Beltane
Zemirah Jazwierska
Happy Belated Beltane!
As a child, I would so look forward to May Day, signifying the arrival of spring. We would make and color little paper baskets at school and fill them with a small potted flower to leave upon the neighborhood doorsteps in my grandmother’s tiny town, (which happened to be the location of my small country elementary school).
In working with and honoring the Celtic Wheel of the year, Beltane, which took place on May 1st (Northern Hemisphere), and October 31st (Southern Hemisphere), is a time of celebrating spring, rebirth, renewal and fertile energy for new growth. Beltane takes place about halfway between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice.
Beltane is a fire celebration of the return of warm weather and is often commemorated by huge bonfires, fire ceremonies, May poles and dancing. In ancient times, as well as in present ones, people would dance through the flames of the fire in order to bring good fortune in the year ahead.
Beltane, along with Summer Solstice and Samhain, is one of three nights of the year when It’s thought that it is a time when the veil between this material world and the world of Spirit world is thin. This means that it is an abundantly fertile time for planting seeds of intention, for visualizing and for praying for spiritual change, growth and shifts within your life.
Spiritual themes of Beltane include opening your heart to a greater connection between the sacred and the mundane. And it is the perfect time to check in within your own heart and to expand ever more into cultivating love and the blooming of passion in our lives in all of its expressions. Other, more subtle themes involve recognizing and celebrating beauty in the natural world as well as the restoration of balance between the opposites in life.
In olden days, the celebration of May Day was called “Maying.” Consider celebrating Beltane throughout the month of May this year. Perhaps that can be a new way of “Maying?” Give gratitude for the earth’s flora, the rain and sacred waters that nourish the plant world, human life and all sentient beings. Honor the renewal of Mother Earth’s life force through planting some flowers or vegetables in your garden or in a container on your porch. Deliver some seed packets to your neighbors, treat a friend to a container of pansies, and send out prayers to world, blessing all of the sacred elements, the land, the water, and the air.
Here is a chant to bring you right into the central energy of Beltane, from Sharlyn Hildago’s book Celtic Tree Rituals:
Blessings to you and your loved ones and all this season of Beltane.
Love, Rev. Zemirah
As a child, I would so look forward to May Day, signifying the arrival of spring. We would make and color little paper baskets at school and fill them with a small potted flower to leave upon the neighborhood doorsteps in my grandmother’s tiny town, (which happened to be the location of my small country elementary school).
In working with and honoring the Celtic Wheel of the year, Beltane, which took place on May 1st (Northern Hemisphere), and October 31st (Southern Hemisphere), is a time of celebrating spring, rebirth, renewal and fertile energy for new growth. Beltane takes place about halfway between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice.
Beltane is a fire celebration of the return of warm weather and is often commemorated by huge bonfires, fire ceremonies, May poles and dancing. In ancient times, as well as in present ones, people would dance through the flames of the fire in order to bring good fortune in the year ahead.
Beltane, along with Summer Solstice and Samhain, is one of three nights of the year when It’s thought that it is a time when the veil between this material world and the world of Spirit world is thin. This means that it is an abundantly fertile time for planting seeds of intention, for visualizing and for praying for spiritual change, growth and shifts within your life.
Spiritual themes of Beltane include opening your heart to a greater connection between the sacred and the mundane. And it is the perfect time to check in within your own heart and to expand ever more into cultivating love and the blooming of passion in our lives in all of its expressions. Other, more subtle themes involve recognizing and celebrating beauty in the natural world as well as the restoration of balance between the opposites in life.
In olden days, the celebration of May Day was called “Maying.” Consider celebrating Beltane throughout the month of May this year. Perhaps that can be a new way of “Maying?” Give gratitude for the earth’s flora, the rain and sacred waters that nourish the plant world, human life and all sentient beings. Honor the renewal of Mother Earth’s life force through planting some flowers or vegetables in your garden or in a container on your porch. Deliver some seed packets to your neighbors, treat a friend to a container of pansies, and send out prayers to world, blessing all of the sacred elements, the land, the water, and the air.
Here is a chant to bring you right into the central energy of Beltane, from Sharlyn Hildago’s book Celtic Tree Rituals:
We are the weavers of life.
We are the creators within the grand mystery.
We are the warp. We are the weft.
We are the web. We are the thread.
We are the makers of beauty.
With our hands and our souls and our hearts.
We weave and braid and sew our visions.
We are the weavers of life.
Blessings to you and your loved ones and all this season of Beltane.
Love, Rev. Zemirah