Beltane blessings
My favorite sabbat has arrived!
What is Beltane?
May 1st, Beltane, is a celebration of the halfway point between the Spring Equinox (Ostara) and the Summer Solstice (Litha). Its’ name is a reference to the Celtic sun deity, Belenus. Though Beltane might be less well known than its autumnal counterpart, Samhain (Halloween), it was definitely the most significant sabbat to many in ancient northern cultures. Because of Celtic countries’ proximity to the Arctic circle, there was really only 2 seasons: winter and summer. The arrival of Beltane meant the arrival of summer after many months of cold, and a promise of steady food and light. It feels super special to meee, but maybe I’m being biased because its my birthday month!!
How is it Celebrated?
The 1st of May is celebrated with various festivities, some of the most significant of which are:
welcoming summer with parties, feasts & communal gatherings
rituals for blessings & good fortune throughout the warm months. Protection, prosperity, growth, luck and abundance are qualities of the sun/ solar deities, whose return was being celebrated. This symbolism can be seen in protection rituals for the coming crops, livestock, and love- usually involving fire magick
fires representing the sun’s energy in the form of candles, bonfires, and baking/cooking, just as it still does today for many magickal practitioners. Beltane is known as one of the “great fire festivals,” of the ancient Celts. Bonfires were lit around edges of the communities & cattle fields to ward off predators- who may be hungry after a long winter- and general malevolent energy.
offerings left for the fae, who are much more likely to make themselves seen to humans around Beltane, and in many cases of old folklore, as tricksters- are wise at this time of year. Leaving offerings of sweets, bread, wine, cheese, or milk outside the house or barn for the fae is a way of making a peaceful exchange, so they don’t take some for themselves 😉 The veil is thin at this transitionary time of year, comparably only to Samhain. It’s a time known as the easiest to connect with the spirit realm- so asking for divine assistance in these protective manners was probably effective & born out of necessity. Many types of offerings were also left as a “thank you” to ancestors, spirits, gods and goddess, etc.
What does Beltane symbolize?
Beltane has some similar themes to Ostara in the sense of fertility, but it’s more about the union of the divine masculine and divine feminine (versus emphasis on the feminine aspect in Ostara and Imbolc). Baby animals that had just been born were blessed for healthy, fertile lives. Couples continued to engage in all the fun [and strange] hand-fasting rituals, the community blessing their love and fertility. Sinlges would cast spells to preserve their youth, like walking the perimeter of the property east to west, and divine when they’d meet their spouse by blowing on dandelions. Traditions like dancing around a ribbon-decorated Maypole were symbolic of fertility and “Beltane babies” conceived or born around this time were thought to be good luck or especially spiritually-gifted people. Homes, bushes, and baskets, were also decorated with ribbon and flowers, bringing beauty and abundance all around the community.
I also relate Beltane to Venus, the Morning Star, as it can now brightly be seen every clear morning before the sun rises. Venus is also the planet that rules Taurus, which Beltane falls within, as the 1st of May. Venus has similar qualities of femininity, love, sensuality, & earthly-pleasures.
Maypoles are still danced around in several European countries, where Beltane is celebrated as May Day. The new name is the result of Roman invasion of the British Isles & surrounding Celtic regions in ~40 AD, when it began to be assimilated it into their celebration of the flower deity, Flora. The fires came to represent “driving away the evil spirits,” and the decorations secularized as time went on and Christianity spread. It is still a national holiday in some European countries, where it’s come to represent workers’ & students’ rights.
Like most ancient pagan festivals, there are little to no primary sources explaining what actually went down, but the day has continued to be significant over time. In some regions of Germany, an interesting tradition developed on the separate holiday of Beltane Eve, called Walpurgisnacht, or the Witches’ Night. It’s similar to the US’s Mischief Night, where pranksters (usually kids/teens), play tricks on their neighbors. In some cases, it was neighborhood-wide, with a “capture the flag” type game emerging with the Maypoles of nearby towns or villages. Sounds kinda fun to me!
Modern ways to celebrate:
Work with solar and nature spirits in whatever way you feel called. Just get outside and get quiet and let your intuition guide you to connecting deeper and being present with nature.
Decorate with yellow flowers. It was especially tradition to place them in front of doorways to invite the sun’s energy and luck inside your home!
