Happy Beltane

It's May 1st (what the heck happened to March and April?!). A new month, and a new start, hopefully with better times on the way.

It's also May Day and Beltane, for those who celebrate. Normally, this would mean getting together with Blue Moon Circle for a ritual and feast, but of course, this year we can't gather together. It makes me sad, but I have lots of wonderful memories of Beltanes past, and hope for future holidays when things are back to (sort of) normal.

In the meanwhile, I hope that you have a blessed day, and if you don't celebrate, that the blossoming of May Day lifts your spirits. Thank you for spending another month with me.


This was from Beltane a couple of years ago. I might have a tiny solitary Beltane bonfire later...if it ever stops raining.

Happy Beltane!

Happy Beltane to those of you who celebrate! (And happy May Day to all). I hope you get to dance and rejoice with the coming of spring.

I'm looking forward to going to a slightly belated celebration this Saturday, given by the Binghamton Pagan community about an hour away. I won't be able to stay for the ritual, which is fairly late at night, but my friend Ellen and I will at least be going for the Women's Mysteries and the Maypole dance. Then we'll head over to our Blue Moon Circle sister Robin's house nearby for dinner with her, her hubby, and my beloved goddesschildren Nate and Sophie.

The weather even looks like it might cooperate!

This is from one of the first Beltane celebrations we went to there way back in 2007. I can't believe that was 12 years ago! Or that, as of spring equinox this year Blue Moon Circle has been in existence--in one form or another--since 2004. How time flies when you are having magical fun...

I hope you have magical fun today and all days.

Beltane Birthday Celebration

My birthday was on Saturday, and I mostly celebrated it by celebrating something else. Beltane (May Day) to be specific. The current core three members of Blue Moon Circle drove about 45 minutes to Robin's house to "get the band back together" for the day. (Robin was one of the original members and is still a part of the group, but lives far away enough and is so busy, it is hard for us all to get together often.) She and my goddess-daughter Sophie wrote and put on the ritual--I told them my gift was being able to just relax and take part, instead of having to organize and put it on. Then we had a wonderful feast, along with Robin's husband George and son Nate. I got a few cool gifts (gemstones! beer made by monks!) and Robin baked me a birthday honey cake topped with lavender and rose petals to go with Chris's home made ice cream. The rain even held off until we were done. It was a lovely day. (And then I come home and worked on revisions, of course.) Plus, we realized it was the 14 year anniversary of the first ritual we all did together, which was pretty amazing!

Some of my favorite people

Ellen with pal Bailey

Sophie and her new kitten, Chris and her knitting

The ritual by the firepit

Our crafty Beltane pots we made and blessed for each other

Birthday honey cake

Corn for the feast!

Yum!

Nate and Sophie!

Me and my favorite kids

Our traditional GRRRR picture

Presents and a cute card (inside is says something about gray hair making you cute)

Blue agate wind chimes

more gemstones

I also got lots of lovely birthday wishes on Facebook and Twitter--thank you!

The Beltane Circle Project

Blue Moon Circle came over to my house today for a belated Beltane celebration and instead of doing our usual ritual, we worked on a spiritual project instead: tearing apart and rebuilding the outside circle we use for rituals during the warmer part of the year.

My friend Ellen (now a BMC member, and someone who came to rituals as a guest for years before she decided she was actually Pagan and joined officially) and I built the original circle the first summer I was in the house, 12 years ago. Blue Moon Circle has been using it since we started practicing together 10 years ago this spring. That's a long time. Not only was the circle in not-great shape (many of the rocks in the 9-foot-around circle sank into the ground and were mostly covered with grass) but a number of different people had come and gone in that time.

We decided it was time to freshen up both the circle itself and the energy in it, starting anew with both the folks who have been there since the beginning and those who were new to the group. We started out by cleaning up the post-winter mess, cutting back the brush that had overgrown the edges, and digging out the old rocks.

 This is how the circle looked when we started. (Our supplies are off in the left hand corner.)

Needless to say, we didn't wear our usual cool garb :-)

Once the debris was gone, we re-dug the fire pit, replaced the stones and found a few new ones to fill in the gaps, and planted flower and seeds around the edges to symbolize the growth and abundance of the season.

 Then we had a quick ritual to consecrate the new circle, complete with a (very small, because there were 30 MPH winds)) fire in the fire pit.

