Beltane Blessings

After a two month break from blogging due to a move of house back to my homelands of Redruth in Cornwall, Capital of Cornish Mining and home of the first gas lighting pioneered by William Murdock, I have managed to walk from my door and greet Beltane as it dawned in blossoms of cherry, apple, wild garlic flowers, forgetmeknots and the rush of bluebells in hedgerow and wood, starting to paint the beech green with sweeps of deep violet blue.

I rose early on Beltane morning and took a gentle stroll towards the village of Carn Brea with its wishing well dedicated to the saint of that parish, St Euny whose church spire nestles in the valley and surrounded by mine ruins and stacks evokes a sense of the roots of this mining kingdom in a deep spirituality which you sense in the clear running stream and the cacophany of birdsong as rooks swoop in the vale for twigs and blackbirds pierce the still blue pools of air with their shrill, piping song.

Beltane is one of my favourite points on the Wheel of the Year with its profound sense of abundance in nature,its fresh canvas of pastel colour and that keen awareness of a spirit of life, joy, passion and fertility. Here we have the goddess in her aspect as maiden queen- life is at its most promising and she is dancing and revelling in the wonder of it all. The evenings are drawing out and the nights getting shorter; we feel awake and alive, 'Full of Spring' as a friend so aptly put it recently.The sun is gathering heat and warmth and the full moon on Lunar Beltane in Scorpio has a mystical poetry. The sense of abundance in nature fills the heart and soul with a desire for self expression..a need to express the beauty of the world as if it had just been created and our eyes were newly opened. May time is a dance, a song, a beat and rhythm deep in the earth captured by the dance of the Obby Oss at Padstow and the Furry Dance and Hal an Tow in Helston.It is a time to revel and celebrate the beginning of summer and the fertility of life. To give thanks and appreciation for the gifts we have been given so far and for what we have manifested in our lives. It is also a time to contemplate what else needs to be done, to be brought to fruition, to be created and expressed. This is a time when the Maiden goddess has come into her own self, her true, wild, free nature bringing the promise of life, love and laughter.

With the prevalent ritual emphasis on the phallic Maypole as symbol of fertility for maidens to dance around, there has been less emphasis on this festival as a time to celebrate womens menarche..the bleeding and floering of the Maiden.Now as women we can celebrate the power of our moon blood..women's blood was once adored and used for its potential life sustaining properties. When a woman started to bleed she was honoured and declared of value and importance to the tribe. The blood of women meant blessings from the goddess and the assurance of life's continuation. Blood was ritually poured into the earth to aid the growth and fertility of crops.Like the fruit and flower of plants, the woman bleeding was the woman's flowering.The blood of a woman is potent and healing it can be used in spells and rituals to add intensity and life force to these.

At Beltane celebrate, contemplate your moon flow and your experience of it over the years...celebrate its power and awaken your own free, wild nature - your maiden aspect free, powerful and strong unto your self. In what ways are you enriching your own life? How are you blossoming and coming into your own power? Dance with your own vital energy, enjoy your self, feel the sap rising and the world celebrating the fire of your spirit in a universal joy of being.

Blessed Be xx