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777
30th April 2014, 07:14
Wishing you all a productive and happy Beltane, the first spirit night of the year. I shall be (hopefully) spending this weekend in Clun with Caleb and family at the Green Man Festival celebrating spring. Tonight I shall be peeling back the veil as much as possible.

How will you spend yours?

PurpleLama
30th April 2014, 14:47
We will be meeting with our "tribe", a large group of family oriented solitaries. Who knows what all the big, pagan women might come up with? It is usually put together at the last minute, and the ritual is at dusk. Everybody brings their wares, and food, and we all trade and sell, hang out and just have fun, eat (the most important), then have a ritual. Wiccans are probably predominant, but many other established pagan faiths get represented, and then there's me. One of my closest friends, and the hostess of these events, can be found by searching The Circle of The Green Faery.

Seikou-Kishi
30th April 2014, 15:37
I hear the panpipes playing
In what the wind is saying
Here comes the fallen angel
Here comes the long-dead god
Back from his years in exile
Here comes a wild pagan hunt

And the May Queen sings her song
For her consort who is gone
Children mourn the loss of Pan
Whom death banished from this land

"Oh great horned god of ages past
Lord of the hunt, lord of the dance
From that place where you lie slain
Come to me, return again.
Across the mountains, the fields, the sands
Be once more upon this land!
Oh great horned god of times gone by
Lord of the earth, the sea and the sky,
Of the forest and of the glade
Be with us now and for all our days.
Herne, Cernunos, Karnayna, Pan,
Be once more upon this land!"

My friends of a pagan inclination and I have holidays on all of the quarter and cross-quarter days, though we have given them new names to avoid implying the continuation of ancient holidays, as we have a plenitude of our own ideas and do not wish to imply that these ideas have any antiquity (which isn't to say they definitely do not). This is one that I very much enjoy. Samhain is a time for the dead, for the ancestors and divination and messages that percolate down through the layers. Beltaine is the opposite, a time for the living, for descendants and for messages that pass the other way. At this time every year, we have a ritual in which we declare to the universe our highest hopes for the planet and the beings on it. Every of the eight such holidays are focused on the Earth because it is the Earth's cycles which we celebrate, but in this holiday particularly we encourage the branches on the tree of life to reach to their highest.

In Samhain, the spiritual nourishment of the higher planes is drawn down into the fertile Earth, and in Beltaine it rises up through the roots of that tree of life into the crown where it throws open the blossom in a dazzling explosion. This is a time of upwellng.

in Winter's cloak we've sheltered long
Waiting for Spring's sweet song
Though warmth we found beside the hearth
It's glow could not break through the dark
I look towards the fiery sky
And know that your return is nigh
Though I shall fall as the harvest corn
It is my fate; I'm pagan born

Seikou-Kishi
1st May 2014, 00:27
Well, my Beltaine isn't here for nearly a week. Not until the 5th. Our quarter and cross-quarter holidays are precisely timed: if the year were a circle, each holiday would be 45 degrees apart. The Quarter days (the solstices and equinoctes) are positioned immediately between the mutable and cardinal signs of the zodiac: that is, they occur when the sun leaves a mutable sign and enters a cardinal sign. The Cross-Quarter days are half way through the fixed signs:

Yule: 0 degrees Capricorn (between Sagittarius and Capricorn)
Imbolc: 15 degrees Aquarius
Ostara: 0 degrees Aries (between Pisces and Aries)
Beltaine: 15 degrees Taurus
Midsummer: 0 degrees Cancer (between Gemini and Cancer)
Lammas: 15 degrees Leo
Mabon: 0 degrees Libra (between Virgo and Libra)
Samhain: 15 degrees Scorpio

Two of our number have got married (to each other) since Beltaine of last year, and so we will be incorporating a marriage into our festivities this year. Because in our terminology Beltaine is called the "festival of life", it is considered the time of year in which we give thanks for the marriages of the preceding year and the lives that have joined us since that time.

On this holiday, like it's counterpart, we wear corollae (circlets) of bronze (specifically bronze as the alloy of copper and tin: copper for Venus and Samhain and tin for Jupiter and Beltaine) and our robes will be green of the greatest verdancy. Many people have their corollae made with many thin, stripped and braided rowan branches varnished and bound together with rings of bronze wire as a way of incorporating the rowan (a tree symbolising life) into their Beltaine headwear while still being able to bring in a little bronze. Particularly with these more natural forms, people will supplement them by intertwining with them a garland made of small, bright flowers, or else use it to hold small, corsage-like bouquets of flowers around the head (often sprigs from blossoming trees). Personally, I prefer dandelions lol :D I think the fact that they grow so freely and easily (which earns them the name of weed, unfortunately) is a great symbol of the life of Beltaine.

