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Coven of Midnight's Flame gathered on the evening of May 5th for our annual Beltaine ritual. We began with an hour of socializing and appetizers before we settled in to do our pre-ritual craft. Our ritual theme this year was conception, and prior to ritual, each sister had been asked to think about something that she wished to "conceive" in her own life.
Beltaine is traditionally a time of fertility, but "fertility" can extend to much more than just the womb or the land. We all took several minutes to braid our intentions into ribbons whose colors corresponded to what we wished to "conceive," to be fertilized and begin to grow as the Wheel of the Year continues to turn.
In ritual, we honored the Norse god and goddess Thor and Sif, whose union in ancient times was thought to signify the perpetual fertility cycle of the earth. Merriment and whimsy found us as we participated in a ritual maypole dance, and we concluded the center of our ritual by raising energy to charge our ribbon braids.
Our traditional potluck supper followed, and we all had a great feast! As always, we are blessed by our sister conveners and thrilled that our coven continues to grow in light and love. Happy Beltaine to all! Blessed Be!
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"AM BEANNACHADH BEALLTAIN (THE BELTAINE BLESSING)"
"Bless, O threefold true and bountiful,
Myself, my spouse, my children.
Bless everything within my dwelling and in my possession,
Bless the kine and crops, the flocks and corn,
From Samhain Eve to Beltane Eve,
With goodly progress and gentle blessing,
From sea to sea, and every river mouth,
From wave to wave, and base of waterfall.
Be the Maiden, Mother, and Crone,
Taking possession of all to me belonging.
Be the Horned God, the Wild Spirit of the Forest,
Protecting me in truth and honor.
Satisfy my soul and shield my loved ones,
Blessing every thing and every one,
All my land and my surroundings.
Great gods who create and bring life to all, I ask for your blessings on this day of fire."
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Beltane is one of the oldest known holidays, mostly associated with maypole dancing and love magick. It's also known as May Day, Bealteinne, Beltaine, Calin Mai, Roodmas, Valpurga, Mean Earraigh. The word itself means "bright fire" or "lucky fire" which makes it one of the two great fire festivals (another is Samhain). It is believed that on these two days the veil between the worlds is thin.
Beltane's planetary ruler is Venus and it is celebrated on May the 1st or when the sun is at the 15 degrees Taurus. The date marks the midpoint between spring equinox and summer solstice.
It is the time of great fertility for all - earth, animals and people. Through time it was celebrated in a variety of ways but almost all are connected to the principle of fertility and celebration of gods of forest, goddesses of passion and motherhood and agricultural deities. Great Mother is about to reunite with her young Horned God. This Great Rite symbolizes their sexual union and sacred marriage. In old times, villagers would go into the woods and engage in sexual magick between themsleves believing that would have a positive effect on land (for crop-fertility), animals and themselves.
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When they hear Beltane many people think love making. And that's completely true, but Beltane is not just about love magicks. It represents the appearance of the matured Horned God Who is connected to fertility, fire and protection of animals and gardens.
Here are some of the things you can do (most quoted from "Solitary witch: the ultimate book of shadows for the new generation" by Silver Raven Wolf)
* erect your own maypole using a Christmas tree stand and a large pole; decorate with ribbons
* hang prayer ribbons on the trees and bushes on your property
* jump the balefire
* sew ribbons onto a white handkerchief, then empower each ribbon for a different goal or wish; keep the handkerchief safe until all the wishes are granted
* collect the morning dew for magickal use (May morning is a magickal time for wild water, like dew, springs or flowing streams which can be collected and used to bathe in for beauty, or drink for good health)
* gather the first wild herbs of the season, plants and flowers and use them to decorate your home
* make garland of wild spring flowers and cast it into lake, river or stream to bless the water spirits
* hang a branch of rowan tied with red thread above your bedroom door for protection
* add spells for self-esteem and self-love to your Beltane ritual
* bless your garden or the nearest field
* make love in the woods
* walk the woods and hug trees giving them your blessings (some trees are associated with Beltane, like Ash, Oak and Hawthorn)
* commune with the faeries (if you believe in faeries you can leave them food and other treats in your garden or yard)
* Beltane occurs when the sun is in the earthy, fixed sign of Taurus; any magick done now will last (and work hard) for a long time; this is an excellent time of the year for prosperity work, for adding to the stability of your lifestyle, and making those needed repairs around at home.
To find out some more you can read Beltane - Holiday detalis and history at Witchvox.com.
Enjoy the spirit of Beltane and blessed be!
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Someone emailed me a question the other day:
"I'm trying to find out the date of the next witches meeting, is it on the longest day/shortest night and is it the 24th/25th June this year?"Witches' summer festival takes place on 20/21st of June, which is the date of the Summer Solstice - or the longest day - each year. Wiccan witches call this festival Litha, which means summer in Saxon.
