Category: Sabbats

Blossoming In The Beltane Reunion

A story by Calista Moon on .

My darlings! May we be well met as we come up on the third Sabbat of the year. The Beltane celebration starts on April 30th, the same day the new moon settles in Taurus. We’ve talked about the way the energy of the new moon is ideal for manifesting, so I want to focus on the lively energy of Beltane in this post. Before we get too deep into it though, here are some reminders for how to connect to the black moon.

Take some time to clean your altar. If you’re celebrating Beltane, you may be doing this anyway to harness the high energy in the air, but the new moon is a time for fresh starts. For my little rock goblins, selenite, clear quartz, labradorite, tiger’s eye, and tiger iron are great manifesting and new moon connecting stones. Cinnamon brings abundance, luck, and prosperity. Mugwort awakens psychic gifts and banishes negative energies. Basil is a great protection and wealth herb as well. I associate all three of these with the new moon, bringing in fresh new opportunity and pushing out old energy. Green would be a great color to add and really bring in that fresh spring feeling as well!

Now let’s talk about Beltane! I don’t know about you, but this is what I’ve been waiting for since the weather turned cold. Beltane is the halfway mark between the Spring Equinox (Ostara) and the Summer Solstice (Litha). It is the height of the Spring season, and is still celebrated today as May Day in a lot of areas. Originally it was a Celtic fire festival, like Imbolc, and, like Imbolc, is celebrated from sundown to sundown. So Beltane will last from sundown on April 30th until sundown on May 1st. A couple large differences between Beltane and Imbolc is both the weather and the role that sexuality plays in this Sabbat. If we look to nature, we see attraction and babies everywhere at this time of year, and we use that energy to our benefit as well. Birds hatch, flowers bloom, and it’s even said that the Fae reawaken during Beltane. In some cultures the Fae and the May Queen are tied closely to Beltane, but I’ll let our Master Librarian fill you in on that. I’m sure she has far more knowledge than I do in that realm.

During the day, Beltane celebrations would start with people decorating their doors, windows, and livestock with yellow and white flowers, symbols of the sun and its promise of fertility, positivity, and abundance. A maypole would be erected with ribbons attached to the top. Young men and women would then grab a ribbon and dance around the pole, interweaving their ribbons together. Handfasting ceremonies would take place during Beltane to insure abundant fortune for young couples. There is even something called a May Bush, which is much like a Christmas tree! A thorn bush, or sometimes just a branch, would be decorated with ribbons, brightly colored shells, and rushlights. I had to look that last one up myself as I’d never heard of rushlights until I started looking into the history of Beltane. They are rushes that have been soaked in animal fat to act as small torches. (If you want to decorate a May bush this year, use smart fire safety, my darlings. String lights, fairy lights, what have you, may be more modern, but they are much more practical and safe than rushlights in this day and age.)

As night would fall, the Beltane fire was stoked, and all other flames would be extinguished. Candles, hearths, what have you, would go dark and be rekindled with the Beltane flame to protect the home and bless it with abundance. People would dance around the Beltane fire, and young couples would leap over the embers to in hopes of abundant love and fertility. Some would use the flames to create a smudge stick of sorts and let the smoke cleanse their homes and cattle, or even drive the cattle to leap over the fire itself in hopes of protecting the herd and bringing prosperity and abundance. The next morning many would roll in the morning dew as they believed it to increase beauty and maintain youth. A Beltane rain is said to cleanse and bring blessings of radiance, warmth, and abundance as well.

From a deity perspective, Beltane is the reunion of the Green Man and Mother Earth. Now that she has fully awoken after her long sleep and the Green Man has come of age in the cycle of the year, they embrace and express their love in the green and growing places. This is part of where the maypole came from. It is a phallic representation pushed into the earth, the joining of the Green Man and Mother Earth. As the ribbons intertwine and sheathe the maypole, it becomes the womb of the earth, full of life and potential, bringing kind weather and fertile land for crops. The Green Man is an ambiguous title for Mother Earth’s lover, and he can take many forms. In the Celtic pantheon he is the horned god Cernunnos, but this is a time when you can work with any fertility gods or goddesses. And remember as you harness this energy for growth that this is also the time of the New Moon, a powerful time to manifest!

