Beltane Blessings

Beltane is such a wonderful and colorful holiday to celebrate.

Beltane is a favorite time for a lot of pagans to perform handfastings and wedding ceremonies.

The veils are thin on this day just as they are on Samhain.
Beltane, and its counterpart Samhain, divide the year into its two primary seasons, winter (Dark Part) and summer (Light Part).

Beltane is a Celtic festival which signals the beginning of the bright half of the year.
The festival begins on Beltane Eve with two bonfires started from nine different woods.

* Nine Woods Used in The Belfire *

Birch - (Attributes: Protection of children, purification, creativity) Add to the fire to represent the Goddess or female principle.

Oak - (Attributes: All positive purposes, magic for men, fidelity) Add to the fire symbolizing the God or male principle.

Rowan, or mountain ash - (Attributes: Divination, healing, astral work, protection) Add to the fire as the Tree of Life. .

Willow - (Attributes: – Romantic love, healing, protection, fertility, magic for women) Sacred to Hecate, add willow to the fire as a celebration of death.

Hawthorn - (Attributes: Fertility, peace, prosperity, binding) As Tree of Purification and a Sacred faeries tree, add hawthorn to the Belfire for purity.

Hazel - (Attributes: Manifestation, spirit contact, protection, fertility) As Tree of wisdom, add hazel to the fire to gain wisdom.

Apple - (Attributes: Fertility. Tree of love) Add apple wood to the fire for the magic of love.

Vine - (Attributes: Faerie work, Joy, Exhilaration, Wrath, Rebirth) This is the Tree of joy so add vine to the fire for joy.

Fir - (Attributes: Strength, life and immortality, rejuvenation) As the Tree of Immortality, add fir to your Beltane fire for rebirth.

I thought it might be nice to list some of the things associated with Beltane as well as some activities one might want to do.

Symbols of this day include any items signifying romantic love, maypoles, faeries, and flowers.

The Altar

Drape the altar in a green cloth and decorate it with blooming flowers and herbs.

Herbs

All-heal, blessed thistle, broom, curry, daffodil, dogwood, coriander, dragon's blood reed, fern, fireweed, nettle, flaxseed, hawthorn, marjoram, paprika, radish, rue, snapdragon, mushroom, almond, meadowsweet, rose, woodruff, tansy, elder leaves, oats.

Some Stones include:
Malachite, garnet, emerald, rose quartz, tourmaline.

Spells to ensure prosperity, safety, and love are good to do on this day.

Activities include:
Dancing around the maypole
Dancing around and jumping over the belfire
Gathering wild herbs and flowers, giving some to others secretly by placing them on their doorstep.
Wash your face or your whole body in the dew, flowing streams or springs at sunrise for beauty or drink for health.
Make flower wreaths
Make daisy crowns to wear atop your head
Make the boundaries of your circle with one of the herbs, flowers, or grains associated with this day.
Make  and or drink May Wine
Making May baskets
Enacting the great rite
Blessing your garden by making love in it or scattering the ashes from the belfire around and in it.


Food: dairy foods, foods made with flowers, red fruits such as strawberries and cherries, green herbal salads, red or pink wine punch, maybowl (an icebowl decorated with spring flowers and filled with maywine), large round oatmeal or barley cakes (known as Beltane cakes or Bannocks), shellfish and other aphrodisiacs.

A good salad to make which is also a cleansing tonic salad would be one made with dandelion leaves, borage flowers, and marigold petals. You could add fruits to the salad as well.
Making a yogurt based dressing is not only good for you but would incorporate the dairy aspects into your salad.

Make some shellfish for the main course (in a lemon butter reduction is always nice)
Drink some may wine with your meal,
And have the Beltane cakes for dessert.

Colors: Red, white, green, yellow.


So get out into the woods or garden and gather your flowers and herbs, decorate your home and altar, create the fire, and perform some magick! Enjoying good food and good company along the way.

Happy Beltane Everyone,
Lotus Moon Apothecary