In the days around Beltaine, we gather mugwort in large quantities. Some of it will be burnt and reduced to black ash on a fire kindled from the flames of the Beltaine fires, while the rest will be made into a tincture. Mugwort is a great herb for divination and also is spiritually purifying, keeping away negative energy. For this reason, we use it in Samhain but we collect it now as a way of connecting these two holidays that share so much in common. The black ash will be mixed with egg yolk (Beltaine energy), gum arabic and a little honey (Venus and therefore Samhain energy) to make a paste. When Samhain comes, the black paste will be diluted into an ink with the tincture of mugwort. This ink will be poured into a ritually consecrated... I guess the closest thing would be a cauldron. Anyway, we use this black ink, hallowed by the flames of Beltaine, to scry over the Samhain period.

And for the Beltaine fires themselves, we have gathered great piles of dead wood (we consider actively chopping down trees for fires intended as a celebration of life somewhat ironic). The fires will be smothered in layers of dried grass to produce plumes of white smoke and each fed huge piles of dried sage as the purifying herb of choice for Beltaine (because sage is a herb of Jupiter and Jupiter is the planet of Beltaine in our schema). These fires will be placed close together and we will dance a figure eight (∞, the symbol of infinity) around them until our bodies absolutely give out. The whole time will a rhythm be beaten on drums and songs sung and chants chanted as we work ourselves into an ecstatic frenzy. It is great to dance through the grass in bare feet, to really feel a connection to the earth as our bodies throb with the pulse of the earth and our own hammering hearts.

Round and round
Never end
Open, never broken
Oh, we will meet again

That's part of a pagan song I introduced my group to years ago after hearing it over the internet (information from WitchVox here (http://www.witchvox.com/music/bardic/bc_detail.html?id=5)) and it's become a firm Beltaine favourite. Sparks fly, spiral together, away up into the sky. Dancers and drummers forever keep the heartbeat of the Goddess pulse of earth and life. Such an awesome song for this occasion. Although we're not Wiccans in any sense, we enjoy the Wiccan goddess chant when we dance around the bonfires. Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna... Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna...

We have a very intricate and meaningful ritual which involves the supreme and spiritual will and is a ritual unfettering from those things which hold us down. We use it as a way of becoming more aware of our sovereign, spiritual selves and of bringing ourselves and our lives into closer unity and greater acquaintance with our true, and truly sovereign, spiritual selves.

We have the "occasional" or "incidental" rituals, as with this year's celebration of a marriage. Then we have the regular rituals of Beltaine, including those proper to Beltaine and those which are performed on every Quarter and Cross-Quarter holiday. A ritual specific to Beltaine is the hallowing of all the earth. It is the second half of a ritual that begins in Samhain (the purification of the earth) and is a magnified version of a basic purifcation ritual we have. General holiday rituals include a "pagan Eucharist", in which food and drink full of symbolism are consecrated and then consumed so that we take that consecration into ourselves and a ritual focused entirely on giving thanks to the earth and directing positive and healing energy towards our home.

One that we perform every Quarter day is like the Wiccan "calling the quarters", but we only call one quarter each time and embed it within other rituals making it quite an elaborate ritual. The reason we do this is in the traditional Wiccan setting, the high priest or high priestess, or else some combination of members as their tradition prescribes will walk around the circle and at each quarter call the quarters, the elemental potencies. We do it this way, calling earth at midwinter, air at the vernal equinox, fire at midsummer and water at the autumnal equinox, because this way, the entirety of Earth's orbit is like the casting of a huge, inter-planetary ritual circle.

It's a pretty full schedule what with all the rituals and other activities in the holiday. We prefer our holidays filled with as much meaning and significance as possible. I've been to other pagan gatherings for these occasions before now and I've often been struck by the lack-lustre way people have thrown things together or how half-hearted they sometimes seem. It's like they think "well, we'll have a bonfire, maybe a ritual of some sort and then a feast" but what good is ritual if you do not pour your heart and soul into it? Ritual without intent is mere gesture. If everything has meaning and all these intricate threads are woven into one tapestry, it only adds glory to nature.

Altaira
1st May 2014, 06:36
SK you saved me a lot of time with your post here, I was going to read a bit more about the astrological timing and connections with the pagan holidays. This was a topic at the meeting of my astrology group two days ago and I was propelled to learn more then. I still wonder if there is something more to it, I mean probably pagan rituals and knowledge have been around earlier than the astrological discipline or at least there was similar system native for the people from this part of Europe.

I've been to other pagan gatherings for these occasions before now and I've often been struck by the lack-lustre way people have thrown things together or how half-hearted they sometimes seem. It's like they think "well, we'll have a bonfire, maybe a ritual of some sort and then a feast" but what good is ritual if you do not pour your heart and soul into it? Ritual without intent is mere gesture. If everything has meaning and all these intricate threads are woven into one tapestry, it only adds glory to nature.

Many people are driven to explore some ancient traditions and rituals by different reasons such as curiosity, wanting to be different, following blindly belief without exploring the real meaning such habitual practices and their purpose. Unfortunately pagan rituals have been turned into a religion because the root knowledge has been lost for some and the desire to connect with the nature has been replaced by religious conformity following patterns established by the mainstream religion. How many you know would state I'm a pagan without even knowing what this means apart from feeling this way, gathering with pagans, drumming, singing and feasting. I know some of them who are happy just to be different from the crowd, they feel some inner fire in their hearts, try to satisfy it in a basic way and then think they are happy after such gatherings. But this feeling is the same as you would feel after partying with friends, chatting drinking and having fun, there is no difference.
The celebration you talk about has a very different caliber because it employs the true spiritual acknowledge gathered because one wants to know how to connect with the natural life and to acknowledge this in the same language the nature speaks.