It is one of their eight solar holidays in the Wheel of the Year - others being the equinixes, when night and day are equal length; Imbolc, or the start of spring; Beltane, or May Day; Lughnasadh, or the harvest; Samhain, or Halloween; and Yule, or midwinter.
Litha is a festival to mark the marriage of the God and Goddess and is also a popular day for handfastings - pagan weddings, in which the couple to be married are symbolically joined by a chord around their hands.
However, for hundreds of years most people in Europe have celebrated midsummer on June 24, the Christian Feast of John the Baptist. This is only a few days after the solstice and just before the days start to become noticeably shorter.
According to Ronald Hutton's well-regarded book Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain
Origin: http://way-of-witch.blogspot.com
The London Eye Shrouded in Green Light on St Patrick's Day, March 17, 2011 (Getty Images)
What connects the four leaf Clover, corned beef and cabbage, Guinness, and the catholic church? Add March 17th to the celebration and you get St. Patrick's day.
It started hundreds of years ago as a religious holiday in Ireland, St. Patrick's day has now become a huge celebration of Irish culture. The holiday is also celebrated in Great Britain, the US, Australia and New Zealand, thanks to Irish immigrants who spread the tradition.
Green clothes are the day's fashion, symbolizing the green shamrock- Ireland's national's symbol. According to the legend, the shamrock was used by St Patrick to teach the Irish people about the holy trinity of mother, son and the holy spirit. He is considered by the church till this day, to the patron Saint of Ireland.
The traditions took the three leaf clover or Shamrock a step further to a 4 leaf clover - a very rear find. The 3 leaves stand for faith hope and love and the fourth leaf stands for luck.
Not much of the religious day's character remains in modern times considering the massive consumption of alcohol on St Patrick's day -especially Guinness. It goes together with the Irish blessing Slainte (good health in Irish), Erin Go Bragh (Ireland Forever), special Irish sayings such as "May the Lord keep you in His hand and never close His fist too tight, May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past," and more.
Colorful parades are held in many counties around the world, one of the biggest is held in New York City -and attracts around 150,000 people every year. Monuments across the world are also lit green to mark the occasion, including the Empire State Building in NYC and the London eye in the UK Capital. via google.com
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The Celtic society showing parallels to Hindu way of life and practices is found to have sprung 5000 years ago according to researchers. The mention of this period is amazing as it coincides with the end of Mahabharatha war and the pralaya at Dwaraka and at other parts of India.
Were they a group of people, dis-located in the face of natural disasters experienced in Bharatha varsha?
The entire Dwaraka population got disturbed. One wing went along a river (now found to be Indus- sarawad river basin) accompanied by Arjuna. It went upto the Himalayas in Kashmir.
Another wing followed sage Agasthya who brought them to Tamil lands and settled them there.
Did the group that went to Kashmir further spread out to the Alps?
Were they the group taken by people such as Balarama?
Were there others from Bharatha varsha who migrated out of India at that time?
Read the excerpts below.
Hindus have spread far than what we know today.
-jayasree
"The Celts were the first civilization north of the European Alps to emerge into recorded history.
The Druids of the ancient Celtic world have a startling kinship with the brahmins of the Hindu religion and were, indeed, a parallel development from their common Indo-European cultural root which began to branch out probably five thousand years ago. It has been only in recent decades that Celtic scholars have begun to reveal the full extent of the parallels and cognates between ancient Celtic society and Vedic culture.
The Druids were not simply priesthood. They were the intellectual caste of ancient Celtic society, incorporating all the professions: judges, lawyers, medical doctors, ambassadors, historians and so forth, just as does the brahmin caste. In fact, other names designate the specific role of the "priests." Only Roman and later Christian propaganda turned them into "shamans, wizards" and "magicians." The scholars of the Greek Alexandrian school clearly described them as a parallel caste to the brahmins of Vedic society.
The very name Druid is composed of two Celtic word roots which have parallels in Sanskrit. Indeed, the root vid for knowledge, which also emerges in the Sanskrit word Veda, demonstrates the similarity. The Celtic root dru which means "immersion" also appears in Sanskrit. So a Druid was one "immersed in knowledge."
Professor Calvert Watkins of Harvard, one of the leading linguistic experts in his field, has pointed out that of all the Celtic linguistic remains, Old Irish represents an extraordinarily archaic and conservative tradition within the Indo-European family.
Itsnominal and verbal systems are a far truer reflection of the hypothesized parent tongue, from which all Indo-European languages developed, than are Classical Greek or Latin. The structure of Old Irish, says Professor Watkins, can be compared only with that of Vedic Sanskrit or Hittite of the Old Kingdom.
