Prepping for Beltane

It seems I'm scheduled to spend the big ones away from home this year. You might remember my Samhain post about being on the road and not having a patch of grass to go to for ceremony. Traveling on holy days seems to have set the tone for the year - on Beltane I'll have a lot of grass to go to as I'll be at a campground.

It's not a year for actually going to a Beltane rite gathering, although I think that'll be next year. I'm feeling the call again. No, this year I'll be with my friends spending the weekend focusing on learning dance and laughing and feasting. It should be glorious. We'll be at a campground and it will be no problem for me to walk into the treeline at dawn to honor the Goddess and hold my usual rite. It's a Sunday, but even so it's the last day of the festival and we all have to be off site by noon so I won't be watching the full sunrise - I'll have too much else to do helping close down the festival.

My candle this year will be an electric one, so that it can stay lit all day. My chalice will be a pottery mug. I'll still be wearing white, and I'll be barefoot if the ground allows me. (if there's broken glass or the like, I won't be barefoot and everyone can just forgive me - personal safety is a thing)


I was out two weeks ago with my camera, and got a few shots of Spring returning to our area. It was lovely to see, and cold so close to the water, but worth it - the colors are returning and soon the bare trees will be lush again.








This has been a hard spring for me. It was a hard winter, and it will be a hard summer and fall as well. The loss that my family suffered in September last year is still a pain that I feel acutely, and will be for some time. The loss of a loved one is not easily recovered from.  Marking the Wheel is helping.







Wherever this Beltane brings you, let it bring with it a smile and a return to the light and warmth of Spring. Appreciate the budding plants and wet earth. Plant and thank the Gods when you do. Bake and make foods for your family and friends. Appreciate the life that you live, the breaths you take, the sights that make you smile even now.

Blessings.