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Beltane Booklet BELTANE BEGIN ANEW MAPS & TOOLS CONTENTS BOX CONTENTS | BELTANE BELTANE | CHRONICLE, CELEBRATION & ALTAR BUILDING A FAIRY HOME RECIPE | FRESH FLOWER SALAD CAST YOUR CIRCLE BELTANE QUESTION & AFFIRMATION FIRESTARTING RITUAL BOX CONTENTS | BELTANE BELTANE BATH SOAK with CARNELIAN STONE Soak and emerge with a fresh readiness for the days ahead. This cotton satchel contains dried flower petals of rose, chrysanthemum, calendula, and cornflower. Combined with Himalayan salt, and a gorgeous carnelian stone charged under the full moon, it is your luxury blend for the perfect Beltane bath soak. Relax and prepare the body by adding the contents to warm bathwater. Remove the stone from the bath before draining and place it upon your altar. CATALYST GOAT’S MILK SOAP We can provoke change and continue to support our vital energies. The key is to be anchored and focused. This is accomplished not through force, but instead through a type of surrender. We become like the center of a wheel, very still and aware, as all else spins around us. With this in mind, key notes in Catalyst goat’s milk soap are geranium, cedar, and grapefruit. Utilize their properties to spark delight and a focused energy as you wash and prepare your body for Beltane’s blissful celebrations. FIRESTARTER BUNDLE —SAP WOOD, YELLOW ROSES, BARK & BRANCHES Locally sourced, Colorado bark and branches from pine and aspen trees, are gathered together with a sap wood which ignites quickly with ease. Yellow roses, a long-lived symbol of jubilation and the hue of an undying flame, adorn your bundle to represent the tradition of gathering yellow flowers for Beltane, while contributing to your bundle’s protective nature. Every item may be lit together to quickly set a Beltane fire ablaze, no need to unbundle. Likewise, it can also be used for the firestarting ritual outlined in the following pages. BRASS BELL Morris Dancing likely began in the 1400’s in the courts of kings where thousands of bells strung on ribbons were spiraled around legs, strung across shoulders, and looped over the hands of dancers dressed in lace, ribbons, flowers, and colorful jewels as they ushered in warmer days to come. Ring your brass bell with abandon at the height of your celebration and feel a connection to revelers from centuries before. BEGIN ANEW | BELTANE SOY CANDLE Illuminate the night, honor the sacred, amplify rituals, enhance self care, or light your candle just because you want to! You might like to recite affirmations, write intentions, or meditate after lighting. Or maybe you just want to sit, watch the flame, and enjoy its warmth and scent. When lit, your candle creates a soy wax pool just three degrees above body temperature which can be massaged into the skin to soothe and moisturize. Made with GMM-free soy wax, it is a pure source of Omega-6 fatty acids and antioxidants which essentially become skin food when used in this manner, so go ahead and dip into that goodness and smooth it onto your skin! The bright blaze of a coming summer season is enhanced by this candle’s key note of lemongrass. FAIRY ART CARD The fairy is an important symbol to Magic Fairy Candles. Founder and proprietress, Kim Sorden, placed a tiny pewter fairy charm strung on loops of ribbon atop the first candles she created for sale decades ago. According to ancient lore, fairies are both helpers and tricksters. They are the wee folk who dance among small flower buds and moss, befriending honeybees and snails. They provide assistance to those with a reverence for the natural world, and trip up those who dare try to destroy any aspect of flora or fauna. There’s no doubt that we need more fairies today! Place your fairy art card where you can contemplate and foster each day a new playfulness, sense of wonder, and awe for the magical dazzling things of our natural world. INCENSE Warding off insects, honoring the sacred with pleasing aromas, cleansing or blessing one another or a space—these and numerous other reasons for burning incense have been practiced fo centuries. Herein you have been given a selection of incense tested by time and the human heart. Utilize their aromas and purifying natures to enhance rituals, or make the hours of any given day more sacred. RITUAL Simple and straightforward ritual affirmations are provided for casting your circle and performing rituals. Some contain questions which you can ask yourself as a means of opening the heart to explore fresh awareness. Others introduce activities for ritual celebration or meditation. Over time, you may develop or add your own words and rites to personalize this practice. In fact, the more you can add from your own experience, the more powerful the ritual becomes. BELTANE To remember to love what we love and why we love is at the very center of a life’s