The pagan festival of Beltan is nearly here and with it, is the celebration of fertility. One of the eight sabbats, it lies between the spring equinox and the summer solstice. I guess pagans like to party.
This festival is especially symbolic of burning fires, so burn the old and in with the new. Great bonfires would be lit to symbolise purification and transition as the hope of bountiful harvests would be wished for in the coming year. Nothing says manifest like a bonfire.
Often this festival would be accompanied by protection rituals, that would be preformed to protect people against otherworldly spirits. Remember the spiritual veil is just as thin during the spring equinox as it is in the autumn.
The smoke and ashes from the flames were believed to have protective powers. People would leap over embers and through the smoke with the thought that they'd be protected against the evil spirits.
Yellow flowers were most symbolic, perhaps because they evoke the representation of fire. Head pieces would be made and worn, while fertility was thought to be amplified.
Besmirched later by the church who saw it more as a kind of orgy, the magic of Beltane was lost. Of course many children would arrive In February after this festival, so Aquarius and Pisces, you are prehaps the most pagan of all...
Wild Flowers
The light bearer,
Venus of violet Sympathies,
Cover in paler blue a garden,
In mourning.
Drain our energy,
And begin this March,
Spring up into the air,
Moving ribbon of indigo light,
In a morning of darkness spent.
Golden beauty,
With purest petals,
That sipped at lustrous,
Crimson ink,
From pools of colour,
Contained within,
A design of vivid splendour,
Where decadent pearls of blue,
Flash in the flicker light of creation.
Beloved heart of blackest coal,
That brightest yellow flames lick,
Bold scarlet flames burst out,
This beautiful form,
Lover of Persia,
Turkish Indulgence spent in awe,
At last a pleasure of Holland I see,
With those curves so bright,
Beltan is here with all it's might.
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