While modern Pagan practice is often very different from that of our ancient Pagan ancestors, our Beltane celebrations are nonetheless reflective of timeless beliefs and traditions that have endured throughout the ages. As Nature abounds in all her springtime glory, it’s only natural to rejoice and celebrate the warm sunshine, the beautiful flowers, and the growing plants that will soon ripen to feed and nourish the masses. Beltane is a time to celebrate the spring and summer, a time to honor the increasing strength of the sun and the longer days and warmth that it brings. As Nature blossoms, so too does the human spirit, and we may become more energized and frisky as Beltane approaches. Love is often on our minds, and lusty thoughts frequently occupy our moments as we find ourselves in a mood for fun, excitement, magick, and more.
Modern Themes and Common Elements
While Beltane celebrations and customs vary from place to place and from individual to individual, there are many common themes and similar elements. Festivities tend to have a lighthearted and raucous feel, and rituals generally focus on fertility, prosperity, health, protection, purification, and growth as the summer season is ushered in. Spellwork tends to gravitate toward themes of love, passion, and romance, and sex magick is a favorite technique. Music, dancing, feasting, singing, picnicking, and fireside rituals and get-togethers are frequently incorporated into Beltane celebrations, and flowers and vegetation are used universally as a symbol of Nature’s abundance and fertility. Most Beltane celebrations are held outdoors where possible, with merrymaking and magick taking place throughout the night and day. Sex, love, laughter, romance, and celebration of the spring and summer season take center stage, and nature walks, picnics, potlucks, Maypole dances, and romantic games are popular activities.
Beltane in the Country
Pagans in rural areas might celebrate Beltane with rituals focused on celebrating Nature’s fertility and ensuring the well-being and protection of one’s family, homestead, and property. Large fires are often lit, and magickal rituals intended to protect livestock and crops may be performed. Some people drive their livestock between two fires in an attempt to protect the animals from disease and injury, just like the ancient Celts did. It’s also a common practice to walk around the boundaries of one’s property, performing protective rituals and uttering blessings as the circuit is made. Homes and altars are often decorated with wildflowers and other vegetation native to the local area, freshly harvested in the wild by the rural practitioner just in time for Beltane. Most rural Pagans celebrate Beltane alone or with small groups comprised of immediate family and perhaps a few nearby friends and neighbors.
Beltane in the City
Urban Pagans who have the advantages of city living have some obstacles to face when it comes to celebrating Beltane. For starters, it can be difficult to find a place to build a Beltane bonfire when you’re surrounded by skyscrapers and traffic jams. For another, vegetation in the city is often sparse, and communing with Nature in the concrete jungle can be a bit of a struggle. These challenges are no match for the resourceful modern Pagan, however, and city witches have found creative ways around these difficulties. Candles and fireplaces are used in place of bonfires, for instance, while a quick trip to the florist can yield a bounty of real-life foliage to deck both the halls and the ritual space. Sometimes, artificial flowers are used in lieu of fresh vegetation. For many city Pagans, Beltane celebrations are held indoors or in a community park. Since most urban dwellers don’t grow crops or raise livestock, Beltane rituals are typically focused on more personal goals, such as self-improvement, creative fertility, purification, and romance. Houseplants and pets may feature into magick and ritual, giving a natural touch to urban workings. More and more urban areas today have open and established Pagan communities, and Beltane rituals and get-togethers are common in many of America’s larger cities.
Different Pagans, Different Practices
Here is a sampling of several Pagan “denominations,” and a brief look at some ways those particular denominations might choose to celebrate Beltane. Keep in mind however that Pagans are a diverse bunch, and even amongst the practitioners of the same Pagan paths and traditions, there is still great difference in practice and belief from group to group and from individual to individual.
Celtic Reconstructionist
Celtic Reconstructionists aim to practice early Celtic religion as accurate to history as possible. They often time their Beltane celebrations by observing visible signs in Nature. When the local hawthorn trees begin to flower, it can be interpreted as a signal that Beltane time has arrived. Alternatively, Beltane may be celebrated on the first full moon following the blossoming of the hawthorns, or timed to coincide with the date when the sun is at fifteen degrees Taurus. Many Celtic Reconstructionists refer to Beltane by its Gaelic name, Lá Bealtaine.
