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Author Topic: Beltane 2014  (Read 4879 times)

SilverSpring

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Beltane 2014
« on: March 29, 2014, 07:17:01 pm »
Beltane is fast approaching and this will be my first year activly celebrating it.  What specific rituals or traditions does everyone have to celebrate this holiday?  I will be decorating the house and my altar with lots of greenery and flowers!  My husband and I are also trying to get pregnant so does anyone have tips for rituals celebrating it as a fertility Sabbat?

Also, I tend to prefer the Celtic Deities and was wondering if any one goddess/god was associated with Beltane?  Thanks!
« Last Edit: March 29, 2014, 08:22:49 pm by SunflowerP »

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2014, 08:20:45 pm »
Quote from: SilverSpring;143987
Beltane is fast approaching and this will be my first year activly celebrating it.  What specific rituals or traditions does everyone have to celebrate this holiday?  I will be decorating the house and my altar with lots of greenery and flowers!  My husband and I are also trying to get pregnant so does anyone have tips for rituals celebrating it as a fertility Sabbat?

Also, I tend to prefer the Celtic Deities and was wondering if any one goddess/god was associated with Beltane?  Thanks!

 
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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2014, 03:23:22 pm »
Quote from: SilverSpring;143987

Also, I tend to prefer the Celtic Deities and was wondering if any one goddess/god was associated with Beltane?  Thanks!


You could try starting with Bel himself ( Belenos)

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2014, 03:39:45 pm »
Quote from: Vale;144052
You could try starting with Bel himself ( Belenos)
Yes! Belenus is my patron deity, and I'm very looking forward to celebrating and honoring him!
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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2014, 09:28:37 am »
Quote from: SilverSpring;143987
Beltane is fast approaching and this will be my first year activly celebrating it.  What specific rituals or traditions does everyone have to celebrate this holiday?  !


One of my deities is Melusine, and this year I'm finally going to put together a Beltane ritual for her that I've been meaning to do for years. According to some sources I've read, there was a tradition in one town of making gingerbread cakes/cookies with her image on May Day up into the 19th century (alas, without my books in front of me, I can't remember the name of the town). Obviously it's not an ancient tradition, or at least not provably so, but it's one of the few things I've got. So I'm going to make gingerbread mermaids. And I also wrote a song for her a while back that I'm going to incorporate; probably what I'll do is ritually clean the statue I use for her and carry it back to the altar in "procession" while singing it.

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2014, 04:27:50 am »
Quote from: Siren;144246
One of my deities is Melusine, and this year I'm finally going to put together a Beltane ritual for her that I've been meaning to do for years. According to some sources I've read, there was a tradition in one town of making gingerbread cakes/cookies with her image on May Day up into the 19th century (alas, without my books in front of me, I can't remember the name of the town). Obviously it's not an ancient tradition, or at least not provably so, but it's one of the few things I've got. So I'm going to make gingerbread mermaids. And I also wrote a song for her a while back that I'm going to incorporate; probably what I'll do is ritually clean the statue I use for her and carry it back to the altar in "procession" while singing it.

I would love to know more about this tradition :)

Siren

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2014, 07:02:40 am »
Quote from: Siannan13;144790
I would love to know more about this tradition :)

There's almost nothing. There was a book written--I was wrong about the date, it turned out to be like 1690--that told the legend and said they were still selling the cookies at the May Fair up until that date. I really have no idea how much stock to put in it from a scholarly perspective, but it seemed like a decent idea and a yummy one. :)

ETA: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu//celt/tfm/tfm178.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=kuhZAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=merlusines+may+fair&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lilFU4fFAsSwyQGh7ID4CQ&ved=0CE4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=gingerbread&f=false
« Last Edit: April 09, 2014, 07:06:33 am by Siren »

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2014, 02:13:28 pm »
Quote from: SilverSpring;143987
Beltane is fast approaching and this will be my first year activly celebrating it.  What specific rituals or traditions does everyone have to celebrate this holiday?  I will be decorating the house and my altar with lots of greenery and flowers!  


This will be my first year actively celebrating Beltane in a long while. Unfortunately my first college, which I left due to being utterly toxic, had May Day as its major end-of-year celebration. For a long time Beltane hasn't felt safe and I'm looking to reclaim some of that for myself.

I'm currently on a Brighid-centric path with a background in some druidry and Neo-Wicca, so Beltane will probably be about Brighid for me. In my tradition Brighid is a pan-Celtic goddess and has absorbed traits from many different tribes and many different time periods. So, I'm looking at the mythic arc of a revivalist bit of folklore from Scotland wherein the winter crone Beira has the spring/summer maiden Bride captive in her tower. Aengus, in this story the son of Beira, frees Bride, marries her, and together usher in the new season.

I don't work with the Morrigan anymore, but Beltane is ostensibly Her holiday, and She is a goddess of sovereignty and reclaiming personal power. So that's probably going to be a major theme as well.

Quote
My husband and I are also trying to get pregnant so does anyone have tips for rituals celebrating it as a fertility Sabbat?


No tips but best of luck!

Quote
Also, I tend to prefer the Celtic Deities and was wondering if any one goddess/god was associated with Beltane?  Thanks!

 
The Morrigan is the first that comes to mind. Depending on where you pull your information from, there might be several deities who would be appropriate for working with during Beltane. Any spring or summer deities could work; it's the Celtic start of summer, but at least where I am spring has just gotten into full swing. Any deities related to fairies or nature spirits would work too, since Beltane is a fae holiday.
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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2014, 02:22:14 pm »
Quote from: SilverSpring;143987
My husband and I are also trying to get pregnant so does anyone have tips for rituals celebrating it as a fertility Sabbat?

