Preparing for Beltaine

I met my husband at a Beltaine celebration.  He was in charge of lighting the fire, and I wasn't in the mood for the woman talk inside, so I hung outside with the boys who were charged with tending the fire in preparation for the Ritual.

We had a very funny conversation about all the things that have changed in the last 20 years and what it would be like for a modern-day Rip van Winkle.  If you had never heard it before, what would the phrase "paper or plastic?" mean to you?  Even better, what about "debit or credit?"  Most people say it so fast, you can't even parse out the words.

What a perfect Beltaine story, is it not?  Meeting your future husband?  It had been one of my favorite festivals even before then--I mean, who doesn't love a Ritual all about sex and fertility?  But now it is even closer to my heart.

So as part of my year of re-dedication, Beltaine is a festival I want to be extra beautiful.  I am hoping to celebrate outside, but North Carolina is experiencing a remarkably wet year, and it may well rain.  But we will make that ok!

Some of my group of celebrants are struggling with personal setbacks. Some are celebrating the Wheel of Fortune's blessings.  My hope is to develop a Ritual that will work for both.

I once read that people extinguished fires the sunset before Beltaine, relighting the sacred fire as part of the evening Ritual. Ever since then, our household doesn't use heat or light--my version of 21st century fire.  It isn't realistic to think we would got without our refrigerator, freezer, or other electrical appliances that run in our backgrounds.  But I think it's a great tradition to go without heat or lights.  It's easy enough in North Carolina this time of year--we've actually had our heat and a/c both off for a few weeks now.

I haven't yet given up the computer completely, since I fear friends will feel neglected or worried if they can't reach me, but it my intention is to dramatically lessen its use, and not use it frivolously.

We don't use the stove or oven either. So our Ritual feast is usually a salad.  We'll be having a large green salad, as well as a roasted chicken for protein.  For dessert, one of our celebrants is making a lemon chess pie.  

We will spend some extra time this Ritual to ground and center.  Some of our recent Rituals have had disruptive energies, so I will make some additional efforts early on to ground us all.  I will ask those who are enjoying blessings from the Wheel to share their energies with those who are struggling.

This is, of course, a fertility ritual, but we will not be so focused on that this year--at least not in the usual way.  For many years I simply followed the Wheel of the Year in rituals, and for the most part, I still do that.  What are you hoping will come to fruition while the sun's energy waxes?  What does reflection tell you about changes and plans you need to make as the sun's energy wanes?  And so on.

This year, instead, we will focus on celebrating the blessings of the Wheel, with gratitude for those who are in good spaces, and perspective for folks who are struggling.  At our Ostara Ritual, I read the children's book, "On the Day You Were Born," to remind celebrants of their own specialness.  At Ostara, I will read the opening pages of Bill Bryson's book, "A Short History of Nearly Everything."    In his opening pages, he eloquently describes the billions of coincidences, survivors, and fittest ancestors that have had to come together throughout the ages to create each of us.  The ultimate celebration of fertility is the fact that each of us is here.  My hope is to bring faith and encouragement for those who need it, and an opportunity to reflect on gratitude for others.  All of our celebrants are good at that, but I believe there can never be too much gratitude.

We have frequently been taught, I think, that emotionally charged events get emblazoned on our memories.  My generation can describe exactly where they were when the Challenger exploded, when news of certain deaths came to us, or, of course, September 11th, 2001.  It isn't as simple as emotional experiences, though.  It is really only the negative ones.  How many people say they can't remember their own weddings?  How many times are we reminded in a flash of negative things that happened, but how rarely are we flooded with positive memories?  When we have good things happen to us, we really need to stop and reflect.  So one of my goals is to stop and reflect more.  So I will bring this concept and practice to my small group of celebrants.    

We will also jump the fire. In typical Beltaine tradition, we will each jump over the fire in the yard.  I have coached our fire expert that our fire must be small enough for us to bound safely. Believe me when I say this is a challenge for our very talented fire maker, who loves to build them high and gorgeous!

I have hopes this will be a beautiful Beltaine celebration.  

Sometimes it just doesn't go well

So our Ostara Ritual was not all that I had hoped for, but it was a valuable lesson in "sometimes, it just doesn't go well."

Ostara morning in our part of North Carolina dawned rainy, gloomy and cold.  We had planned a possible rain venue, but I was hoping we could make it work outside.  We have a tradition of meeting at a local lake, and this was the first year the weather threatened to make it really miserable, instead of just windy and chilly.

But I wanted to give it a try.  One beauty of modern Witchcraft is the ability to use our cell phones to communicate quickly, and we were all in text contact as we decided, yes, we would give it a go outside.  A few raindrops threatened as we drove to the lake, but they stopped quickly.

We found a covered picnic area, which promised us cover from all the but the most torrential rains, and that meant a sigh of relief, since we wouldn't be suddenly packing and running for the cars .  The rain never took hold, though, and we were able to celebrate in relative comfort of chilly and damp.

The day was just gloomy.  A pall hung over us, and the energies weren't right.  We were chilly, one participant was exhausted from work stress and one was getting sick, it turns out, with a nasty virus.  The rest of us had trouble shaking off the dank gloom, and I saw before us brown, damp woods, dirty picnic tables, and a loud volley ball game, instead of the bright signs of spring at a lake.  The lake itself was too far away to be a real presence.

But we gave it a good try, with brightly colored table cloths, great food, and wonderful company.  I had planned the altar knowing we might be subject to rain and wind, so I didn't use candles.  I set one of the tables with the altar items, using my phone's compass.  (Again, modern Witchcraft has its perks!)  I have pastel-colored bowls in a yellow, pinkish-red, blue, and green that I use specifically for Ostara, and in them I put bird seed, red peppers, lake water, and lake soil.  In the center we had a large pot to hold items for blessing.

We cast circle and called quarters, and then meditated briefly.  I used this opportunity to thank the participants for their role in my life, and I read the poem, "On the Day You Were Born," by Debra Frasier (it is a children's book, but I read only the text).  It's a beautiful story of how all beings prepare for a child's birth.  I love the message that each of us is welcomed here and special.  It's a beautiful book for a baby shower, but I thought it the perfect message to give my fellow celebrants on this spring day of rebirth, to express my gratitude that they are my friends and that we have such an intimate relationship in Ritual.  I also love the beauty that each of us was meant to be here, that we have a glorious destiny that is one with the Universe, and if we are struggling, as several of the participants have been recently, we can remember how eagerly we were anticipated, and how important and loved we are.

Unfortunately, the energies of the poem, which I had been so excited to share, never really took off.  The overwhelming energy of "meh" maintained its hold on us.  But that's ok.  We have many Ostara celebrations ahead of us, and as the sun finally makes an appearance in these parts, we are starting to feel that surge of spring in our bones, and many of us are now celebrating her sunny return. 

Blessed Ostara, on Earth's time, y'all.