Like the Celts themselves, Celtic Reconstructionists typically mark Beltane with ritual bonfires. Two bonfires are lit and livestock, pets, and people are passed between them to ensure blessings and protection. Afterward, candles might be lit from the main fire and brought home, a reflection of the original Celtic tradition of relighting the hearth fires from the sacred Beltane flames. In urban areas where bonfires aren’t possible, modern practitioners may substitute with torches or candles.
Feasting and general merrymaking are also popular traditions, and traditional Celtic foods and beverages are sometimes prepared. Flowering tree branches might be brought inside the home, and rowan crosses are often hung on the wall as a means of gaining magickal protection. Once widely known and commonly praised throughout the British Isles as a protective charm, a rowan cross is an equal-armed cross made from two pieces of rowan wood, which is often tied in the middle with a piece of red thread. May bushes may also be used, and deities are honored. Celtic Reconstructionists might also celebrate Beltane by visiting wells, where prayers or praises to the spirit of the well may be uttered and offerings are left behind.
Wiccan
Wicca is a Witchcraft tradition introduced near the middle of the twentieth century and based on Pre-Christian religion, animistic belief, and shamanic principles and practices. Most Wiccans revere a male deity known as the Horned God, and a female, triple-aspected deity known as the Triple Goddess. Her three aspects are referred to as the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. Most Wiccans tend to be eclectic in their practices, and while certain traditional methods or guidelines might be adhered to, there is usually plenty of room for personalization, improvisation, and creativity. Wiccan Beltane celebrations typically focus on fertility and sexuality, though themes of abundance, protection, purification, or growth might also be prevalent. Maypole dances often take center stage, and many local groups host large community get-togethers. There’s usually a bonfire or two, along with a fair amount of revelry, merrymaking, and mayhem.
Though the holiday is approached with great reverence, an atmosphere of fun and frivolity prevails. Bawdy behavior becomes appropriate, friendly flirtation is smiled on, and openly sexual discourse becomes standard. In some covens, the high priestess and high priest reenact the Beltane myth of the young lusty god mating with the fertile maiden goddess, bringing new life and renewal to the earth. Sometimes this reenactment involves ritual sex, but many groups today stick with a more symbolic representation of the myth, performing actions meant only to imitate the sex act. For example, a wand or scepter might be plunged into a cup in imitation of sexual penetration, the cup representing the female energy and the wand or scepter representing the male energy. Whether literal or symbolic, this ritual union serves a holy purpose: to bring the practitioners a deeper experiential understanding of the earth’s fertilization and blossoming after the darker part of the year has passed.
Though skyclad is sometimes the preferred fashion, ritual clothing is often worn at Wiccan Beltane celebrations, with flower garlands and brightly colored clothing the norm. Green and yellow predominate, but pink, white, and other pastel colors invoking spring, purity, and romance are also used. The home and the altar are often given the same treatment, dressed in flowers and the colors of spring.
Solitary Wiccans may do a meditation, enjoying some time in solitude in the sunshine or using a candle as a focal point for nighttime practice. Prayers may be said, and offerings may be given to the God and the Goddess, and sometimes to the faeries. These offerings typically come in the form of food, water, flowers, and herbs.
Rituals are often more elaborate and formal in comparison to more frequently practiced esbat proceedings, and the tone is usually joyful, reverent, and celebratory. Honor is given to the Goddess and God, as evocations and/or invocations are spoken.
Magick is often incorporated into the Beltane ritual, with love, romance, abundance, growth, and prosperity common themes for spells, charms, and magickal crafts. It’s a popular time for divination, and Wiccans may use any variety of tools and systems such as tarot, runes, pendulums, or the I Ching to discern the general outlook for health, wealth, love, and overall success.
Heathen
Heathenry encompasses Asatru and other Neopagan paths that practice the pre-Christian religious traditions of Germany, Scandinavia, and other places in northern Europe. While May Day celebrations aren’t among the most important holidays of the Heathen year, many modern Heathens do mark the occasion, celebrating the Germanic holiday of Walburg, or Walpurgis Night, on April 30, and celebrating May Day on May 1. It’s a time when magick is believed to be afoot, a time when spirits wander. Heathens today may mark the occasion with a great bonfire, a simple feast, and liberal toasts made to the god Wotan (aka Odin) and to the goddesses of magick.
