FROM PATTI WIGINGTON, YOUR GUIDE TO PAGANISM / WICCAN"
It's almost Beltane!
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Licensed to About.comHard to believe it, but if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, Beltane is just around the corner! Observed on May 1st, festivities typically begin the evening before, on the last night of April. It's a time to welcome the abundance of the fertile earth, and a day that has a long (and sometimes scandalous) history. Depending on your tradition, there are a number of ways you can celebrate this Sabbat.
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Celebrate Beltane with a Maypole Dance
The Maypole is one of the traditional symbols of Beltane. Because Beltane festivities usually kicked off the night before with a big bonfire, the Maypole celebration usually took place shortly after sunrise the next morning. Search Related Topics: fun stuff rituals pagan celebrations
Beltane Bonfire Ritual
The Beltane bonfire is a tradition that goes back hundreds of years. The fire was more than a big pile of logs and some flame. It was a place where the entire community gathered around -- a place of music and magic and dancing and lovemaking. The bonfire was lit with a bundle made from nine different types of wood and wrapped with colorful ribbons. Once the fire was blazing, a piece of smoldering wood was taken to each home in the village, to ensure fertility throughout the summer months. Search Related Topics: rituals pagan celebrations wiccan ceremonies
Family Abundance Rite
Beltane is a celebration of fertility, and despite that it's a perfectly natural aspect of the human existence, let's face it -- some parents may not always be comfortable discussing the erect phallus of the god or the open womb of the goddess with their young children. However, in addition to sexual fertility, the Beltane sabbat is also about abundance, in many forms. Don't just focus on material gains -- it's about the growth of the earth and its bounty, and it's about increasing your own spiritual and emotional wealth. Search Related Topics: pagan celebrations wiccan ceremonies rituals
Honor the Sacred Feminine with a Goddess Ritual
When Margaret Murray wrote her ground-breaking God of the Witches, in 1931, scholars quickly dismissed her theory of a universal, pre-Christian cult of witches who worshipped a singular mother goddess. However, Murray wasn't completely off-base; a number of individual cults existed in pre-Christian Europe which honored mother goddesses of their own. In Rome, the cult of Cybele was huge, and the mystery traditions of Isis soon took on a mother-goddess status. Take advantage of the blooming of spring, and use this time to celebrate the archetype of the mother goddess, and honor your own female ancestors and friends. Search Related Topics: goddess worship beltane rituals