So how do we celebrate now? While a lot of these rituals still take place today, such as the maypole and fire festivals, we can do a number of different things. As usual, whatever feels right to you is the way to celebrate, but here are some ideas and how I intend to bask in the new life around us. Take what resonates and leave what doesn’t, my darlings.

We’ve talked about making a ritual fire and decorating a May bush. You can make your own Maypole with a good stick, colorful ribbons, some fragrant herbs or flowers, and even tying on a crystal to decorate your altar. Making a fairy garden, or sowing new seeds in a plant garden are great ways to represent the rebirth in the air! You can also visit and decorate a nearby spring or well for the occasion and bless the waters there. If you’re looking to harness the sexual nature of this Sabbat, try cooking a meal with your lover and using aphrodisiacs to ramp up the desire between you like the Green Man and Mother Earth.

Personally I will be partaking in quite a few of these rituals! I love this time of year. Usually I spend time outside with nature appreciating the greenery, which is also a lovely way to honor the earth. However after researching the history of this Sabbat, I feel inspired to tackle traditional methods of celebration. I entirely intend to make a ritual fire and dance around it like the wild woman I am. I also want to decorate the rose bush in my front yard and lay out some offerings for the Fae and one of my deities, Persephone, who happens to be a fertility goddess. If I can find myself a good and hardy stick, I want to try my hand at making a maypole for my altar, which itself needs a good clean.

Oh! Let’s talk about rocks and plants! Two of my favorite topics, you know. Being all about sun and growth, Beltane’s associated colors are white, yellow, red, pink, and green. Some crystals to add to your workings or altar right now are Carnelian, for creativity and passion, Emerald, for luck and prosperity, Rose Quartz for love in all its forms, and Malachite, the stone of transformation, for courage and clearing negativity. Good herbs to throw into your cauldron or ritual fire are Yarrow for healing, love, and protection, Mint to symbolize personal strength and virtue, Lilac for high self-esteem and confidence, and Frankincense to cultivate inner peace and purification. If you’re one to make offerings to the earth, deities, Fae, or anyone else, cherries and peaches are wonderful choices during Beltane. Cherries represent sensuality and the elixir of life, while peaches are associated with perpetual vitality and satisfaction.

Once my altar has been decorated for the Beltane season, I will pick up the journaling I did during the Pink moon. Remember how we talked about the cosmic energy of the Pink moon was preparing us for this New moon? I suggested and embraced shadow work around the passion of my spirit, what brings me energy, and what stops me from engaging in these fulfilling activities. I have spent the past few weeks working to incorporate my soul fire into my daily life and I want to continue this work, so I intend to sit down in my cleansed space and meditate. What would my life look like if my spiritual garden burst fully into bloom? If every dream I have opened to my soul’s flame, like flowers spreading their gorgeous delicate petals to the sun? How would my soul, my body, my mind feel in this harmony? I will hold and charge a talisman with this passion and flow, and carry it with me. I’ll spend some time journaling about what this projected passionate life looks like on a day to day basis. Remember to stay realistic in your vision. Contentment and discipline stay when motivation and passion wane.

With my meditation complete, I will head outside to stoke my ritual fire. Once it’s burning brightly like the fulfillment of my future, I’ll recite this invocation. I found it during my research and tweaked it to suit my own intentions and ritual.

The Beltane Fire sends its flames to the sun
The promise of summer warmth to come
The Horned God dances through the green,
Chasing after his Goddess and Queen

The Earth Mother laughs with joy
That her young consort is no longer a boy
Their sacred marriage empowers the earth
As we seek their blessings of love and mirth

New spring blossoms clean and bright
Clarity grows in the gathering light
Now is the time for action and life
To fertilize plans and banish strife

Father Sun and Mother Moon
Whose balance keeps life in tune
Bless us as we thrive, grow, and dance
In the beautiful universe expanse.

