Beltane \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Planting Moon<\/p>\n
Yes, the Great Wheel has turned again, according to the calendar. \u00a0But. \u00a0Not according to my window. \u00a0For some inexplicable reason this Beltane finds snow falling on the somewhat greened grass. \u00a0Snow. \u00a0Since 1891 there have been 6 instances of 2 inches or more of snow in May. \u00a0Today, tonight and tomorrow we may get as much as 5 inches. \u00a0So, that’s the first thing to say about Beltane 2013.<\/p>\n
Beltane celebrates the marriage of the lady and the horned god, the introduction of fertility among the cattle and the fields of ancient rural Celtic lands. \u00a0Labor contracts for the year got made. \u00a0Hand-fast marriages through a hole in a fence were for a year and a day. \u00a0As with all the Celtic holidays, there was a week-long market and festivities that included huge bonfires (sympathetic magic to heat the earth), couples jumping over bonfires in hopes of children, cattle driven between bonfires to cure them of disease. \u00a0And, on Beltane eve and night, couples in the fields, coupling. \u00a0Like the sympathetic magic of the bonfires human lovemaking transferred to the fields the fertile passions of all the couples.<\/p>\n
We got seeds in the ground and bees in the orchard over the last couple of weeks. \u00a0The
\nmagnolia wants to bloom but has a hard time imagining blooming during a snow. \u00a0The garlic has emerged, as have the daffodils though they have not bloomed. \u00a0The scylla and the grape anemones out front are blooming. \u00a0They don’t mind the cold.<\/p>\n
It is this combination of the practical and earthy with the mythic that has kept the Great Wheel present in my life for over 20 years now. \u00a0As Kate and I work with the soil, with the plants and trees, the bees, we follow in our labor the movement of the sun and the seasons, long observed closely out of dire need, now out of wonder.<\/p>\n
John Desteian has challenged me to probe the essence of the numinous. \u00a0That is on my mind. \u00a0Here is part of that essence. \u00a0The seed in the ground, beltane’s fiery embrace of the seed, the seed emerging, flourishing, producing its fruit, harvest. \u00a0Then, the true transubstantiation, the transformation of the bodies of these plants into the body and blood ourselves. \u00a0A unity, a circle, rhythm. \u00a0Plant, grow, harvest, feed, be.<\/p>\n
There is some kind of resurgence of these deep feelings, these always have been connections and the resurgence gets expressed in what might seem extreme ways, but I find them encouraging. \u00a0Hopeful. \u00a0Google Edinburgh Fire Festival 2013.<\/p>\n
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Beltane \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Planting Moon Yes, the Great Wheel has turned again, according to the calendar. \u00a0But. \u00a0Not according to my … Continue reading Beltane, 2013<\/span>