Beltane


Often called many things, spelled in many different ways, Beltane is the festival of fire.  It is the witches night of honor and is usually celebrated on the full moon closest to the first of May.  It is the spring equinox.  Beltane is the day that Mother(Goddess)'s and Father(God)'s energies balance exactly.  This is the night of fertilitiy.  In the Lunar calendar, Beltanes falls in either the Seed or the Mating moons.

The word Beltane(Bealten, Bealtaine, Baletaine) is Celtic  for the magic flowers.  It is a celebration of fertility, as spring gives way to the summer that will last until Lammas.  The Goddess as Maiden yields to her Lover, and from their union comes all the production of summer, and the Goddess ends her phase as Mother.  In Roman times, this day was called Floralia.

Beltane expresses the wild magic of a burst of creativity that is the outcome of properly balanced and blended divine polarities.  Metaphorically, the chaotic and formless potential of the Mother is mastered by the farming and limiting knowledge of the Father for the purpose of creating life.  Beltane is expressed both by open delight in sexuality and also by the mature acceptance of the consequences of fertility.  It is also associated with the responsibilities to family and community connected with bringing babbies into the world.

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