Beltaine Traditions, Symbols, and Rituals

Design your own ritual to celebrate the union of the Young God and Mother Goddess  in sacred marriage, fertility and new life. Some form of this Great Rite is enacted on this sabbat in nearly every modern pagan circle.  (see Beltaine lore) Think of your directions, questions and needs and focus on them.

A traditional Beltaine  pastime: Gather the first herbs of the season, or collect wildflowers. Have a picnic and commune with the newly blossomed spring and the fertile earth. Make daisy chains and play "tag". Make love in the woods or commune with faeries. Carefree  times and laughter fit in well with this holiday.

Other traditional activities include decorating a may pole, the great rite, and gathering flowers. Spells may be cast to ensure prosperity, conservation, safety, and love. Weaving and plaiting are traditional arts at this time of year, for the joining together of two substances to form a third is in the spirit of Beltane.

Foods in tune with this day (linking your meals with the seasons is a  fine method of attuning with nature) include dairy, sweets, honey and oats. Try oatmeal (or oatmeal cookies), fresh cream, ice cream sundays.

Candles are red, green, white, dark yellow

Incenses to be used alone or in combinations include passion flower, rose, tuberose, vanilla, jasmine, ylang, ylang, peach or  musk.

Plants and herbs are primrose, cowslip, hawthorn, rose, birch, rosemary, lilac. All-heal, blessed thistle, broom, curry, daffodil, dogwood, coriander, dragon's blood, reed, fern, fireweed, nettle, flaxseed, marjoram, paprika, radish, rue, snapdragon, mushroom, almond, meadowsweet, rose, woodruff, tansy, elder leaves.

Stones to use include clear quartz, sapphire, bloodstone, malachite, garnet, rose quartz, emerald, beryl, tourmaline.

Animals and mythical beasts for this time of year are goats, rabbits, honeybees, faeries, pegasus, satyrs, giants.

Altars can be decorated with eggs, flowers, a chalice, may baskets..

Goddesses honored at this time concern virgins,  mothers, flowers, fertility and the hunt.  Aphrodite, Artemis, Flora, Mielikki, Ariwl, Cybele, Freya, Rhiannon, Flidais.

Gods honored at this time concern the hunt, love and fertility. Cernnunos, Cupid, Frey, Puck, Beltene, Odin, Manawyddan and Pan.

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