Wheel of the Year

Beltane

Welcome to the days of the sap rising, of the flowers blooming and the mead free-flowing from the horns of plenty all around. Welcome to the magnificent fertility festival that is Beltane!

I will get into the magics of it in a moment, but I will have to explain a few things before I start! First of all, Beltane is a season, and for different groups and tribes in the Northern Hemisphere, the way to celebrate and even the date to celebrate is slightly different (or completely, depending on how divisive one is attempting to be). 

This is because in the British Isles and other parts of Europe, where the tradition began, there were many groups throughout many centuries which had their own ritual in itself. This is why the four Celtic nations celebrate differently from each other and why the Nordic tribes also have their own ways to observe the fertility rituals. This is also why some places have a mixture of traditions which have become a tradition in itself.

The technicalities of each one of those celebrations has been explored extensively by many prominent historians, anthropologists and of course, esoteric researchers, so I will only talk briefly about the origins of the Beltane rituals before moving on to present day celebrations.

So, Beltane is a fertility ritual, and as I'm sure we all know by now, fertility comes in all shapes and forms! In nature it's about the planting of the seeds, of the growth of a new being, of creatures, plants and beings multiplying and populating ecosystems. The folks of yore would probably have taken a while to understand the process of human reproduction through the act of sex, but just take a moment to imagine their surprise, their awe, when they connected two and two and realised that the new human beings that randomnly popped out of women did not just  appear there without reason, but that after they actually came to be after a man and a woman had sex! I have to admit that I would love to see what those first reactions were like, and to behold what it truly meant for the members of the tribe when they figured that out. Beltane, as a fertility ritual, celebrates Masculinity and Femininity in their full power, as well as their union in sacred marriage. Beltane invites us to celebrate our bodies without shame, and to manifest our own Masculinity and Femininity through our ritualistic work and our magic. It also invites us to celebrate the union and balance of Masculinity and Femininity *inside* each one of us, reminding us all that they both exist within us and that it's healthy to work with both. Also, as contradictory as it sounds, the balance is rarely 50/50, so it's always good to check and see which one you need more for any given situation. Even more so, this in itself has nothing to do with gender identity or with biological sex & gender. The concepts of Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine are ancient and more magical than a lot of people give them credit for, and the work we each do with them, be it through the Archetypes or any other form of spiritual exploration, can be more healing than most people can imagine. Now, because so many tribes and cultures around the world actually acknowledged gender fluidity and hermaphroditic people, it's a fact that the fertility rituals were not always intended to make boxes into which the Masculine and Feminine had to fit into. There's the fact that for some tribes in the British Isles the Sacred Marriage was a ritual between the newly-appointed king and a priestess of the God or Goddess the tribe venerated; there's also the fact that for some Celtic tribes the new king was not the son of the previous king but the best warrior, appointed by the old king when they felt their time was coming; even further than that, there's also the fact that in some cases, the best warrior was a woman, and thus the tribe had a queen appointed. Shakespeare's Macbeth, the legends of Boudicca, and some versions of the legends of King Arthur all have elements of this way of appointing leadership over the tribe; and in the case of King Arthur, both Queen Guinevere and Morgana have been acknowledged as a possible priestess by different researchers. The beauty of all this comes when we see that the Sacred Marriage was intended to ensure protection over the land! The king takes a vow to love and respect the land, and the queen in turn nourishes the land and ensures it's prosperity. Thus, when King Arthur and Guinevere marry, the land is protected and prosperous all around!

More examples abound, but I'm going to invite everyone to keep researching into it on your own time, and I'll jump straight into the two ways that I have become used to celebrate it in Glastonbury, where I've made my home and fruitful life: May Day and Dragons Day.

