Examining the pagan wheel as it turns toward summer.
Greetings, my pagan and polytheistic brothers and sisters!
Welcome to a deep-dive into one of my favorite sabbats in the pagan wheel of the year – Beltane. Beltane, a Gaelic May Day festival traditionally held on 1 May, is a celebration that heralds the arrival of summer. The return of fecund life to the earth after the long winter is an occasion often marked with joyous gatherings, feasting, and rituals, particularly by modern witches and neo-pagans. But this was not the only fertility festival in the old world, and it will certainly not be the last. In this piece we will dig deeper and find ways to bring more depth to our ancient yearning to celebrate the regenerative power of the gods and nature in our lives.
From its Celtic roots in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, Beltane, also known as Cétshamhain (‘first of summer’), was considered a significant time when livestock was driven out to the summer pastures. As a rite, it represents both a touch of nostalgia and a resonance of energy that many of us who connect with ancient spiritual paths can deeply feel.
Roman Floralia
Parallel to the Celtic celebration of Beltane, the ancient Roman festival of Floralia held a vibrant spot in the calendar, marking the season with its unique observances. Celebrated from 27 April to 3 May in honor of Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, Floralia was an exuberant tribute to the fertility of the earth. This festival, known for its theatrical performances opening the celebrations, was a lively affair – a stark contrast to the more solemn rituals seen in other Roman festivities.
In the heart of Floralia, where the veil between the ancient and the awakening world thins, the release of hares and goats into the wild sang a song of fertility and growth, a melody of life’s unrestrained dance. Amidst this celebration, the air was thick with playful chaos, as crowds were showered with vetches, beans, and lupins – Nature’s own confetti, casting spells of laughter and unity. Deep within the festivities, the Florifertum emerged, a mysterious ritual that whispered secrets of old — here, a sheaf of golden wheat was borne into a sacred shrine, an offering that wove together the reverence for Flora and perhaps, Ceres herself, hinting at a confluence of divinities guardians of agriculture and grain. This symphony of celebration crescendoed into competitive games, dazzling spectacles, and a sacrifice laid at the feet of Flora, marking a climax of communal exultation and a collective bow to the rebirth offered by nature’s hand.
Maiouma: The forgotten rites of Aphrodite and Dionysus
In the same breathe of time, under the cloak of night, the Maiouma festival unfurled a tapestry rich in devotion, celebrating the divine union of Dionysus and Aphrodite. This month-long festivity, touched by the ambrosial grace of the 2nd century under Emperor Commodus, was bestowed with imperial treasures, reflecting its august significance. Shrouded in the mystique of nocturnal dramas, the Maiouma whispered the ancient secrets of life, love, and fertility through its revelries, known as ‘Orgies’ – a word imbued with the sacred mysteries of Dionysus and Aphrodite.
It was a bacchanal of the soul, unbridled and resplendent in its homage to the vivacity of existence and the fecundity of the earth. Yet, swept into the shadows by Emperor Constantine’s decrees, its ember smoldered beneath the surface, flickering back to life under Arcadius and Honorius, a testament to humanity’s perennial yearning to revel in the spring’s rebirth and the verdure of the earth. The Maiouma, with its nocturnal dances, sumptuous feasts, and sacred offerings, sang an ode to the eternal cycle of revival and jubilation, a unique chorus in the symphony of spring festivals, distinctly imbued with the essence of Greco-Roman magnificence.
So how can we bring this essence of fecundity, of revelry into our modern praxis?
Pagan Symbolism and Enchanting Traditions
The whispers of an ancient eve called Beltane, a myriad of symbols emerge, each steeped in the elixir of ancient traditions, whispering the language of the Earth’s resurgence. The bonfires dance with the flames of potent protection, their sparks ascending into the night as guardians against the unseen. Around the May Poles, we weave our dreams and desires, a spiral of ribbons binding us to the core of creation’s might, a celebration of strength intertwined with the softness of new beginnings. May flowers, delicate yet resolute, carpet the Earth, a mosaic of fertility’s silent promise, blessings from the land’s heart.
In this time of thinning veils, the ‘aos sí’, the ethereal Fair Folk, stir from their twilight realms, their presence a whisper on the wind, a flicker in the corner of our sight. Through symbols of protection, we send our reverence and our call, crafting blessings like ancient songs, a bridge between the worlds. Offerings laid upon the dew-kissed earth, gestures of appeasement, acknowledgment of the intertwined fates of human and spirit, a plea for harmony as the wheel turns. This is the essence of Beltane, a moment suspended in the eternal dance of giving and receiving, a pact sealed with the mysteries of life itself.
In May’s embrace, where flowers bloom and wells whisper,
Fecund earth calls forth the blaze of holy fires.
