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OCTOBER 31st – Beltane
Here in the Southern Water based Feminine Hemisphere we are celebrating Beltane while in the northern hemisphere they are celebrating Halloween or Samhain.
This is the first official day of Summer or the Summer Quarter in the Goddess Calendar.
The festival of warming lands, baby animals and birds everywhere and flowers blooming celebrating the fertility of the Goddess and the Fire energy of the God as represented by the Sun returning to full power.
This is a wonderful time to celebrate what is desired for growth in the summer ahead. A growth in work or new career, babies, a garden full of vegetables, a more loving and compassionate heart.
Celebrated approximately halfway between the spring equinox and the midsummer Solstice – Beltane traditionally marked the arrival of summer in ancient times. The Sun is returned the King from the icy winter’s bondage and bring life renewed to all.
This time [like Halloween] is a time when the veil between this world and all other worlds is thin and we can journey out and all manner of creatures can journey in and magic is rife lol.
The faeries come out of their winter seclusion, the divas return to nourish plant life, a carefree and joyous energy fills the air.
We all begin to stretch and grow and enjoy the fruits of the earth after winters harsh fare. We feel the warm winds return and are drawn to the ocean to bathe in her still cool waters to cleanse from the winters gloom.
Beltane translated means “fire of Bel” or “bright fire” – the “bale-fire”. And is known as the bright and shinning one, a Celtic Sun God. Bel is the father, protector, and the husband of the Mother Goddess.
The Bel fire is a sacred fire with healing and purifying powers.
The fires further celebrate the return of life, fruitfulness to the earth and the burning away of winter.
The main color of Beltane is green.
Green is the color of growth, abundance, plentiful harvest, abundant crops, fertility, and luck. White is another color that is customary. White brings the energies of cleansing, peace, spirituality, and the power to dispel negativity.
Another color is red which brings along the qualities of energy, strength, sex, vibrancy, quickening, health, consummation and retention.
Sun energy, life force and happiness are brought to Beltane by the color yellow.
The foods used to celebrate Beltane are vibrant seasonal fruits and bread filled with spices like cinnamon and cloves etc.
A Beltane Ritual
As this is a time for bringing dreams and aspirations to life it can be wonderful to create a magical box to usher in your desires.
Remember that we reap what we sow and so now is a time to let go of what troubles you and put your energy into what you desire.
So get a shoe box [or a similar cardboard box], some rose petals, sunflower and poppy seeds, some brightly coloured paper, a piece of willow and an acorn and a fetish to represent your wish [instructions below]
Suggested Symbols For Your Wish Box:
Love & Marriage – gingerbread
New Job – copper coin
Abundance – silver coin
Difficult Task – glove
Hearth & Home – thimble
Seeking the Truth – sprig of rosemary
Health, Healing, Renewed Strength – blue & green ribbon entwined
Happiness, Good Luck – cinnamon stick
Seeking Knowledge – apple
To Find A Lost Item – feather
Protection – key (an old iron key is best if you have one)
Now take a piece of paper and write your wish on it while visualizing it coming to life and growing.
You can do this alone or with friends and children or as part of a community.
You can decorate the lid of the box with the triple moon, a pentacle, a heart or diamond or any symbol of your choice. Put some holes in the lid to help your wish – your plants to grow lol.
Sprinkle some earth in the box and then what you have written on the paper and your fetish and some of the seeds, willow and acorn.
Cover it all with earth again.
Mix the rose petals with some more of the seeds and scatter it on top. Cover with a final layer of earth – put the lid on [leaving enough seeds for a final layer for when you bury the box]
Planting the Wish
You can do this on the day of the new moon [On Sunday the 3rd here – a most potent eclipsed new moon] or any time after a good downpour to freshen the air and the earth.
Dig a hole a couple of inches deeper than your box and lower it in while concentrating and visualizing your wish already coming true.
Say the following…
“Dreams that lie within the earth – awaken to me now.
Rise and ripen to the sky – the stars await and so do I
I summon you, come home to me – by my will so mote it be
Summer faeries, divas and sprites – unfold for me what is mine by right
With thanks to all that dances with me – gratitude and blessed be”
Remember your wish cannot involve another person – you cannot ask for a specific person to love you for example but you can draw the perfect love to you – in whatever form it takes lol.
Other Beltane Activities
Stay out all night, gathering the green, watch the sunrise and make love. Wash your face in the morning dew.
Dress your home and/or altar with greenery – Ask permission from the tree before you take anything.
Dress a tree. This is the perfect time to go out and celebrate a tree. Especially a hawthorn, rowan or birch – but the tree spirit will welcome you attention whichever kind of tree it is. Sit with it, talk to it, dance around it (maypole), honour the tree and its fertility. Hang ribbons from its branches, each ribbon represents a wish or prayer.
Flowers, flowers and more flowers. This is the festival of Flora. Make a flower crown to wear – the daisy chain in the simplest of all. Make a traditional flower basket. Fill it with Beltane greenery and all the flowers and herbs you can find. Think about, and honour, their magical and healing properties while you do so. Give it someone you love.
Make some Hawthorn Brandy. You will need a bottle of brandy and at least one cup of hawthorn flowers, plus a little sugar to taste. Mix the ingredients together and leave away from direct light, for at least two weeks. Shake occasionally. Strain, bottle and enjoy. Hawthorn is renowned as a tonic for the heart.
A meditation with Cemunnos the Horned Warrior God
[this is a wonderful meditation to discover both sides of the paradox of your journey – what it is to be the hunter and the hunted – an interesting insight for these awakening times]
You can do this around the medicine wheel or by an alter you regularly use or any other meditative space you use.
Centre your self – regulate your breathing and begin.
You will need a symbolic weapon. This needn’t be large or elaborate. A small stone pendant shaped like an arrow can be used.
Even a pointed stone would do, or a small stick with the point sharpened.
Pick up your symbolic weapon. Hold it in both hands as you invoke the god:
“Cemunnos the mighty – thou art the grey mist, the forests of the green.
Cemunnos, lord of the creatures of the earth – in thee is the sacred victory of my life as seen by me
Cemunnos I await thee”
Stand in meditation, visualizing before you the figure of a horned warrior. He may seem frightening or foreign, but you should not be afraid. He may appear sitting cross-legged on the ground or on an altar, and is frequently joined by one or more animals.
Hold out your weapon to him:
“Cemunnos – ancient god – accept this gift in thy honour – may my actions be swift and true as the arrow of the hunter – show me what I need to know”
Remain in meditation for a moment, concentrating on the forest surrounding you. Hold your sacred weapon in your dominant (power) hand (for most people, the right), with the point facing outward and your arm extended
“I am the hunter!”
Journey now with the god and see what is there to be hunted down – complete the journey with him.
Observe everything and when it is done, write it down.
Put your symbolic weapon in your non-dominant hand, with the point facing toward yourself. Take a few steps backward, and with each one repeat:
“I am the hunted!”
Visualize yourself as a forest animal, the target of hunters.
You can be any animal (a deer can be most useful but trust your instincts), choose one with whom you have some knowledge and feel some understanding or resonance.
What do you do to preserve your life?
This may depend quite a bit on the nature of the animal you have chosen.
This time, do not let your unconscious decide the outcome.
Decide that you will escape from the hunters, and visualize yourself doing so.
Write down what you have learned – thank Cemunnos and release him back to the wild.
And because we are all under the global influence of the American reality – of course most people will be looking at this night as Halloween – so have your bags of goodies ready for any small people that come knocking for they are not yet aware of the reality of it all lol xx