(Modern) Druid
Unlike Celtic Reconstructionists who strive to follow the historical religion of the ancient Celts as closely as is feasible, modern Druids are more of the Celtic Revivalist style, picking and choosing from ancient Celtic beliefs and adapting these for current times. Contemporary Druids are often eclectic, merging various traditions and new inventions with the time-honored practices of the ancient Celts. Modern Druids may mark Beltane with a ritual in honor of the goddess Danu, the earth mother, and the god Belenos, the sun king. Beltane is seen as a time to celebrate fertility, union, and sexuality. It’s a time of protection and purification, and it’s a time to honor the dead. Faeries are believed to make extra mischief on Beltane, the veil between the worlds thinning at this time just as it does on Samhain. Some modern Druids may wear bells to help keep the naughty faeries at bay. Prayers for health, prosperity, protection, and love may be made, and offerings of bread, beer, or mead are left for the gods and the dead.
Traditional Witchcraft
Traditional Witchcraft is the religion of non-Wiccan witches who base their practices on pre-Christian animism, traditional folk magick, and an often polytheistic belief system. Traditional Witchcraft varies from place to place, and specific practices are based on the local culture and the environment in which one lives. Some Traditional witches celebrate the solstices and equinoxes, and some celebrate the four cross-quarter days, but most do not celebrate both. Traditionally, either the solstices and equinoxes were honored, or the cross-quarter days were honored, according to local lifestyles and to the needs of the land. Traditions that were mostly agricultural tend to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes, while more pastoral-based traditions with their roots in Celtic lands acknowledge the cross-quarter days such as Beltane. When Traditional witches celebrate Beltane, they may do so just as their ancestors did, with bonfires, rituals, orgiastic revelry, reverence, and magick.
Neopagan
Neopaganism is a term defining a broad and varied category of practitioners engaged in any number of forms of nature-based spirituality or new takes on old Pagan religions and practices. Neopagans include Wiccans, eclectic witches, modern Druids, and others—nearly anyone living in modern times who defines themselves as a Pagan is also a Neopagan by definition, as it essentially means “new Pagan.”
Neopagans may celebrate Beltane alone or with a group. Many communities today have open Neopagan social groups that bring together people from a variety of paths. Daytime Beltane picnics are popular, and groups often gather at public parks, mountainsides, riversides, and other pleasant outdoor locations. Potlucks are the standard, with everyone bringing a dish to share. Often, groups enjoy a nature walk together either before or after the feast. Depending on the group, rituals and magick might also be performed, which range in both formality and form.
Solitary Neopagans might choose to celebrate Beltane in a traditional way, recreating the practices of a particular path or system, or they may decide to get creative, crafting their own Beltane proceedings based on personal taste, need, ability, and intuition, completely independent of any established method.
Eclectic Witchcraft
Eclectic Witchcraft is a term defining practitioners of Witchcraft who may or may not choose to define themselves as Wiccan, and who draw practices and beliefs from a variety of traditions and from both personally crafted and indigenous magickal and spiritual systems. Common aspects include an emphasis on natural energies and seasonal tides, with most eclectic witches working closely with the moon, the sun, the stars, the earth, and the elements.
Beltane rituals often emphasize springtime energies, and fires may be lit in solidarity with the sun’s rising strength. Common themes include abundance, growth, prosperity, fertility, love, and sexuality. Rituals are typically very joyful, and fresh vegetation such as leaves and flowers are frequently found donning the altar as well as the witches. Sometimes plants are all that is worn on the body, and, of course, there are many eclectic witches who prefer to wear nothing at all.
Many eclectic witches consider Beltane the perfect time to honor the union of energies that manifests the blossoming of Nature, and sex magick may be practiced solo, with a partner, or with multiple partners. Sex magick can have a strongly magickal focus or a highly reverent tone with the ritual serving the sole purpose of communion with the divine, no particular magickal goal at hand. It might take the form of one person receiving stimulation from the group, directing the energy raised toward a shared magickal goal. It might take the form of one partner representing the lunar Triple Goddess and one partner representing the solar Horned God who impregnates her. (This impregnation is understood in a magickal and metaphorical sense; birth control and safe sex are wisely practiced.) Sex magick can take the form of a solitary witch self-stimulating while invoking the god of the spring. Practices vary, as eclectic witches are by definition diverse.