May Day is the glorious day in which we all dance around the Maypole after the May Queen finds the May King and they marry. For many it's still considered a "Catholic" tradition, even though the Catholic church banned it many decades ago because of its sexual nature... Sure, sure, the Catholic church unstated it over 500 years ago, but it was only to keep the Pagans happy and to get them to do what they wanted, as was their colonialism tactic... Then they kind of realised that they had been allowing a giant penis to go into a giant vegina, and *gasp* for children to dance around it holding ribbons! Yep, the Maypole is literally sex. For many centuries it has been a bit of a "you need to learn how to properly dance around the Maypole" kind of event, but for the most part instructions have been set aside and people just dance freely around it. For quite a while there has also been the tradition of catching the eye of the one you fancy and heading out into the woods to perform a woodland marriage - thus in the past there could also be the situation of presenting a child born out of an observation of the Morn of May and the child then being taken into account by the father, or at least not being mistreated as a "fatherless" child if the actual father was not around anymore. Today May matchings are of course still a thing, but for the most part, couples who come together, or choose to marry on this season are bound to have a prosperous and very fertile partnership, as they have taken into themselves the balance of the Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine - or at least have achieved a healthy enough balance which will strengthen their relationship. Many prefer to celebrate their union with a Handfasting, a traditional celebration of the old ways, which some have even chosen to have fully performed when they are the May Queen and King (or the Summer King and Queen, depending on which tradition they are following).

In Glastonbury, the Maypole celebrations are observed primarily by this phenomenal group of people called The Lords of the Wildwood, who are a collection of forest managers and ritualistic observers of diverse disciplines. Year after year they take care of the Maypole with the most loving care and scientific rigour - they do a year-long ritual with the Maypole, every single step being of magical importance and formatted to comply with forest management rules to keep the tree and forest patch healthy and growing efficiently. And every year different people take it upon themselves to take part in the ceremony in the best way they can - provided they understand that they're doing magical work for the community and thus what they embody will be sent out to the world through the magic of the ceremony; and every year the names of the May Queen and King are drawn from a hat (previously put there by all the interested parties, of course!). The Beltane May Day celebrations in Glastonbury are a great joy to behold and to take part on, as the Green Men take the Maypole up Bushy Coombe and the Sacred Marriage is performed in the form of a Handfasting before we all take the ribbons and dance, with the Tor to one side and our beautiful town to the other!

Flowers, bright colours, headdressess and music flow freely during the day and often into the night! For many it's a glorious celebration eagerly awaited throughout the year, and for many it's a favourite holiday! People from all over the world have come in pilgrimage for over ten years, the numbers growing every time. With this in mind, the magic woven, and the blessings, protection and prosperity provided by the Sacred Marriage, expands to the rest of the world, as visitors return each to their homes. This year it was just as fascinating and wondrous, and oh how proud the community should feel about the magic they weave together each time!

I had the luck of being the May Queen a couple of years ago, with my dear husband by my side as May King. From personal experience, and from how I've seen friends enjoy being the May couple as well, I'd happily recommend everyone who wishes to put their names in the hat to do so for next year! Just imagine - the magic that you weave with your union would be sent out to the community, blessing it with fertility and creativity and prosperity and love!

As for some Beltane falls on the first New Moon of May, for others Beltane has an Astrological time that has to do with the position of Taurus, and for others May Day is the first Monday of May, diverse members of the community go to other places to celebrate (Cornwall, Stonehenge Wales, Edinburgh, Averbury, Devon, etc.), but in Glastonbury we have yet another celebration  which observes the Astrological position and takes advantage of the Bank Holiday at the same time - a wonderful new tradition which the Glastonbury Dragons (CIC) have so fantastically created for the community and visitors alike. With a combination of mythical aspects of Beltane - the Red and White Dragons from Arthurian lore, which symbolise the two opposite forces of life: Winter and Summer, the eternal dance of life and death, the realms of each that the Fair Folk govern, and also more recently, the ley lines of Michael and Mary (Magdalene) - and the eternal love triangle made up by Gwynn ap Nudd, Creiddylad and Gwythyr ap Greidawl which is always organised and performed by Shadow of the Tor Ltd as ritual theatre during the celebrations at the bottom of the Tor, after guiding the Dragons to that spot. Shadow of the Tor Ltd also prepare and perform the ceremony on Samhain, the perfect opposite of Beltane (as I said: the eternal dance of life and death!). This year, as always, the Dragons wowed the crowds as they led them to the Tor, Gwynn passed on his crown to Gwythir at the Fairfields, and the Elementals were aknowledged to provide the crowds with blessings, protection and prosperity. This year there was also a sacred marriage between King Arthur and Guinevere, ensuring thus an even greater amount of blessings, protection and prosperity unto our community, and by extension, the world, as visitors return towards their homes.