exuberant spirit. We are meant to be animated, passionate, and deeply kind. With each fulfilling new joy we get to say yes once more. A CHRONICLE Beltane’s celebration begins at moonrise on May Day Eve, or April 30th, with main events occurring all day on May 1st. It is a cross-quarter holiday in the Wheel of the Year, marking the halfway point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. Historically, Beltane marked the time of year when cattle were released from winter quarters and herded out to pasture for the summer. The medieval Ireland text, Cormac’s Glossary, records one of the first written references to the practice of building two large Beltane fires, between which cattle were herded. Some forced herds to leap over the flames. This was a protection ritual which served a practical purpose, as the heat and smoke helped rid the animals of fleas and other pests. Likewise, villagers carried torches from the bonfires throughout and around their homes in protective ritual, smoking out pests and stagnant air. They placed yellow flowers in the home and draped garlands of yellow flowers over livestock. A May Bush, or May Bough was of Hawthorn or Rowan, decorated with spring flowers and ribbons and paraded through the village. Later this evolved into the practice of dancing around a Maypole weaving ribbons under a high bouquet while wearing crowns of braided flowers. Illustration from La Bretagne, by Penguilly L’Haridon, Paris, 1859 A CELEBRATION After your fire the last evening of April, Beltane’s daytime celebrations on May 1st (May Day) are all about the Earth’s burgeoning life. It’s no coincidence that many unions occur at this time of year. In the past, those with little means for having a huge wedding simply jumped over a broomstick while holding hands. Handfasting, the symbolic tying of a couple’s hands together with ribbon and flower garlands, is a beautifully simple ritual of commitment often held at Beltane too. Now’s the time for renewal of unifying commitments in love, life, and work. The gathering together of community around a Maypole to dance and ring bells while weaving colorful ribbons, symbolizes the continuity of supporting one another through the year with the elation of summer on its way. Flowers have been the exuberant heart of Beltane celebrations for centuries. Crowns made of linked blossoms, salads with fresh blooms, flower chains to wear or use in decoration, fairy homes constructed in the garden and decorated with buds and blooms, sugared flowers to top sweet baked goods— these are all beautiful places to start! THE BELTANE ALTAR An altar is an intimate expression of your experience with this celebration. There are no rules, only suggestions based on those who have come before us: • A cloth of lush green contrasted with fiery yellow and gold. • Items to represent all the elements—earth, air, fire, water. Some soil, a feather, your candle, & a small bowl of water are simple selections. • Flower bouquets or garlands. Hawthorn or Rowan branches. • Beltane symbols—bees & honey, fairies, seeds, dandelions, antlers. • Symbols of union or unity—circles, rings, goblets and wands. • Fresh primrose, honeysuckle, lilacs, marigolds, ferns, & budding branches. • Stones of carnelian, citrine, emerald, clamshell jasper, olivine (peridot). • Personal spiritual items such as deities, amulets, talismans, or images. • Something to represent both the feminine & masculine. Above all, make it a delight to gather items and create your altar. Simple is lovely. As is over-the-top elaborate. Let it be who you are. BUILDING A FAIRY HOME There is nothing quite so magical as a tiny home for tiny beings. Making a fairy home is a delightful journey, connecting us to the natural world in ways which create exceptional awareness. We soon see each small thing with fresh eyes. If there is a small child in your life, this is an enchanting activity to do together. GATHER Twigs, dried vines, fallen bark or leaves, flower pods, pussy willows, dried gourds, acorns and caps, sweet gum balls, thorns, dried grasses, moss and flowers, shells, stones, pine cones, abandoned snail shells, fallen bird feathers, or corn husks, just to start. Please only gather natural items which have completed their life cycle. You may of course include new plantings in your creation. CONSTRUCT As you choose a place to begin, shrink yourself down to fairy size by getting your face close to the ground to view the world. If you don’t have a garden, you can build in a park, along a trail, or in the woods. Construct a little home with twigs, stones, a hollow log, an old clay pot, a broken basket, or old metal bucket. Imagine a door and windows, little window sills, a mossy roof, tiny benches, tables, a wee little garden, adding details using what you’ve gathered.
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