Happy Beltane ~ aka May Day

• Traditions: love/sex magic, leaping the bonfire to bring luck, dancing ‘round the Maypole, honoring garden and house spirits, fertility magic

• Pagan Lore:  The Maypole…in ancient Irish history there was a sacred tree believed to be the forerunner of the maypole. It was thought that dancing around this tree on Beltane would send energy to the womb of the Earth and awaken her.

May Day Baskets…comes from the ancient Beltane Eve tradition of a young man leaving a garland of flowers at the door of a young woman who has caught his eye. This was an invitation, and if accepted, the young couple would steal away for a night together in the forest, awaiting the Beltane sunrise. In modern times, the garland was replaced with a basket of sweets.

Youth and Beauty…it’s said that at sunrise on the morning of Beltane, those women wishing to recapture their youth, as well as all women wishing to retain their beauty, should go out into the grass at the break of dawn, sweep up the morning dew within their hands, and bathe their faces with it.

This holiday is one of the most Pagan. It is a celebration of fertility. To the modern world, it’s more commonly known as May Day. What the Roman Church tried so hard to control, to portray as evil, sinful, or dirty is the very thing celebrated at Beltane…human sexuality. The ancient rites of Beltane celebrate the copulation of the God and the Goddess (the priest and the priestess); and in some Wiccan traditions this celebration of sexuality is honored with a ritual known as The Great Rite.

What was once considered wonderfully human, delightful, a miracle of life, and in some cases a spiritual act, was degraded by the Roman Church, the same church which branded women as evil and with it the emotions of lust and passion.

Modern-day Pagans have reclaimed the celebration of human sexuality and the miracle of fertility that accompanies it. People still dance around the Maypole, a phallic symbol, while they hold brightly colored streamers spilling from the top of this pole, symbolic of the creative force of sex.

(An excerpt from,

“The Gray Witch’s Grimoire”

by Amythyst Raine, Moon Books)

Correspondences for Beltaine

• Herbs: cinquefoil, frankincense, marigold, meadowsweet, woodruff

• Altar Flowers/Herbs: daisy, hawthorn, lilac, primrose, wildflowers, rose

• Feast Foods: barley cakes, oat cakes, red fruit, elderflower drinks, herbal salads

• Animals: honey bees, cats, horses, rabbits, white cow

• Incense: frankincense, lilac, passion flower, rose, vanilla

• Rituals/Spells: bale fire, fertility magick, sex magick, handfasting, beauty magick, love spells, The Great Rite

(Excerpts from “Natural Magick the Gray Witch Way”

by Amythyst Raine , Amazon, Pink Orchid Publishing 2011)

Samhain @ Our House ~ 2015 (photos)

 



Welcome to our House and Samhain 2015:

We had a lovely, lively, intimate Samhain evening with the kids and family friends (a couple of whom we have unofficially adopted as our own).  The following photos are random, taken sporadically, and are completely unedited.



The Samhain Altar:
 Honoring our ancestors and family members who have passed.

 

 

My Halloween Baby:  18th Birthday!!!
 



The centerpiece for my table: it includes dried rose blossoms, mums snipped from my garden,
bittersweet and pinecones we picked up at the lake, and maple leaves from our yard.

 

The Divination Table:  I sat up a card table in the living-room this year,
instead of it's traditional location on the back porch.



Hot Dogs and Marshmallows destined for the Fire Pit.



 

 

Hot Apple Cider: my own recipe, included in my book, The Spiritual Feminist

 

 

Chili:  the traditional main dish for Samhain at our house,
also my own recipe.

 

The Kidz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laura harvested her pumpkin and we weighed it:  30lbs.!

 

Patchouli Incense was my choice for the evening.

Until next year...Blessed Be!

 

 

 

(Note:  You can click on any of the photos to make them Bigger!)

 



My Hal'ween Babee

 

My gorgeous Sara turned 17 on Halloween (aka Samhain) this year.  We celebrated, as we do every year, with our traditional chili and hot apple cider-- amongst all the other goodies brought by siblings and friends.  Sara's birthday is so equated with this holiday and its celebration-- from the moment she was born and the nurses tied little "Trick or Treat" bags to the bassinets!

 

I want to wish Sara a bright and shiny year ahead, much love and joy, fun and adventures. 

 

I love you, Sweetie!!

 

(Just Mum)

 

ps-- her makeup is from a video character in "The Incredibly Slow Murder with the Extremely Insufficient Weapon"