Beltane and RItual

Hello Witches!  At long last, The Witch's Circle is back!  

In case you forgot, here's how The Circle works.


1.  You can simply comment as usual

2.  If you are going to use this discussion as a blog prompt, comment here and make sure you leave a link to your blog.  As soon as I see your entry I will add a link to the post at the bottom of this entry.

3.  On your blog entry, link back here to the original discussion so your readers can follow the links to the other continued discussions

Ok - on to the discussion topic!

 Tomorrow is Beltane, although some celebrate Beltane today/tonight.  One of the most prominent activity of Beltane is the fire, traditionally created with sacred wood and used as purification.  It's believed that all the fires were extinguished on the eve of Beltane and the Beltane fire was the first lit on Beltane.  Cattle/livestock were walked through the smoke to purify/bless. 

Obviously, these traditions come from a time when whole communities of Pagans existed and practiced together.  This does not happen so much today.  Witches tend to be more solitary now and have their own ways of celebrating the Sabbats, based on a few factors, including privacy, busy schedules, the schedules of others in a group, personal preferences  - some witches are high ritual types, some are small ceremony types.

So the topic(s) of The Witches Circle is about ritual in general and what your experiences are, how you practice, what you have discovered through ritual practice, both in groups and solitary, and specifically, how you will celebrate Beltane (if you do.)

Personally, I have had good and not so good experiences over the years in groups.  I feel that when they work, they work and when they don't they don't.  Group dynamics are of course dependent on the participants and so sometimes all goes very well.  I had one group I particularly enjoyed because it was simple and did not involve any high ritual. There is nothing wrong with high ritual if you like that kind of thing, but I have never felt comfortable with it - didn't seem natural to me and all that costuming and fancy words....just not my thing.  Most of the time I have been a solitary witch so my traditions are my own, and they are simple.

I always liked the simple seasonal customs mentioned in Pauline Campanelli's book, The Wheel of the Year, in which she incorporates different crafts and customs into her pagan celebrations.  When I first tried this many many moons ago, it just resonated with me.  So this is how I practice today. 

For Beltane I am hoping to light the sacred fire in ye olde sacred fire pit in my backyard, but that is weather permitting.  If so, I will throw sage, cedar, sweetgrass and tobacco into the fire to purify and bless.  Interestingly enough tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of the start of our adventure to our new home.  It's been a very busy, interesting, sometimes stressful year, and we are asking that we continue to prosper and find happiness, peace, good health and a connection to this place, to the earth.  We also have the bundles I talked about in a previous post which are designed to help us release all that we hold onto and after considering all of this stuff (for the last time) we will throw the bundles into the fire and toast the new season!

If weather does not permit, we will do something similar indoors.

So, there it is - my simple yet powerful practices.  What say ye?

-Aine

© Aine O’Brien - Please do not use without permission.  All sources highlighted with a link.

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