tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post878203947863131932..comments2023-12-05T12:30:24.167-05:00Comments on Unfettered Wood: Gaelic Polytheism & Folk Magic: Bealtaine GiveawayLaurelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04122549608166017767noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-58169401923335363572013-04-19T20:20:11.960-04:002013-04-19T20:20:11.960-04:00Every Bealtaine I normally walk around the edge of...Every Bealtaine I normally walk around the edge of the garden, saying hello to everything around me while stroking each plant, giving some reiki to each of them to help them grow a little bit better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-6273016874186389812013-04-17T08:26:34.710-04:002013-04-17T08:26:34.710-04:00This entry comes from Puck Morningstar (Brian Alli...This entry comes from Puck Morningstar (Brian Alliston):<br /><br />"Some members of my GLBT pagan group will be going on a camping trip. Men and women will hold rituals separately to honor the Horned Lord and Lady Green Gown. We will then come together to hold a feast and a bonfire."Laurelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04122549608166017767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-52444655691683658142013-04-17T08:18:03.650-04:002013-04-17T08:18:03.650-04:00This entry comes from Jill Snyder:
"I am new...This entry comes from Jill Snyder:<br /><br />"I am new to wicca and this is my first time celebrating the Beltane sabbat. We are having a fairy tea party with some friends and their children. We will be planting a garden for the goddess and for the fae."Laurelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04122549608166017767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-73267946130478047142013-04-15T09:16:56.496-04:002013-04-15T09:16:56.496-04:00For May Day I sing greetings to the rising sun and...For May Day I sing greetings to the rising sun and collect flowers to make crowns and wreaths. We also have a may pole on our property and have event with other witches.Selena MacKaynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-67352819376569041292013-04-14T10:07:33.660-04:002013-04-14T10:07:33.660-04:00My favorite Beltane activity is collecting dew in ...My favorite Beltane activity is collecting dew in the morning with my younger sisters. I told them about it once and they make me do it every year. It may turn into a water fight, but it's certainly a way to wake up!<br /><br />I also like making bannocks (or doing the best I can at making them) for after dinner snacks.<br /><br />As for superstitions, I won't deny that I might carry some iron with me on that day...K.A. Wyleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04050791571124128728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-81552390325101604562013-04-14T10:06:52.421-04:002013-04-14T10:06:52.421-04:00My favorite lore about Beltaine is the marriage or...My favorite lore about Beltaine is the marriage or courtship of the "May Queen" and the "King of the Forest". I'm not a practitioner of Wicca, but I've always loved this particular rite. I think it's because, for me, it harkens back to my favorite book of adolescence, The Mists of Avalon, in which The Virgin Huntress lays with the man who is able to kill the King's stag. I always loved that visual, that idea, and what it stood for. May is the time for the Earth to open up and become full of seed, it is the time of the Mother in my personal practice, and as such I love to sing a cradlesong when I transplant my seedlings into their beds. I've often given each plant a name, and am always amazed at how the named plants live on and on and come back year after year. Beltaine is my favorite holiday. Miller M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04781279530129682485noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-22108534815944781402013-04-09T17:43:58.195-04:002013-04-09T17:43:58.195-04:00At Beltane I clean my place outside. I always do t...At Beltane I clean my place outside. I always do that then because at night I will preform my ritual. Taking in all the fertility that the spring brings to my cold country. <br /><br />When its getting cold I will go inside and continue my ritual there by preforming a cleansing of the house.<br /><br />So thats my Beltane day/night )O(Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06658831824809888036noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-25255186978665193352013-04-01T13:33:38.885-04:002013-04-01T13:33:38.885-04:00Here in the north of Sweden, the spring is new at ...Here in the north of Sweden, the spring is new at Beltane, nothing is green yet; the earth has just woken... and during the days she sun is warming the earth, our bodies, letting us feel the temperature rising... we have had a long, dark cold winter but now it's time to wake up... the blood in my veins are getting warmer and I useally do a big house cleaning, then I collect beautiful branches and other pieces from nature, and place them with lots of fresh flowers (from the shop, as I said nothing grows here yet..)everywere in my home. And I do a ceremony to welcome the Lover Goddess, the Horned God, invites them to dance with me, to bring their fertile powers in to my life <3 I then make a fire down by the lake and jump over it, releasing all old energies, and often I make a mandorla-shaped figure with flowers on the ground, and rise a pole in it.. Life, lust and fertile energies has now return! Hail ad welcome, Goddess of Love! :))<br />// Lola RavenstarLola Ravenstarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-13446754539573614762013-03-31T12:42:10.684-04:002013-03-31T12:42:10.684-04:00Whenever I start planting, I always place a moss a...Whenever I start planting, I always place a moss agate in with each plant to help them grow better. I also sing to my plants and sing to their water. I feel like the joy in my voice will be carried into my plant water and nourish them from within.Rhihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02298929667654965183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-1254822939813353722013-03-30T08:00:06.767-04:002013-03-30T08:00:06.767-04:00This entry comes from Jenna:
"I'm a Hell...This entry comes from Jenna:<br /><br />"I'm a Hellenic Pagan. Whilst I don't consider myself Wiccan at all, I do honour the Wheel of the Year calendar as I simply don't understand enough about how the Athenian calendar system works... I'd like to think my Gods of choice understand. So for Beltane... it feels natural to honour Aphrodite. Especially by spending time tending to my garden. Homer tells us that where Aphrodite walks, flowers spring up under Her feet. In Athens, Aphrodite was worshipped in gardens, for She was a personification of the generative powers of nature. The best way to honour Her is simply to love. Self-love counts too. So whilst I'm out there removing any dead plants or tidying things up etc I actively visualise myself cutting ties to relationships or situations that are no longer good for me. As I care for my beloved "green babies" & pretty things up outside I thank Her for Her ongoing presence in my life & ask for Her continued blessing."Laurelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04122549608166017767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-22364026173037413502013-03-28T21:04:04.145-04:002013-03-28T21:04:04.145-04:00I spend most of my time outside on Bealtaine. I lo...I spend most of my time outside on Bealtaine. I love tending to my garden and being around nature. I love to grow herbs especially parsley and dill. I use those herbs in my salads. May is my birth month! I was born on Mother's Day. May is a time for nurturing. At night I might light a fire and enjoy the company of my husband and maybe make a s'more or two.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-26011054323038651182013-03-28T11:09:06.448-04:002013-03-28T11:09:06.448-04:00For Beltane I dress up my house with branches of f...For Beltane I dress up my house with branches of flowering hawthorn and I save some wood each year to start my fire the next Beltane. On this wood I will write things in my life that I want to get rid of or what I want to come into my life. When I was a kid I was told that on Beltane angels or fairies will grant you wishes when you blow on a dandelion. Deirdrenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-70837265519645947302013-03-28T05:16:47.210-04:002013-03-28T05:16:47.210-04:00I always sing to my plants when I water them or hu...I always sing to my plants when I water them or hum when I am doing my weeding. I grew up believing that made them grow better. Herthahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10959431865258195203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-47579674898983185552013-03-28T01:13:18.800-04:002013-03-28T01:13:18.800-04:00My entire college celebrates Bealtaine every year....My entire college celebrates Bealtaine every year. We have a giant may pole and dance to music chosen by our local pagan groups. There are stands with flowers and leaves so that everyone can weave their own garland. Me and my friends basically dress up, grab a picnic blanket, and spend the entire day outside listening to the festival. My favorite bit of lore is how at the beginning of the festival a bonfire was lit. Then the embers from that bonfire were taken from town to town to light the rest of the bonfires. Then to bring good luck and fertility cattle were usually driven between the fires. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02535181707815955462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-1163768480424743662013-03-28T00:04:17.339-04:002013-03-28T00:04:17.339-04:00I really just enjoy growing herbs when I feel spri...I really just enjoy growing herbs when I feel spring around the corner. Right now I have my garden started and the hardest part is keeping the cats from eating the sprouts. The reason I grow my herbs are for cooking purposes. My boyfriend uses a lot of cilantro in his dishes so I hope to save a decent amount by having our own herbs to add to our dishes. SaraGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10201874250326090095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6568979775715425054.post-6380157415137201222013-03-27T16:08:05.455-04:002013-03-27T16:08:05.455-04:00All right so I have some lore / ritualistic Welsh ...All right so I have some lore / ritualistic Welsh May Day ( Beltane / Calan Haf / 1st of May )traditions<br /><br />from this lovely website -> http://www.applewarrior.com/celticwell/ejournal/beltane/wales.htm<br /><br />which will explain it better than I ever could, I will say I had to dig a little bit to find a site that had the tradition I knew of, ( its hard to search for stuff you honestly don't know the name, but the subject of ) <br /><br /><br />"Bonfires were lit on May Eve, in South Wales until almost the middle of the nineteenth century and I can do no better than quote the words of an informant to Marie Trevelyan at the beginning of the 20th century who still remembered the practice:<br /><br />The fire was done in this way: Nine men would turn their pockets inside out, and see that every piece of money and all metals were off their persons. Then the men went into the nearest woods and collected sticks of nine different kinds of trees. These were carried to the spot where the fire had to be built. There a circle was cut in the sod and the sticks were set crosswise. All around the circle the people stood and watched the proceedings. One of the men would then take two bits of oak and rub them together until a flame was kindled. This was applied to the sticks and soon a large fire was made. Sometimes two fires were set up, side by side. These fires, whether one or two, were called coelcerth or bonfire. Round cakes of oatmeal and brown meal were split in four and placed in a small flour-bag, and everybody present had to pick out a portion. The last bit in the bag fell to the lot of the bag-holder. Each person who chanced to pick up a piece of brown meal cake was compelled to leap three times over the flames, or to run thrice between the two fires, by which means the people thought they were sure to have a plentiful harvest. Shouts and screams of those who had to face the ordeal could be heard ever so far, and those who chanced to pick up the oatmeal portions sang and danced and clapped their hands in approval... As a rule, no danger attended these curious celebrations, but occasionally somebody’s clothes caught fire, which was quickly put out. "Hawthornishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06177774838514654082noreply@blogger.com