Seikou-Kishi
4th May 2014, 21:02
So how did your Beltaine celebrations go, 777?

I'll see you all on the other side of mine.

777
4th May 2014, 21:19
So how did your Beltaine celebrations go, 777?

I'll see you all on the other side of mine.

Really well thank you sir! Nothing like intended actually. I spent the period with family and didn't hit the festival in the end, instead favouring a spring clean sort out, which is oddly more apt in a way.

We had a strange experience yesterday that became epiphanic. While clearing the winter foliage we discovered a distressed rabbit in the long grass, breathing but clearly immobile. Upon peeling back the growth around him/her we were alarmed to discover it was an enormous rat the size of a fully grown to cat. It had clearly come off worse than the many Tom cats that frequent our garden and had been toyed with and left to die. I then had a dilemma, put it out its misery by the only Neanderthal means I was prepared to attempt and kill it with a garden tool or leave it to see if it would improve or a merciful cat would finish it off quickly.

I'm ashamed to say we ummed and erred for over an hour while the rat slowly and painfully headed towards its' inevitable demise. Just after dark we witnessed a small orb ascend from where its' body lay and both instinctively knew it had passed of its own accord. It died peacefully, albeit in probable pain thanks to our indecision and wreckless over thinking.

It's a harsh universe isn't it? It was aptly symbolic of the cycles' first spirit night.

Wishing you all the best in your celebrations brother and can't wait to hear how it goes for you!

Seikou-Kishi
5th May 2014, 22:47
It is perhaps poignant that on the holiday in which life is celebrated, you should be confronted with death, but then they are two sides of one coin, after all, aren't they?

Things went very well here, thank you. It was very much fun and we had many great experiences. I haven't slept since (the majority of our celebration was today) and so I am tired. At the same time, I find sleep always helps integrate such things.

777
6th May 2014, 09:21
It is perhaps poignant that on the holiday in which life is celebrated, you should be confronted with death, but then they are two sides of one coin, after all, aren't they?

Things went very well here, thank you. It was very much fun and we had many great experiences. I haven't slept since (the majority of our celebration was today) and so I am tired. At the same time, I find sleep always helps integrate such things.

I definitely felt it poignant yes. Glad to hear it was a a fun time for you, sleep well brother :tiphat:

Tribe
6th May 2014, 21:29
Ah the magical month of May , feeling it dance in and out of the fabric of time , good stuff !! Very very good stuff !! :swing:

norman
15th May 2014, 14:53
Beltane, itself, doesn't mean that much to me as a red letter day. I remember hanging out with the crustier variety of migratory hippies from the big cities on idyllic medows in the Oswestry area back in the 80s, on Beltane day. It was when I first learned what Beltane even was.

What I've realized over the years since, is that the period from Beltane to Mid Summer is my crazy period when I go nuts for being out in nature at any hours I can manage. This year is nuts because there's nothing really stopping me, other than having to get sleep and having to process the recordings I've already made.

I spend this time of year, lately, dreading the Glastonbury Festival, because it means my majik time has come to an end.

777
15th May 2014, 15:33
Beltane, itself, doesn't mean that much to me as a red letter day. I remember hanging out with the crustier variety of migratory hippies from the big cities on idyllic medows in the Oswestry area back in the 80s, on Beltane day. It was when I first learned what Beltane even was.


Are you a Salopian like me Norman? I'm originally from rural Shropshire?

norman
15th May 2014, 16:14
Are you a Salopian like me Norman? I'm originally from rural Shropshire?

My mum definitely was, a rural Salopian, even ran a fruit, veg and flower stall in the Shrewsbury market twice a week way back in her day. I was born in Aberystwyth where the 'family' decided to realocate resources to a farming thing when my dad and mum got married. He was from Montgomeryshire farming stock.

After a mission down in the south east of England to fathom where all the bloody drop-outs and hippies were coming from, I re-settled in the Mid Wales area for a long time.

I'm now living over 200 miles north of there in County Durham. It was all about scanning the country for a house in my budget range when I eventually inherited the last of my family's stash. I couldn't find anything with a roof on it in the Marches, that I could afford without a mortgage, which I definitely didn't want hanging around my neck like an Albatross.

Moving up here has been a mixed experience. For some strange reason, the 3 most approachable and proper friendly people I met up here all died !..... It has felt , for much of the time, like something was making it extra hard for me to settle up here. What with that, and a big shocker when I realized what a scam everything I thought I knew from birth was ( woke up ), I've had a wobbly time here, but I'm quite loving it too, in a selfishly independent sort of way. It's good to get away from the crap of other people's expectations of me.