Beltane is a time of the year when the veils between the worlds are at their thinnest. Life force itself is now rushing into our realm! This is a time of conception! It's time to anchor the dreams you have for yourself and your life ...
Beautiful people, it's blessed Beltane here in the Southern Hemisphere ... no matter how much Halloween stuff you may see around you! ;-)
Like Halloween, Beltane is a time of the year where the veils between the worlds are at their thinnest. But at Beltane, Life is rushing into our realm, not out of it! This is not a time of birth, as yet ... but conception. Those ideas and visions and dreams you have for yourself and your life ahead?? THIS is the day where we allow them to be conceived; to take an actual form in this physical realm. Like a Spirit being conceived in the womb, where it will be sheltered and held safe to grow until it is time to be birthed in its own physical form, today is the day where we truly allow the Spirit of our desires and dreams and visions to be conceived and held as sacred here in this material realm. What life do you want to take form and create??
As part of the fertility rites of the Beltane tradition, people would enjoy an evening of making love in the woods, actually laying on the Earth itself ... It was a form of sympathetic magick, offered to Life. We honoured the sacred union of the Goddess and the God ... Venus: our true joy and our values, that which is of worth to us; and Mars: that which we will take action on and fight for, our drive and motivation! Bringing these energies together to create something new in our life!! As we physically conceived our new babies by making love in the woods, we offered that same magick to all of Life. May our fields be seeded well today, so that we have something wonderful to harvest in the not-so-distant future!!! (This is also a traditional day to be handfasted with the one we love!)
Another Beltane tradition is to be purified by fire! Couples would leap the bonfire to be cleansed, purified, and to bring fertility. Cattle would be herded between two fires. Today is a wonderful day for fire magick, specifically aimed at purification and fertility! Especially being so close to the recent Venus Sun conjunction (where She was purified and received her 'orders' for the upcoming 18 month cycle), this feels like a particularly potent Beltane! Consider ... what will truly lead to a life of fulfilment and satisfaction? Where are you settling for a life that is less than the one you truly desire?? What needs to be burned away, to leave a pure distillation of your heart's joy and desires, without the dross?
One final custom that I think serves us well, today, was known as 'jumping the broomstick' ... where people literally jumped a broomstick! ;-) This goes back to a time when a couple who couldn't afford a church ceremony, (or perhaps didn't want one), would be accepted in the community as a married couple if they jumped over a broom that had been laid on the ground. The broom marked a 'threshold', moving from the old life to a new one.
I feel this custom can serve ALL of us at this time of conception ... not just those seeking to devote themselves to another. Where do YOU need to draw a line in the sand? Where, as you metaphorically jump over a broomstick (or literally, if you'd like to create a ritual), do you need to clearly delineate between that which you want to bring with you into your new life and that which needs to be left behind, released, let go of? For good? What no longer serves you? Do you have the courage, and discipline to let it go? Today is the day.
Don't bring anything across this sacred threshold into the life that is being energetically conceived, unless you absolutely KNOW you want it to take root and continue to be a presence in your life.
On this holy day as new Life is conceiving within you, be very clear and honest with yourself. Only allow that which you want to be part of your new life to actually be part of its conception.
Blessed Beltane to all of us! xo
(Oh, and washing one's face with the dew collected from the grass and plants tomorrow morning, is a very traditional Beltane custom ... random.)