Blog Post: https://earthandwater.co/beltane-the-fire-festival-of-love/

Beltane marks the half way point between the Spring equinox and the Summer Solstice, marking one of the 8 key points in the solar cycle in the wheel of the year. Celebrated on the first of May, Beltane is a time of fire, fertility, and festivity. From the Gaelic “Bealtaine,” likely translating to “Bright Fire,” it’s one of four yearly fire festivals reminding us of the ever changing cycles of the Earth and her seasons.

Due to it most commonly being celebrated on May 1st, it is often referred to as May Day around the world. Historically, the bonfires kindled during Beltane were believed to have protective powers, and people would leap over the flames for luck, ignite the fireplaces in their homes and towns for protection and run their livestock through corridors of flames in order to purify and cleanse them from disease before moving them to summer pastures.

As the wheel of the year turns, we find ourselves at the threshold of summer. The Celts feasted and commemorated this day in reflection of the life giving force in all things. The flowers are blooming, the fields are sown or being sown and will also bring about new life for the harvest.

Beltane is a fertility festival for all things and a celebration of the pleasures in life. It’s no wonder it falls in Taurus season. Dancing around the maypole is a common tradition now, symbolizing fertility, growth and the interconnectedness of all things (especially where the community is concerned). The colorful ribbons attached to the pole are held by dancers who’s movements around one another weave together a tapestry of vibrancy.

This is a beautifully symbolic tradition of how each of us come together to create a community of diversity and strength. On our own, our individuality is plain and singular but together we can create so much more.

In ancient pagan tradition, it was seen as the wedding and union of the god and goddess that brought forth all life. Sexuality and fertility are a big correspondence of the holiday and can be seen in many of it’s aspects. I could probably do a whole article/podcast episode on how taking the sexuality out of traditional celebrations has done us more harm than good culturally but I don’t think you came here for that.

On the wheel of the year calendar, it’s directly opposite of Samhain, or Halloween, therefore is the vibrational opposite of it. Whereas Samhain celebrates the end of the harvest, those who have passed, our ancestors and the darkness, Beltane celebrates the beginning of the harvest, light, life and birth. Both are associated with the thinning of the veil between this world and the next.

The Wheel of the Year is a beautiful representation of nature’s cyclical journey. It encompasses not just the changing seasons but also the inherent duality that exists within the natural world. Just as day gives way to night, and winter eventually surrenders to spring, the Wheel acknowledges both light and dark, life and death.Light and dark, death and life, are not separate entities but 2 sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other. We wouldn’t understand the vibrant beauty of life without knowing the cold darkness of death and winter. We spend a lot of time these days trying to avoid the dark sides of life and for it, have created an unbalance within ourselves.

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