Beltane
October 31st

Beltane is one of my favourite festivals of the year, mostly because it's so full of joy and promise. Last year it was spent with a group of like-minded people, not all Celtic Pagans/Wiccans and not all female, on a beach on the wild west coast of New Zealand. We danced around a Maypole, had our altar (made of a log that had been washed up on shore) draped in white flowers and all jumped the Beltane fire. It was a joyous celebration and I can't wait for this year's.

Beltane (or more correctly Bealtaine) is a Gaelic word meaning Bel's Fire. It is also the word used by Gaelic speaking people for the month of May. Although that doesn't apply in this hemisphere the spirit is nevertheless the same. It started out as a Celtic/Druidic festival celebrating the Great Marriage of the God and the Goddess. This is where the ancient tradition of lying with somebody by the Fires came from - people were emulating the Great Marriage. Beltane is also a fertility festival, not only for people but for animals too. Cattle were driven between the Fires to ensure their fertility.

How you celebrate Beltane is up to you. I believe that as long as there is an abundance of love and you honour both the God and the Goddess the rest is just a bonus. I tend to surround myself with white flowers, purifying incense (such as Frankincense, hmmm. . .) and people I love. I don't do magic on Beltane (or any other Sabbat/Esbat) as I like it to be a celebration of the turning of the Wheel of the Year, and I just revel in the atmosphere. You can't beat a roaring bonfire, the smell of incense and the energy that crackles through the air on a day like that. When Beltane has passed I'll give you an account of how it went. Send me yours too.

                                          Beltane 1999 - October 31st

Having moved house recently I decided to combine my Beltane this year with creating a feeling for my new place. It already has a great atmosphere, but I wanted to put something of myself in it. Being a Solitary practitioner does have its drawbacks, I suppose, but I was determined to make the best of this year's Beltane. It started when I began preparing the food for my Simple Feast (for those of you reading this [i.e., Mike Coster!] who do not practice paganism the Simple Feast is a combination of things. It is an offering to the God and the Goddess at the end of a ritual and is also used to ground the magician after any kind of magical/ceremony work. Earthing, in other words). I had lightly spiced wine and wholegrain fresh bread with butter on it. Anything white or dairy is OK on this day. Then I had the most glorious bath ever with salts bought from the shop of my good friend Carmel (Sheela-na-Gig in St Kevin's Arcade on K'Rd, for those who are interested) - the incense was going and the candles made the darkening twilight very soft. I had a Medwyn Goodall CD playing in the background, and my altar was set up very simply outside. The ritual itself was not traditional in the sense of maypoles etc. but I honoured the God and the Goddess, prayed for fertlility of crops, ventures, people and so on. It was very private (even though the neighbours must have been wondering what I was doing. . .). The garden itself was covered in white flowers, from minute blossoms to huge flowers, and the scent of lavender was in the air. I loved it.

Seeing as it was a fertility festival, I decided to go and make my friendships more fertile and headed off down the pub afterwards for the Hallowe'en celebrations that inevitably happens on October 31st (dressed as a witch, naturally!). It was fun and topped the evening off. Plus I was awake for dawn the next day when I thanked the God and Goddess for bringing the summer back.

Feel free to tell me your Beltane story by using the link to my e-mail. I'd love to hear it. 

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