Modern Beltane Gatherings and Festivals
Here’s a sampling of some modern Beltane festivals worth visiting. Although most are ultimately secular celebrations, all have strong elements of magick and/or ritual, making them quite suitable events for a Pagan wanting to enjoy a good time for Beltane.
Beltane Fire Festival—Edinburgh, Scotland
Held on Calton Hill on the night of April 30, the Beltane Fire Festival is a modern arts and cultural event organized by the Beltane Fire Society, a community arts performance charity. The festival is described as “investigative theatre,” with both planned and spontaneous theatrical performances, drumming, and ritual taking place throughout the night at various places on the hill. A great procession led by the May Queen circles the hill, and a symbolic reenactment of the death and rebirth of the Green Man is held. Participants are urged to follow the sound of the drumming to find spontaneous revelers and impromptu performances throughout the park. The celebration attracts a crowd of more than twelve thousand people each year.
Beltania—Florence, Colorado
Beltania is a Pagan celebration and music festival held in early May in the mountains of Colorado. The four-day festival features camping, rituals, workshops, live music, and a very large-scale Maypole dance featuring more than one hundred ribbons. A Green Man and a May Queen are crowned and celebrated. Drum circles and dancing keep everyone busy well into the night, and a skyclad camping area open only to attendees who are eighteen years of age or older provides endless opportunity for magick and mischief in the dark. Bardic circles, spontaneous singing, and storytelling around the campfire add to the atmosphere of fun and fellowship that prevails throughout the festival. Beltania is hosted by Living Earth, an open Neopagan group and community church offering rituals, family events, classes, and other services in the Denver metro area.
May Day Parade and Festival—Minneapolis, Minnesota
For more than forty years, the Twin Cities have come together for a community-wide celebration of May Day that includes a parade, a ceremony, and a festival. Parade participants and spectators number over fifty thousand each year, coming from both near and far. Puppets, dancers, and performers donning giant masks—some over ten feet tall—fill the streets, and music, joy, and laughter fill the air. The parade also features a Free Speech section, where community groups march in proclamation of their respective causes.
May Day festivities in Minneapolis also include a large public ceremony to help awaken the slumbering summer. A pageant featuring dancers, live orchestra music, and four giant puppets representing the prairie, sky, river, and woods is enjoyed by the all-ages audience. More than two hundred participants take part in the pageant. The pageant culminates in drumming, while a red sun flotilla, a type of flat-bottomed boat, is paddled across a lake to awaken the Tree of Life that sleeps on the opposite shore. This is called the Tree of Life ceremony, and people of all ages participate.
The festival that follows the May Day Parade and Tree of Life Ceremony features live bands, dancing, food, poetry readings, informational booths hosted by local grassroots organizations, canoe rides, and more.
May Day Fairie Festival—Spoutwood Farm
Outside of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania
The May Day Fairie Festival is an annual event held in early May at an organic farm located just outside of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania. The event celebrates the arrival of summer weather and the return of the faeries and other nature spirits to the world of warmth and sunshine now that the freeze of winter has officially thawed. With arts and crafts, live music, dancing, storytelling, faery and gnome habitat tours, faery tea parties, a Maypole, and more, the three-day family-friendly festival attracts more than sixteen thousand people each year.
Blue Ridge Beltane Festival—Greenville, Virginia
The Blue Ridge Beltane Festival features rituals, drumming, workshops, vendors, bands, fire spinners, and more for a three-day camping event in honor of the coming of summer. Highlights include the lighting of the Bel-Fire, the Maypole dance, and the Inner Sanctum—an area of the camp devoted to workshops, rituals, and impromptu encounters emphasizing the sacred sexual experience. The Inner Sanctum is only open to consensual adults ages eighteen and older who wish to explore the more sacred and magickal side of human sexuality. There is also a youth zone featuring kid-friendly arts, crafts, imaginative games, rituals, and other activities appropriate for the younger set.
The Beltane Gathering—Darlington, Maryland
The Beltane Gathering is a five-day celebration of sacred sexuality and personal freedom held on a 200-acre retreat center in Darlington, Maryland, during the first week of May. Group rituals, workshops, and presentations on sacred sex topics and a sensual feast are highlights of this camping event and magickal retreat. Vendors selling sex toys and magickal tools peddle their wares.
