Merry May

As has happened the past few Beltanes, I was reminded of my luck when I glanced down. Rather than the usual 1 or 2 this year, I was gifted with a bushel of 4 & 5 leaf clovers. Timely reminders.

The First of May, the First of May! Outdoor screwing begins today!

;)

The May Queen has returned and she and the horned God will once more bless the land with fertility a'plenty. The fires of celebrants will burn away the last remnants of Winter and stagnation; lands and moods will be greened and renewed. Spring has come for certain, the lands are warming and baby birds have begun to peck through their eggs - ready to meet the World.

With the veil being thinned, troops of fairies will roam our world, singing and laughing their joy. You may join them and leave gifts for them if you wish, but be careful not to get trapped by them. As old tales have often warned, even the kindest seeming fairy may seek to trick you in to joining them.

I'll be leaving offerings later, under the old oak tree, for the creatures the Lord and Lady tend. There will be others left by the lilies for the fae that I know will dance through at their leisure and one last one by the thickety thorns for the Goblins so they'll continue to take their mischief elsewhere.

I'll head out to the very back of our property, where a mother crow has built her nest and leave gifts of meat for her and her soon to be babies. I'll find flowers, perhaps bake if it doesn't top 80* today and burn things when the Sun has departed.

May your May Day be filled with joy, celebration and warmth. May the fires of passion for whatever and whomever you love burn bright and hot and may you be blessed with an abundance of the fertility of your choosing.

Blessed Beltane!

Beltane, Birthdays and Breathing

How in the blazes did it get to be the 9th already? Where has this month gone? I suppose it's been sucked up by all the things we've been up to lately.

My Beltane wasn't all that I had planned, since it turned rainy, cold and windy before I made it home from work. But I made the most of it all the same, with food and drink and offerings at the altar. With laughter, love and candle fire. I burned away things I wished to be rid of and sent my wishes skyward on smoke and ash, just on a smaller scale than the bonfire I had hoped for.

Joe's birthday came on Ocho de Mayo but we celebrated on the 4th, after a visit to our local comic book shop for Free Comic Book Day.

May the Fourth be with you!


Snippets from the party. The rain refused to let up all week and so our luau/fiesta was forced inside and under umbrellas.


The birthday boy and I on his actual birthday. 

I finally had a few moments to take a breath this afternoon and sit down with my animal guide in SouLodge for the month of May, Hummingbird. I'll be honest, while the Lodge and the tribe has worked with the medicines of several different animal guides and done various exercises in the North and East quadrants of the Medicine Wheel, I've stayed wrapped up with Grandmother Bear this whole time. I also worked with Buffalo a little bit, but Bear was where I felt I needed to stay for a while. To do the deep work. And I trusted her to let me go when the time was right, I trusted myself and my intuition to lead me down this path in the manner which best suits me. And this month, before I even opened the prompt, I've seen a few beautiful hummingbirds in my yard and felt the tug of energy, of vitality. Like Spring had blown her warm breath deep into my center and warmed and awoken me from the inside out. And Bear let me go, to awaken and soar with hummingbird; to be reborn and to do the energetic healing that comes after the deepest wounds have been faced and the hardest inner battles won.

This connection with the flying rainbow may very well explain my recent draw towards all things intensely vibrant and colorful lately. We'll see. I bet most of you had even forgotten I was doing SouLodge, since it's been ages since I've posted about it. But, if the only lessons I take from this year long journey are to ruthlessly trust myself and my feelings and to know that I am exactly where I need to be (especially in regards to being attuned with the seasons) then that is more than enough. Anything else is a blessed bonus.

Welcoming May

Beltane came and brought with it the electricity and warmth of my soul that I've come to expect. I left my tithe to the forest, along with some pretty stones for the fae and beer for the goblins who live here. The entire day was low key, calm and perfect as it was exactly what my spirit needed.

From the dewy dawn, pink from the sun's kisses and heralded in by the buzzing of bumbles and calls of many birds,

through the afternoon which lingered heavy and hot as we worked in the garden and lawn, to the twinkling stars dancing in the navy blue sky overhead as we lit our first fire in our home;

Does anyone else see the woman in the fire?

Peaceful, perfect and renewing.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, celebrated the first of May, loved much and laughed even more. Beltane Blessings (a wee bit late) to you.

The Beltane Altar

Despite all of the things that make our house feel like home, I felt like I wasn't spiritually home until my altar was set up. Seeing it in my bedroom when I wake and before I go to bed each night helps me to feel a bit more grounded. With the greens of spring adorning it, my altar is set for the season.

My beloved bee rests at the center, between the cauldron and my heart stone.

At the back of my altar, raised up, sit Brighid (painted by myself) and the Horned God (a gift from my beloved witch sister, Anathemum). Before them rests my copper plate, where I often place offerings.

A large seasonal offering of fresh flowers and herbs reside in my stag head dish. Tomorrow evening, this will be given to the forest along with fresh fruits, honey and wine.

The batik fabric that everything rests upon is a recent acquisition. The greens and browns reminded me of the awakening Earth and the Sun patterns call to mind that its strength has returned. The oak leaves were torn from my tree and scattered in the yard during the storms earlier this week and upon finding them, I felt the need to place them here.

For the first time ever, I will be able to celebrate Beltane outside, around a toasty fire. My brother and I dug a fire pit in the back yard this afternoon and the lovely and I have been collecting large stones to surround it as we find them. I intend to practice jumping it, as I'm a terrible jumper with awful balance and may have made it a hair larger then intended. I've gotten the meade and plan to make merry until sometime the following morning.

