. Women would braid flowers into their hair, and men and women would decorate their bodies.
Beltain is a time of self-discovery, love, union and developing personal growth. It is a time to look forward to the future, and to prepare for the warm summer months ahead.
Correspondences
Also known as Bealtaine, Walpurgisnacht, May Day, (Northern Hemisphere) & Novey Eve (in Southern Hemisphere).
Beltane, the beginning of the summer months is at the November cross-quarter. This is the festival of the Great Rite – of sexual union between Goddess and God. Beltane is the spring fertility festival and there is feasting and celebration – a great festival for lovers! Beltane is the most popular time for Witches to be handfasted.
Division: Major Sabbat
Other Names: Beltane, May Eve, May Day, Samradh,, Walpurgisnacht, Walpurgis Eve, Rudemas, Celtic Summer, Floralia, The Great Rite, Giamonios, Bhealltainn.
Associated Holiday: May Day
Symbols of Beltain: Fresh flowers, May Pole, May Baskets, Crossroads, Eggs, Butterchurns, and Chalices
Foods of Beltain:
Dairy, Custard, vanilla ice cream and all kinds of sweats. Also, cherries and strawberries, green salads, Oatmeal and barley cakes. The foods associated with Beltane varied depending on the location in which the festival was being held. Many of the foods that you can use in your rituals and celebrations today include cereals, early fruits and vegetables such as strawberries or dandelions in salads and as decoration. Green salads are actually a popular dish to serve at Beltane feasts, alongside freshly baked bread or rolls. Dairy products like milk and cheese are popular options as well, along with wines and honey.
Incense of Beltain: Frankincense, lilac, passion flower, rose, or vanilla.
Ritual Oils: Passion Flower, Rose, Tuberose, Vanilla
Plants: Primrose, Cowslip, Hawthorn, Rose, Birch, Rosemary, Lilac
Element: Air
Mythical Creatures: Faries, Pegasus, Satyrs, Giants
Celebration of: The Lord and Lady consummate their relationship
- Colours: Greens, red, white, yellow, pink, brown, blue
- Deities: Dionysus. Pan, Hera, Gaia, Artemis, Aphrodite, The Green Man, The Horned God,
- Maiden goddesses, Persephone.
- Herbs: Dandelion, sage, mugwort, wormwood, ash, bluebells, clover, hawthorn, meadowsweet, thyme, yarrow, daisies, and primrose. frankincense, roses, lemonbalm, lemon thyme
- Animals: Lambs, bees, doves, robins, bluejays, cattle and livestock, Goats, Rabbits, Honeybees, Swallow, cats
- Crystals: Citrine, aventurine, carnelian, rose quartz, malachite, green moss agate, blue agate, red jasper, white agate, ruby, emerald, green apatite. Sapphires, quartze crystal, sunstone, orange calcite, malachite, and rose quartz
- Incense: Rose, sage, passionflower, marigold, frankincense, lilac.
Beltain Activities
* Dancing around a bonfire
* Scatter ashes from the bonfire in the fields as a fertility charm. Women wishing to conceive can tie a bag of the ashes around their necks.
* Collecting flowers
* Erect and decorate a May Pole
* Enjoy a meal of fruits and vegetables.
* Spend time outside enjoying the weather.
* Private Meditation.
* Make May Baskets to give to family and friends.
* Gather the first wild herbs of the season.
* Wash your face in dew at sunrise on Beltane for beauty in the coming year.
* Braid flowers in your hair.
* Make a wish at the hawthorn tree, a tree associated with fairies.
* Make love in the woods. Beltane is the time of year when the Goddess and God consummate their passions.
* Hang prayer ribbons on trees or your bushes.
* Mark the boundaries of your circle with oatmeal, a traditional Beltane grain.
* Decorate your home with fresh flower garlands or greenery
* Send flowers to loved ones,
* Plant new gardens,
* Spring cleaning is a traditional Beltaine gesture.
* Light a fire in the fireplace at sundown to invoke the Sun God
* Serve an evening meal of breakfast foods to invoke the fertility of the Sun God. Pancakes, eggs, milk, cheese, bacon, sausage, and honey are good options.
In Australia
This is the time when the brilliant red flowers of the Flame Trees highlight Australian forests and gardens. Our famous horse race, the Melbourne Cup, is happily coincident with southern Beltane, being run on the first Tuesday in November and taken as an unofficial holiday across Australia.
Ritual for Beltane
Here is the Ritual we will be having for Beltane, as I have several friends who are in need of a healing. Make sure you modify the wording according to your tradition.
We will scatter flower petals round circle as it is cast, Each time around chant:
“Blessed Be this sacred ground as we walk once (twice, thrice) round”
East: “Guardians, spirits, elementals, and powers of the east and of air, we ask your guidance and protection at our circle this day. Join us in celebrating this sacred season and the Lord and Lady.”
South: “Guardians, spirits, elementals, and powers of the south and of fire, we ask your guidance and protection at our circle this day. Join us in celebrating this sacred season and the Lord and Lady.”
West: “Guardians, spirits, elementals, and powers of the west and of water, we ask your guidance and protection at our circle this day. Join us in celebrating this sacred season and the Lord and Lady.”
North: “Guardians, spirits, elementals, and powers of the north and of earth, we ask your guidance and protection at our circle this day. Join us in celebrating this sacred season and the Lord and Lady.”
“Tonight is the lusty eve of May. Blessed be the fertile Goddess”
“Tonight is the lusty eve of May. Blessed be the Horned God”
“Tonight is the lusty eve of May. Blessed be the sacred marriage that manifests all creation.”
“We gather on this blessed day so that we might celebrate Beltane, the start of the fertile summer season.”
“In this moment between time, we come to praise the bountiful Goddess…and her God consort…Who unite today in sacred marriage. We wish to give thanks, and to feel our selves a part of the relentlessly turning wheel of life, death, and rebirth.”
(hold the Chalice to the sky)…”Behold the womb of the Goddess. The spring from which all life flows.”
(hold the Blade to the sky) “Behold the phallus of the God. The fertilizing principal of the universe. Blessed be the divine life force in all it’s many forms”
“Blessed be, our Goddess, bride of the heavens and earth. Let us unite with you in the ancient rite of sacred marriage.”
“Blessed be, our God, groom of the heavens and earth. Let us unite with you in the ancient ritual of sacred marriage.”
“Become one, (place blade into chalice)… You are One!!!”
“By this act of love, all life comes to be. By this act of faith, we proclaim our belief in our place on the eternal cycle of life. Blessed be the Great Rite. The Lord and Lady reign eternal.”
As this is the Sabbat for new beginnings, fertility of the earth and between couples, the Spring is the perfect time to ask for Healing as the Energies are strong and Fresh. So, now we will call upon the Goddess and God for healing. Right at this moment if you know of anyone who needs healing energies to surround them, say their name aloud. You can also state the reason the Healing Energies are needed if you wish. Remember healing can be for a physical illness, a mental illness, for someone who is simply in need of spiritual uplifting. Please state anyone’s name who is in need…
“May Love and light, laughter and pure Healing surround all of those in need, Lord and lady we call to thee!!!. As above, so below. ”
“Fertile Goddess of the Earth, Horned God of the hunt…
Spirits of the East (South, West, North…)
We thank you for your presence here
And ask for your blessing as you depart
May there be peace between us now and forever
Stay if you will, go if you must, in perfect love and perfect trust”
We will now close the circle in silence…
“The circle is open, and yet unbroken
May the love of the Goddess be ever in your heart
Merry meet and merry part
And merry meet again. Blessed BE!!!”