Beltane beautifully honours the co-creation of life between the masculine and feminine energies; the earth is at its most fertile and we are nurturing this shift in nature and also of our own personal growth and expansion. As we finally cast out the darkness of winter, we are witnessing our commitment to the light within and hopefully enjoying the light of these longer days.
Beltane is a sensual celebration honouring the divine God and Goddess within all of us. Beltane, or May Day, is the ideal time to honour the union of masculine and feminine energies and manifest themes of fertility, creativity, passion, and sexuality.
Because passion and union fuels this sabbat, it’s an opportunity to honour all of the magic that we are conjuring. Maybe we have big ideas and projects that we’re working on, or maybe we’ve recently had personal break throughs, this is a sabbat to celebrate all that progress and how it lifts you up.
Beltane is one of my absolute favourite Sabbats to celebrate, particularly in a group, because there are so many fun ways to honour this time on the wheel.
Here are 6 ways to celebrate Beltane:
1. Jump the fire
Originally an ancient Celtic fire festival, Beltane literally means ‘Bright Fire’! In Gaelic, Bel means ‘bright one’ and ‘tein’ means fire. Take this Sabbat to jump the fire! Fill your cauldron with ingredients representing Beltane, like rosemary and Birch and (safely) jump the flame as you declare your wishes for the coming season.
2. Maypole Dance
The maypole dance is a beloved tradition performed by many Pagans, Wiccans + Witches or anyone just looking to experience the fun of this old time tradition. So what is a maypole dance?
A pole, representing the masculine, is erected and decorated with a flower crown, representing the feminine, as it is inserted into the earth. You may ‘lubricate’ the hole with blessed water and flowers. The dance sees ribbons tied to the top of the pole and every person present takes one ribbon and they all start dancing in circular motion, weaving in between each other until the entire pole is covered in the woven ribbon.
Each group will have their own vision for how all that comes together and for their dance, some maypole dances also see people dancing in pairs.
3. Forage and Harvest
Beltane is a celebration of the polarities within nature and how they are manifesting. It is also a celebration of the harvest that is about to arrive because of those polarities. So go into nature and spend time with the nature spirits, undistracted. Collect your favourite plants and herbs and grow your knowledge and skills. With the things you collect you could make a flower crown, a besom, you could put those things in your cauldron to jump the fire, you could also make oils to assist with abundance and prosperity and love spells.
4. Love Spells
Beltane is a really lovely time to do love spells and that’s because of the union of the masculine and feminine energies this season. If you’re not familiar with the meaning of these energies, let me know if you want to see a video all about that.
Love spells can be really amplified by these union energies. Doing love spells to attract a lover, for your own self love or to increase passion and health of a current relationship - all these types of spells can be amplified at this time and supported by the Beltane energies.
I actually have a love spell kit that I created and sell (pictured), so if you’re interested in that email me for more info at support@soulandselene.com.
5. Host a feast for friends and family
Because Beltane celebrates all that has been created and is about to be created, it’s a beautiful time to honour our friendships and the relationships that we’ve built and that we cherish. As this is also a celebration of the earth and the coming bounties, sharing food is a good way to honour these energies too!
6. Sacral Chakra Release
Obviously, this sabbat is hot and heavy with the sexual and sensual imagery. So it’s a powerful time to work with these energies and allow those energies to empower us. For females in particular, the sacral chakra is a source of our divine and personal power. It is where a lot of trauma, wounds and shadows are stored. When that energy is not brought to the surface, it can create power loss, and create blocks in our flow of energy which can show up as lack of joy, no creativity, no sexual drive, difficulties being intimate and vulnerable.
The health of our sacral is beyond important for our mental health and our bodies and also the expansion of our souls. A few things you can do to work with your sacral chakra include: Dancing to embodying yourself
Bringing shadows to the and integrating them into your consciousness
Doing breath work
Doing a rage ritual
Experience pleasure, it is your birth right.