Dance free across the Beltane fire
Let the ashes raise you higher
‘Neath the moon, now dark and new
The Greatest Good come swift to you!

And so it is. And so it is. And so it is. Blessed be.

And then…we dance! Dancing isn’t for everyone, but I like to think of it as moving in time with the cosmic flow. However you move is the best way to move. Let your body guide you, it knows where it wants to go, and the universe will love however you move! Think of this aligned future you’re manifesting and the bright fulfillment you desire; that you deserve! Send the energy of your dance up with the flames to shift the machinations of the universe to your dreams. When I feel my future has been solidly rooted, done and dusted, I’ll sit and buzz in the thrum of the energy I’ve raised until the fire dies.

In the morning, I’ll go roll in my yard and scare my good suburban neighbors as I embrace the morning dew with affirmations of beauty, vitality, and the fact that we must grow old, but no one must grow up. Being young at heart is a quality I hold dear, and rolling around in the grass is a great way to engage your inner child. Playing is so important, my darlings. I hope you let yourself play and cut loose this weekend as you celebrate however you like! Blessings and fortune be upon you!

A Spring Story for Ostara

A story by Calista Moon on .

Happy Ostara, my darlings! Spring is here! With intermittent cold spells and buckets of rain to soak the earth, the planet is revived! Like I said in my Worm Moon blog, this is my favorite time of year, so I’ll do my best to keep this shorter than normal. I could talk about the Spring Equinox for hours! This Sabbat covers several days, from roughly March 19th to March 23rd every year. Globally the first day of Spring is considered to be March 20th, which also happens to be my birthday! So I’m going to indulge myself and share a spring myth that most people know bits and pieces of.

Now, there are a lot of myths in a lot of pantheons and cultures regarding the changing of the seasons, but lately the story of Hades and Persephone has been growing in popularity, at least in America. If you’ve heard of the web comic Lore Olympus, or the musical Hadestown, you’ll also know that the tale of Persephone’s abduction has been incredibly romanticized. I want to talk about the basics of this myth today and I will do my best to keep it simple. The Greek pantheon is my personal focus. I’ve been obsessed with Persephone since I was a little girl, so the names are familiar to me, but I’ll do my best to break it down for you in an easy to understand way.

Let’s start with our characters for this tale. We have Persephone, the Goddess of Grain and Vegetation, and her devoted mother Demeter, Goddess of Agriculture and the Harvest. Another big player, of course, is Hades, King of the Underworld, God of the Dead and Riches, as well as his brother Zeus, King of the Gods and God of the Sky, Lightning, Thunder, Law, and Justice. In addition we have an appearance by Helios, the personification of the Sun, and Hecate, the Goddess of Boundaries, Crossroads, Witchcraft, and Ghosts. An important note about Hecate is that she is often depicted carrying a pair of torches and a key. These will come into play later, I promise.

So what’s the base myth? Upon seeing her beauty, Hades was so taken by Persephone that he went to his brother, Zeus, who also happened to be Persephone’s father, and asked for Zeus’ blessing in taking Persephone for his wife. Zeus knew that Demeter was incredibly protective of Persephone and would be hard pressed to allow Hades to take her to the Underworld, so he granted Hades permission to abduct Persephone without Demeter’s knowledge. Overjoyed, Hades came up from the Underworld through a giant crack in the earth and swept up Persephone as she was gathering flowers.

Imagine Demeter’s heartache when she realized her beloved daughter had disappeared. She enlisted the help of Hecate to search for Persephone, traversing all the crossroads and searching the darkest places with her torches. As the search dragged on, and Demeter’s despair grew, she neglected the earth and crops wilted. Famine spread with Demeter’s attention fixed elsewhere, and anguished cries of the people were raised to the other gods of Olympus. Helios, who towed the sun across the sky, had seen Hades abduct Persephone and eventually told Demeter where she could find her daughter.

