Beltaine

Southern Hemisphere – October 31^st

Astrologically – November 7th @ 3.25pm

Beltaine is the second most important day in the Celtic Calendar.  It marks the start and end of the two seasons of the year, the light and dark half, Summer and Winter.  Beltaine celebrates when the Maiden Goddess becomes the Mother and the Young Sun God becomes her consort.  This is the celebration of The Great Rite, the Sacred Union between the Goddess and the God.

As with Samhain, which falls opposite Beltaine on the Wheel of the Year, the veils between the worlds are at their thinnest.

Beltaine, is also known as, Beltane or May Day in England and Wales and Bhealtainn in Scotland.

One of the most popular beliefs on the origin of this Celebration is that of the Sun God Bale.  Balefires, or Bonfires, would be lit on May Day Eve in his honour.  In Brittan the Royal Family still lights a Balefire each year on May Eve in order to continue the family line.

Another popular way to celebrate Beltaine is the May Pole.  The May Pole was, and still is, a prominent symbol of this Celebration.  Traditionally the may Pole would be made from the communal Pine Tree that would be decorated at Yule, but would have the top branches removed to attach Red and White Ribbons to the trunk for “Morris Dances” to hold on to as they danced around the May Pole.  The red and white ribbons were representations of the Goddess and God intertwining to symbolize the creation of life.

Beltaine is celebrated by many cultures around the world.

In Russia everyone waits until the moon rises on Beltaine before they light their Balefires and throw sprigs of Holly into the fire in honour of the Holly King.

An old Swedish tradition is that two people, a female and a male, must light the Balefire each using flints to symbolize the Sacred Union of the Goddess and God.

In Norway, Balefires are called Balder’s Fires in honour of their Sun God.  They would also throw their old brooms on the fires and dedicate the new ones that were made during the winter months.

Germanic and Dianic traditions celebrate the Night of the Dead, similar to Samhain.  Ancestors would be invited to join them by the fire.

In Slavic countries young men would go from house to house within the village to collect fuel for the fires.  Wreaths would also be made to throw into the fire for healings.

The Celts also believed that on this day the Faye (Fairies) would disguise themselves as humans to join in the festivities.  Daisy chains would be made and placed around children’s necks to protect them from the Faye’s.  Livestock would also be fed fresh dill weed for protection.

The best protection was believed to be bells.  Faye’s were not only believed to be nature spirits but tricksters and pranksters.  Bells were said to hurt the “Wee Folks” ears.  So it is not surprising that bells feature strongly in the folklore surrounding Beltaine.

Other bells have long been used for protection too.  However, most of their origins have been forgotten.  Wind chimes were hung outside windows and doors to prevent the Faye’s and other baneful spirits from entering the home.

The Primrose flower was also used at Beltaine to keep the Faye at bay.  In Ireland many people still boil Primrose flowers and pour it outside their doors to prevent the mischievous Faye from entering their homes.  Fires would also be extinguished on this night and then relit in the morning from logs taken from the main Balefire in the community.  It was considered bad luck to use logs from the previous season in the new fires.

The Norse believed you must sleep at home on this night and keep the hearth fire burning until dawn to ensure good fortune and harvests for the coming year.

In China, all fires need to be put out on May Eve and new ones lit at Sunrise to promote good luck for the next harvests.

In Wales, Balefires would be kept alight for the first three days of May.  Three is a sacred number for the Celts.  The Warriors and Warioressess would take turns in keeping the Balefires going.  In other countries this day was not celebrated as a Sabbath as such but a day to honour different deities.  In Rome for instance, it was called Floralia in honour of Flora the Goddess of Flowers.  The Romans also honoured Bacchanalia, the God of Wine and Frolic.  This day is still celebrated in parts of Italy as the first day of Spring with community festivals that feature dancing, singing, drinking wine made from the previous season.  It is tradition that all the old wine must be drunk before midnight.  So that new wine could be made from the new Spring harvests.  Young men would climb the Alps to pick Edelweiss flowers and then return to the festival and give the flowers to the young woman of his choice.  If she accepted then the couple would become engaged.

In the Germanic lands Beltaine was known as Walpurgisnacht in honour of the Earth Mother Waburga who would marry the Sun God and become impregnated with the son who was born at Yule.

