Love Conquers All

Happy Beltane all you lovers out there! I hope you enjoyed this fine Sunday enjoying the outdoors and stopped to smell the roses at least once.

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance today. I was at work and when I came home, I found that some kind person had smashed the back window of my car. Therefore, I spent the evening waiting for police to come and take a report. Let this be a lesson to those people… Always remember the rule of three…

So what is Beltane you ask?

Beltane is another name for the Gaelic May Day festival. Most commonly, it is held on 1 May, or about halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. Beltane is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature, and it is associated with important events in Irish mythology. It marked the beginning of summer and was when cattle were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect the cattle, crops and people, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, and their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around the bonfire or between two bonfires, and sometimes leap over the flames or embers. All household fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Beltane bonfire. These gatherings would be accompanied by a feast, and some of the food and drink would be offered to the spirits. Doors, windows, byres and the cattle themselves would be decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. In parts of Ireland, people would make a May Bush: a thorn bush decorated with flowers, ribbons and bright shells. Holy wells were also visited, while Beltane dew was thought to bring beauty and maintain youthfulness. Many of these customs were part of May Day or Midsummer festivals in other parts of Great Britain and Europe.

Beltane celebrations had largely died out by the mid-20th century, although some of its customs continued and in some places, it has been revived as a cultural event. Since the late 20th century, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans have observed Beltane, or something based on it, as a religious holiday. Neopagans in the Southern Hemisphere often celebrate Beltane at the other end of the year (around 1 November).

There is so much history and ritual to this holiday and it is one of my favorites. This is just the generic Wikipedia version.

In addition, since I have not had too much time today, here I offer you some great websites where information was already written. Enjoy them.


Wikipedia- Beltane
Beltane
Beltane- ThoughtCo.
Beltane- Circle Sanctuary


Tomorrow I will go out and smell the roses myself. I promise.

Spring: Myth or Reality?

Forget everything Game of Thrones taught you...

Spring Is Coming!

Happy Imbolc!!

(Also Happy Groundhog’s Day if that tickles your fancy.)

There are a ton of traditions that surround this fabulous day halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Legends. Tales. I could go on.

But I won’t. I am going to Disneyland. (Hey, there are fairies there. And it’s outdoors. And, true fact, Disneyland is also a botanical garden.)

This is a time of hearth and home. This is a time for spring cleaning. Traditionally, this was the onset of the lambing season. Also, one might look for the blooming of the Blackthorn. Fires and candles will be lit to welcome the return of the sun’s warming power.

Most Gaelic observers (both Pagan and Christian/Catholic) celebrate the day as St. Brigid’s Feast. And while I am part Irish, today I will regale you with the springtime story I have believed most of my life.

It is a belief of the Greek, and of me, that the Goddess Demeter (or Ceres for you Romans), is Mother Earth. She is the Goddess of Harvest, the Goddess of Grain. She is responsible for the fertility of our soil, for the green of the grass and the red of the desert. She is a very powerful Goddess.

She has a daughter called Persephone. She is said to be so beautiful that all the Gods wanted her so Demeter hid her away. Hades, God of the Underworld, wanted her for his wife and took her into the Underworld.

Demeter was distraught and looked for her everywhere. And the Earth plunged into despair. Nothing would grow.

Finally, Hades, plagued by the inhabitants of Earth who were begging for things to grow again, said he would give her back.

But before he did, he tricked Persephone into eating some pomegranate seeds. He knew that once she tasted the fruit of the Underworld she would never be able to leave it forever; she would always have to return.

And so the tale goes:

6 months of each year poor Persephone is bound as Queen of the Underworld. The rest of the time she could return to her mother. And so each fall as Persephone returns to the Underworld, the leaves fall from the trees, plants begin dying out as the Goddess Demeter is left in despair while Her daughter is gone and each spring as She anticipates the return of Persephone the fertility of the Earth returns with her.

Welcome Back Persephone.

Until We Meet Again...