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| Writings: Cosmic and Natural Cycles: Seasonal Turning Points | |||||
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Beltane Beltane is a wild, alive, fire festival, celebrating the height of spring, the beginnings of summer, and the flowering of life. This high energy festival of fertility celebrates the planting of crops and the goddess as she undergoes her transformation from maiden to woman and mother. In old times the Beltane fires (Belfires) were an important part of the ritual, for purification and fertility blessings. It is a holy day honouring the sacred marriage between god and goddess, followed by a holy night honouring their sacred union. A central part of the festival was the sexual union of a virgin priestess with a young male, representing the mother goddess uniting with her consort, the one-horned god. Couples would then unite in the forests to bless the fertility of the land. The festivities continued all through the night, and in the early morning hours of May 1 the goddess emerges as the May Queen, the god as the May King. Dancing around the Maypole represents their Unity, with the pole itself symbolising the god, and the colourful ribbons surrounding it symbolising the goddess and the rainbow energy of all living things. Beltane is a time to surround yourself with flowers, and share them with others, in honour of the beautiful process of life. Celebrate the magnificence of colour. Wear bright clothes and jewellery, or light a circle of candles representing the colours of the rainbow creating your own belfires. Unite with your lover and celebrate your sacred union out amongst the green leaves of spring. Dance around a pole, or anywhere in nature, close your eyes and see your own inner masculine and feminine merging and uniting. Give thanks to the earth for the abundance her fertility provides.
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