BELTAINE
Ritual written* and led by Janine Donnellan(November, 2005)
Every Beltaine does the Bride of the Earth wed her lover, the Green Man of the blossoming year. The offspring of their love will be the fruit of the year's harvest.
The lives of our ancestors were naturally attuned to these cycles as to the rhythm of a spiral dance. To celebrate the fruitful earth in a sacred manner was to constantly renew the ancient contract between human beings and the Divine. We, too, can feel this great turning of the Wheel of the Year in our own bodies, hearts, and minds, if we are willing to open up to the creative forces that flow through us, and learn to live in harmony and balance with each other and with the Earth. The wisdom of the Wheel of the Year can liberate us from our modern linear model of time, reminding us that death yields to life again and again.
At Beltaine, we naturally respond to the rising tide of the life force within our bodies and within the land. Even on a short walk in the countryside or neighbourhood park at this time of year, you cannot help but feel the "force that drives the green fuse through the flower", as Welsh poet Dylan Thomas called it. As all earth responds to the sun's invitation to grow and expand, the soul, too, responds to an inner calling to unfurl and express itself in the radiance of the spiritual Sun, the Higher Self. Whatever hopes, dreams and desires of your innermost self have been incubating during the dark of winter, now is the time to bring them out into the Beltaine light and let them grow to fruition.
As Nature proliferates in joyful fecundity, we are invited to get in touch with our own creativity and our own playfulness - to let ourselves twine, leaf, or blossom into expression, to add our own unique and inimitable flowering to the greening of all life.
We can celebrate connection by gathering with friends to make garlands or decorate an altar to the Earth using flowers. We can create May baskets of flowers and little gifts of goodwill to give to those in need of care.
This festival is also a time to nurture our sensuality. Whether we have a sexual partner or not, we can honor our bodies and delight our senses by filling the house with fragrant flowers and branches and enjoying sensual food and drink such as syllabub and May wine. At night, we might draw a bath by candlelight and scent the water with essential oils.
By the power of the Dragons may this circle be blessed cleansed and sanctified (3 times)
Air awakens us
As we feel it flow through our being.
Air transports us
As it carries us to a new consciousness.
Oh Mighty Watcher of Air I call for you to stand guard and protect our circle
So mote it be.
Fire transforms us
As it reveals our true essence
Fire empowers us
As we stand as our true self.
Oh Mighty Watcher of Fire I call for you to stand guard and protect our circle
So Mote it be.
Water shifts us
As it carries us from the past to the present and into the future
Water connects us
As its fluidity makes all as one.
Oh Mighty Watcher of Water I call for you to stand guard and protect our circle
So mote it be.
Earth grounds us
As it gives us a firm place on which to stand.
Earth regenerates us,
As it takes the substance of our being and makes us new.
Oh Mighty Watcher of Earth I call for you to stand guard and protect our circle
So Mote it be
The earth, the stars, the sun, the moon,
They all belong to her
They glisten and shine as she lovingly watches her creation - her lover
They worship her as she fondly gazes
down from her spot in the heavens
She is the One, the Mother of All
Divine is Her presence.
Oh Gaia We offer ourselves to you.
May your presence rise
In acceptance of our offering
So mote it be.
Oh Greenman you stand in all your glory.
Growth abounds and touches all our hearts
Love transcends from the boundless spring well.
Come now Greenman, we offer ourselves to you
May your presence rise
In acceptance of our offering
So mote it be.
We thank you Gaia, Mother of All
For your presence
Hail and farewell
We thank you Greenman, lord of renewal
For your presence,
Hail and farewell.
Mighty Watcher of Earth
We thank you and honour you
Hail and Farewell.
Mighty Watcher of Water
We thank you and honour you
Hail and Farewell.
Mighty Watcher of Fire
We thank you and honour you
Hail and Farewell.
Mighty Watcher of Air
Spirits of the Air
We thank you and honour you
Hail and Farewell.
May this circle be open but unbroken
May the peace of the Goddess be ever in our hearts.
Merry Meet and Merry Part
And Merry Meet again.