The vocabulary is amazingly similar. The following are just a few examples:
Old Irish - arya (freeman),Sanskrit - aire (noble)
Old Irish - naib (good), Sanskrit - noeib (holy)
Old Irish - badhira (deaf), Sanskrit - bodhar (deaf)
Old Irish - names (respect), Sanskrit - nemed (respect)
Old Irish - righ (king), Sanskrit - raja (king)
This applies not only in the field of linguistics but in law and social custom, in mythology, in folk custom and in traditional musical form. The ancient Irish law system, the Laws of the F'enechus, is closely parallel to the Laws of Manu. Many surviving Irish myths, and some Welsh ones, show remarkable resemblances to the themes, stories and even names in the sagas of the Indian Vedas.
Comparisons are almost endless. Among the ancient Celts, Danu was regarded as the "Mother Goddess." The Irish Gods and Goddesses were the Tuatha De Danaan ("Children of Danu"). Danu was the "divine waters" falling from heaven and nurturing B'ile, the sacred oak from whose acorns their children sprang. Moreover, the waters of Danu went on to create the great Celtic sacred river-Danuvius, today called the Danube. Many European rivers bear the name of Danu-the Rh^one (ro- Dhanu, "Great Danu") and several rivers called Don. Rivers were sacred in the Celtic world, and places where votive offerings were deposited and burials often conducted. The Thames, which flows through London, still bears its Celtic name, from Tamesis, the dark river, which is the same name as Tamesa, a tributary of the Ganges.
Not only is the story of Danu and the Danube a parallel to that of Ganga and the Ganges but a Hindu Danu appears in the Vedic story "The Churning of the Oceans," a story with parallels in Irish and Welsh mytholgy. Danu in Sanskrit also means "divine waters" and "moisture."
The complete article can be read at
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Samhain is a time to honor the dead, its the last of the three harvest festivals before Winter. It's a time when the veil between worlds is thin, and communication with spirits and otherworldly beings is possible. It is also a time when we honor those who have gone before us like our ancestors, pets and friends. Samhain is a reminder that we are all connected with the cycles of life, that we too like the earth, will one day die.
This festival of the dead stems from an ancient Celtic holiday known as The Celtic New Year. Just like today, it is referred to as The Witches New Year. The ancient Celts would light bonfires and have feasts. It was also said that they would leave candles lit in their windows, to guide the souls of the dead. Samhain was also known to be a time to see and connect with the Faeries. The Morrigan, Celtic Goddess of sovereignty and fertility, was also known as a Faery Queen. In Celtic Ireland, she was said to lead her Faery court across the land on the night of Samhain.
On Samhain we honor the dark Goddesses such as Hekate, Greek Goddess of Crossroads, Cerridwen, Keeper of the Cauldron and The Morrigan, Celtic Goddess of sovereignty and fertility. We also honor our ancestors and the Faeries. Make a small Faery altar outside with natural items such as rocks, twigs, leaves, shells, flowers and acorns, or any other natural materials you have around where you live. Leave a small offering of milk and honey or butter outside on Samhain night to honor the Faeries.
On your altar, have fall colors such as orange, red, and yellow, have pictures or statues of the dark Goddess, pumpkins and/or apples, skulls, or other natural items such as acorns feathers and crystals. You can also have a small ancestor shrine. Samhain is also a great time for magic and divination. So have out your runes, scrying mirror or tarot cards for Samhain night.
I found a great recipe for Mulled Wine for Samhain, it's called "The Banshee" (which is a type of Celtic Faery) and I thought I thought I would share it here. I'm going to be making some myself over the Samhain weekend!
The Banshee Mulled Wine
INGREDIENTS:
* One bottle of red wine (suggestions: Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot or a Spanish red)
* One peeled and sliced orange (keep peel to add zest to taste into cooking pot)
* One peeled and sliced lemon (keep peel to add zest to taste in cooking pot)
* 1 tsp ground nutmeg
* 2 tsp ground ginger
* 5 whole cloves
* 3 cinnamon sticks
* 1/2 cup sugar (or honey can be substituted)
* 2/3 cup brandy or cognac
* 1/2 cup water
PREPARATION:
COMBINE ALL INGREDIENTS IN EITHER A LARGE POT OR A SLOW COOKER. GENTLY WARM THE INGREDIENTS ON LOW TO MEDIUM HEAT (AVOID BOILING), FOR 20-25 MINUTES. STIR OCCASIONALLY TO MAKE SURE THAT THE HONEY OR SUGAR HAS COMPLETELY DISSOLVED. WHEN THE WINE IS STEAMING AND THE INGREDIENTS HAVE BLENDED WELL IT IS READY TO SERVE. LADLE INTO MUGS (LEAVING SEASONINGS BEHIND) AND ENJOY!
I hope you enjoy the wine! I know I will :) Wishing everyone a magical and festive Samhain!
Recipe taken from About.com
Photo courtesy of Wendy Andrews
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