Beltane means “fire of Bel” or “bright fire” the “bale-fire”. Known as the bright and shinning one, Celtic Sun God. Beli is the father, protector, and the husband of the Mother Goddess. This is a FERTILITY CELEBRATION, The Beltane Fires, the MAY POLE, marking the cross quarter day between SPRING and SUMMER.
MAY DAY is a traditional Fertility and Sacred Marriage Festival of the Sun to the Earth. The Bel fire is a sacred fire with healing and purifying powers. The fires celebrate the return of life, fruitfulness to the earth and the burning away of winter. The ashes of the Beltane fires were smudged on faces and scattered in the fields. Household fires would be extinguished and re-lit with fresh fire from the Bel Fires.
As Beltane marks this handfasting (wedding) of the Goddess and God, it too marks the reawakening of the earth’s fertility. This is the union between the Great Mother and her Young Consort; this coupling brings new life on earth. On a Spiritual level and a physical, it is the union of the Earth and Sun, man and woman to bring about the fruitfulness of the growing season.
May Day is alchemy in action, the sacred Marriage.
Mother nature shows Herself alive again, flowers are blooming, sprouting, birds are mating, building nests, bees are buzzing. Beltane was and is a very auspicious time in Celtic lore.
The PLEIADES
Beltane is marked in the Heavens as the rising of the Pleiades star cluster just before sunrise on the morning horizon, whereas winter (Samhain/Halloween) begins when the Pleiades rises at sunset. The Pleiades were very important to many ancient cultures. Some Native American tribes say that their Ancestors were Star Beings who came from the Pleiades. In Japan, the modern car Subaru means Pleiades and 6 of the stars are shown on its symbol. {We’ve always driven Subaru’s partly for this reason.}
The Ancients believed that the Wheel of Time would not turn without human intervention.
People did everything in their power to honour and call and beckon the Sun and His light, for the earth would not produce life without the Sun’s warmth, his Love. We usually don’t think of the Sun as a Loving God anymore. It is important to honour these Nature Festivals, or turning of the Wheel of the Year, our ancestors did so for thousands of years.
If we’re not in Right Relationship with other Nature then woe be to those who feel her wrath- As we’ve been trying to fool Mother Nature for many years now and continue to do so in the Industrialized world, balance can be attained by participating in these kind of Ancient Festivals.
Neo-tribalism is a necessity now.
FAERIES
May Day is a magical day so be aware of incidents that may occur. The Queen of the Faeries is said to ride out on her white hose and trying to entice people away to Faeryland. Legend says that if you sit beneath a tree on Beltane night, you may see the Faery Queen in all Her Glory or hear the sound of Her horses’s belles as She rides throughout the night.
FERTILITY
Young men and women wandered into the woods before daybreak of May Day morning with garlands of flowers and/or branches of trees. They would make love in the woods, and dance around the Maypole. Pre-Christian society’s thoughts about human sexuality and fertility were not based on guilt or any such concept as original sin, but seen as a joyous natural expression of human passions. Life was seen as a joyful dance, rich in all beauty to be celebrated not defined ordered, made lawful.
Depicted in Camelot, the Mists of Avalon,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg4YrOlAkds
READ MORE at http://www.taratarot.com/id175.html
I am presiding over a MAY DAY BELTANE ceremony in Toronto at Ashbridge’s Bay on Lake OntarioIf you are in the Toronto area you are most welcome to come
see FB page http://www.facebook.com/events/455617241183920/
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