Toil & Tomes

picture taken by K. Gibbs

Beltane, or May Day, is celebrated about halfway between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. This is one of those times during the year when energies, especially earth energies, are at its strongest. Which makes it an ideal place to rededicate all those goals you made during the new year or spring.  In addition, I personally like to rededicate portions of my altar and make a concentrated effort to get more in tune with the natural world around me. As I live in a small apartment, this usually means heading outside during the rain or shine… smell the scents and reground myself in certain ways. I also find it an ideal time to start adding natural items to my altar; flowers, leaves, pinecones etc.

Beltane has many associations between various pantheons and natural elements. I will not get into the gods, simply because your pantheon is your business. However, the following are all things you can utilize and bring into your home to access the energies of the holiday.

          Plants and Herbs:  mint, daisy, bluebells, lilac, rose, tulips, rosemary

Food: green leafy vegetables, strawberries (and other red fruits), nuts, cherries, dairy, honey, oats, red/pink wines

As much as I’d love to dance around a decorative May Pole or a roaring bonfire…. I neither have the room nor the location for such a feat. Plus, I’m 90% positive dancing around a bonfire in a public park would attract cop attention. However, if you have the option, go for it!

If, like me, you live in an apartment… in the middle of a city… try these options to bring some of the Beltane energies into your home and your life.

Get Outside: Take a walk, a jog, a skip, a jump in a public park or hiking trail. Lose yourself in the middle of the woods. Go kayaking, spend the day at the beach.  Find somewhere quiet you can sit and contemplate the mountains. Gather wildflowers and herbs. Create a floral crown. Garden. Whatever works for you really. My suggestion is to find a moment, even a small one, to reconnect with the energies and listen to nature.

May Pole: If you can’t do a large May Pole, create a small one for your apartment or home.  Plant a small pole in a planter outside, or add ribbons with blessings to your trees, bushes or indoor plants you already tend to. The point is to celebrate, envision positive affirmations, and connect to the energies.

Light a Candle: Who says that a simple candle can’t create the same feeling as a bonfire?

Smudge:  Add herbs or incense to your smudge stick, or create some of your own. There are dozens of DIY tutorials between places like Pinterest and Youtube, if you are hesitant on how to start.  Beltane is a great time to smudge all the rooms/areas in your home.

Bath Ritual: Add herbs and flowers to your bath or shower rituals.  Don’t think showers can be a ritual? Think about all the times you’ve used them to recharge and relax.  Baths/Showers are a wonderful place to do a little self-focus. This isn’t about addressing the energies for your life as a whole, but recharging your personal energies.  Rose and lilac oils, mint, oats and honey are wonderful ways to rejuvenate your skin and your mental energy.

Recharge your Altar: I do not do this every year. But, I recently moved into a new place and felt the need to rededicate and recharge my altar. 

There are many ways you can do this, nearly everyone has an opinion when it comes to recharging an altar. Personally, I use this method.

Put items from your altar – rocks, shells, crystals etc. into a pot of soil or fresh dirt. As you are burying the objects, envision positive images and the flow of energies into them.  Leave the pot of soil out for one day and one night. A cloudless night works best as the objects will be bathed in moonlight as well as sunlight.

Next, you take your objects out of the soil. Light a ritual candle. You can make this a full ritual or a partial ritual, depending on personal preference. Pass the objects over the flame, again focusing on the energies you want to bring into your altar.

Following fire, you wash your items in water – purified is best.  And finally, allow your objects to air dry for another half-day to full day (in sunlight or near a window is best).  Positive energy and thoughts are important, as the energies you are bringing to the objects will affect your future rituals.

Regardless of how you choose to celebrate Beltane, here’s wishing you and yours a blessed holiday!

While I myself do not celebrate Easter, my boyfriend is Lutheran.  He had a tough week leading up to Easter and needed to attend church services to help get his mind to calm down. He wanted me to attend services with him, not due to any fantasies of conversion, but solely based on the fact that I’m important to him and he wants me to know this part of his life.  Without his beliefs, my boyfriend wouldn’t be nearly the man he is today. I will never pretend to believe in the same dogma, but I will absolutely respect and honor his religious beliefs. I absolutely agreed to go and had a wonderful time meeting his pastors and friends.

