Coming Soon: The Festival of Optimism

I am looking forward to the upcoming pagan "holiday" known as Beltane...

I got this plaster Green Man at a Renaisssance Faire back in the '80s

 

Beltane or Beltaine ( /ˈbɛlteɪn/) is the Anglicized spelling of Old Irish  Bel(l)taine or Beltine (modern Irish Bealtaine [ˈbʲal̪ˠt̪ˠənʲə], Scottish Gaelic Bealltainn [ˈbʲal̪ˠt̪ˠənʲ]), the Gaelic name for either the month of May or the festival that takes place on the first day of May.

...which starts, my young yet very knowledgeable friend "Miss J" informed me, as ancient hallowed days tend to do: on the night before - and that would be April 30 into May 1...

In Neopaganism, Bealtaine is considered a cross-quarter day, marking the midpoint in the Sun's progress between the spring equinox and summer solstice. The astronomical date for this midpoint is closer to 5 May or 7 May, but this can vary from year to year.

What I love about Beltane (and this time of year) is this:

According to Nora Chadwick, in Celtic Ireland "Beltine (or Beltaine) was celebrated on 1 May, a spring-time festival of optimism. Fertility ritual again was important, in part perhaps connecting with the waxing power of the sun, symbolized by the lighting of fires through which livestock were driven, and around which the people danced in a sunwise direction"

This is a good time for recharging and renewal, to cast off the old clinging shreds of winter and rejoice in the return of the Sun and new life on the planet. I hope tapping into this energy will help me to finally be able to get organized, which will in turn allow me to be more productive, and find closure on more than a few issues in my life - yes!!!!

Nancy taking a sun bath after her water bath

I will light a small fire next Monday evening, tossing in some dried herbs to cleanse and balance my spirit (sage, mugwort and wormwood) and perhaps again Tuesday night (all depending on the weather, of course) On Wednesday, Nancy and I sat outside in the sweet sunshine for quite a while after I gave her a much-needed bath. It was a lovely day, after all the nice rain!

In Irish mythology, the beginning of the summer season for the Tuatha Dé Danann and the Milesians started at Bealtaine. Great bonfires would mark a time of purification and transition, heralding in the season in the hope of a good harvest later in the year, and were accompanied with ritual acts to protect the people from any harm by Otherworldly spirits, such as the Aos Sí. Like the festival of Samhain, opposite Beltane on 31 October, Beltane was also a time when the Otherworld was seen as particularly close at hand.

by Howard David Johnson 2008 (?)

If the otherworld is indeed close at hand, I hope it will give me the inspiration I need to continue working on the children's book project (it's sort of a Lemony Snicket meets The Spiderwick Chronicles...) - I need all the help I can get!

(original photos by TJBGoogins/2012)

Faerie image found at: http://paganpages.org