Joyous Beltane,
- Thread starter c.fey
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Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
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Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
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I prepared a Beltane Ritual a number of years - from my own knowledge and drawing from various sources - not just wicca, but Golden Dawn, Egyptian Magick... etc...
For those who might be interesed here is an excerpt - which starts with a history (for those who might not be that familiar with Beltane).
The old Celtic name for May Day is Beltane (in its most popular Anglicized form), which is derived from the Irish Gaelic 'Bealtaine or the Scottish Gaelic 'Bealtuinn', meaning 'Bel-fire', the fire of the Celtic god of light (Bel, Beli or Belinus). He, in turn, may be traced to the Middle Eastern god Baal.
Other names for May Day include: Cetsamhain ('opposite Samhain'), Walpurgisnacht (in Germany), and Roodmas (the medieval Church's name). This last came from Church Fathers who were hoping to shift the common people's allegiance from the Maypole (Pagan lingham - symbol of life) to the Holy Rood (the Cross - Roman instrument of death).
Incidentally, there is no historical justification for calling May 1st 'Lady Day'. For hundreds of years, that title has been proper to the Vernal Equinox (approx. March 21st), another holiday sacred to the Great Goddess. The nontraditional use of 'Lady Day' for May 1st is quite recent (within the last 15 years), and seems to be confined to America, where it has gained widespread acceptance among certain segments of the Craft population. This rather startling departure from tradition would seem to indicate an unfamiliarity with European calendar customs, as well as a lax attitude toward scholarship among too many Pagans. A simple glance at a dictionary ('Webster's 3rd' or O.E.D.), encyclopedia ('Benet's'), or standard mythology reference (Jobe's 'Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore & Symbols') would confirm the correct date for Lady Day as the Vernal Equinox.
By Celtic reckoning, the actual Beltane celebration begins on sundown of the preceding day, April 30, because the Celts always figured their days from sundown to sundown. And sundown was the proper time for Druids to kindle the great Bel-fires on the tops of the nearest beacon hill (such as Tara Hill, Co. Meath, in Ireland). These 'need-fires' had healing properties, and sky-clad Witches would jump through the flames to ensure protection.
For those who might be interesed here is an excerpt - which starts with a history (for those who might not be that familiar with Beltane).
The old Celtic name for May Day is Beltane (in its most popular Anglicized form), which is derived from the Irish Gaelic 'Bealtaine or the Scottish Gaelic 'Bealtuinn', meaning 'Bel-fire', the fire of the Celtic god of light (Bel, Beli or Belinus). He, in turn, may be traced to the Middle Eastern god Baal.
Other names for May Day include: Cetsamhain ('opposite Samhain'), Walpurgisnacht (in Germany), and Roodmas (the medieval Church's name). This last came from Church Fathers who were hoping to shift the common people's allegiance from the Maypole (Pagan lingham - symbol of life) to the Holy Rood (the Cross - Roman instrument of death).
Incidentally, there is no historical justification for calling May 1st 'Lady Day'. For hundreds of years, that title has been proper to the Vernal Equinox (approx. March 21st), another holiday sacred to the Great Goddess. The nontraditional use of 'Lady Day' for May 1st is quite recent (within the last 15 years), and seems to be confined to America, where it has gained widespread acceptance among certain segments of the Craft population. This rather startling departure from tradition would seem to indicate an unfamiliarity with European calendar customs, as well as a lax attitude toward scholarship among too many Pagans. A simple glance at a dictionary ('Webster's 3rd' or O.E.D.), encyclopedia ('Benet's'), or standard mythology reference (Jobe's 'Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore & Symbols') would confirm the correct date for Lady Day as the Vernal Equinox.
By Celtic reckoning, the actual Beltane celebration begins on sundown of the preceding day, April 30, because the Celts always figured their days from sundown to sundown. And sundown was the proper time for Druids to kindle the great Bel-fires on the tops of the nearest beacon hill (such as Tara Hill, Co. Meath, in Ireland). These 'need-fires' had healing properties, and sky-clad Witches would jump through the flames to ensure protection.
Calamity Jane
Reverend Blue Jeans
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OUTSIDER
Devil's in the detail
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c.fey said:....everyone.
May the fires burn hot for all tonight.....
( you all know what the MayPole represents, riiiiight? )
Awwwwww....shit.......I forgot that tonight is beltane.
