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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in Beltane

Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

b2ap3_thumbnail_KimKirkBLOG.jpg

In this season, no matter our age, we embrace our inner youth. This is a good time to journey or quest, learn new skills, practice the balance of self-care and care-giving. We seek the inspiration raging in our guts—our genius—that which is ours alone to manifest. Ask the Maens and Maidens in your life, and within yourself: Beloved, what is it you really Desire?

In May, we honor the pattern that replicates itself in the seasons, the waxing and waning moon, the ebb and flow of ocean, and in the bodies of Women. We respond to both sunlight and moonlight through magical science of hormones and the pineal gland—"the seat of the soul." Our hormones dance and flow in synch with these large forces of nature. This cycling is a built-in mechanism for renewing mental and physical health, taking us inward and outward, to release what no longer serves us.

Archaeology and anthropology teach us that menstruation was central to the development of human civilizations: Women responded to their Blood Cycle by going within to listen then coming out to share with their tribes what they experienced in their monthly "vision quest." This sharing was not about reproduction, but another creation of the whole universe. I ask women to sit with this remembering. There is science involved in this magic, but it is magic first.


...We become She Who Cycles. Now that is something to tell a young woman on the day of her First Bloods! 

Kim Duckett © Mother Tongue Ink 2016

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  • Erin Lale
    Erin Lale says #
    I love that artwork!

Posted by on in Signs & Portents
A Time for Planting

It is Beltane, the Celtic festival of fire and light marking either the midpoint of spring or the beginning of summer! Well known as a time of revelry, Beltane is also a celebration of fertility: both of the kind good for planting crops and the kind good for sowing seeds of another kind. Beltane also corresponds to the Germanic festivals Walpurgisnacht as well as International Workers’ Day (aka May Day). And, of course, if you’re on the bottom side of the world it’s the opposite day: Samhain!

As always we’ve gathered all of our related posts as well as those we found across the internet that we thought you might enjoy. Have a great time celebrating!

-Aryós Héngwis

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs

The maidenly May Queen. The fecundity of the land. The sacred union of masculine and feminine.  It seemed a bit counterintuitive that in Ireland, Bealtaine, the month of May, is a month celebrating creativity in people who are well over the age of 50. Beataine is the time of year when crones rock!

All over Ireland there are arts activities aimed at those who are of pensionable age. For instance, the Hawkswell Theatre in Sligo is offering weekly acting classes in May for €30! That is completely affordable for someone on a state pension. All over Ireland there are arts activities that celebrate our creativity as we age.

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Posted by on in SageWoman Blogs
The Lover's Flame of Beltane

The air is warm and sweet. Life is budding all around and May flowers stretch across a field of freshly paint greenery, the faint scent of their perfume on gentle warm breeze. My heart beats rapidly in anticipation and I look out over sunlight space seeking your face. A stream of electrified energy moves up my spine awakening all of my senses as I feel the heat of your breath at the back of my neck. I turn to face you and two small suns flash with desire from the depths of eyes that have lovingly gazed upon my face in seasons past. Breath hangs in the air suspended in timelessness as I, the Maiden, reach out to you, my consort. Earth and Sun sigh into the release of consummate union and passion’s light burns with heat and intensity, as each lover’s flame becomes the singular flame that fuels the passion of Beltane. 

As the Wheel continues its cycle of light we turn our focus towards stimulating the dynamics of creation within. At the time of the Vernal Equinox we did the work of seeking balance and honoring the pause of that space strengthening an awareness illuminated by the potential that is held within the fertile space of manifest form. We found this space of balance within ourselves and opened in receipt of taking in more of the light continues to expand as it surrounds us outwardly. This opening to receiving the downpour of the light of growth was the preface to the union of the polarities at Beltane. 

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Is Beltane 'Bright Fire' or 'Bel's Fire'?

Is the festival Beltane named for an Irish god Bel?

Short answer: probably not.

The Keltic peoples of the Continent knew of a god Belenos (attested in various spellings) who, during the Roman period, was identified with Apollo.

Belenos clearly = *bel-, “shining, bright” + infixed -n-, (denotes lordship, mastery, or preeminence) + -os, (masculine singular ending). The “mastery infix,” interestingly, features in the names of a number of Keltic deities: among them Cernunnos, “Horned Lord” or “Preeminently Horned” and Epona, “Lady Horse” or “Preeminent Horse.” So Belenos is “Bright Lord” or “the Preeminently Bright.”

Did the Keltic-speaking peoples of Britain know such a god?

If so, the evidence is minimal, and there's none whatsoever that the Irish knew him. ('Beltane' is an Irish word in origin.) We cannot assume that the Insular Kelts worshiped every god that their Continental kin did.

So alas, Beltane is probably not “Bel's fire.”

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Maypole or Bonfire?

The Maypole and the Bonfire have long been the two ritual foci of Beltane celebration.

The logistical problem being that a ritual can't have two centers.

I remember running into this difficulty decades back while planning the community Beltane down at the old River Circle by the Mississippi. We wanted both a Maypole and a Bonfire, but (unless you want to burn the Maypole, which is wrong) they're mutually exclusive options and only one of them can be in the middle of the circle.

In the end we settled for a central bonfire with the Maypole off to the side of the circle. After the Maypole dance, as darkness drew in, people (of course) clustered around the Bonfire, leaving the poor Maypole deserted.

I.e. not really a satisfactory solution.

Historically speaking, the Maypole is a relative newcomer to the Beltane celebrations (there's no documentary evidence for it until the early modern period), while the Mayfire is clearly prehistoric (the name Beltane itself originally meant “bright fire”).

But the tension between Fire and Tree is more apparent than real. Our problem is trying to cram both hands into the same catskin glove.

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  • Jön Upsal's Gardener
    Jön Upsal's Gardener says #
    Maddeningly, Ronald Hutton in Stations of the Sun (p. 233) doesn't give the title of the poem or the quote, only the author; Adda
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    I'm intrigued, Jon: which poem is that? Clearly time to to brush up my Middle English. So: we find Maypoles in England. We find Ma
  • Jön Upsal's Gardener
    Jön Upsal's Gardener says #
    And just as an aside, written evidence for the Maypole goes back to the 14th century. As it's entirely unlikely it was invented co
  • Jön Upsal's Gardener
    Jön Upsal's Gardener says #
    Actually, we call that Sumarmál. :-) And you're entirely correct; modern society and its artificial cycles of weekday-weekend is
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    A bat needs two wings to fly. Bwa ha ha.

Posted by on in Paths Blogs
The Hawthorn

Hawthorn

Hawthorn is a hedgerow plant that grows well even in poor soil and high winds.  It has white flowers in spring that are followed by dark red berries in the autumn.  Watch out for the spiky thorns though.

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  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis says #
    Rachel, thank you! Hawthorn is a friend of mine, and she had not told me a few things about herself that she has clearly told you.

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