BELTANE FIRES
On Beltane eve the Celts would build two large fires, Bel Fires, lit from the nine sacred woods. The Bel Fire is an invocation to Bel (Sun God) to bring His blessings and protection to the tribe. The herds were ritually driven between two needfires (fein cigin), built on a knoll. The herds were driven through to purify, bring luck and protect them as well as to insure their fertility before they were taken to summer grazing lands.
The Bonfires are lit in the South. Participants, in an act of purification and for luck jump over the fire calling out loudly what it is they wish each time they jump. Lovers jump the fires together, holding hands to cleanse their relationships of petty disharmonies. Whatever it is you wish to cleanse from your life-claim it and so it shall be.
WATER
Water is another important association of Beltane, water is refreshing and rejuvenating, it is also imperative to life. It is said that if you bathe in the dew gathered before dawn on Beltane morn, your beauty will flourish throughout the year. Those who are sprinkled with May dew are insured of health and happiness. There are other folk customs such as drinking from the well before sunrise on Beltane Morn to insure good health and fortune.
If doing the Day 2 of the 5 day cleansing and renewal ritual: WATER
In the South is the element of Water.
We are mainly water, 70% exactly like the earth’s surface. We evolved from the ocean. Water represents innocence, trust, the child, the inner child, the womb, river, the flow of life. Water is the EMOTIONS and the HEART, our feelings. Our blood, our tears, our sweat, semen, sexual fluids. Water represents cleansing and purification, dissolving. Water is love, the heart is the universal solvent. Water dissolves all rigidity and hardness not by withstanding but by flowing throught the path of least resistance, seeking the Source. We need to drink lots of pure alkaline balanced water.
MODERN RITUAL
If you can’t manage a bonfire, simply lighting a small fire will do. Intention is everything, so light a small fire in your home safely, write down what it is you want to dispel from your life and burn it in the flames. Or you could do a Jack be nimble Jack be quick and jump over a candle on the floor, very carefully for luck. If you are in a partnership cleanse it of disharmony, rekindle your vows. Drink water empowered with Love by focusing on sending love to even a glass of water or a pitcher of water, as Dr, Emoto has shown sending love to water changes its’ crystalline structure. Empower the water with love and pour it on yourself your plants, your garden your threshold, your loved ones. Festoon your doorknobs with flowers, or hang flowers outside your home.
DANCE
Dancing around a Maypole may not be easily done these days, so simply imagine the May Pole the ancient boys and girls with the colored ribbons in their hands interweaving in and out to form the spiral pattern around the pole. Enjoy, celebrate, send prayers to the Sun and the Mother Earth. Dance with the Faeries, invite them into your home and your heart. Right on cue the Planet Venus, Goddess of love and beauty just entered her home sign of Taurus yesterday. The lovely planet is at her best in Taurus. Make love, be sensual, romantic, soak in a lovely flower strewn bath, this is Taurus energy. Participating with the thousands of neo-pagans, witches and all other indigenous peoples at this time helps boost the energy, Honoring the Sacred Marriage of the Earth and the Sun without honors the Sacred Marriage within. This is the entire goal of Alchemy, of turning lead into Gold. When we each do our parts to come into balance within ourselves in our local environment the Earth and the Sun, balance is restored throughout the Universe.
Enjoy!
More about Beltane and other special Holidays pagan and otherwise. http://taratarotweb.tripod.com/id59.html
all writing Copywright Tara Greene
Tara Greene,Tarot Reader, Astrology Psychic 