| Beltane In Avalon Exploring the Mythic Reality Hello again, and welcome to Avalons Exploring the Mythic Reality. Thisis an extra article this month that I had been asked to do for this wondrous time of the seasons, Beltane. We will now be Exploring the Mythic Reality of Beltane and it's feminine origins. Yes the "Feminine Origins". As the wheel turns, so to speak, the ritual dramas continue! We come now to the Feast of Beltane, the second half of the Celtic year. The feast of Beltane almost equals that of Samhain in importance. It is the passage between samos and giamos (light and dark). In both feast it is customary to have bonfires, and to have contacts with the otherworld. Unlike Samhain, Beltane is not mentioned in the Coligny Calendar, however it is a very ancient observance. It is pretty much celebrated by most all followers of Earth Religions. Beltane is the festival of the Goddess of Love it is Rhiannon's Festival. Beltain or Belteine, some believed that the name of the festival to be derived from the Sun God Bel, however Bel is not the God Bel but means simply "bright white, beneficent and goodly". Teine is a feminine form, meaning solar fire. Beltane/Belteine is therefore a festival of the "beneficent feminine Sunfire". More information is in the book (Eclipse of the Sun, Janet MacCrickard). Beltane is celebrated at the end of April and the beginning of May, its aura continuing to 15degrees of Taurus and around May 7th. Mythologically it's a time when the gateways between words is open just like Samhain. Customarily the gates or openings are found in hollow hills, magical mounds, ancient sacred sites. In Glastonbury (Avalon) they walk the labyrinth around Chalice hill. Some will find this shocking but there was a time when the Sun was the Goddess and a time when the goddess and was the sole creator of all. It changed when humans figured out that the masculine plants the seed of life in the woman in order for her to create life. But without the woman to cultivate, well you know the rest. Since the whole purpose of this newsletter is womens spirituality let us then concentrate on the divine feminine. There was also a time when the Sun and the Moon were the Goddess. But like all things that changed . There is a story that the Sun Goddess chose the Moon the maculine who we are speaking at this point was masculine, She took him as her consort to make love to and have human children. In the evenings they would come together into the sea and make love. Then there is a myth that during the dark moon the Lady Moon is with the Male Sun during the darktime and comes back to us as the mother. There are as many myths as there are cultures. In Celtic tradition Beltane is for lovers, when trysts are made beside sacred fires and vow to stay together for a year and a day or thirteen lunar months of 28 days each plus one day to complete the solar year. The lovers jumped the sacred fires together to seal their agreement to journey with the Goddess of Love. People came to the fires and lit their home fires from what they called the Need Fire. It is most common today that Beltane is celebrated in the masculine and feminine and the phallic maypole dance is most commonly done to celebrate. The tradition of visiting sacred sites in this time is returning as the Goddess is returning from the mist. Beltane is also the time of the Flower Maiden. The myth of the Flower Maiden is connected to the first point of the Star of the Ninefold Sisterhood, the Eergizer. This aspect is also represented by Welsh Goddess Blodewedd (the flower face)from the Mabinogion, which was made masculine by the way. Blodewedds' story also parallels that of Guinevere. She is the virgin Goddess of Love . However Beltane is in dedication to Rhiannon of the Birds, the White Mare of the Sea, born of the waters of emotion. Nature is alive vibrant and fertile.Human sexuality is awakened and the Goddess is full of Her plenty. May itself is celebrated as the beginning of longer days as the coming of summer. May gets its name for the Greek Goddess Maia, whose name means grandmother. Under the name Cardea She casts spells using may, hawthorn or whitethorn. The Greeks propitiated Cardea before marriage ceremonies with may blossoms and burning torches of Hawthorn or whitethorn, because marriage was was anathema to the Goddess. Like the Goddess women were free to make love to whomever they chose. The Christian church considered the month of May as unlucky and encouraged purification through sexual abstinence and encouraged people to not procreate in fields by fires ect�.Yea that really worked. (NOT!!!!) Those that kept the Goddess tradition of Beltane alive procreated as has been done by the ancestors of the Goddess since the beginning of time. So as you go out this Beltane eve to celebrate with the Maypole etc. Remember that this was and is the Festival of the Goddess of Love and land. Remember Her not just the Maypole. Many Blessing Chris Maher Priestess of Avalon �Always in Her service� |