Bealtaine: A season of fertility & tending to growth
Bealtaine in Irish means the month of May. This ancient fire festival is traditionally celebrated on 1st May and on May eve. This is to welcome in the fertile season of growth and Summer. This year the astrological date of Bealtaine is 5th May. This festival marks the exact cross quarter point between the Spring equinox and the Summer solstice. This year Bealtaine also aligns with the full moon.
There is no right way to celebrate this time of year. Whether you celebrate on May eve, 1st May, the astrological date, or throughout the month of May — however you choose to honour the turning of the Wheel of the Year gives you the opportunity to slow down and take in the magic of the changing season.
I’ve always loved seeing people naturally in-tune to the Earths cycles and this Spring was no different. My inner circle and online community have been discussing baby fever and all things sensuality as we grow closer to Bealtaine. This is our yearly ovulation in the natural cycle. Across the globe fertility is celebrated during this potent time, as its traditionally the perfect time for pregnancy. Spring time in general is for fertility, birth, and new beginnings.
An ancient fire festival
In Old Ireland, the changing of the seasons was traditionally celebrated and acknowledged as Samhain, from Summer into Winter; and again at Bealtaine, from Winter back to Summer. Long ago there was only Summer and Winter. You may of heard of this festival by other variations of the name: Beltine, Beltane, Beltaine. In Ireland it’s Bealtaine, as that is the Irish language word for the month of May and where this festival originates.
This fire festival is to welcome in the fertile season of growth and Summer. As I previously said, this year the astrological date of Bealtaine is 5th May. This festival marks the exact cross quarter point between the Spring equinox and the Summer solstice. Come the start of Bealtaine season, (now commonly celebrated on 30th April/May Eve and May Day), the countryside of Ireland, and some of the British Isles, come alive in celebration of this ancient fire festival.
This powerful time of year was marked, and still is, with flowers, fertility and fire: a true celebration of the Goddess.
Bealtaine traditions centre around these themes:
Fire
Fertility
Passion
Rebirth
Traditionally, one would use this sacred time of year to perform rituals of protection over their livestock, crops, family, and home. This could be done by creating a bonfire whose smoke carried protective energies with it across the land — a form of smoke cleansing. This is called the “Bealtaine fire festival” and is one of the most widely-practiced traditions of Bealtaine to this day. It comes from the ancient Irish fire festivals. Because these ritual bonfires were considered holy, purifying flames — all flames including hearths, candles, and lamps would be lit from the sacred bonfire. These flames carried the potent protection necessary to guard oneself and ones property from the mischievous fae folk and other creatures from the Other Side.
This was the time of year where women would try to become pregnant as it meant their third trimester to be spent safely indoors by the fire — when the pace of life is slower — giving the mother time to prepare for an early spring birth with food, herbs and life around her (Imbolc). It is said this time of year was traditionally for having sex and making love in the fields. However, there are other ways to honour this auspicious festival, Bealtaine, that doesn’t require pregnancy.
Filling your home — but most importantly your entryways — with flowers. Not just vases neatly placed on the side. Scatter petals, flowers, and herbs outside your doors too.
To protect from all the magical influence going around at Bealtaine, ancestors would gather yellow flowers off the fields. Or send the young girls of the family to do so, and these flowers were simply known as May Flowers. May flowers are strewn at the gate of every field, outside the doors of homes, and inside entryways to keep away ill-luck, evil spirits, and disease.
“Bealtaine is a sidheógai [of the fairies] evening. Green branches are placed over the doors of homes & stables, supposed to keep out the fairies from doing harm to the stock. The cabins & dairies are all locked this night to prevent fairies from taking away the milk and butter.”
Folklore & Traditions
“An old belief was that if a person washed his face in the May Eve dew he would not get sunburned during the Summer or he would not get wrinkles.”
“Persons leaving presents of fresh milk and honey for the fairies would have a plentiful supply of butter and milk through-out the whole year.”
“On May Eve people gathered different varieties of flowers & herbs which they mashed up. This mashed substance was called “Bealtanach”. It was rubbed on the cow’s udder on May day. It was then believed that the cow would give a much better supply of milk and butter.” (County Mayo, Ireland)
On Bealtaine Eve, women would gather around a bonfire to tell stories and sing songs. At the end of the night, each woman would throw May flowers from her bouquet into the Bealtaine fire, of which the precious ashes would be collected and kept. These ashes, as well as the Bealtaine flowers, were used (and still are) for occult and esoteric reasons.
“Bealtaine has always been associated with burning bonfires. The lighting of the Bealtaine Fire on the Hill of Uisneach is one of Ireland’s oldest traditions. In ancient times, a great assembly would gather on the Hill to witness the fire being lit by the High King of Ireland. The Bealtaine Fire is traditionally seen as marking the arrival of Summer in Ireland.”
St. Michael's Ley-Line, England
This ley follows the path of the sun on the 8th of May; The spring festival of St. Michel. This day was celebrated as 'Beltane', the beginning of summer, & marking the midpoint in the Sun's progress between the spring equinox and summer solstice.