Also, I tend to prefer the Celtic Deities and was wondering if any one goddess/god was associated with Beltane?  Thanks!

 
There's no particular deity associated with Beltane; personally, I associate Beltane with the Dagda, given the fertility aspect. He would also be a good god (er, no pun intended) to approach for successful pregnancy.
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SilverSpring

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #9 on: April 17, 2014, 07:42:26 pm »
Quote from: Sage;144834
This will be my first year actively celebrating Beltane in a long while. Unfortunately my first college, which I left due to being utterly toxic, had May Day as its major end-of-year celebration. For a long time Beltane hasn't felt safe and I'm looking to reclaim some of that for myself.

I'm currently on a Brighid-centric path with a background in some druidry and Neo-Wicca, so Beltane will probably be about Brighid for me. In my tradition Brighid is a pan-Celtic goddess and has absorbed traits from many different tribes and many different time periods. So, I'm looking at the mythic arc of a revivalist bit of folklore from Scotland wherein the winter crone Beira has the spring/summer maiden Bride captive in her tower. Aengus, in this story the son of Beira, frees Bride, marries her, and together usher in the new season.

I don't work with the Morrigan anymore, but Beltane is ostensibly Her holiday, and She is a goddess of sovereignty and reclaiming personal power. So that's probably going to be a major theme as well.



No tips but best of luck!


 
The Morrigan is the first that comes to mind. Depending on where you pull your information from, there might be several deities who would be appropriate for working with during Beltane. Any spring or summer deities could work; it's the Celtic start of summer, but at least where I am spring has just gotten into full swing. Any deities related to fairies or nature spirits would work too, since Beltane is a fae holiday.

 
Thanks so much, I will do some more research and see what fits for me!

Quote from: Juni;144836
There's no particular deity associated with Beltane; personally, I associate Beltane with the Dagda, given the fertility aspect. He would also be a good god (er, no pun intended) to approach for successful pregnancy.

 
LOL thanks!  I will also do some searching on him.  I usually work with Danu as a general goddess and I know he ia associated with her.

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #10 on: April 20, 2014, 01:07:32 pm »
Quote from: SilverSpring;143987
Beltane is fast approaching and this will be my first year activly celebrating it.  What specific rituals or traditions does everyone have to celebrate this holiday?


We like to go to one of the local Faery festivals that runs on Beltane weekend. For me, Beltane is as much about being able to get outside and celebrate the better weather and the fertility of the land as it is about sex.

I think if you're going to want to focus on pregnancy as a ritual celebration, I'd make the whole Beltane rite like a special date night. Go out to a special dinner, or a special place you both enjoy. Maybe you get a nice bottle of wine and invoke fertility into that before you drink it. Celebrate the entire process of being in love and wanting to have a baby, rather than just the fun stuff at the end...

Karen

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #11 on: April 21, 2014, 08:23:35 am »
Quote from: SilverSpring;143987
Beltane is fast approaching and this will be my first year activly celebrating it.  What specific rituals or traditions does everyone have to celebrate this holiday?  I will be decorating the house and my altar with lots of greenery and flowers!  My husband and I are also trying to get pregnant so does anyone have tips for rituals celebrating it as a fertility Sabbat?

Also, I tend to prefer the Celtic Deities and was wondering if any one goddess/god was associated with Beltane?  Thanks!

 


Plans? yeah too many.There's the local group's Beltane.. that I'm not sure what it will include or Deity, but it's a weekend long camping event, so always fun. Then there's the ritual at school which should be interesting.

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #12 on: April 21, 2014, 10:46:33 am »
Quote from: Kyndyl;145845
Plans? yeah too many.There's the local group's Beltane.. that I'm not sure what it will include or Deity, but it's a weekend long camping event, so always fun. Then there's the ritual at school which should be interesting.

At the very least I'll be conducting my own private ritual.  As for community stuff...well. I'm not sure what there is in terms of options here; being a relatively new practitioner (and with a decent helping of social anxiety on top), I haven't done much in the way of community outreach.  The folks at the local pagan store might know of some stuff, but I'm going to have to find the courage to ask.
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SilverSpring

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #13 on: April 24, 2014, 07:59:35 pm »
Quote from: dragonfaerie;145765
We like to go to one of the local Faery festivals that runs on Beltane weekend. For me, Beltane is as much about being able to get outside and celebrate the better weather and the fertility of the land as it is about sex.

I think if you're going to want to focus on pregnancy as a ritual celebration, I'd make the whole Beltane rite like a special date night. Go out to a special dinner, or a special place you both enjoy. Maybe you get a nice bottle of wine and invoke fertility into that before you drink it. Celebrate the entire process of being in love and wanting to have a baby, rather than just the fun stuff at the end...

Karen


What a great idea!  I will most likely do my own ritual celebration and then also have a 'date' night with my husband.  Thanks for the idea!
 
Quote from: Amphibian;145855
At the very least I'll be conducting my own private ritual.  As for community stuff...well. I'm not sure what there is in terms of options here; being a relatively new practitioner (and with a decent helping of social anxiety on top), I haven't done much in the way of community outreach.  The folks at the local pagan store might know of some stuff, but I'm going to have to find the courage to ask.


I usually do solo celebrations... but i live in the bible belt lol

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Re: Beltane 2014
« Reply #14 on: April 30, 2014, 09:51:37 am »
Quote from: SilverSpring;146162
I usually do solo celebrations... but i live in the bible belt lol

 
Beltane....yeah. I wish I had more pagan community around me. Right now my plans for today are to do laundry. I've got a ton of dirty laundry. I just can't celebrate solo. I don't know why. It makes me saaaaaaaaad....
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