Setting Up Your Beltane Altar

It’s Beltane, the Sabbat where many Pagans choose to celebrate the fertility of the earth. This Sabbat is about new life, fire, passion and rebirth, so there are all kinds of creative ways you can set up for the season. Depending on how much space you have, you can try some or even all of these ideas — obviously, someone using a bookshelf as an altar will have less flexibility than someone using a table, but use what calls to you most.

Colors of the Season
This is a time when the earth is lush and green as new grass and trees return to life after a winter of dormancy. Use lots of greens, as well as bright spring colors — the yellow of the daffodils, forsythia and dandelions; the purples of the lilac; the blue of a spring sky or a robin’s egg. Decorate your altar with any or all of these colors in your altar cloths, candles, or colored ribbons.

Fertility Symbols
The Beltane holiday is the time when, in some traditions, the male energy of the god is at its most potent. He is often portrayed with a large and erect phallus, and other symbols of his fertility include antlers, sticks, acorns, and seeds. You can include any of these on your altar. Consider adding a small Maypole centerpiece — there are few things more phallic than a pole sticking up out of the ground!

In addition to the lusty attributes of the god, the fertile womb of the goddess is honored at Beltane as well. She is the earth, warm and inviting, waiting for seeds to grow within her.

Add a goddess symbol, such as a statue, cauldron, cup, or other feminine items. Any circular item, such as a wreath or ring, can be used to represent the goddess as well.

Flowers and Faeries
Beltane is the time when the earth is greening once again — as new life returns, flowers are abundant everywhere. Add a collection of early spring flowers to your altar — daffodils, hyacinths, forsythia, daisies, tulips — or consider making a floral crown to wear yourself. You may even want to pot some flowers or herbs as part of your Sabbat ritual.

In some cultures, Beltane is sacred to the Fae. If you follow a tradition that honors the Faerie realm, leave offerings on your altar for your household helpers.

Fire Festival
Because Beltane is one of the four fire festivals in modern Pagan traditions, find a way to incorporate fire into your altar setup. Although one popular custom is to hold a bonfire outside, that may not be practical for everyone, so instead it can be in the form of candles (the more the better), or a table-top brazier of some sort. A small cast-iron cauldron placed on a heat-resistant tile makes a great place to build an indoor fire.

Other Symbols of Beltane
May baskets
Chalices
Honey, oats, milk
Antlers or horns
Fruit such as cherries, mangos, pomegranates, peaches
Swords, lances, arrows
 

Source

Patti Wigington
Article found on & owned by About.com

 

Honor the Sacred Feminine at Beltane 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 worshiped 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 in Egypt 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.

This simple ritual can be performed by both men and women, and is designed to honor the feminine aspects of the universe as well as our female ancestors. If you have a particular deity you call upon, feel free to change names or attributes around where needed. Otherwise, you can use the all-encompassing name of “Goddess” in the rite.

Decorate your altar with symbols of femininity: cups, chalices, flowers, lunar objects, fish, and doves or swans. You’ll also need the following items for this ritual:

⦁ A white candle
⦁ An offering of something that is important to you
⦁ A bowl of water
⦁ A handful of small pebbles or stones.

If your tradition calls for you to cast a circle, do so now. Begin by standing in the goddess position, and saying:.

I am (your name), and I stand before you,
goddesses of the sky and earth and sea,
I honor you, for your blood runs through my veins,
one woman, standing on the edge of the universe.
Tonight, I make an offering in Your names,
As my thanks for all you have given me..

Light the candle, and place your offering before it on the altar. The offering may be something tangible, such as bread or wine or flowers. It can also be something symbolic, such as a gift of your time or dedication. Whatever it is, it should be something from your heart. You may want to read up on Offerings to the Gods for some ideas..

Once you have made your offering, it is time to call upon the goddesses by name. Say:.

I am (your name), and I stand before you,
Isis, Ishtar, Tiamat, Inanna, Shakti, Cybele.
Mothers of the ancient people,
guardians of those who walked the earth thousands of years ago,
I offer you this as a way of showing my gratitude.
Your strength has flowed within me,
your wisdom has given me knowledge,
your inspiration has given birth to harmony in my soul..

Now it is time to honor the women who have touched your life. For each one, place a pebble into the bowl of water. As you do so, say her name and how she has impacted you. You might say something like this:.

I am (your name), and I stand before you,
to honor the sacred feminine that has touched my heart.
I honor Susan, who gave birth to me and raised me to be strong;
I honor Maggie, my grandmother, whose strength took her to the hospitals of war-torn France;
I honor Cathleen, my aunt, who lost her courageous battle with cancer;
I honor Jennifer, my sister, who has raised three children alone…

Continue until you have placed a pebble in the water for each of these women. Reserve one pebble for yourself. Finish by saying:.

I am (your name), and I honor myself,
for my strength, my creativity, my knowledge, my inspiration,
and for all the other remarkable things that make me a woman..

Take a few minutes and reflect on the sacred feminine. What is it about being a woman that gives you joy? If you’re a man performing this ritual, what is it about the women in your life that makes you love them? Meditate on the feminine energy of the universe for a while, and when you are ready, end the ritual..

Tips:

⦁ This ritual can be adapted for a group easily; with a little planning it can become a beautiful ceremony for a number of people. Consider doing it as part of a womens’ circle, in which each member honors the others as part of the rite.
 

