We invite you to join us in the turning of the Wheel of the Year, as we celebrate the festival of Beltane under the moonlight. Beltane honors life. It is the celebration of the peak of spring and the emergence of early summer. The world around us is alive and filled with potential at the height of its fertility. Earth energies are at their strongest and most active point. The promise of spring and the power of the waxing year meet in the greening fields and forests, and all life rejoices under the warm sun. The tree of life is twined in a spiral web of color, and nature is renewed.
Beltane, like Samhain, is a time when the veil between the worlds is thought to be thin, a time when magic is possible. Whereas Samhain revelers must look out for wandering souls of the dead, Beltane merrymakers watch for Fairies. Beltane is the night when the Queen of the fairies will ride out on her white steed to entice humans away to Faeryland. Sweet cakes were often left for the Fairies in hopes of winning their favor on this night.
This evening we are celebrating and giving back to the Earth, using all the elements (fire, earth, air, water).
We will begin our evening in Circle around the bonfire as we welcome in positive vibrations and set our intentions for spring, and enjoy a nourishing herbal tea handcrafted for our celebration by Tea & Tarot.
(EARTH) Together we will embark on a slow, dark sky forest bathing walk with our lanterns. We will open up our senses to a whole new world both outside - and inside of us by experiencing our more than human world at night. Embrace the still present darkness - but celebrate the emerging new light. Moving slowly, you'll experience the night in a completely different way. Your primary sense - sight - takes a back seat while all your other senses become alive. Feel the breeze brush lightly over your face. Watch silhouettes move in the wind. Look up to a Waxing Gibbous moon. This phase is when the moon is more than 50% illuminated but not yet a Full Moon.
(AIR) Afterward, you'll cast your eyes on the celestial heavens above while you are guided in a different way to stargaze that will leave you feeling awe-inspired yet grounded. Using flying paper, you will make a wish for Beltane and release it into the air, letting your desires travel on the wind.
(FIRE) We will return to our bonfire, where you will be guided on a soothing, gentle activity focused on letting go of the old and bringing in the new. This is an ideal season to take small moments to shed things that do not serve you. We will share our experiences if so moved and enjoy lavender and lemon shortbread and tea.
(WATER) We have created a Beltane enchanted sacred bath soak of dried herbs and flowers and a blend of organic essential oils charged under the April full moon for everyone to take home, along with directions for use.
$50 investment
What to Bring
Feel free to celebrate Beltane by wearing a wreath in your hair of freshly picked flowers and/or colorful clothing to express the joy and beauty of the season.
Many like to bring a journal or notebook and something to write or draw with. Experiences generated within the circle can be quite rich and may be ones you would like to record and work with for some time.
Please bring blankets, cushions, a mat, and any other props you would like for comfort- bolster, pillow, eye covering, etc. and/or whatever will make you comfortable sitting on the ground around the fire.
Please feel free to bring any crystals or beautiful gifts from the earth that can support our space in feeling safer, more welcoming, more tolerant, or more sacred.
The Origins of Beltane- The Fire Festival
Beltane is a Celtic fertility festival that marks the beginning of summer in the ancient Celtic calendar and the moving of livestock from winter lowlands to summer pastures. Traditionally celebrated on the evening of April 30th and into the early morning of May 1st, (Celts measured their days from evening to evening), Beltane is a Celtic cross-quarter day, i.e., it is one of four main seasonal festivals of the Celtic Wheel of the Year and falls roughly halfway between an equinox/solstice (in this case, the spring equinox and the summer solstice).
In Irish mythology, the beginning of the summer season started with the Fire Festival at Beltane. Traditionally, Beltane festivities began days before May 1st, or "May Day," when villagers traveled into the woods to gather the nine sacred kinds of wood needed to build the Beltane bonfires. Like most Celtic festivals, the key to the celebration lay with fire. Fire was held to have purifying qualities; it cleansed and revitalized both the land and the people. Great bonfires on Beltane would mark a time of purification and transition, heralding in the season in the hope of a good harvest later in the year, and were accompanied by rituals to protect the people from any harm by otherworldly spirits.
Because the Celtic day started and ended at sundown, the Beltane celebration would begin at sundown on April 30th. Entire families would come into town from their farms and connect with the larger community. Trading was done, games were played, Divinity honored, and fertility fostered. It was a time to focus on feeding the land in the hopes of getting a good crop. This was a concentrated period of time to focus on fertility, the hopes and dreams for the rest of the year, both figuratively and literally. After extinguishing all hearth fires in the village, two Beltane fires were lit on hilltops. The villagers would drive their livestock between the fires three times to cleanse them and ensure their fertility in the coming summer, and then put them to summer pasture.