Marrying the Land

Standing at the center of the Witches’ Wheel the spokes turn and the year changes and shifts with the continuous ebb and flow of existence; each point along the circumference is a pathway to the center where the sacred within joins the four provinces around and the tree of life from below through above.

There is here a reflection of self and the journey of the sun and moon through the course of the year. It is when the seasons shift, as they do now, to Beltane that the Lord of the Greenwood’s courtship with the Earth Maiden has lead to marriage, it is now that we celebrate that union. If we see ourselves as the Many-Faced Hero, the Sun that courts the Moon, we like him symbolically marry the divine spark of creation as the land. Traditionally it is the sacred marriage to the land that grants kingship and sovereignty. Let us not just celebrate the marriage of the Lord and Lady but also our own spiritual marriage that grants us spiritual ownership over our own lives— sovereignty. In the cycle of life, adulthood is reached at Beltane and so it can be seen that we are celebrating the transformation of reaching spiritual adulthood. We have come into our own, and by the act of marrying we sacrifice the self by melding our lives in a sacred union with the spiritual.

The Oak is a symbol of the Axis Mundi joining the Three Realms but also of Beltane; it symbolizes the joining of above and below, male and female, the sacred marriage. Like us, at the center of the Witches’ Wheel stands the mighty Oak and so it also becomes a symbol of us at Beltane. In the strength of spiritual sovereignty we find the strength of the Oak and weather storms that would uproot others.

Blessings,

-SM