Just before I finish, though, I wish to add just one more note: fertility comes in all shapes and forms, as I said earlier, thus all types of creativity are blessed and enhanced during this festival, especially if the couple who are joining have a deep and real connection, and/or a great creative project to pursue.

So, my friends, this is Beltane, and this is why I feel si proud to celebrate it, to be as much a part of all the celebrations as I can each time, and why I feel so proud and satisfied of my Pagan path!

May the blessings of the May be upon one and all!

Today, depending on the hour, is, has been or will be, the Equinox. The Spring Equinox, to be more specific, in the Northern Hemisphere, where I was born, raised and have lived my whole life. I have not been lucky enough to go to the Southern Hemisphere yet, where the opposite applies in terms of seasons, of course. I'm lucky enough to know many people who at this point are celebrating the Autumn Equinox.

To follow up on the Wheel of the Year, though, I will speak briefly about the Spring Equinox. It has a very beautiful symbolism, as it literally means Equal: equal night and equal day. That's why it depends on where in the world we are, as the hour that marks the equinox will depends on when those twelve hours of day will be exactly the same as those twelve hours of night... It's a phenomenon that happens only twice a year and still conjures up feelings of hope and joy, of having reached a cusp of sorts, and for many, of balance and contentment.

For us at the Northern Hemisphere the days will get longer and longer until we reach the Summer Solstice and then the light begins to fade again... For psychological ends, the absolute existence of light makes a big difference to those who have been engulfed in the darkness for too long. For magical purposes, in most Pagan traditions, the Spring Equinox signifies expansion, growth, full and energetic awakening. The Earth is now blooming again, full of colours and wondrous creatures - full of warmth, even, for those who live in the areas of the planet where the heat returns first.

Imagine being a part of the Earth as this joyful celebration happens around you: laughter, dancing, maybe a fire and Meeeead going round; music, drumming, singing and chanting, and someone doing poetry for the night and day becoming friends... And you, as this patch of the Earth, feel their vibrations flowing through you... The vibrations of their feet, of their drums and instruments, of their voices, of their souls...

Image you could grow flowers and grass and trees, and give shade to these lively folks; image you could let them know where to find water, or shelter or food... Imagine you are being taken care of, acknowledged by this noble folks, and respected, celebrated and restored!

The Equinoxes always serve to remind us that everything on this world is ultimately and intrinsically connected, and that one thing could not exist without another that came before it - the World, and life itself, expands eternally and evolves in response to what we do. The Spring Equinox brings the message of birth, of germinating and rebirth. Trees grow back their leaves, birds go on a nest-building frenzy, and cats find better spots in the Sun to curl up in.

Oh, come on, as if we didn't know that I was going to figure out how to bring cats in!

The Spring Equinox is also a very stark reminder that Nature doesn't need US to replenish - so, as we celebrate it, let's be very conscious of this. Our planet, lovingly interconnected, intrinsically always in flow. The Spring Equinox reminds us of equality, balance and hope.

