Beltane, also known as May Day, is a festivity that originated in Ireland held on May 1st and marks the beginning of summer. It’s an occasion to celebrate fertility, rebirth, love, and plant new seeds. Two common symbols that represent this sabbat are the May Pole and the bonfires, as Beltane means that the Sun has returned. The Sun’s return brings happiness, joy, and sensuality. In Wiccan mythology, it’s said that the God impregnates the Goddess, and that’s the reason why people take this time of the year to plan ahead and manifest whatever they want to harvest long-term. This is a blessed day to do so.
What’s special about Beltane 2022? Well, in the northern hemisphere, it happens on the heels of the New Moon and Eclipse in Taurus, which takes place the day before on April 30th. After you do the adequate purging (if you don’t know what to purge, pay attention to the eclipse), you can manifest large amounts of money and/or emotional stability. If you need help purging, try out our guided meditation for Beltane.
Back in the day, the Celts would light bonfires in honour of Bel, the Celtic God of light. These special fires were lit as an offering to the god to ask for the protection and growth of their crops, people, and cattle. They would also gather to feast and dance around and leap over the fire. But don’t worry, the activities and rituals I’ll suggest in this post won’t be as dangerous and daring. Instead, you can do the following. Even though some of them are indoor activities, they still guarantee you’ll evoke the energy of Beltane.
1. Reinforce your protection
Like the ancient Celts, you can use the protection Beltane grants you to double-check and reinforce your safety, both physical and spiritual. There are many ways you can do so: smoke cleansing with rosemary around your property and visualising a white protective bubble encapsulating your house/building, drawing a protective symbol or sigil on a piece of paper and sticking it on a padlock or your front door, charging a charm for protection, drawing protective runes with sun water on your walls… Use whatever method you think is more effective and best suits your practice.
2. Decorate your altar
This is a simple and low-cost activity. How creative you get is up to you. Yet, if you don’t know what elements to set up on your altar, here are some ideas: The Lovers card, objects in the colours green, brown, and pink, garlands, Sun imagery, solar water, citrine and rose quartz, pictures of the deities ruling over this sabbat (Aphrodite, Frejya, Danu, Diana, Ostara, Cernunnos, Ra, Apollo, and the Horned God are some of them), lemons, and roses. You can also make a list of all the things you want to manifest and place it in the middle of your altar.
3. Handfasting or other (self) love rituals
If you’re planning to get married, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to do it on this special day. Many couples choose to get married during Beltane, as the energy of this sabbat encourages a bright and promising future for them as a couple. Pagan weddings are called “handfasting”, as the bride and groom have their hands tied with a rope, a symbol of their everlasting love, during the ceremony. However, if you’re single or decide that you want to dedicate this day to yourself, you can do a self-love ritual. You could take a bath and add roses (or rose essential oil), lavender, and rose quartz into the water, and light some pink and red candles.
Sensuality and sexuality are very important, too, and as witches believe that an orgasm holds great manifesting power, they may also choose to practice sex with a partner or stimulate themselves to send their wishes to the Universe. If you decide to share this experience with a partner, make sure that you have their consent for the spiritual part of this, and that you use protection.
4. Burning what no longer serves you
Now, to welcome prosperity into your life, you may need to get rid of negative patterns or toxic habits. We’re talking about the kind of habit that keeps you from achieving a certain goal. This simple fire ritual will help remove those blockages. You’re going to need one white candle, a match or a lighter, a sheet of paper, a writing tool, and a fireproof bowl or container.
Needless to say, remember to be careful when doing fire rituals. Practice fire safety. Make sure that there aren’t any flammable objects, kids, or pets around. With that said, let’s get into the ritual: Cut three pieces of paper off your sheet, write down three different traits or habits that you want to get rid of (let’s say fatigue, frustration, and irresponsibility) in each of them. Light the candle and burn the pieces of paper one at a time (burn one end of the paper and then drop it into the bowl and watch as the fire consumes it). As the paper burns away, visualize those traits being cleansed out of you and meditate for a couple of minutes to picture yourself accomplishing your goal now that the obstacles are out of the way.
5. Enjoy nature
As this is an occasion to worship nature, you can celebrate Beltane by spending the day outdoors. Whether you have a picnic, tend to your garden or meditate by a water stream, what matters is that you take your mind off your hectic work life and focus on the present time. Take a moment to watch and feel Mother Nature’s masterpiece and be thankful for being in the presence of such a beautiful creation.
Fill your lungs with fresh air, feel the water running through your fingers and the sun kissing your skin, and grab a handful of dirt. Allow yourself to connect with the energy of the elements. Moreover, you can honour the Earth by decluttering the beach or your local park. It’s a small act with a grand impact, because, just as you get to enjoy nature, so will animals and the future generations. And believe me, Mother Earth will be very thankful.
6. Dance around in front of the fireplace
This is a way of honouring the old ways, as the Celts would dance around a bonfire and jump over the flames to be blessed and favoured by Bel. You can still perform this ritual in a safer way by dancing in front of the fireplace or surrounded by candles. In ancient times, the Beltane fires were believed to grant health, vitality, purification, and protection. This is so because the embers resemble sunlight. I suggest that you wear white, or if you are on your own, you can do this in underwear or without any clothes on.
Take this moment to connect with your body and move freely and carelessly. You mark the tempo. As you dance, feel how the heat starts to build up and purifies your physical and ethereal body. Different emotions can flourish during this moment, let them, don’t repress whatever feeling comes up. You’re purging yourself, so let your body cleanse and remove whatever you’ve been holding inside. Laugh, cry, scream, sing… Get lost in the moment and enjoy it. Getting rid of any emotional burdens you may be carrying helps you start afresh and gets you more attuned with the Universe.
Bonus: Listen to our Beltane guided meditation
If you’re looking for a calmer activity, you can listen to our Beltane guided meditation, channelled through our Akashic Records only for you. This is a healing and purifying meditation that’ll help you start anew this upcoming season. I should warn you that this is an emotionally intense mediation. So I suggest not listening to it if spiritual purging meditations sounds like something that could be triggering for you.
Regardless of the activities we suggested, you can celebrate Beltane in any way you find suitable to your lifestyle, practice, and mood. All in all, Beltane is about abundance, protection, manifestation, love, union, growth, purification, sexuality, fertility, and psychic ability. By keeping these key concepts in mind, you can create your own ritual or activity. In fact, I highly support this idea since it helps you work and develop your intuition. I hope you’ve found these ideas insightful. Let me know in the comments how you’re celebrating Beltane this year and what other ideas you can share with the community.
Thanks