October 31st southern hemisphere beltaine

October 31^st ….Beltane (not Halloween for us!)

End of April/ beginning of May in the Northern Hemisphere

End of October/ beginning of November in the Southern Hemisphere

The Wheel of the Year is a symbol and calendar for the cycle of the seasons. It consists of eight festivals, spaced at approximately even intervals throughout the year.

As the Wheel originates in the Northern Hemisphere in the Southern Hemisphere we will advance these dates six months so as to coincide with the natural seasons as they occur here. For instance, an Australian Pagan may celebrate Beltane on the 31st, when an American Pagan is celebrating Samhain.

Beltane honours Life. It represents the crowning of Spring and the beginning of Summer. Earth energies are at their strongest and most active. All of life is bursting with potent fruitfulness. As such this is a brilliant moment in the Wheel of the Year to bring ideas, hopes and dreams into action. And to have some fun.....

This holiday includes traditions from the Gaelic Bealtaine, such as the bonfire, but it heeds to traditions found in the Germanic May Day festival as well, both in its significance (focusing on fertility) and its rituals (such as May pole dancing)!

Beltane is basically a Fire Festival. The word 'Beltane' originates from the Celtic God 'Bel', meaning 'the bright one' and the Gaelic word 'teine' meaning fire. Together they make 'Bright Fire', or 'Goodly Fire' and traditionally bonfires were lit to honour the Sun and encourage the support of Bel and the Sun's light to foster the emerging future harvest and safeguard the community.

As Beltane is the Great Wedding of the Goddess and the God, Earth and Sun, it was and for some of us still is…a popular time for weddings or Handfastings, a traditional promise for 'a year and a day' after which the couple would either choose to stay together or part without reproach. Another common element of this is 'jumping the broomstick' - The broom marks a 'threshold', moving from an old life to a fresh one.

Jumping or leaping the fire, or broomstick is also about encouraging the growth of the harvest... folk believed that the higher they jumped the higher the crops grew!!

For us in the modern world, it can be a celebration of nurturing our own  soon to be harvest on many levels…we are called to assess what we are caring for and growing in our own lives and how we are doing this! We can put energy and passion into that which we love and choose to see manifest in a wonderful way in our lives! We can renew our vows to a loved one, our promises to ourselves and feed our desires for our future with inspiration and light! We can give energy to seeds we have planted both literally and metaphorically!

Light candles, have a small fire (where this is allowed), feast, dance, sing, drum, Jump a broom, and play joyful games, at best we can celebrate the happiness of being alive!

Meditation moments: Spring/Summer Meditations

Each of nature’s seasons contains unique calming and invigorating energy and you can learn how to use it.

For example, Spring and Summer is a period that is all about robust energy and creating abundance. You can use its high energy to help focus on, expand and harmonize the pieces of your life. If you are feeling in a rut, this cycle’s spiralling energy is there to help you out.

Start today. A good place to start is to step back and make yourself aware of how this season’s energy presents itself in your external environment and within yourself. Observe what new elements of your life are taking shape and which fit into your goals and desires and which you’d like to grow to their fullest. Prune those that present themselves as dysfunctional. Make yourself aware of what scenery, sounds, scents and so on in the natural environment have a calming, introspective or an energizing effect on you. Focus on the abundance of light. Commit it to memory. Meditate on this quality. Identify something in your life you want to change. Use your summer’s surging energy to get you there. Make a list of ways you can begin to put that change into motion. Stay positive. Start right away. Stay on track. Stay balanced.