Source

Patti Wigington
Article found on & owned by About.com

 

May Day

May Day itself is associated with the maypole that is cut and brought in on the day before. Made from the wood of the birch, the tree of purification, the maypole is danced around in imitation of the twirling of the spindle used in the kindling of the Beltane fire. Rural merrymaking on May Day was absorbed into the urban landscape after the Industrial Revolution as the socialist Labor Day celebrated in many countries today. The flowers, flags, garlands and maybushes (hawthorns) that bedecked country cottages and carts were transformed into the urban May Day banners of trade unions and political movements. Beltane’s sigil is the Northern Tradition Tree of Life with six movements. Beltane’s sigil is the Northern Tradition Tree of Life with the side branches, resembling a maypole and maybushes.

The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick

 

Legends and Lore of Beltane

In many cultures, there are different legends and lore surrounding the Beltane season – after all, it’s a time that marks fire and fertility, and the return of new life to the earth. Let’s look at some of the magical stories about this spring celebration.

Like Samhain, the holiday of Beltane is a time when the veil between the worlds is thin. Some traditions believe that this is a good time to contact the spirits, or to interact with the Fae. Be careful, though — if you visit the Faerie Realm, don’t eat the food, our you’ll be trapped there, much like Thomas the Rhymer was!

Some Irish dairy farmers hang a garland of green boughs over their door at Beltane. This will bring them great milk production from their cows during the coming summer. Also, driving your cattle between two Beltane bonfires helps protect your livestock from disease

The pious Puritans were outraged by the debauchery of Beltane celebrations. In fact, they made Maypoles illegal the mid 1600’s, and tried to put a halt to the “greenwood marriages” that frequently took place on May Eve. One pastor wrote that if “tenne maiden went to set (celebrate) May, nine of them came home gotten with childe.”

According to a legend in parts of Wales and England, women who are trying to conceive should go out on May Eve — the last night of April — and find a “birthing stone”, which is a large rock formation with a hole in the center. Walk through the hole, and you will conceive a child that night. If there is nothing like this near you, find a small stone with a hole in the center, and drive a branch of oak or other wood through the hole — place this charm under your bed to make you fertile.

If you go out at sunrise on Beltane, take a bowl or jar to gather morning dew. Use the dew to wash your face, and you’re guaranteed a perfect complexion. You can also use the dew in ritual as consecrated water, particularly in rituals related to the moon or the goddess Diana or her counterpart, Artemis.

In the Irish Book of Invasions, it was on Beltane that Patholan, the first settler, arrived on Ireland’s shores. May Day was also the date of the defeat of the Tuatha de Danaan by Amergin and the Milesians.

Babies conceived at Beltane are considered a gift from the gods. They were sometimes referred to as “merry-begots”, because the mothers were impregnated during Beltane’s merrymaking.

In Cornwall, it’s traditional to decorate your door on May Day with boughs of hawthorn and sycamore.

Eating a special oatcake called a bannock or a Beltane cake ensured Scottish farmers abundance of their crops for the year. The cakes were baked the night before, and roasted in embers on a stone.
 

Source

Patti Wigington, Paganism/Wicca Expert
Article published on & owned by About.com

 

May Day or Beltane

May Day or Beltane, commencing at the sunset on 30 April. The divinity ruling Beltane is the solar fire deity, variously named Balor, Bel, Belenos, and Baldur, but it is also the time of all deities of growth and fecundity. The sacred color is white. The Asatru God Bragi and the Goddess Iduna are associated with this feast. This time, including May Eve and Walpurgis Night, is a magical time, when the Beltane fires are kindled and revels held in celebration of te oncoming summertime. Then, it is customary to leap through the smoke and flames to purify oneself in preparation for the coming summer season and to promote fertility. The Beltane fire is traditionally composed of wood taken from nine different types of trees and is kindled on a specially prepared sacred nine different types of trees and is kindled on a specially prepared sacred grid. This is made by drawing a square on the ground and dividing it into nine smaller squares. Turf from the eight outer squares is dug out and removed, but the ninth is left at the center. The Beltane fire is lit upon the central square b turning an oaken spindle in an oak log socket–the ancient way of generating fire. Formerly, it was customary to extinguish all of the fires in the locality on May Eve. These were then relit from the village’s Beltane fire. Burning at the center of the nine-square grid, the Beltane fire symbolized the central hearth of the community. These local sacred hearths represented the mystic divine fire at the center of all things, whose spark life is carried by each of us.

The Pagan Book of Days
Nigel Pennick

May Eve

 

“O do not tell the priests of our arts.
For they would call it sin,
For we will be in the woods all night
Aconjuring, conjuring summer in.

 

And we bring you good news by word of mouth.
For women, cattle and corn:
The sun is coming up from the south,
With oak and ash, and thorn.

—The Book of Shadows (1949)
Gerald Gardner

Beltane to Litha

Beltane (a greater Sabbat named for a Celtic god, which is otherwise known as either May Eve or May Day) hails the coming-together of the Horned God, now the Phallic Lord, and the irresistible Goddess in a rapturous celebration of life and light. It is as though all of nature–not least the birds and bees–is abuzz at this time of year, energized by a potent combination of irresistible physical attraction and an equally compelling urge to procreate.