From sacred waters to the dance of ember’s flicker,
The Great Ones descend, in regal attire.
With blessings abundant, they touch the land so tender,
Bestowing life anew, in a cycle of magical splendor.
In the woven whispers of Beltane’s dawn, the May Bough stands, a sentinel adorned. From the hawthorn’s arms, festooned with spring’s bounty – flowers in their prime, ribbons streaming like river’s song, shells echoing the sea’s secret, and rushlights flickering as stars in the night. This bough, more than a mere branch, transforms into a lantern of safeguarding and fortune, casting its gentle watch over hearth and heart as the wheel of the year turns towards the sun’s zenith. Soon, we shall unveil the sacred crafting of this emblem, guiding your hands in weaving magic meant for protection and prosperity, echoing the ancients’ rites in our modern praxis.
Amidst Beltane’s resplendent morn, bright yellow blooms, akin to myriad tiny suns, festoon doors, windowsills, and gentle beasts alike. In their radiant presence, a dual enchantment unfolds — a jubilant hymn to the season’s vibrant heart, and a potent spell cast for guardianship and grace. These blossoms, in their golden glory, weave a tapestry of light, celebrating the earth’s awakening while invoking an ancient shield against unseen tides, a timeless rite of joy and safeguarding whispered on the breeze.
Amongst the whispers of dawn, pilgrims wandered to wells and flames, seeking the ancient blessings of water and fire. These sacred elements, revered for their powers to cleanse, heal, and rejuvenate, were the heartbeats of the rituals. With yearning steps, seekers collected the morning dew, a silver elixir believed to bestow beauty everlasting and the gift of youth unmarred by time. Across the embers of sacred fires, cattle were led in a dance of purification, while humans, entwined in passion’s fervor, leapt above the flames, their souls alight with desires and dreams. In this ecstatic dance, they became one with each other and the Earth, their actions a hymn of fertility and a fervent plea to the heavens, hoping to mirror the gods’ generosity with their own expressions of devotion.
This riotous celebration, a symphony of nature’s raw power and the divine, was a testament to the untamed spirit thriving within the folds of creation, a moment when the veil between the earthly and the celestial thinned to a whisper. Such sacred times whispered of unity with the pulsating heart of the cosmos, aligning human existence with the sacred rhythms of life itself. Yet, as we venture further into the realm of silicon and screen, distancing ourselves from the primal cadence of the natural world, how do we rekindle this profound connection?
How can we weave the essence of Beltane—a celebration of life, spirit, and earthy fecundity—into the fabric of our increasingly digital lives, bridging the ancient with the avant-garde?
Rituals to Witness and Partake
Today’s neo-pagan practitioners honor Beltane by creating many things from flower boughs above their doors, to flower crowns, to bonfires, or even their May Boughs to draw blessings into their lives. For this year I wanted to share a ritual involves locating an appropriate Hawthorn tree or branch, communing with the tree spirit, and carefully crafting the wand with symbols, ogham or runic scripts, and deity names. The ritual concludes in a consecration and a personalized poetic blessing, serving as a modern interpretation of ancient sympathetic magick.
Certainly, this ritual is not etched in any sacred text, but it’s a significant and meaningful adaptation that many practitioners love.
Crafting the May Bough
Step One: Seeking the Hawthorn
Venture forth at dawn’s first light, when the world is bathed in the newborn sun’s tender glow, to find a Hawthorn tree. Seek within its silhouette the essence of Beltane, entwined in its branches. Approach with reverence, your heart open to the whisperings of the Earth. Ask permission of the Hawthorn spirit, offering a token of gratitude—an offering of water, a strand of your hair, or a whispered secret or your own sacred fluids of blood or sexual emanations. Or better still, seek for a naturally fallen member of the tree spirit and offer of thine self the same.
O Hawthorn, Huath, guardian of thresholds and keeper of ways,
Grant me thy branches, for I pledge in return—
My essence for thine, a sacred exchange beneath the twilight’s soft gaze.
Step Two: Crafting the Wand
With the tree’s blessing, select a branch that calls to your soul, cut it carefully with a blade kissed by the morning dew. This branch, your May Bough, is the vessel of your intentions, the bearer of blessings to come. Begin imagining the magick you wish to adorn it with. What symbols of power and protection—carve ogham or runic scripts, inscribe deity names that resonate with the Beltane spirit? Each symbol, a whisper of magic, etched not just on wood but upon the tapestry of the cosmos.
Step Three: The Poetic Invocation
Holding your bough, chant the Poetic Invocation:
“In the heart of the wood, where spirits reside,
Under the watchful eye of the divine,
With this branch, I weave the spell,
Between the worlds, where mysteries dwell.