That being said, I was nervous, which in turn made my boyfriend concerned for me. I haven’t always had the best history in dual-religion relationships.  At first, I thought it was old relationship haunts coming back to rear their ugly little heads. I have been in relationships where the other party asked me to attend church in an effort to convert me.  Needless to say, it eventually led to these relationships dissolving.

However, shortly after we came home from the service, my boyfriend gave me an out. I could go to services with him, but he doesn’t want me to be uncomfortable in any way. I honestly didn’t realize how much of my nerves were projecting outward.  After some discussion, and assuring him that I enjoyed going to his church and meeting his friends, I came to a realization. I was afraid. But I realized that it wasn’t for me, but for him.  I was afraid of what the parish would say to him upon finding out I was Wiccan.  I was afraid of him having to defend his choice in a building where he feels safe and part of a community.

Unconsciously, I was flashing back to moments in my life where I’ve had to defend my path.  I flashed back to the counselor’s office my junior year of high school, where I was told another student had accused me of worshipping Satan. I flashed back to college, where I suddenly lost friends because their religious beliefs didn’t have room for a Wiccan. I remembered all the conversations with my very religious and very Baptist grandmother (this one ultimately ended well). I remembered all those failed relationships.

While I strive to honor other belief systems, I didn’t realize just how much of my early years as a Wiccan were impacting my life today.  While I try to practice tolerance and understanding when it comes to other religions, it would seem that I still expect and fear that those same religions will react negatively to me.   I’ve spent the last couple of years believing that I was as open concerning my faith as I could be. But, if I’m still afraid of how people are going to react, am I really open and understanding?  While I try and respect other’s beliefs, I’m expecting them to reacting negatively. I’m painting these people, these people I do not know, with a belief contrived from the negative experiences of my early Pagan years. This is a vicious cycle. This is not a cycle of tolerance or understanding, but one based on a fear.

But now, I know. I know where that fear lies. I know how it works. And that knowledge helps me to become a better practitioner, a better neighbor, a better person. The bottom line, apparently I am, in fact, still growing both as a person and as a Wiccan.  It may not have been the ideal way to spend Easter with my boyfriend, but it was certainly an eye-opener.

The essence of Imbolc lies in the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.  We are celebrating life, all life, as it transitions from one season to the next.    Imbolc is a great time to think about mental, emotional, or physical changes you want to implement in yourself or your environment. (Think of it as a time to reaffirm your New Year’s resolutions, if you are the type of person to make them).

As an example, I was horrible with plants when I was younger. No, seriously.  I killed a cactus.  A cactus…  For a number of years, every Imbolc I would buy plants.  If the plants survived the year, then I could get more the next year.  I succeeded after some trial and error, and I now live in an apartment surround by greenery I nurtured myself.  I ran out of space on the windowsills of my apartment a few years ago, so now I do other rituals to celebrate the turning season. While I have an altar, I like to include these rituals in different parts of my home. This year I chose simple candle and bowl combinations in my living room and bedroom.  At the very least I suggest a collection of the following items:  a bowl/cup,  salt/dirt, tealight candle, basil or bay leaves, pine cones, rosemary or lavender sprigs, leaves etc.

I filled both my bowls about halfway with salt, and placed a tealight slightly off center to accommodate the other materials I was adding. Behind the tealight I placed a couple of bay leaves upright into the salt, along with a few small sprigs of rosemary.  The whole thing symbolizes nature starting to stir and bloom with the coming of spring.  On Imbolc, I lit both candles and reaffirmed the positive changes I wanted in my life for this year.  Super simple ritual that lasted only a few minutes.

Holidays within the Wiccan tradition are always interesting.  There are a myriad of influences and concepts to the word “tradition.”  At the beginning of my journey, I constantly found myself confused about when to practice, and most importantly, how.  It took me some time to settle into my own routine as a solitary, and even then, the ways in which I practice continuously evolve just as I do.   The fact is, that many things can be including in an Imbolc ritual, although some practitioners are more specific than others.  I cannot stress enough, how important it is for new practitioners to find a path comfortable for them rather than sticking to someone else’s perspective.  Your rituals are more meaningful when they are designed around your experiences.