{"id":961,"date":"2016-10-10T08:09:25","date_gmt":"2016-10-09T22:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/?p=961"},"modified":"2018-01-24T13:32:11","modified_gmt":"2018-01-24T03:32:11","slug":"beltane-where-are-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/hearthwitchdownunder\/2016\/10\/beltane-where-are-you.html","title":{"rendered":"Beltane Where Are You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I find it difficult to write about the Sabbats, because I don\u2019t celebrate them anymore.\u00a0 It\u2019s a bit easier to discuss the seasons and how I feel about them, but that\u2019s not always what I would like to write about.\u00a0 I want to try to write about the Sabbats themselves and what they mean, or could mean, in Australia specifically.<\/p>\n

When I did used to try to celebrate the Sabbats my favourites were Lughnasadh and Beltane \u2013 it just depended on the time of year as to which was my favourite in the moment.\u00a0 Obviously, in October when the weather begins to get nicer my favourite would be the upcoming Beltane.\u00a0 And to be honest, I still love the idea of Beltane.<\/p>\n

And why wouldn\u2019t I? It\u2019s fun, joyous, and it totally captures the feelings I usually get at this time of year.\u00a0 I usually spend October wanting to dance and sing<\/a> and feeling a bit fae.\u00a0 I feel the need to begin dressing with a bit more whimsy, in my \u201cGypsy\u201d skirts, headscarves and bright colours, plus some brown for a bit of earthiness.\u00a0 I feel wild and free and in a way that\u2019s what Beltane is all about, isn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Partially anyway.<\/p>\n

\"One
Even the dandelions aren\u2019t everywhere like they usually are. Photo by Bekah Evie Bel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But this year it\u2019s just not happening the way I like.\u00a0 I live in Victoria, only a couple hours from the South Australian border.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had such heavy rain this past month or more that our region has had some pretty bad, but not catastrophic, flooding.\u00a0 We\u2019re basically a swamp right now \u2013 the land trying to recapture its original state perhaps.<\/p>\n

South Australia of course just went through some massive storms, they even had tornado warnings and everything \u2013 the entire state lost electricity.\u00a0 The memes about SA being the first state to ever reach zero emissions are a bit amusing, but also not accurate as I know at least one friend had a generator going.\u00a0 Sorry about that.<\/p>\n

The weather from there has, of course, drifted east over the border into my state and my region just happens to be that peak area where the weather only starts to dissipate as it leaves us.\u00a0 So that\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n

My poor roof barely made it through a harsh autumn in May, I don\u2019t know how my house is still intact I have to admit.\u00a0 And really, it actually feels more like April\/May weather right now.\u00a0 It truly feels like mid to late autumn, with this tumultuous weather that changes every second.\u00a0 One warm sunny day here and then that night it\u2019s so cold you might think it\u2019s about to snow.\u00a0 But no, it\u2019s just going to rain, heavily.\u00a0 And it will continue raining for a week, before a mild but cloudy day.\u00a0 It really is way easier to feel the upcoming Halloween, and even relate to its autumn symbolism, than it is to feel Beltane.<\/p>\n

I think the northern states of Aus are having better weather, though I have seen a few weather warnings for parts of New South Wales, so maybe they too are having a harsher than usual October.\u00a0 I wonder if I am the only one feeling this lack of spring, lack of Beltane-ness.\u00a0 Is it like this for others in Aus right now? Is it everywhere, or just in my general region, or just in a few regions?\u00a0 Does it feel like, this year maybe we should all be doing the northern hemisphere dates?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long dark half of the year, we are finally getting into the light half now, daylight savings even started for some of us last week.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a long dark period, my heart and mind and even my body feel heavy with the darkness of these past months.\u00a0 I so crave the lightness and warmth, the glow of spring and summer and Beltane.<\/p>\n

But where is the light? Where is the warmth? Where is that mystical fairy feeling I so long for?<\/p>\n

Where are you Beltane?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I so crave the lightness and warmth, the glow of spring and summer and Beltane.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2764,"featured_media":962,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,136,42,46],"tags":[63,33,32,19,58,48,64],"class_list":["post-961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-calendar-events-festivals","category-general","category-personal","tag-australian-paganism","tag-festivals","tag-paganism","tag-personal","tag-sabbats","tag-seasons","tag-southern-hemisphere"],"yoast_head":"\nBeltane Where Are You?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I so crave the lightness and warmth, the glow of spring and summer and Beltane.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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