Equinox blessings to all,

Sandra Cole ~ Actress, Model, Writer, Witch

Imbolc: the flames of healing and creativity united

Welcome to my Clarity Found Wheel of the Year! Today we celebrate Imbolc – February Eve - the time of year for new beginnings, the time of year when the slate is washed clean so that we can all have a new chance for betterment; the time of year we’re all reminded of the rose sleeping underneath the bitter snow, still in the form of a seed waiting to be reborn…

I decided to begin the Wheel of the Year at Imbolc because it represents a new beginning in every aspect of my life: as a writer, as a healer, as a seeker, as a woman.  It’s at Imbolc when the Winter energy rises to its highest point, the energy of rebirth after we’ve let go of everything  that was not useful to us anymore way back on Halloween – Samhain to Pagan groups.  Imbolc represents a light source in many senses, because it is also the time when Winter begins to fade away and Spring begins to take its place, even though there are still some weeks left until the Spring Equinox.  But it’s like that with energy, you see, because not everything has a specific beginning or ending in life, not even birth or death!

What do I mean by this? Think about it: when a relationship ends, there has been a period of weeks, months, and in some cases even years while that relationship has been deteriorating; just as when a body is dying, there usually happens to be a period of illness that will eventually come to stop the body’s life (the exception to this case being sudden, tragic accidents, but who even knows what ongoing series of events could have caused those?).  No, I’m not starting with the negative to make anybody fearful or to moralize – although, sometimes things have to end so that something new and bright can start, and that is the lesson of Winter.  Still, not every ending is negative, is it? What about Graduation?  It is the main achievement from doing any sort of studies, and at the same time, it began as soon as you started those studies: it’s an ongoing process of decisions and actions taken towards that goal.  I could continue with examples of the sort: leaving a job for whatever reason, selling a house where you’ve lived in all your life, realising you don’t enjoy a hobby as much as you used to do, etc., but I’d rather bring about the counterparts of the examples already given.

When a relationship starts, there is always a certain amount of time passed before the couple decide to be officially together, be it a few glorious weeks of friendship or dating, or that they knew each other as toddlers at preschool and suddenly met again eighteen years later at University, with every other possibility in-between those two extremes; the choice to be together depends on the mixture of factors that made the couple realise they are happy to be together.  Same as when a baby is born: it´s not about the nine months of pregnancy, not even about the moment of conception!  There is that moment of choice previous to that: the decision to have a baby with your partner, the decision not to use protection (out of carelessness or love, from either the male or female; there is no difference for this example because the outcome is the same), the decision to go for it now because the clock is ticking and you’d rather do it on your own that keep waiting for a partner, the decision to go for surrogacy in case of infertility or same-sex partnership (the baby will not be born from them, but the choice is made in any case), etc.

The decision to get really drunk and careless is also a matter of choice – even those things that seem positive (birth, as opposed to death), can have their dark side.  But even then, there is always the choice to look at the outcome with love and gratitude; not everyone is just as able and happy to do so, but that’s when the healing process comes in, for those who choose to follow that path. 

It’s the same with the studies: starting high school, university, postgrads, etc, is always a matter of choice, they all begin even before the course starts, because of the preparation put behind choosing the right school, the right subjects, the right teachers, etc.  And in the same way, when a job ends, a better one can start; when an activity is not enjoyed anymore, a new one fills its space in time; and when a house is sold, a new life begins in another part of the city, country, or even world!

The main thing to consider here is that, even though it may not always be entirely up to us that the change is made, there is always a possibility of making the best of things; when it is something that we’ve made the choice to do, even though it may seem negative in the beginning, there is always the chance to rejoice in it, because everything that ends gives us the chance to look for something brighter and fresher to begin…  And every new beginning is a chance for us to fulfil the reasons why we went for that new thing in the first place…!

So, back to Imbolc and why it is so beautiful for me to have this new beginning today: it is so because today Bride is celebrated, the Celtic Goddess whose fire was the fire of creativity and healing, responsible for rekindling the earth during the early spring, and the body so that healing can take place, as well as the heart so that poetry and song can be either created or appreciated, or both!  So brave seekers, welcome Imbolc into your hearts and souls, let the rising light brought by Bride and her three fires rekindle you from the inside, use it to continue walking your path, and be prepared for the choices and new beginnings that lay ahead of you…!

Bright blessings!

Sandra Cole ≈ Writer, healer, seeker, lover