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Today marks the most magical moment in the wheel of the year, Beltane. I suppose Shakespeare might argue that this honor belongs to Midsummer’s Eve, but I would disagree.
Beltane is hope fulfilled, sweet promises made and kept, the reality and vulnerability of new life, and the exquisite beauty of masculine and feminine energies comingling, feverishly cooperating to ensure that life will find a way.
In my estimation, nothing is more sensuously, breathtakingly, heartwarmingly magical than watching a pair of birds build a nest with dedication and earnestness. They are fully invested in their mission and will raise their family and defend their young with ferocity. They will tirelessly feed and teach them until they are ready to depart, and find territory and mates of their own.
Beltane is the season when everything is most alive. The stakes are the highest, the dangers the closest, and all of nature's forces are working full throttle to triumph over death, destruction, and decay. After the death sleep of winter and the vagaries of April’s fickle weather, May is the month of total resurrection. Anything that survived the winter will show itself in May.
Beltane is the symphony of life echoing throughout the land. The lilting melodies of birdsong greet us each dawn, and the lusty chorus of amphibians fills up the evening twilight. In the midday sun, the earliest bees, butterflies, and native insects scan the earth searching for the pollen of early spring wildflowers, catkins, and blooming trees.
Beltane is traditionally considered the sacred marriage of the Goddess and the Green Man or the Lord and Lady of the Woods.
The sacredness of opposites uniting is nature's deepest mystery, even more profound than the mystery of new life after a fallow season of death. The depth of the mystery of opposites uniting begins with Source, a singular, unique being. From that one divine person flows multiplicity, creative love expressing itself in myriad ways. Yet, that same Source of divine love calls all things into communion, harmony, and ultimately unity.
As the days lengthen, the weather warms, and a gentleness settles over the earth, the heart stirs, looking and longing for union. I find union with nature in my garden and the wilder parts of the land I steward. Every year during Beltane season, I fall in love with my little parcel of earth; through that, I cultivate a deep care and appreciation for all of the Earth.
The shift required from simply assuming that everything in nature is other to understanding our complex relationship with all living things takes place in both the head and the heart, but most importantly in the soul. In the soul, we find warm empathy for all other beings and a sense of duty to nurture, cultivate, and protect that which is under our care.
I can remember this impulse in my earliest childhood memories. I fed squirrels and chickadees from my hand when I was no more than five or six years old. Once, I found an injured bird, the victim of a neighborhood cat, and I gently held it cupped in the palm of my hand, sheltered and safe for the last few moments of its life. When it died, I buried it in a flower-filled grave beneath the pine tree next to our house.
The urge to grow things was strong even when I was a very young child. I was only five the first time I planted carrot seeds. Unfortunately, I chose a shady spot and they didn’t do so well. However, seeing my earnest dedication, my mother allowed me to dig up a sunny patch of lawn to grow some beans and carrots, both of which did well.
In my earliest years, I developed the habit of talking to plants and animals. I believed then, as I still do now, that communication with nature is possible and normal. My heightened sensitivity and receptivity to nature were noticed by my entire family and even family friends. That remains true today, as evidenced by my brother referencing my affinity for animals and plants in a conversation just last week. According to him, it is an essential characteristic that defines me.
So, always, but especially during Beltane, I experience a deep longing for communion with nature and what’s known as the peaceable kingdom, the return of the Edenic state when everything is in complete harmony, balance, concord, and peace.
Returning to Eden is beyond our ability, but creating little pockets and patches of beautiful functioning ecosystems is manageable. Never underestimate the impact you can have as an individual. Millions of individuals tending their yards and gardens with the ecosystem's health as the guiding factor is a powerful way to change the world.
This is our best possible defense our bulwark against an increasingly, it seems to me, hostile world.We have increasingly less and less control over what is going on out there and in our gardens, we can make the sort of world that we wish we lived in. ~ Anna Pavord
The metaphor of Beltane, the sacred marriage of the Lord and Lady of the Woods, brings to mind all sorts of opposites that must be integrated to restore our relationship with the earth.
Opposites to integrate include wild and domestic. For generations, we have feared that the wilderness is foreign, undomesticated, and wholly other at best, and at worst, the devil’s playground or in some way evil. The wild, untended, undomesticated spaces (those left) are indeed formidable; they are filled with great nature spirits and forces of nature, top predators and large game, which can be dangerous, but they are not our adversary in the spiritual sense. For many settlers of the North American continent in the 17th and 18th centuries this was not such an obvious truth given that in my small state alone you find places called Devil’s Hopyard, Devil’s Den, Devil’s Backbone, Devil’s Footprint, Devil’s Rock, Devil’s Pulpit, Satan’s Kingdoms, Satan’s Ridge, Hell’s Hollow Brook and a whole lot more!
Our techno-modern society is increasingly filled with screens and virtual worlds that seduce us into slumber and dull our comprehension of reality. Even a walk through a manicured state park feels alien and unfamiliar to many people, making them uneasy. There is no recognition of the inherent beauty there or the patterns of organization in the various habitats, and certainly not a knowledge of the names of trees, plants, birds, or animals, their uses, and habits.
This Beltane season, I hope you will commit yourself to the land. Fall in love with every tender shoot and billowy blossom. Be the godparent of a clutch of robin chicks or shepherd a young tree through its first season of growth. Work on ways to deepen your connection, your kinship, your “marriage” to the land you live on.
Every season on the Wheel of the Year offers opportunities to deepen and grow in every area of your life. This is one of the profound joys of seasonal living.
This year, I have a brand new Beltane Energy Activation Guide designed to help you focus the rising energy of Beltane into your creative, business, and personal projects. This will be especially helpful if you have a heart-centered or helping business. It is equally beneficial for creatives looking to harness the seasonal energies in their self-expression, and it can also be used to nurture and grow your communities, families, and friendships.
You can access the Beltane Energy Activation Guide HERE
You can also download the Original Beltane Guide HERE
The link for the self-led retreat Beltane Exporation and Experience is HERE
All of these and many more seasonal materials are available to you in the Hedge Mystic School of the Seasons HERE
Blessed Beltane.
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I loved this article! So well done and articulated…. I am new to you and your work and must admit I am very impressed with you!
Blessed Be
Happy Beltane Jan.
I feel the same about Beltane and about being a custodian of my little Yorkshire garden in the UK. Many neighbours are putting down that awful artificial grass so they don’t have to deal with nature in their ‘gardens’ and they don’t consider the impact. I spend so much money on seeds, nuts, suet and mealworms at this time of year and this year I’m feeding a bigger population of birds and small wildlife than ever. Likely it’s because there are less real gardens for them with plentiful food and water and places to nest, rear and collect grubs from. The deep thrill of my connection with all the paired birds who I’m watching feeding their fledglings is unmatchable for me. It’s a pleasure and privilege that makes my heart swell.
My childhood was so similar to yours, speaking to the plants, fairies and animals and giving them all names. It’s hard for me to comprehend how separate folks are from nature now that a park stroll is an alien thing. Growing up in rural Yorkshire has made me fiercely protective and connected to nature. I haven’t thought of it as a marriage before but it certainly is an affair of the heart.
You feel like a kindred spirit and enjoy your every post so much. Thank you for your insights and reminders. They bring something timely and meaningful with every read!