Create a May Basket with some flowers, crystals, or anything else you gather in nature. These were used as decoration, and often created by the young men as offerings for their girlfriends and wives, having scoured the pature’s all morning for fresh May flowers
Work with the fae. Check out my blog post to get started!
Work with runes. Any divination (tarot, oracle, etc) is great on the sabbat, especially this one where the viel is so thin. Runes particularly though given their Celtic origins especially around this time of year.
Baking: this of course uses the fire element, and food is traditionally made in a ceremonious way that calls in luck and blessings!
Go camping: spending the night outside was traditionally done by couples, as part of hand-fasting rituals.
Have a bonfire! Of course! Remember that intention is everything so if you want it to be a ceremonial bonfire where your troubles and sorrows of the winter are burned away with the help of your spirit team….then make it that!!! But sitting on your phone around a fire pit for an hour might not give you the fire festival vibes you were thinking (speaking from experience lol).
Meditate on Venus, the Morning Star, for a morning mediation. Maybe outside or looking out the window!
Journal Prompts:
how do I offer protection to the nature spirits? (This is important to consider if you’re going to be asking for protection or blessings from them!)
what projects am I going to push to completion this summer? how can I best use my energy to get to those goals?
observe your own shift and fluctuations in energy & mood as the weather gets warm… what energies have been weighing me down all winter? what stagnant energy, behavior, or thought patterns have I been holding onto for the past several months?
what does the fire element symbolize to me?
How I’m celebrating: (2023)
Beltane Burn & Camping Trip
I typically celebrate Beltane from around the 1st through my birthday on the 10th! I will be working all week, doing minimal ritual other than greeting the flowers and doing some card pulls. But next week I will be immersed in the woods all week and plan on carrying out all my Beltane festivities then :) One thing I do every year is spin fire around the bonfire- often the first one enjoyed in the warmth since the Fall slipped away at Samhain.
WAter Ritual
On the morning of my birthday we woke up in a campsite surrounded by creeks and waterfalls on 3 sides. I started my day connecting with the water, as is custom of Beltane rituals around sacred well sites and streams. This site felt sacred to me as I washed my face and hands and sang the songs of Old.
Fae offerings
I welcome the faeries back on the 1st of May with a fresh faery plate, no matter what! I just finally took down their winter faery home I made around Yule, and will be making it back into their summer home over the next couple of days. Stay tuned for updated pics on my IG! For now, I refreshed their little plate with some homemade cinnamon muffins, and cleared out all the fading pine needles.
How I’m celebrating: (2022)
Beltane Burn & grill out
This weekend I’ll be having a bonfire and a grill out with some friends, Michigan weather permitting! This always feels like the most authentic way to celebrate for me. We’ll be sharing homemade food, dancing, flowing, and maybe going to a show downtown after!
Yoga Flow Moon Circle
As always I’ll be meeting with you all for a New Moon flow, where we make an offering & set an intention in alignment with the planetary transitions & energy. Check out the calendar here. I can’t believe it will be a year this month since I’ve been hosting them!! If you’ve come, thank you so much :)
Fairy Garden
The fairy garden and rest of our garden/landscaping is finally getting the love it deserves around Beltane weekend! A little late this year, as the cold hung around for so long. I have been working on redoing my little fairy house out of wood, and we’ve planted a ton of flowers, and trimmed back last year’s dead leaves. The grass is finally greening and I saw the first violets and dandelions today!
HOw I’m Celebrating: (2021)
Flower Magick
I’ll be collecting dandelions & violets from the backyard for putting in the doorway, my hair, and altar. I even dropped some of the violets into an ice cube tray for some super cute flower ice cubes! These are some of my favorite flowers to work with, their abundance and persistence representative of my favorite spring energy.
Leaving Offerings
I’ve started a little fairy garden in the backyard under the lilac bush! I left an offering of a flower essence, oat milk & honey, but I’m also working on making a little house for them out of a tiny flower pot and some rocks hehe. My altar has also been updated of course!
Beltane Burn
As alwaysss, the sabbat calls for fire spinning! We’ll be lighting a little bonfire in the back yard and then some fire dancing as the sunsets! This is my favorite way to ceremonially close out every sabbat.