What do you have planned this Beltane?

Beltane Festivities

Beltane was a very laid back and peaceful kind of day. The weather held out and the only rain we had was a fleeting drizzle. While I'd someday love to attend a festival like this or this, and hope to someday find one nearby and not across the ocean, I was happy just to sit barefoot in the park. There were some noisy mating ducks nearby at one point, which made me chuckle, because the children in the park were making their parents uncomfortable with their pointing and asking what the green duck was doing to the brown one. Oh, that frisky Beltide magic.

The park is usually pretty quiet, but apparently they had some Rubber Duck fundraiser going on, where they race rubber ducks in the river. We arrived for the end of it.

Two goofs in the park

I received so many compliments from strangers on my quilt!

Ducks corralled at the end of the race way

We found four leaf clovers as we were leaving the park.

After several hours in the park, we came home and I kicked back with a glass (or two) of chilled honeyed mead before performing a simple candle ritual that I wrote up a few days ago.

I took two candles, a green one for the Goddess and a yellow one for the God and carved the triple moon and horned god symbols into the appropriate candle. I placed them in candle holders beside each other and as I lit them, said:
'As I light these candles, I pay homage to the Lord and Lady, they burn in union as the Maiden and the God are joined in union, may their flames burn long and bright.

As they burn down, may my home be blessed with fertility (of the spirit and creativity) and love. As I will it, so mote it be.'

I hope you all had a beautiful sabbat.

Beltane

Beltane, the pinnacle of spring. The earth is awake, life is renewed, the sun has returned and with him warmth has come back. The maiden goddess and the god unite and walk hand in hand, bringing fertility to plant and animal kind. The birds sing, bees buzz and there is electricity in the air.

An uplifting occurs, in my spirit and heart as the cold and dark of winter is left behind. I feel like running barefoot in the grass, laughing like a small child. I want to catch fireflies, sit in the shade of the mighty oaks, whisper with the wise turtles. I feel emotional and giddy, a more heightened feeling than this season usually brings me.

I've always communed well with the waning year, when there is harvesting to be done. The crunch of dead leaves and smell of musty Autumn air has always made my heart sing. The energy I feel with the waxing year is a testament to my becoming more acclimated with the cycles of the year as I walk my path and I could not be more joyful.

I plan to make a flowing, beautiful garland of fabric flowers for my hair like this one tonight. My love and I have plans to go to a street festival in downtown, while it is a festival that happens every Friday and is not celebrating the sabbat in particular, I plan to go and eat, drink and be merry. When we get home... well, we'll see how merry we can be. ;)

Tomorrow, the first of May, I'll be awaking early to brew a cup of tea and sit on the porch to greet the sun as he rises. Later in the morning, I'll be going to the first farmer's market of the season to buy fresh fruits and herbs then having a picnic in the park by the water with my love on the quilt I just finished. I intend to spend as much of the day reveling in the fresh air and beauty of Spring as possible.

Who knows, if there are fireflies out tomorrow... I may just chase them barefoot through the yard behind the apartment.

A Tour of my Spring/Beltane Altar

I've finally managed to unpack all of my bits and bobs for my altar and have it set up. I thought I'd share some photos of my space and some of the special handmade items that reside there.

As it gets closer to Beltane I'll be adding fresh flowers to the space. For now though, here it is with it's bright green batik cloth:

From this angle you can see my labradorite sphere, wee cast iron cauldron, wee besom on the wall and stag headed offering bowl.

Green onyx chalice, my oil warmer (incense smoke irritates an eye condition of mine, so I use oils), and an evil eye charm created by Anathemum

This is the shelf above my altar, where I keep my deity symbols. A shell for the goddess, a horn for the god and two beautiful representations created by Nydia at Carioca Witch. I need to speak with her about making me some specialized ones when I find the ever elusive part-time job.

Two of my favourite altar items and items I use most frequently were hand made by myself and a group of fellow pagans. One is a finished piece and one is an ever evolving project that I'd like to keep collecting pieces from other pagan artists for.

The completed piece was crafted by myself out of a beautiful barkless stick that my husband found for me. I've never determined exactly what sort of wood it is, as when I received it, it had no bark or leaves of any sort! I love it nonetheless.

I left it exactly as nature had given it to me and added only a handle and embellishments to one end. All four elements are represented, along with the triple goddess. Once I had wrapped the handle in leather, I coiled it with copper, under which I placed a raven's feather to represent air.

Fire, Earth, Water and the Goddess are all represented by the bric-a-brac that dangles from the end of the wand. These symbols include lava rock, small shells, agate, and colourful celetial beads.

The ever evolving item is one that I use all the time. It is a book of deities. Each page is 4"x4" and was created using various techniques on sturdy cardstock and watercolour paper by fellow pagan artists. Every page represents a deity that I work with or that has special meaning to me. The only issue I've had with this book is that there are no Gods represented, just Goddesses. If anyone would be interested in creating pages for this, let me know. I'd be willing to trade a 4"x4" watercolour painting, or a 4"x4" page in the same style as this book for a book page. Sure, I could make them all myself, but I feel it would lose something if half of the book were made by me.

As you can see, almost all of the pages are mixed media, with ribbons, charms, paints, papers and even polymer clay being used. That's Cerridwyn stirring the cauldron of inspiration on the front.

Here it is currently on my altar, opened to the page devoted to Artemis, my maiden goddess.

Now that you've toured my altar and seen some of my favourite items, what items do you favor? Why?