Attendees sleep in cabins or tents, but with all the opportunities for fun the festival affords, resting often takes a low priority. As the festival centers around celebrating sexual liberation and utilizing the tremendous power and potential that lies therein, public sex is allowed, and kink is welcome.
Beltain Festival—Butser Ancient Farm
near Petersfield, Hampshire, England
Each year, the Butser Ancient Farm near Petersfield in the English countryside hosts a Beltane ritual and celebration that draws a crowd of all ages. The festivities include a hog roast, picnicking, and live music. Children craft flower and wicker crowns to don, and they parade them about proudly as families picnic on the lawn. When nighttime falls, all eyes shift to the star of the show—a thirty-foot-tall wicker man soon to be set ablaze. Festivalgoers write down their hopes and wishes on small scraps of paper, which are stuffed inside the human-shaped wicker framework. The wicker man is lit, and the crowd watches eagerly as the flames rise higher, soon engulfing the whole contraption and eventually causing it to collapse to the ground in a heap of burnt twigs and ashes. The burning of the wicker man symbolizes the end of winter and a promise that summer is on the way. As could be expected, the ritual is met with great rejoicing, loud noise, and raucous celebration.
Beltane—Thornborough Henge near Ripon,
North Yorkshire, England
Thornborough Henge, a prehistoric site in north Yorkshire, has been the site of an annual Beltane celebration since 2004. Featuring a May Day fool, a mystery play, and a fire-lighting ceremony, the free gathering aims to offer an alternative to more commercial Beltane festivals. With Brigantia, a goddess once revered in the old kingdom of northern England, as a focal point of the ceremonies, Beltane at Thornborough Henge has a distinctly unique, local flavor. Revelers often camp out the night before the main events, enjoying the magickal, mystical atmosphere that the historic site provides. The largest group of prehistoric earthworks in Britain, the Thornborough Henges is comprised of an extensive landscape of henges, stone monuments, and Cursus (parallel sets of banks flanked by ditches) formed to run alongside or over top ancient barrows. The site is dated to the Neolithic period, its construction likely beginning and ending sometime between 3000 and 2000 BCE.
Many couples choose Beltane at Thornborough Henge as the ideal occasion to get married, and handfasting by means of jumping over a fire, jumping over a broom, or literally binding together the hands of the lovers can be witnessed by all in attendance. Costumes are encouraged at the celebration, with flower garlands as a popular choice for Beltane garb. Drumming, fire rituals, fun, fellowship, and the ever-present chance for Beltane romance draw a crowd of more than five hundred attendees from throughout the region.
Modern Secular Celebrations
Today, many communities honor May Day with secular celebrations the whole town can enjoy. Though the atmosphere and tone are more focused on entertainment than on spirituality or magick, definite remnants of ancient Pagan practice can certainly be discerned in the proceedings.
Many towns in the UK host community May Day festivals, often centered around a grand Maypole. Bonfire rituals are still traditional, and in Limerick, Ireland, community bonfire ceremonies have continuously been practiced Beltane after Beltane all the way into modern times.
Walpurgis night is celebrated in places throughout Central and Northern Europe, with spring festivals held on April 30 or May 1. Fireside dancing, feasting, and merrymaking are prevalent aspects of the festivities.
In Germany, Walpurgis Night and May Day are celebrated on April 30 and May 1. On Walpurgis Night, bonfires are lit and fireside rituals focused on purification may be performed. Celebrations of spring’s arrival tend to get rowdy, and pranks are common. These pranks are often virtually harmless acts such as rearranging things or swapping one neighbor’s patio set for another neighbor’s outdoor furniture, but more raucous and malicious pranks are not uncommon.
May Day is also considered a time to honor and stand up for worker’s rights, and rallies, marches, and other demonstrations are held in many localities. Many communities have a Maypole that is given a place of prominence. Public festivals are held to celebrate the spring.
Smaller “maypoles” are also used. This tradition gives a branch decorated in colorful ribbons as a token of love. Traditionally, the branch was to be placed in the garden of the desired lover as a declaration of affection, the action believed to bring good luck in gaining the person’s romantic interest. Many people spend time outdoors on May Day, enjoying the sunshine and looking forward to warmer days to come.
