Beltain 2013

Beltain this year will be a little different from previous years, given the strange weather we have all been having, and people's inability to do much because of the economic climate (although most of us we're equally without money last year).

Beltain is about love, about sensuality, as the God and Goddess get together for the sacred marriage. It is about loving your partner and enjoying each other, if you are with someone, and loving yourself if you are not.

Too many of us, when single, do not think about ourselves in that way. We don't take a good hard look at ourselves and say 'You know what, I'm pretty amazing!'. And we should, because we are all amazing. Life is amazing, no matter how cruddy it can look just now. Mortality is so very finite and we are so lucky to be able to draw breath. Many out there would disagree, thinking that they wished they were dead. That is truly sad, given how hard it can be just to be alive. The very fact that we survived to birth is a blessing. That we survived childhood and reached adulthood without war/illness/accidents taking our lives is equally amazing. So many people die every day and being able to draw breath is a gift.

So celebrate that gift. treat yourself and (if you are lucky enough to be in a relationship) your partner to something special. This doesn't have to be expensive. A picnic is practically free and if the weather is good, its a delight. Getting out into nature is a wonderful thing to do at this time of year. Clearing your spirit of all the cling-ons of winter and a sluggish early spring.

If you are lucky enough to live near a botanic gardens and the weather isn't so great, get indoors and be part of nature - if not a museum, or wrap up in waterproofs and get to a local beach. These things don't cost/don't cost much and can be a wonderful change to your normal pace of life.

Make something nice and different for dinner and thank the gods for your wonderful bounty. Plant things in your garden or get a little pot of a herb you like and sow those seeds, enjoy everything you can about nature because it is risig to the peak of its glory.

If you can, give your place a quick once over, in respect for the day and also as a metaphorical clearing the clutter/cobwebs away. If you have beeswax use it on your furniture, or burn beeswax candles in honour of the day.

Fill your home with pleasant scents/textures and sounds. Let the sensuality of the sabbat awaken you!

BB

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scoltand about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback:

The Island of the Mist is book 2

The Stone in the Sword is book 1

The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats:

The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin

The year ahead - dates for your calendar in paganism

Many pagans seem to be under the incorrect idea that all pagan festivals are fixed to one specific date of the year. This is not the case. The solar festivals (both equinoxes and solstices) move every year. Some days they are on the 20th, the 21st or the 22nd of the corresponding month. This is because there are very slight changes in the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The majority of pagans simply celebrate on the 21st of the month but this is not always the actual date of the solstice or equinox.

For instance, this year, the dates are as follows:
Spring Equinox - 20th March
Summer Solstice - 20th June
Autumn Equinox - 22nd September
Winter Solstice - 21st December

The agricultural festivals are not as fixed as many imagine either - these are dates for actual agricultural events as well. The only exception is Hallowe'en, or Samhain. This is a fixed date as it is the date the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest. But the others can alter slightly. For instance, Imbolc, usually celebrated on the 1st or 2nd February can be earlier or later, depending when the first snowdrops appear and the first signs of life begin to show. Equally, this is the same of Lammas, the wheat harvest, can be earlier or, more commonly, later.

Personally, I tend to feel that Beltain is more like Hallowe'en. It feels more stationary, less mutable. This would make sense, given that these dates are the reverse in the Southern Hemisphere.

So when Imbolc comes around and you haven't spotted any snowdrops pushing up through the ground, hold off celebrating a few days until they appear. Likewise, if the first harvest hasn't happened in the countryside near you, wait a few days. If you can't tell re Lammas, then go ahead and celebrate around the 1s August but it is always better to feel more attuned to the seasons, and to the energies of the sun.

Easter - a Christian, not a Pagan Festival

Easter is almost upon us again and already i have seen articles on-line relating to how it is a pagan festival. Alas, this is a load of hogwash.

Easter is a christian festival, about the resurrection of Christ. Yes, they did borrow a lot of symbology from the pagan path but so what? All religions and cultures borrow from each other. Many people now know that the rabbits and eggs are symbols of fertility taken from ancient religions, and that the date is based on the moon, another aspect of paganism.

Even the name has been borrowed from Eostre/Eostara/Ostara (or, less likely Ishtar), the Goddess of April. And? So?

In the end, the festival of EASTER is CHRISTIAN, not PAGAN. EASTER (see how it isn't spelled EOSTRE) is a christian concept.

Regardless of what your path, have an egg, enjoy it and revel in the sunshine :D

On another note, I have written 3 books. 2 are part of a series set in Scoltand about the Sidhe, fairy folk. Available on kindle and in paperback:

The Island of the Mist is book 2

The Stone in the Sword is book 1

The 3rd book is an adult, sexy witchy werewolf/vampire story set in New York and featuring a strong female lead character, again available in kindle and paperback formats:

The Wolf, the Witch and the Coffin