Native American’s would also look to nature at this time and was a popular time of the year to embark on Vision Quests.

Other Festivals at this time of year included the Festival of Sheila-na-gig in Ireland, Tithe Day in Germany, and the Festival of Pan in Greece (also known as Cernunnos by the Celts) who is the master of the hunt.  During Spring he represents the Young God of Fertility and later coming into his full power in Summer and Autumn. This day is also known as the day Buddha was born and is know as Wesak.

The Great Rite is performed at Beltaine.  Most people usually misunderstand this.  The Great Rite Symbolises the sexual union or Sacred Marriage of the Goddess and the God from whose union comes all creation.  One female and one male, representing the Goddess and God, perform the right.  They unite sexually in a symbolic way by placing an Athame (Ritual Knife) into a Chalice.  Each being representations of the Goddess and God.

The month of May was named in Honour of Maia, originally a Greek mountain Nymph identified as the most beautiful of the Seven Sisters, which are known today to modern astronomers as the Pleiades.  Maia was the mother of Hermes, the God of Magic.

May is also the month that celebrated everything to do with Women.  Maidens, Mothers, Crones and Goddesses.

For most of Europe, Beltaine marked the last of the Spring planting season.  Many cultures would use sympathetic magic to ensure the success of the harvest.  Women would ride Besom’s (Brooms) over the fields to bless and protect the crops at this time.  Menstruating women were especially sought after for these rituals as the blood was regarded as sacred and life giving.

  Most importantly Beltaine is a time of Celebration, Festivities, Feasting and Love.  Celebrate all the beauty that Mother Earth has to offer. Our Ancestors would take time out from the fields to celebrate the Wheel as it turned. 
 So join with friends and loved ones and take time out from our hectic and often stressful lives and Celebrate!

©Ange Foster

Images courtesy of Google Images

Like my Facebook Page and Follow me on Twitter



A Magical Month Ahead!

Today marks the 1st day of the Lunar Calendar such as the one the Chinese follow, this is known as the Spring Festival and goes for 15 days.  It is a time when people return to their families and celebrate the past year and welcome in the New.  On the first day the Chinese believe you should not shower, clean or do laundry so you do not wash away all the Good Luck.  This year we will be entering the Chinese year of the Fire Monkey on February 8th. 

Tomorrow we also celebrate Lammas here in the Southern Hemisphere and Imbolc in the Northern.  Lammas is the "cross-quarter" day marking the first harvest of early grain, where the first loaf of the bread from the harvest is broken and shared in the name of the Goddess. All crops associated with grain and of the season are sacred to this time. It is a time to reflect on the successes of the year and to reward yourself for jobs well done. Lammas magic can be magic of facing up to change. The God gives his energy to the crops to ensure life while the Goddess, as Mother, prepares to transform into her aspect as the Crone. The God loses his strength as the days grow shorter. Traditionally this day falls on February 2nd, however astrologically it falls on February 4th this year.

For those of you in the Northern Hemisphere the Wheel of the Year is turning to Imbolc. Also known as Candlemass. For those of you going through Winter take a peek outside and get some inspiration from nature, you will see signs of New Life popping up everywhere. This weekend you celebrate Imbolc which is the mid-way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Astrologically the mid-way point this year is February 4th. As this date changes each year it is often observed on February 2nd.

 At Imbolc we begin to see the first signs of Spring, flowers are starting to bloom and the days are getting longer. Imbolc is the Celebration of the Mother Goddess with the young Sun God that was born at Yule. This is Sacred day for the Divine Feminine. On this day our Ancestors would initiate any of the young girls who had begun their Moontime into the Sisterhood and the Feminine Mysteries.

Mercury is also in Shadow Phase at the moment, which is the phase just after the actual retrograde period, until February 14th. This is the time to consolidate anything that arose during the retrograde period. Jupiter has also recently entered its retrograde phase, on January 8th, allowing us to look at issues concerning self-love and self-esteem. This phase continues until May 9th. 

We also have a rare event occurring in our skies throughout February, with five of our major planets in alignment. These planets include Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. This line up highlights areas of Self-Worth, Abundance, Action, Communication and Personal Responsibility. 

Use this time wisely as the universe gives you a cosmic push in these areas. 

I wish you all a Magical Month!

Please visit and like my Facebook Page