In the Czech Republic, April 30 is a time for purification and celebration. Straw and cloth are fashioned into the form of a “witch,” which is then tossed into a fire in a symbolic burning of all things dark and dismal. Sometimes brooms are used in place of the “witches.” Large meals are often enjoyed near a bonfire, and dancing and singing generally ensue. May 1 is celebrated as a day of love, and couples often visit local parks together.
In Estonia, Spring Day celebrations begin at sundown on the night of April 30 and continue through the day of May 1. The atmosphere is like a carnival, and streets are filled with revelers dressed as witches in reflection of a long-standing superstition suggesting the night is a time when real witches gather en masse for ritual and magick-making. It’s a time to celebrate the arrival of spring, and both magick and mayhem are in the air. The humbler classes enjoy a little extra regard on Spring Day, with students and many workers honored with a day off.
In Finland, May is ushered in with large parties and public celebrations. Parades are held for the wider community to enjoy, and smaller groups of friends, families, and students gather for picnics. A mead-like beverage called sima is often served.
May Day is also celebrated in Newfoundland, where it is still local custom in some places to decorate a May Bush, decking out a small tree or shrub with brightly colored ribbons and other trimmings meant to herald in and celebrate the spring.
On the first day of May in France, Lily of the Valley is sold all along the streets, the flower being a symbol of springtime believed to attract good luck. One legend holds that the flower first sprang into existence when Eve was exiled from the Garden of Eden. It’s said that wherever Eve’s tears fell, a Lily of the Valley burst up from the earth. May Day is also the national Labour Day, called the Fête du Travail. Demonstrations for worker’s rights are held, and working classes celebrate a day off as banks and most stores close shop for this national holiday.
Suggested Activities
Beltane is a time of fertility, creativity, and growth. It’s a time to renew our connection to the natural world, and a time to celebrate our role in manifesting that world. As we witness the fruits of Nature grow and thrive right before our eyes, Beltane reminds us that we are every bit as dependent on the earth’s fertility as were our ancestors.
As the tenders of the crops, as the caretakers of the animals, as the conscious beings who set the boundaries of possibility, we humans have an important job to do in ensuring our own survival. Not only must we care for the earth and ourselves with our physical bodies and mundane actions, but also we must use our magickal abilities to expand the limits of perception and potential in order to allow greater beauty and a bigger bounty to manifest.
While we understand full well that the sun doesn’t depend on sacrifices being made or fires being lit in order to shine, when we operate as if Nature depends on us, it makes us feel a little better and more secure, more in control than does the more obvious reality of us humans being utterly dependent on Nature. We are dependent on Nature, without a doubt, but at the same time, we are ourselves a part of Nature, and we therefore have the ability to influence it. We simply feel more connected and empowered when we supplement our physical, mundane actions with a little magick, and Beltane is a great opportunity to do so. Here are a few suggested Beltane activities that will help you magickally tune in to the season through both mundane and mystical action.
Review Your Defenses
The ancient Celts of long ago may have felt a wee bit safer after performing their Beltane fire rites intended to purify and protect their animals, just as we modern Pagans today find comfort in doing whatever we can magickally to help ensure and safeguard our success. Whether it’s an extra charm placed over a perfectly sufficient deadbolt lock or a crystal placed in the soil of an already healthy and thriving plant, we like to do all we can to gain magickal protection, and with its strong solar energies, Beltane offers a perfect opportunity for protective magickal workings.
Consider reviewing your defenses this Beltane, both the magickal and the mundane. You might inspect your home’s window and door locks, making repairs where needed. Then, hang a small piece of hawthorn over each entrance as an added magickal protection. You might also take an honest look at your personal habits and lifestyle, and if you often find yourself in dangerous situations or engaging in risky behavior, consider adopting extra precautions. For instance, do you walk alone at night when you could instead walk with a buddy? Would it be wise to take a self-defense class, perhaps? Do you sleep around, but don’t use protection? Increase safety measures wherever you can. Then, make a personal protective charm by tying up in a white cloth a pinch of salt, associated with protective solar energies. Carry the charm with you to help repel danger.