Meanwhile, Zeus heard the cries of the people, and saw the barren land that threatened the end of all things. He sent word to the Underworld for Hades to return Persephone at once to restore balance. Hades agreed under the terms that Persephone had eaten nothing while in his care, for that would tie her to his realm. This is where the story diverges in its many retellings. One version says that Hades tricked Persephone into eating six pomegranate seeds, binding her to the Underworld for 6 months out of every year. Another version says that Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds willingly in secret, insuring that she would spend half of the year with the King of the Underworld.

With the knowledge of her future tied to the God of the Dead, she returned to her mother’s arms. Demeter was so overjoyed, that the earth burst forth with new growth and abundance. This is how Persephone became known as the Goddess of Spring. Her six months spent in the Underworld with her husband are when the land is dying and quiet, as Demeter mourns her daughter’s absence during Autumn and Winter. But with her return, comes Demeter’s delight and as such, the planet grows new and lush for six months of Spring and Summer.

There you have it! The myth of Persephone’s abduction. Not quite as romantic as recent retellings would have us think, although I like to think that, if no love existed between the Hades and Persephone at the beginning, perhaps it’s grown with time. And there’s plenty more to Persephone’s tale, of course. After marrying Hades she became known as “dread Persephone”; Queen of the Underworld, Goddess of the Dead, Life, and Destruction, but this particular story is pertinent because Ostara is about celebrating the Spring Equinox. Therefore, if you subscribe to such things as I do, the Queen of the Underworld is returning to us for six months to embrace her mother and tend to her original realm as Goddess of Grain and Vegetation.

I know this has gotten long, so I won’t be going into step by step detail for how to celebrate this Sabbat. However, I do want to reference the Worm Moon blog one more time. I left you with the question “What do you want to grow? What needs weeded out of your life to make room for that growth?” That’s what I want you to think of my dears. What does your life look like on this new path? Connect to the newly awakened earth Connect to the full moon. Steady, hardworking, reliable Virgo’s effect on the Worm Moon is the perfect time to shift into a new stage of your life, plant seeds for yourself, and harness the potential of the earth buzzing beneath our feet as Persephone returns! It’s supposed to rain here this weekend. You bet I’ll be dancing in it and visualizing the success of my spiritual garden! What feels fresh and new to you? How can you welcome the opportunities that are beating down your door? Listen. You’ll hear them! Blessed Ostara!

In the Belly of Imbolc

A story by Calista Moon on .

Merry meet, my darlings! I hope this post finds you all ready for some real manifesting power! “Calista, whatever do you mean?” Well you see, since I put together that walk through of how I celebrate the Full Wolf Moon, I thought it might be nice to do a walkthrough of how I connect to the New Moon as well. It’s the perfect time for manifesting and opening yourself to opportunity and change. As I looked over my calendar, I realized that the next New Moon falls on February 1st, which also happens to be the Sabbat (or witch’s holiday) of Imbolc in the Northern Hemisphere! (In the Southern Hemisphere, our brothers and sisters are celebrating Lughnasadh right now.) That being the case, I think I’ll save the focus of manifesting at the New Moon for a post in March and focus on Imbolc’s parallel manifesting energies as we see the very first signs of spring’s return! As most of us know, research is the heart of witchcraft. What do we do for Imbolc? Why do we do that? Where did it start? What does it *mean*?  I don’t know nearly everything, but let me share the knowledge I do have!


Imbolc marks the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Historically, this was one of the hardest times of the year. It still is if you ask me. It’s bitterly cold, it’s still dark early in the evening, and before the technological boom, food reserves would start to run thin around this time of year. But there were signs that spring was on her way! Lambs and calves start being born around this time, making milk a plentiful dietary staple. Wild garlic starts poking it’s little leaves out through the cold dirt and snow. As one of the first flowers of the year, snowdrops start showing themselves and their elegant petals. The first stirrings of life are moving in the earth. This is what Imbolc means in Old Irish; in the belly. It’s a time of transition and starting fresh, as well as connecting to the feminine energy surrounding growth and creation. 