“The Saint Michael Ley-Line is largely intact because of the work of the Druids. During the destruction of Atlantis, some of these alchemists fled into monasteries in Europe & Egypt. The most prolific of these were the sects in Britain & France who, along with the vibration of sound, used the anti-gravity aspects of Ley-lines to form stone circles; such as the many sites in Ireland. This Ley-line runs across Ireland for several hundred miles, intersecting with various sacred sites that have been dedicated to Saint Michael.”
Read more about this Ley-Line here
Plant Allies for Bealtaine
Cowslip is a Venus ruled wildflower traditionally associated with Bealtaine. Cowslip, or bainne bó bleachtáin, is a beautiful yellow flower which brings life and new beginnings to wildflower meadows. A folk name for this flower is Marsh Marigold. In Éire, Ireland, on Bealtaine farmers would crush cowslip leaves and cover cows udders with the mixture. This was done to protect the cows from the Sidhe and evil eye, and to ensure the herd would have good milk production for the coming year. If you see this flower, ask permission before harvesting. Then use the flowers to place around your entryways, doors, and windows.
Hawthorn is one of the sacred Ogham trees of Ireland. It goes by the name sceach gheal in Irish, being the tree that symbolises Bealtaine, the merry month of May. This is also a magical herb of abundant medicine known as a potent heart healer. Hawthorn is easily identifiable during this time as her soft white petals brighten hedgerows, stone walls, and sacred places across Ireland and the Celtic Isles. Magic and science come together with Hawthorn. This beautiful plant ally is known for being a potent heart centre aid as it soothes, opens, and allows you to feel the depths of life/love/your hearts needs. Herbalist David Hoffmann says, “A tonic in the true sense, Crataegus [hawthorn] can be considered a specific remedy for most cardiovascular disease.” — so however you approach Hawthorn, this powerful plant ally is healing for the heart.
Time to Check-In With Ourselves
Here are some journal prompts or questions for internal reflection that may help you pause and ‘check-in’ with both your internal world and the world around you.
Which seeds sown in Winter/early Spring are read to bloom this season?
Which creative parts of myself are wanting to be shared with the world?
Is there a change or opportunity my soul is wanting to take so that I can blossom into the best version of myself?
How can I prioritise a connection to my Yin, my sensuality, my inner world during this potent fertile time?
What am I noticing unfurling in the wild world around me? What is there to sense and experience in the natural world?
Connect to the energy of Bealtaine
A time for divination is May eve, the equinox/solstice mid-point (5th May this year), or whenever you feel called to slow down and work with the elements of Fire and Earth this month. If you feel called to, sweep the threshold of your home clean, sprinkle ashes from a fire over it, or salt and a protective herb mix. Clean your space and be sure to smoke cleanse. This sets a foundation for any spiritual work.
Plant allies: Dandelion, hawthorn, primrose, rowan, daisies, cowslip, yarrow, mugwort, seeds for planting.
Offerings:
Do you have dried herbs and flowers? Place these around the boundry of your home or room. Place around doorways and windows for blessings for the coming abundant season — as well as protection from evil intentions. Use any herbs you have to hand, ethically foraged herbs or flowers, plants from your garden or fallen blossom from trees.
Milk, eggs and honey are wonderful offerings for altars and sacred places.
Sowing seeds in your garden, on your windowbox, or tending to a houseplant. Whatever you have space or finance for — tend to some form of nature this Spring. Give gratitude for growth and express blessings over your seeds. Thank God as if they have already happened and watch your seeds bring forth new possibilities for you.
Colours: Yellow, white, green, purple, pink.
Occult: A time of ripe and fertile earth means a potent time for divination, prayers, fertility blessings or prayers, self love work, and sex magic.
Associations: Yellow flowers, hawthorn, fire, fertility, planting food & flowers, candles, hearths, fire ashes.
Connect with Music
Click on the playlists below to listen to some inspiring music from around Ireland and the Celtic Isles.
A Celtic Christian Bealtaine Blessing
Mary, that mother of saints,
Bless our flocks and bearing kine;
Hate nor scathe let not come near us,
Drive from us the ways of the wicked.
Bless ourselves and our children,
Bless everyone who shall come from our loins,
Bless him whose name we bear,
Bless, O God, her from rose womb we came.
Every holiness, blessing and power,
Be yielded to us every time and every hour,
In name of the `Holy Threefold above,
Father, Son, and Spirit everlasting.
Be the Cross of Christ to shield us downward,
Be the Cross of Christ to shield us upward,
Be the Cross of Christ to shield us roundword,
Accepting our Bealtaine blessing from us,
Accepting our Bealtaine blessing from us.
I hope this time of year is filled with inspiration and growth for you — both internally and externally.
Create, tend to your garden, connect with nature, give thanks for Mother Nature.
Beannachtaí
Le grá,
Em
