CELEBRATING LIGHT AND LIFE
There is magic in the air around Beltane. Riding the Wheel of the Year, we find ourselves opposite Samhain. While Samhain is about transformation through darkness, Beltane is about transformation through light.
It is wild!
While Beltane itself is set on May 1st, celebrations usually begin the night before. It is a sacred night for magic folk, for the connected, for those who feel so much that it is often unbearable. This is a celebration of the light, of the weirdness, of life. And when the fires have burned down and dawn is breaking, we breathe in the fresh air of Beltane.
In Gaelic tradition, Beltane marks the beginning of Summer. It honours Belenus, the Celtic God of the Sun, Light and Healing. This Sabbat is about fertility, growth, sensuality and joy. You can see it all around you while nature is exploding with new life. A lot of animals have their offspring right now, and there is blossoming and blooming everywhere.
Nature shows what the seeds from the darkness have turned into, and it invites us to do the same. Beltane gives us permission to show ourselves, to see and be seen. This is not about courage, it is about allowing yourself to shine your true self.
It is time to share the ideas that have been stirring inside you, to trust that you are enough.
Life force and opposite energies
Beltane is about life force. What makes you feel alive? When do you feel your power and your strength? Who is with you when you feel grounded and strong and ready to rise?
And if you don’t: what do you need in order to be safe and steady?
This Sabbat is about uniting opposite energies – the male and the female archetype, giving and receiving, the mind and the heart. We are never just one of these, and in accepting all parts of us, especially those we think of as uncomfortable, we find balance and stability.
We can reach out without losing ourselves. We can give and receive. And we are allowed to feel joy without justification.
Take a break
“Live, love, laugh” has merely become a wall sticker, but it is indeed the message of Beltane. This does not ignore the aspects of life that are hard and scary and hurtful. On the contrary! It gives us permission to find light despite all the hardships, to take a break from the madness of our world. It is the invitation to see the miracles around us and to see the miracles that we are.
Light a fire today, whether it is a bonfire, a candle or an imagination. Take a walk and find something pretty. Do something that brings you joy.
Feel alive!
And so, I wake in the morning and I step outside, and I take a deep breath and I get real high, and I scream from the top of my lungs: “What’s going on?” (4 Non Blondes)
Kerstin Wolff