May this bough bring protection and prosperity,
Guiding me with ancient wisdom, so mote it be.”
Frater O.D.
Step Four: The Consecration
Anoint your May Bough with elements sacred to Beltane—dew gathered at dawn, embers from the Beltane fire, and petals from the first flowers of spring. Each element imbues the bough with powers of renewal, protection, and growth. Hold your bough skyward, allowing the elements of air and fire to bless it; then, touch it to the earth, and anoint it with water, completing the consecration with the energies of all four elements.
Step Five: The Hymn of Crafting
As you carve and adorn your May Bough, sing the Hymn of Crafting, a melody to honor the spirits, the earth, and the ancestors:
“Through leaves and through time, our voices entwine,
With fire and with water, with air and with earth,
We craft this bough, a symbol of rebirth.
Ancestors watch over, spirits draw near,
Bless this work, dispel all fear.
In Beltane’s blaze, we trust and we weave,
By the might of the moon, in what we believe.”
Frater O.D.
Upon the May Bough, each symbol carved holds the echo of ancient powers and mysteries—runes that whisper of Freyja, the Goddess of love and fertility, whose essence infuses the bough with enchantments of protection and desire. Bindrunes, intricate amalgamations of runes, are etched as potent sigils of fecundity and safeguarding, their lines a dialogue with the ancient energies that permeate the seen and unseen. The Ogham of Hawthorn, Huath, symbolizes the threshold, offering guidance and protection to those who traverse the liminal spaces. Symbols of Aphrodite grace the wood, invoking love’s boundless waters, while the ecstatic ivy of Dionysus wraps the bearer in vitality and unbridled joy. Each mark is a testament to the connection between the crafter and the tapestry of the cosmos, a sacred language spoken between the worlds, whatever road you take, take it with intention and reverence for the gods.
Step Six: Final Blessing and Placement
With your May Bough crafted, adorned, and consecrated, offer a final blessing—your own words, a melody from your soul, speaking of your desires, your thanks, and your hopes for the cycle to come. Place your May Bough in your sacred space, above your hearth, or near your door as a guardian and symbol of the blessings you seek to draw into your life.
By following these steps, intertwining the physical crafting with the weaving of magic through invocation, consecration, and hymn, you become a part of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth that Beltane epitomizes. You honor not only the traditions of the past but also the spirit of the present, creating a link between worlds, a beacon of light in the dance of shadows.
Historical Roots and Folklore
Beltane’s origins are bathed in the light of pastoral optimism. Celebrations primarily involved the symbolic use of fire to provide protection for cattle, crops, and people – symbolising the growing power of the summer sun. The aos sí, or “fairies,” were thought to be particularly active, and many Beltane rituals aimed to win their favor.
The folklore of Beltane is rich and full of vibrant visuals. Need-fires, kindled by primitive means of friction between wood, were considered potent. These flames were believed to guard against sickness, supernatural harm and even witchcraft. Offering food or “gifting” milk at ‘fairy trees’ was a way of satisfying the aos sí, strengthening the bond between our world and theirs.
Harnessing Beltane Energy Today
To connect with Beltane’s energy in today’s world, consider adorning your spaces with yellow and white flowers such as primrose, hawthorn, gorse, and marsh marigold. Leave a small food offering outside for the aos sí, sit beside a flaming hearth, or write your own Beltane blessing.
Join me and many others in celebrating this magical time of fecundity across the globe. May you embrace the vibrant power of burgeoning life and the gentle blessing of protection that it celebrates. No matter how you choose to honor this beautiful cycle, remember that the spirit of the season is one of rejoicing, growth, and warm optimism.
Post your devotionals and share what rituals you enjoy engaging in at this time of the year.
Disclaimer: This post explores traditions and rituals surrounding Beltane from a modern, very eclectic witches’ perspective and incorporates a range of sources, from folklore to contemporary pagan practices. Always remember to respect cultural practices and take what you read with a grain of salt for its ORIGIN and validity. And as always, if you find something that resonates with your praxis, give it a test, try it out. Does it work? Does it feed your soul in some way? Then fuck it, use it. If it doesn’t fuck it again. You know in the spirit of the season.
Beltane Blessing
In the spirit of Beltane, we’ll end with a blessing adapted from Alexander Carmichael’s “Am Beannachadh Bealltain (The Beltane Blessing)”.
Let threefold true and bountiful blessings grace,
Me, my loved ones and our kin,
Our tender kinfolk with beloved mother within,
Dwelling in fragrant plains, gay mountain sheilings,
Every possession and bounty of mine,
From Hallow Eve to Beltane Eve,
With progress good, and blessings fine,
From sea unto sea, to every river line,
From wave to wave, and base of waterfall divine
Frater O.D.
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