It's amazing how happy it made me to look at the end results, and to feel the great energy in our lovely revitalized sacred circle.

We "planted" our old group staff out in the circle. I'll go out later and move it to the edge of the area, and eventually it will fall apart and go back to the earth, along with all the old energy it contained. And when we're ready, we'll make a new one.

Sometimes it is good to reinvigorate old patterns, or to let go of even treasured things to make room for something new. What have you started anew lately?

Happy Beltane!

Today witches and Pagans celebrate Beltane, also known as May Day. Passed down to us from an ancient Celtic fire festival, Beltaine is a celebration of life, love and fertility. The sun has returned, and the land is blossoming. The God and the Goddess are at the height of their youth and vigor, and they renew the Earth with the consummation of their love. 

I spent last weekend at a local gathering, full of spirit and joy, despite the almost non-stop rain. Luckily, it stopped dripping on us long enough for people to dance the traditional Maypole dance. 

Blue Moon Circle will be observing our own (slightly belated) Beltane this coming Sunday. When it is also supposed to rain. But even if it does, there will be joy.

Happy May Day to you. May the coming season bring you prosperity and abundance. I hope you dance!

 

Beltane

I had a lovely birthday, really--especially the part I spent at a Beltane celebration with a bunch of Binghamton area Pagans and my pal Ellen. It was cold out, but sunny, and fun was had by all.

Here is the traditional Maypole dance (being done by people wearing way more cloths than usual for this holiday, because it was cold).

Beltane is a holiday with very old roots, which is observed on May Day, the 1st of May (or sometimes May Eve). It is a fertility holiday which celebrates both the fertility of the land and of the spirits of those who live on it. The counterpart to Samhain, this day is also a time when the veils between the worlds grow thin...but instead of speaking to our ancestors, we frolic with the fairy people. And, of course, each other.

A fire festival, Beltane was also used as a time of cleansing, getting rid of the winter funk before moving into summer. People would light two Bel-fires (bonfires) and drive their flocks between then to let the smoke cleanse the animals of illness and negative energy. You can try doing the same thing with two candles, if you like! Other folks would jump the Beltane bonfire for luck and prosperity in the coming year. (If you're going to do so, make sure the fire is small and your garments not too flowy...)

Beltane is all about love, too. Yes, since it is a fertility festival, is has long been associated with the sexual/sensual joining of man and woman (or any variation thereof you prefer). In days gone by, a May Queen and May King were chosen to symbolize the fertility of the land...sometimes quite literally. But these days, I prefer to focus on the holiday as a time to celebrate love and abundance in all their positive forms.

So happy Beltane, and be sure to give the people you love a hug!

Blows kisses to you all!

Final birthday report and Beltane pics

Last Saturday I had the final installment of my extended (and amazing) 50th birthday celebration. Blue Moon Circle (minus some folks who had other obligations) met at Robin's house near Binghamton and went from there to share the collected local covens' Beltane celebration. We try to go every year, although we don't always make it. Although we love our small group, sometimes it is nice to share a holiday ritual with a larger gathering. And these folks are a great bunch of people.

I got to help chop down the tree for the maypole (usually the guys do this, but part of the ritual had to do with role reversal--very enlightening and empowering) and then we all did the Maypole dance.

Beltane celebrate fertility and sacred sexuality, for those of you who didn't know--it is always a riot to dig a hole and put the pole in it...much smutty merriment always ensues...

Here is a picture of the beginning of the dance:


Afterwards, we returned to Robin's house for Blue Moon Circle's feast, Beltane bonfire, and part 3 of my birthday celebration (combined at this point with circle member Bobbie's birthday, which was the following day). My adorable goddess-children Sophia and Nate joined us, as did Robin's wonderful hubby George. [I married Robin and George and was there for the birth of both kids, so as you might guess, we are pretty darned close.)

Robin made an amazing cake, which tasted even better than it looked:


Sophie was very excited by my mystery present, which was a huge heavy box...



The box turned out to be a CARTON of printer paper...for printing out my prospective best-sellers. Apparently, she Robin and George expect me to write very fast! No pressure...

At the end of the evening, we relaxed by the bonfire and talked about those things in our lives that had already come to fruition, and that we were grateful for. I was grateful for my new agent, of course! But also for all the people who had been so wonderful, and gone out of their way to make my 50th birthday so memorable. You know who you are, and you all rock :-)