Beltane is a late spring and early summer festival with Celtic origins that celebrates abundance, fertility, and growth. Beltane falls on May 1st in the Northern Hemisphere, November 1st in the Southern Hemisphere, and is the midpoint between the spring equinox and summer solstice. During this time, the earth is awakening and coming back to life. It is a time to celebrate the seasons of growth and sun, spring transitioning to summer. Beltane is also known as a liminal time when the veil between worlds is thin, and is associated with fairies and fairy realms. Rituals centering growth, renewal, and new beginnings are great for this time of year.
Learn more about Beltane and additional ways to celebrate on episode 15 of the Becoming Witchy Podcast!
There are many ways to celebrate Beltane
- Collect the morning dew, which is believed to bring youth and beauty, and use it to wash your face. This dew is also renewing and will wash away any winter energy that may still be clinging to you and replace it with fresh summer vibes.
- Forage and decorate with spring flowers, a practice called ‘Gathering the May’. This allows you to get out into nature, become familiar with what is in bloom in your area, and invites in growth
- Make a tincture or tea with edible flowers, or use them to bake with. Violets and Dandelions are my favorites to do this with, they are abundant and easy to recognize.
- Wear a hag stone and leave out offerings for fairly folk to keep you on their good side! Honey, flowers, and sweet wine are a good options to start with. Hag stones, or stones with a naturally made hole, are thought to allow the bearer to see between worlds.
- Wake up early to listen to the dawn chorus! Bird song is magical and calming, go outside or open you window to start your day listening to the sweet chirps of the birds in your area.
- Have a bonfire (if it’s safe to do so in your area)! Bonfires are a traditional way to celebrate. The fire symbolizes the returning sun of summer and the smoke from the fires invites protective, cleansing, and fertile energies.
For this Beltane fire ritual, we will tap into the life-giving and manifestation powers of fire to bring forth abundance, growth, and re-birth into our lives. You can also listen to this ritual in episode 15 of the Becoming Witchy Podcast.
As we prepare for this ritual, let us ask ourselves: what do we want to awaken, to grow, to re-birth into the world? What do we want to power up and commit to for a year and a day with the fertile fires of Beltane? Take a moment to reflect on these questions and write them down in your journal or grimoire, letting your intentions evolve and grow until they are specific and clear.
In the evening, when the fire is lit, take your petition paper and write down your intentions for the coming year. This is a contract you make with yourself, and the intention you put into this ritual is key. As you burn the paper, visualize the smoke carrying your intentions up into the universe, surrounding you with support and expanding around you.
This ritual is alchemy, turning the words you wrote down on paper, of the earth, into fire, and then smoke and air. Feel the power of the fire as you release your intentions into the atmosphere, knowing that they will be manifested in the coming months.
But remember, this is just the beginning. It is up to us to take steps in the real world to stay committed to our petition, to nurture and grow our intentions, and to check in on our progress throughout the year.
To summarize the key steps of the ritual:
- Reflect on what you want to manifest in the coming year and write it down in your journal or grimoire.
- In the evening, light the Beltane fire and write your intentions on a petition paper.
- Burn the paper and visualize the smoke carrying your intentions up into the universe.
- Nurture and grow your intentions by taking practical steps throughout the year.
Bramble & Brimstone 