TRADITIONAL CELEBRATION
Now, the Irish people would recognize the signs of winter nearing its end and hold a festival to the goddess Brigid. Brigid is the goddess of fire and blacksmithing, fertility rites, poetry, springs and wells, and prophecy. She is said to be sister to the Fae and daughter of Dagda, the oldest of the Celtic pantheon known as the Tuatha de Dannan. She is often represented by sheep or lambs since they were the first signs of warmth to come. You see, Brigid being the goddess of fire and fertility was believed to both keep the hearth warm in the frigid, late winter months, and promised a strong crop to take root that year as long as she was properly paid tribute. So roughly 6 weeks after the Winter Solstice, the Imbolc celebration began. 


The people would engage in a kind of spring cleaning of their homes and fires would be stoked all over to invite back the warmth and light of the sun, as well as in tribute to the goddess. Some people would even use the fire to divine the coming year by channeling Brigid through fire scrying. They would feast on Colcannon, which is a mixture of greens, potatoes, and butter. They devoured apple cakes, tea, and barmbrack. Roughly translated from Old Irish barmbrack means, “speckled loaf” which makes sense once you know what it is. Barmbrack is a cinnamon flavored bread with raisins scattered throughout, and was served with fresh butter.  Fires and abundant feasting are the staples of a pagan celebration! In addition to these well-known methods, they would make little dolls or effigies of Brigid and lay them in baskets next to the hearth fire as a place for her to stay and watch over the home to make sure it remained warm.


Before the Catholic conversion, there was a tradition of using dried reeds to make “Brigid’s cross” to honor her presence and let her know she was welcome. This is still a practice done in Ireland, though it is now attributed to St. Brigid. After Christianity took Ireland by storm, the goddess was demoted to a saint and was given a human life story. Her life included extensive knowledge of agriculturally savvy techniques at a young age, and a close friendship with St. Patrick. One can safely assume this was done to make the transition from paganism to Christianity smoother, as is often historically done during forced religious conversions. However the annual fire festival in Ireland and the making of Brigid’s cross are still practiced today. They serve as small reminders of a time before, when humans were more tightly bound to the earth, her spirits, and her seasons.


MODERN CELEBRATION
Today, modern witches and pagans of the Celtic pantheon hold onto some of these traditions. We still love a good fire and feast, and connecting to the earth and the cycle of the seasons is something most witches can get behind. I like to light up every room in the house on February 1st at sundown to welcome back the sun and the earth from her winter rest. I’ll turn lights on in the rooms I don’t spend much time in, but the main rooms I inhabit, I’ll light candles in. I’ll clean off my altar and put out some sun symbols, citrine and sunstone, and maybe a few silk flowers. Red, white, and orange are colors associated with this time of year, so if you want to decorate your altar and home with those, as well, it’s a bright arrangement! Some people will make entire flower crowns for Brigid complete with greenery, ribbons, and candles! If you decide to do so, I would suggest keeping the Imbolc altar somewhere easily accessible if possible. That way you are reminded of the life and potential to come regularly. This reminder helps keep me on track to my goals.


I like to take some time to meditate on the awakening of the earth and align myself with my goals. Read over recent journaling and make sure I’m still on the path. This year I intend to write a poem about my goals and leave it on the altar for Brigid along with my pomegranate seedlings before making a big fire in the yard. This will be my first big fire now that I finally *have* a yard and I’ve very excited! Some people will spend their meditative time planning what to grow in their gardens in the coming year. Although, if you’re looking for a simpler way to celebrate, try going out for a hike in the evening and appreciate the lengthening days. If you want to connect to Brigid, maybe stop by a pond or well and leave an offering. Make a Brigid’s cross or a corn doll to leave on your hearth. I don’t personally have a hearth, but if I were to make a corn doll for her, I’d leave it in a basket by the stove. If you’re doing any specific manifestation workings this Sabbat, remember that cinnamon stick is a powerful abundance and prosperity tool, and green aventurine is wonderful for conjuring. 


There are so many ways to celebrate this exciting time of year. The air is brimming with potential! Especially with a new moon falling on this same day. Channel those manifesting energies, my darlings, and celebrate in a way that feels right for your practice! Blessed Imbolc to all of you!