May Eve

 

Beltane Reunion by Emily Balivet

Walpurgis Night, the time is right,

The ancient powers awake.

So dance and sing, around the ring,

And Beltane magic make.

Walpurgis Night, Walpurgis Night,

Upon the eve of May,

We’ll merry meet, and summer greet,

For ever and a day.

New life we see, in flower and tree,

And summer comes again.

Be free and fair, like earth and air,

The sunshine and the rain.

Walpurgis Night, Walpurgis Night,

Upon the eve of May,

We’ll merry meet, and summer greet,

For ever and a day.

As magic fire be our desire

To tread the pagan way,

And our true will find and fulfil,

As dawns a brighter day.

Walpurgis Night, Walpurgis Night,

Upon the eve of May,

We’ll merry meet, and summer greet,

For ever and a day.

The pagan powers this night be ours,

Let all the world be free,

And sorrows cast into the past,

And future blessed be!

Walpurgis Night, Walpurgis Night,

Upon the eve of May,

We’ll merry meet, and summer greet,

For ever and a day.

© Copyright The Doreen Valiente Foundation

Spring Equinox

 

@ ravenmmonsoracle.com

Spring came early this year, after a blessedly mild winter (in the sense of little snowfall and warmish temperatures overall; I choose to ignore the sub-zero ice-laden Christmas weekend), with things greening and blooming just in time for a one-two punch of below freezing mornings that cost me some shrubberies and other assorted small growing things. Tornadoes (one skipping along a mile or so from me) and wind storms (one took out our power for nearly a day) added to the entertainment--but I'm sure there's no such thing as climate change. This is all perfectly normal. Nothing at all to see here.

Still, the equinox (Ostara if you like) is a cause for celebration, a sigh of relief that the light is strengthening, the green things are rising, the tender first blossoms lifting their little heads to follow the sun. It's a reminder that we've made it through the dark times once more. 

Imbolc

 

Imbolc (known in some traditions as February Eve) marks the midpoint of winter, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The daylight hours are visibly longer now, and depending on where you are, the first hints of renewed life are appearing. Snowdrops and crocuses are budding, and daffodils are sending forth the tentative green shoots that will unfurl soon into leaves and blossoms. The world is slowly reawakening.

There is no one coherent myth cycle followed by all pagans or Wiccans; I'm among the many who have tried in vain for years to puzzle one out only to finally give it up and just roll with what appears to be happening in nature for the most part. Some more Celtically inspired folks do celebrate Brighid at this time, Imbolc being the traditional time of her feast day; as a woman of Celtic ancestry and a novice harper, I've begun a rather tentative devotional practice for Brighid as she does have some mythological connection to harps and harpers. The traditional BoS rite for this sabbat is maddeningly vague and has nothing at all to do with a god-and-goddess connection. Ultimately, it's a fire festival, so whatever else you choose to focus upon, make sure you bring the restoration of light and life into your celebration.

Yule

 

Samhain

 

Once again, the season of the witch.

Autumn Equinox

 

It's OK if you want to call it Mabon. 

Lammas

 

Lammas? Lughnasadh? August Eve? First Harvest? Yes.