Now I sick that I took only two days off work and when I could have had three and gone to Padstow in Cornwall to see the mayday festival with all it's pagan images of men with black painted faces and others dressed as horses all dancing along the street.
Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
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We cast the circle of ancient lore;
Waves upon a timeless shore.
With no beginning, nor an end;
It always knows a foe from friend.
Oroboros, of legends old;
Rings of power, forged in gold.
Circle of Life, ring of stones;
Cycle of creation, birth to bones.
A ring around the silv'ry Moon;
We cast you now, o ancient rune!
East:
I call the Eastern powers of air,
You whose breath of life we share,
Bring understanding, kindness, care,
And loving words, both clear and fair,
Come bless this day our rite of love,
As below then so above.
South:
I call the Southern powers of fire,
Whose light doth stir the poet's lyre,
With love's bright spark our hearts inspire,
Bring passion's flame, bring sweet desire,
Come bless this day our rite of love,
As below then so above.
West:
Oh powers of the Western sea,
Oh water's flowing unity,
Bring feeling, warmth and empathy,
That all our lives may blessed be,
Come bless this day our rite of love,
As below then so above.
North:
Oh Northern powers of living Earth,
Charge our souls from death to birth,
On solid ground of rock and loam,
Bring forth our food and build our home,
Come bless this day our rite of love,
As below then so above.
Waves upon a timeless shore.
With no beginning, nor an end;
It always knows a foe from friend.
Oroboros, of legends old;
Rings of power, forged in gold.
Circle of Life, ring of stones;
Cycle of creation, birth to bones.
A ring around the silv'ry Moon;
We cast you now, o ancient rune!
East:
I call the Eastern powers of air,
You whose breath of life we share,
Bring understanding, kindness, care,
And loving words, both clear and fair,
Come bless this day our rite of love,
As below then so above.
South:
I call the Southern powers of fire,
Whose light doth stir the poet's lyre,
With love's bright spark our hearts inspire,
Bring passion's flame, bring sweet desire,
Come bless this day our rite of love,
As below then so above.
West:
Oh powers of the Western sea,
Oh water's flowing unity,
Bring feeling, warmth and empathy,
That all our lives may blessed be,
Come bless this day our rite of love,
As below then so above.
North:
Oh Northern powers of living Earth,
Charge our souls from death to birth,
On solid ground of rock and loam,
Bring forth our food and build our home,
Come bless this day our rite of love,
As below then so above.
Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
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Laughter-loving Aphrodite!
Venus Amathusia!
Come to me with laughing breast,
Come on waves with golden crest,
Come with doves and golden light,
Drawn by swans and sparrows bright.
Alight! Alight!
I am thy lover, I am thy mate!
Receive me til our storm abate!
Thy green glades echo with my calls,
Come to me from emerald halls,
Flanked by maidens winding there,
Rose and mytle in thy golden hair,
Come to me! to me! to me!
And mate with me upon the grass,
Laughing, lusty, oh ravishing lass!
Our bodies arch and strain and twine,
I am thine and thou art mine!
Come from heavens of azure hue,
Ocean born and ever new,
Pulsing, laughing, yearning straining,
Pleasure, lust, all life containing,
Race with me through glades of green,
Exalting, loving, oh rapturous queen!
To me! to me!
Oh come to me!
And enter, merge, enfold, unite!
Suffuse desire with golden light!
Never sated in eons of time,
I am thine and thou art mine!
Venus Amathusia!
Come to me with laughing breast,
Come on waves with golden crest,
Come with doves and golden light,
Drawn by swans and sparrows bright.
Alight! Alight!
I am thy lover, I am thy mate!
Receive me til our storm abate!
Thy green glades echo with my calls,
Come to me from emerald halls,
Flanked by maidens winding there,
Rose and mytle in thy golden hair,
Come to me! to me! to me!
And mate with me upon the grass,
Laughing, lusty, oh ravishing lass!
Our bodies arch and strain and twine,
I am thine and thou art mine!
Come from heavens of azure hue,
Ocean born and ever new,
Pulsing, laughing, yearning straining,
Pleasure, lust, all life containing,
Race with me through glades of green,
Exalting, loving, oh rapturous queen!
To me! to me!
Oh come to me!
And enter, merge, enfold, unite!
Suffuse desire with golden light!
Never sated in eons of time,
I am thine and thou art mine!
Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2000
- Posts
- 26,152
Oh horned one, goat-foot,
Great God Pan!
Come to me with eyes of fire,
And with thy pipes awake desire,
Come with wild and lustful grin,
Herald of your flame within,
Io Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan, Pan, Pan!
Shout to me from scented wood,
The call of all that's wild and good,
Come to me with shaggy thighs,
And let the hills return our cries,
Come with satyrs bearing wine,
I am thine and thou art mine!
Come with joyous lusty laugh,
Come with swollen ruddy staff,
Race with me thorough halls of green,
Thou art my God and I your Queen,
And spend with me a tender hour,
Making love within my bower,
To me! To me!
Oh come to me!
And come oh God of stream and wood,
Oh God of life and all that's good,
Never sated in eons of time,
I am thine and thou art mine!
Great God Pan!
Come to me with eyes of fire,
And with thy pipes awake desire,
Come with wild and lustful grin,
Herald of your flame within,
Io Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan, Pan, Pan!
Shout to me from scented wood,
The call of all that's wild and good,
Come to me with shaggy thighs,
And let the hills return our cries,
Come with satyrs bearing wine,
I am thine and thou art mine!
Come with joyous lusty laugh,
Come with swollen ruddy staff,
Race with me thorough halls of green,
Thou art my God and I your Queen,
And spend with me a tender hour,
Making love within my bower,
To me! To me!
Oh come to me!
And come oh God of stream and wood,
Oh God of life and all that's good,
Never sated in eons of time,
I am thine and thou art mine!
freescorfr
Awaiting autumn harvests
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I've never come across that word "Beltane". I know at Oxford it was the only morning worth getting up that early for! At dawn the champagne corks popped by the river and we all ended up in the river - except for the girls - the men were all stupid fuckers, myself included. It was invariably cold - They used to have choir boys singing on the tower of Magdalen.
It was a day for philosorgasms, if I recall.
It was a day for philosorgasms, if I recall.
Horny Hippie Girl
Sweet
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My husband and I were married on Beltane.
Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
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Well - freescorfr - I hope the "history" put it into perspective?
And, HornyHippyGirl - that's great - at night???
---------------------
Had! The manifestation of Nuit.
The unveiling of the company of heaven.
Every man and woman is a star.
Every number is infinite; there is no difference.
Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!
I am above you and in you.
My ecstasy is in yours.
My joy is to see your joy.
Above the gemmed azure is
The naked splendour of Nuit;
She bends in ecstasy to kiss
A lambent flame of blue.
All touching, all penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth,
& her lithe body arched for love, and her soft feet not hurting the little
flowers: Thou knowest! And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness
of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.
And, HornyHippyGirl - that's great - at night???
---------------------
Had! The manifestation of Nuit.
The unveiling of the company of heaven.
Every man and woman is a star.
Every number is infinite; there is no difference.
Come forth, o children, under the stars, & take your fill of love!
I am above you and in you.
My ecstasy is in yours.
My joy is to see your joy.
Above the gemmed azure is
The naked splendour of Nuit;
She bends in ecstasy to kiss
A lambent flame of blue.
All touching, all penetrant, her lovely hands upon the black earth,
& her lithe body arched for love, and her soft feet not hurting the little
flowers: Thou knowest! And the sign shall be my ecstasy, the consciousness
of the continuity of existence, the omnipresence of my body.
Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2000
- Posts
- 26,152
It's all good, sunstruck... as you know... *smile*
-------------------
The joys of the love of the Goddess will redeem ye from all pain.
The vault of her body;
by her sacred heart and tongue;
by all she can give,
There is no bond that can unite but love:
He is ever a sun, and she a moon.
Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will.
I am the flame that burns in the heart of every person, and in the core of
every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, I am the axle of the wheel, and
the cube in the circle.
I invoke the Lady White
To come to us this sacred night.
By Fin and Feather, Leaf and Tree,
I show you a Mystery!
-------------------
The joys of the love of the Goddess will redeem ye from all pain.
The vault of her body;
by her sacred heart and tongue;
by all she can give,
There is no bond that can unite but love:
He is ever a sun, and she a moon.
Invoke me under my stars! Love is the law, love under will.
I am the flame that burns in the heart of every person, and in the core of
every star. I am Life, and the giver of Life, I am the axle of the wheel, and
the cube in the circle.
I invoke the Lady White
To come to us this sacred night.
