Beltane

Beltane is traditionally celebrated on the 1st May. It’s an ancient Celtic festival sometimes refereed to as a fire festival. It celebrates the return of the Sun, nature and fertility.

It’s exactly half way between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, making it an excellent point to reflect on intentions set in Spring and how they are progressing.

My first experience of Beltane as a child was being very close to my birthday which is on the 30th April. Many people begin celebrating at sunset on this day. I remember going to a May Day celebration when I was about eight years old, where there was a Maypole and dancing around holding a ribbon.

It has been celebrated since the middle ages and Oliver Cromwell actually banned the celebration along with Christmas. People set fires on hilltops, welcoming the return of the Sun and people put out their own fires at home to relight their fires from a communal Beltane fire. The next day when the ashes were cool,flocks and herds of cattle were driven over them for health and fertility.

Before the sixteenth century people also took part in Greenwood marriages, where young unmarried couples made love in the woods celebrating Fertility and the joining of the Summer God and Goddess. In the eighteenth century, some people held Jack in the Green parades associated with the Green Man God. in places such as Bristol and Hastings they are still taking place this weekend.

Nature is in bloom all around us, everything is blossoming and growing, lots of different bird song in the air and bees and butterflies emerging. The sunshine and more daylight is lifting moods with people now spending more time outside in gardens and on walks.

Its a beautiful time of year where we are leaving the colder days of early Spring but not at the peak heat and intensity of Summer. I would liken it to the waxing gibbous moon cycle where the moon is growing from half to fulland is more visible in the sky. Its a time to celebrate simply being alive and making even the bad days count. Finding small pocket of joys and deciding what you want from life.

Here are some journal prompts for Beltane. Make your favourite drink, light a candle and perhaps sit outside if its warm.

1. Where in Spring did I first begin to create the roots of my goals?

2. What 3 things do I most want to prioritise in the next six weeks?

3. Where in my life am I beginning to grow?

4. How do I celebrate life on a daily basis?

5. What is happening in nature that I can be inspired by?

Wishing you many blessings for Beltane.