Get Creative
Beltane has a very vibrant, creative, and fertile energy flow that can be utilized to help get your own creative projects off the ground. Ever thought about writing a book or a poem? Got an unfinished painting hiding out somewhere in the back of the closet? How about that hunk of art clay you never got around to using? Just as the seeds of the earth begin to sprout and grow, so too can ideas originating in the heart and mind find their way into the world of manifested reality come Beltane. It doesn’t really matter what type of art you make. You might draw a picture, take some photos, make some music, choreograph a dance, crochet a hat, or even decorate a cake. As you make the art, envision your current wishes coming true, and do your best to allow yourself to actually feel and experience what it will feel like when that happens. Let this energy and emotion flow through your body and into the art. You’ll have a Beltane masterpiece in no time that will remind you that you, too, are a creative spirit, just as is the sweet Mother Earth.
Enjoy Nature
As with all the sabbats, Beltane marks a point in the year when it’s especially beneficial to renew and strengthen our connection to Nature. It’s a good day to tend to the outdoors, perhaps weeding, pruning, watering, or fertilizing. Consider planting some flowers or some vegetable seeds; perhaps plant a tree. Take a nature walk, or enjoy a picnic in a local park. Whatever you do outdoors, notice the plants, the sounds, the scents, and the sensations. Touch the vegetation. Enjoy the feel of sunshine on your skin. Observe, and see yourself as an integral and beautiful part of it all. If you can’t get outdoors, get close to some houseplants, gently stroking their foliage or watering them while you think about how the plant lives and grows thanks to the cooperation between the sun, the water, the plant, and the soil. If you don’t have houseplants, gaze out a window and take in as much as you can. Close your eyes and see what you can remember about what you see, hear, or sense. What can you imagine lies beyond your view? Envision it as clearly as possible, and imagine yourself out and about in this wild of your own creation.
Get Spiffy
To the Celts, Beltane was a time of purification, when impurities and baneful influences were driven away from the people, their animals, their land, their possessions, and their homes. It’s no coincidence that many modern Pagans see Beltane as a time of purification, too. The threat of winter having finally passed, it only makes sense that we also have an instinct to mimic Nature by shaking off the last remnants of lingering darkness and danger. We may find we get an urge to spruce up both ourselves and our homes, livening things up with a springtime makeover. Ritual baths, fire rituals, house smudging, and other methods are commonly employed at Beltane as a means of banishing negative energies and baneful influences.
For a purifying Beltane ritual bath, sea salt, lavender, or other purifying minerals and herbs might be placed in the bath water, as the practitioner visualizes any physical or spiritual impurities flowing out of the body and into the water. After the ritual bath, treat yourself to a spiffy springtime outfit and a new haircut or style, and you’ll quickly feel renewed, refreshed, and in tune with Beltane’s fertile, vibrant, and thriving energy flow.
Fire rituals might involve candles or campfires, with rites requiring participants to circle the fire or (carefully!) jump over the flames as a means of purifying mind, body, and spirit.
Clearing clutter and removing dust in the home can do wonders to banish the blues, while a vase of fresh flowers will energize your living space and remind you of Nature’s beauty. As an additional purifying measure, sage may be lit and used to fumigate the home as well as one’s ritual space and magickal tools, the action believed to chase away unwanted influences and clear out stagnant energies. Salt water or a mist of lavender essential oil and spring water can be used in place of the sage. Just spritz the perimeter of each room, beginning in the east and proceeding clockwise around the space.
Go Crazy
Beltane is an excellent time for adventure, and rash, bold, spontaneous behavior is widely embraced. You might celebrate with an impromptu trip to an exotic locale, a short road trip to a neighboring town, or by finally mustering up the courage to hit on that special someone. Is there a sport you’d like to try, something daring? How about a new hobby, or a new class you’d like to take? Maybe there’s a fear you’re ready to face. Be daring, and embrace the fun and carefree spirit of Beltane. Doing so will empower you to make the most of the opportunities this exciting and dynamic time of year provides.
Make Way to the Water
Wells, rivers, lakes, and other sacred water sources are often visited at Beltane as a way to honor the earth’s fertility. Symbolic of femininity, life, creativity, and goddess energies, water is a perfect accompaniment to many Beltane proceedings, with rituals and picnics often held near large bodies of water and offerings placed near holy wells and sacred springs. Consider making a trip to a water source this Beltane, taking time to admire the beauty of the water, make a wish, and leave behind a gift or two. Just make sure the gift isn’t a source of pollution; natural items like rocks or flowers, or small amounts of birdseed, fruit, or vegetables are all appropriate choices for Beltane offerings.