A Might-do List for Beltane
Beltane, known also as May Day, Lá Bealtaine, Calan Mai, marks the first day of summer. Cattle are moved to the summer pastures, the Good Folk venture forth from their wild places to join in the festivities of mortals, and the fertility of the fields is celebrated. Beltane acts as the summer gateway to winter's beginning at Samhain - both festivals are seen as times when the veil between the worlds is particularly thin. While Samhain emphasizes connection with our ancestors, especially those recently departed, Beltane is sometimes seen as a festival of connecting with the Good Folk (who some see as our most ancient ancestors having long ago traveled to the worlds beyond and between). At Beltane we celebrate pleasure and joy, especially as we experience it through the holiness of our physical form, relishing in our mortality and the ephemeral moments of connection, as well as remembering our ancient connections with the spirits of the land. Continuing a project started last Lughnasadh, here’s a list of nine things that you might-do (or not) for the merrymaking festival of Beltane.
Celebrate love in all its forms. Beltane is a festival tied to love in all of its forms. Romantic love! Platonic love! Love between family and friends! All the love! Make space in your ritual celebrations to honor and celebrate the many forms that love takes knowing that we need all of it in order to make the world into a more kind and more just place. It can be a very sweet practice whether as a family or in your coven to offer up what love you're celebrating and are grateful for as well as the ways you're going to keep nurturing and growing that love.
Give tokens of love. Creating and giving tokens of affection to those we love is a sweet and simple way to celebrate the energy of the season. These little objects of love - whether making a parent's favorite cookie recipe or presenting a child with a special stone to friendship bracelets or a bouquet of flowers - can also double as charms of peace and harmony to whoever you're giving them to. You can also send out letters of gratitude to those folks you know and may not know but who you appreciate and admire - Beltane is about seeing and being seen in all the ways we love.
If you're called to it, get handfasted. Beltane is the traditional time of year to take vows with romantic partners. The vows of a handfasting last for a year and a day upon which they are then renewed. These days many Pagans use the term handfasting interchangeably with marriage but the year-and-a-day practice still exists and is a very sweet one. A handfasting typically involves fastening the hands of those making the vow with ribbons, vines or cloth, demonstrating the weaving together of hearts and commitment to one another. Add additional traditional features to the rite by jumping over a bonfire and/or broom upon making your vows.
Wash your face with the dew of the early morning. The early dew of Beltane morning is supposed to be especially blessed and washing your face with it promises beauty and longevity for the year to come. I love this tradition and have been practicing it for years - it can be a very sweet and quiet way to start the day's festivities which are often much more raucous in nature. I also spend this time connecting with the Good Folk and the spirits of the land.
Make a flower crown. Flower crowns are the sort of activity that can be adapted to all sorts of situations - you can spend the time in focused and quiet meditation, weaving together spells as you weave together flowers or it can be a time of singing and laughing, sharing food and drink. Flower crowns as Beltane can be kept and dried to be used as offerings to the fires of Midsummer.
Dance, jump, and make merry! Jump over bonfires and brooms for blessings of luck and protection all summer long. If you have a maypole, name every ribbon for a different form of love in the world and weave it together in unity as you dance. You can still bring in the energy of a maypole without one by making ribbon wind catchers or tie biodegradable cloth, yarn or thread to trees. It's traditional to bless cattle by steering them between two bonfires, but we can bless ourselves by doing the same, speaking prayers of thanksgiving for the animals of the world that we care for and rely upon. A local Druid group has an absolutely adorable tradition of handing out cow masks to the children and then having them run through two bonfires, mooing and cheering as they go.
Cast spells and rituals for creativity. In addition to a festival of celebrating love, Beltane is also a time of celebrating our creative potential and power. Rituals and spells to help support and nurture our creativity are auspicious and can be woven throughout the festivities of the day. You can focus on the fire aspect of the festival by performing a ritual full of candle and flame for sparking creative desire or call upon the five elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit to help you find your creative flow in all aspects of your life. It can be a good day as well to bless all of the tools you use for your creative pursuits from sketchbooks to pens, paints and clay, cloth and thread, and whatever else you use.
Bless the holiness of your physical form. In the Charge of the Goddess, She tells Her followers that "all acts of love and pleasure" are Her rituals. Of course, there are many ways to feel and be and do love and pleasure, but there's a special place at Beltane to honor the physical form and how we experience pleasure through it. Modern Pagans, in general, are not focused on a promised life given to us after we leave our bodies, but rather in awakening to the holiness of the world within and around us as we live and breathe. Body blessings, workshops with your coven about physical pleasure, learning about, celebrating, and sharing sensory differences, are all ways of celebrating the physical form.
Honor the green spirits of the land and bring their energies to the protests. The season of Beltane is full of myths about the Green Ones who live in the woods and hills, coming down from the mountains or coming from lands of warmth bring summer to our celebrations. These are the Old Wild Ones who are more plant than person, often playing a trickster role in celebration. Robin Hood and Maid Marian are said to be early modern interpretations of the Green Man myth and their socialist, earth-centered visions are excellent energies to bring to May Day protests and celebrations for justice for working people.
I have a card spread for the season of Beltane and find more inspiration for summer magick over here. And here’s a tarot spread all about the heart featuring some traditional Beltane herbs.
You can also check out the rest of my might-do lists for the sabbats and beyond.
May the fires of Beltane light up the season of abundance and harmony for you and your loved ones. May we stand with the Green and Wild Ones as we work for a more kind and more just world. And may you laugh like embers scattered across sky, lighting up the night with the joy of our being.