By Fin and Feather, Leaf and Tree,
I show you a Mystery!
Horny Hippie Girl
Sweet
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2002
- Posts
- 2,417
Yes, at night. Preformed by a Wiccan priestess during her coven's Beltane Celebration. There was a maypole and everything. It was pretty cool.
Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
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- Posts
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By your rites of sacred marriage I invoke ye:
Shiva and Parvati
Jove and Juno
Dagda and Boyne
Odin and Freya
And by your sacred rites of marriage I invoke ye:
Persephone and Hades
Nuit and Geb
Rhiannon and Pwyll
Ishtar and Tammuz
Earth Mother, Birth Mother, Birch Mother,
Sea Mother, Stone Mother, Star Mother!
Queen of night and death and birth,
Womb of deep and fertile earth,
Dame of heaven's silver wheel,
Lady of the greening field,
Keeper of the apple grove,
Mistress of the arts of love,
Shine out in the fearsome dark --
Teach us how to strike the spark.
People, we can feel Her near!
She is coming! She is here!
Shiva and Parvati
Jove and Juno
Dagda and Boyne
Odin and Freya
And by your sacred rites of marriage I invoke ye:
Persephone and Hades
Nuit and Geb
Rhiannon and Pwyll
Ishtar and Tammuz
Earth Mother, Birth Mother, Birch Mother,
Sea Mother, Stone Mother, Star Mother!
Queen of night and death and birth,
Womb of deep and fertile earth,
Dame of heaven's silver wheel,
Lady of the greening field,
Keeper of the apple grove,
Mistress of the arts of love,
Shine out in the fearsome dark --
Teach us how to strike the spark.
People, we can feel Her near!
She is coming! She is here!
Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2000
- Posts
- 26,152
Now the veils of worlds are thin;
To move out you must move in.
Let the Balefires now be made,
Mine the spark within them laid.
This My gift: that people meet
In peace and plenty made complete.
This I give: the Sacred Way,
The strength, the soul, the sight, the say.
Move beyond the fiery screen
Between the seen and the unseen;
Shed your anger and your fear,
Live anew in a new year!
To move out you must move in.
Let the Balefires now be made,
Mine the spark within them laid.
This My gift: that people meet
In peace and plenty made complete.
This I give: the Sacred Way,
The strength, the soul, the sight, the say.
Move beyond the fiery screen
Between the seen and the unseen;
Shed your anger and your fear,
Live anew in a new year!
Chantal Marchon
Decadent Goddess
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2002
- Posts
- 1,137
Darn it- I hate when I forget to plan for these things. They always seem to creep up.
What to do, what to do?
I hate to say it but I am not in the right frame of mind to celebrate Beltane.
What to do, what to do?
I hate to say it but I am not in the right frame of mind to celebrate Beltane.
Dillinger
Guerrilla Ontologist
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2000
- Posts
- 26,152
The Nine I sing, the Nine blessed trees
Which were empowered of old:
Oak, thou druid's door, open the way for us.
Apple, thou knowledge-giver, break our circle of blindness.
Ash, thou world-supporter, drive away ill powers.
Birch, thou tree-mother, help in our healing.
Hawthorn, thou branch of May, give us light and hope.
Willow, thou soul-leader, grant us safe passage.
Holly, thou forest king, be our safe refuge.
Hazel, thou wise-one's branch, give us true vision.
Alder, thou river's love, let us flow outward.
In peace let us flow outward; in power let us flow outward; in beauty
let us flow outward.
Which were empowered of old:
Oak, thou druid's door, open the way for us.
Apple, thou knowledge-giver, break our circle of blindness.
Ash, thou world-supporter, drive away ill powers.
Birch, thou tree-mother, help in our healing.
Hawthorn, thou branch of May, give us light and hope.
Willow, thou soul-leader, grant us safe passage.
Holly, thou forest king, be our safe refuge.
Hazel, thou wise-one's branch, give us true vision.
Alder, thou river's love, let us flow outward.
In peace let us flow outward; in power let us flow outward; in beauty
let us flow outward.
Silverluna
That's Professor to You!
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- Dec 30, 2001
- Posts
- 8,195
It will be one year tommorrow
I officially started my quest on knowledge of the Craft one year tommorrow...with my first ever spell....and summoning...
I officially started my quest on knowledge of the Craft one year tommorrow...with my first ever spell....and summoning...
