Beltane is one of my favorite Celtic holidays. It honors fertility, abundance, sex, and the growth of everything beautiful on Earth. It is wildly hedonistic and teeming with abundance, fertility, fire, and fun. All the symbols of Beltane are sexy, right down to the ritual way in which the Beltane fire is usually lit – by striking two pieces of wood together, rubbing until the sparks fly.
May 1 is Beltane in the Northern Hemisphere and on that day we honor nature’s oldest love story. Beltane means bright fire, and in earth-based traditions, it represents the symbolic marriage of the God and Goddess and their eternal embrace. According to ancient lore, the two have been separated all winter long, and their reunion on Beltane is celebrated with food, drink, and multi-colored maypoles, which symbolize feminine energies wrapping themselves around the masculine form. The world comes alive in color to celebrate their love.
Beltane is a day to embrace the union of masculine and feminine energy, the divinity of our sexual nature, and our ability to give birth to life in a multitude of creative forms. Like Samhain, the opposite holiday on the Wheel of the Year, this is a time when the veil between the realms is thin, and it is a good time to communicate with the spirit world, especially nature spirits.
In Irish Gaelic, Bealtaine is the name of the month of May, while in Scottish Gaelic, Bealtuinn is May Day. Beltane is associated with the Celtic God Bel, also known as Balor or Belenus. He is a God of Light and Fire and associated with the Sun (akin to the Greek Apollo). Fires are traditional symbols of Beltane. Pastoral herds were driven through two fireposts for blessing and purification, and people would jump over the sacred Beltane fire; the young unmarried men would leap the bonfire and wish for a wife, while young women would leap to ensure fertility.
Five Ways to Celebrate Beltane
1. Build a sacred fire (outside, somewhere safe and legal of course) and if you really want to party like an ancient goddess, dance around it with your partner or friends. In ancient times this was done naked after drinking a fair amount of wine. I’ll be honest – it’s more fun that way! But even a tame and fully-clothed fire ceremony can be sacred and fun. If you can’t build an outdoor fire, light a special candle, indulging and dancing around it just the same. Your intention is the magic, not the technical details.
2. Read or sing a Beltane blessing with your partner, family, or friends. I’m offering a blessing you can use here, but consider writing your own. What words would you choose to describe the beauty of nature, the amazing way your body can move and respond to touch, and the joy of creating life with those you love? If you like to draw, add images or symbols to your words for even more magic.
Beltane is here, and we welcome the time of fertility
We greet this season of flame, flowers, love, and passion
With open arms and loving hearts
We come together to create life
Honoring the Divine union between masculine and feminine
From which all life flows
We celebrate the Earth Goddess, receiving her blessings
Delighting in the pleasure of living
Our souls ablaze with the fire of infinite possibility
Amen, A’ho, So it is
3. Decorate your sacred space or altar in vibrant, living color. We are surrounded by the beauty and bounty of Mother Earth. Go on a nature walk and collect leaves, rocks, and blossoms. Use roses and flowers in every shade imaginable. Bring out your gems and minerals in myriad colors and shapes. Carnelian is a wonderful choice for enhancing creativity and passion. Craft your own mini sacred maypole using found wood, rainbow ribbons, and topped with a quartz point or other beautiful gem from your collection. Place this on your altar to represent the eternal dance of Divine Masculine and Feminine. Remember, Beltane is a celebration of life. There really is no better place to reflect the divinity of the natural world than in your own home, where you create your unique living space.
4. Attract your Twin Flame. Have you been longing for a relationship filled with passion? One that makes you feel alive and serves a higher purpose? Twin Flames are spirits who have traveled many lifetimes in each other’s sacred company. A Twin Flame will feel like a mirror; a reflected part of you. As opposed to a soulmate, which there may be many in your current lifetime, a Twin Flame is a boundless connection in the Universe. Evolving together, Twin Flames are meant to raise the vibration and consciousness of the whole planet. If you’re looking to attract your Twin Flame, light a purple or green candle on the evening before May 1 and again on May 1 night and visualize that relationship coming into your life, asking that it manifest for your Highest Good and the Highest Good of all.
5. Envision and focus on your inner garden of bliss. Ask yourself (and your guides) what it would look like for the garden of your soul to burst fully into bloom. Imagine a thousand of your dreams like flowers spreading their glorious multi-colored petals. What would it look like for your soul fire to engulf you in flame? Visualize your fire and your blooming in as much detail as possible and then get to work on making those visualizations come to life. Hold these abundant images in your mind and heart and affirm how good you feel in your garden; how good it feels being in alignment with yourself. You are powerful beyond your imagination. If you desire it, it shall be.
As you celebrate this special day, let the colors of nature inspire you to remember that love is always blooming and time stops to make space for lovers to find each other again. May you find yourself, your spirit, your passion, and your pleasure in Beltane – The Springtime Portal of Bliss, and in millions of moments yet to come.
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