{"id":13876,"date":"2019-04-21T03:00:33","date_gmt":"2019-04-21T09:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=13876"},"modified":"2019-04-05T18:18:42","modified_gmt":"2019-04-06T00:18:42","slug":"16-years-of-beltane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2019\/04\/16-years-of-beltane.html","title":{"rendered":"16 Years of Beltane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cSo, what do you want to do for Beltane?\u201d<\/p>\n

As much as we Pagans love the eight holy days on the Wheel of the Year, it can be hard to come up with a suitable way to celebrate. This is especially true for solitary Pagans. Not only do celebrations tend to be better with a group, there are some things that require a group \u2013 you can\u2019t do a Maypole dance by yourself.<\/p>\n

Still, many Pagans are solitary, either by choice or by circumstance. So in 2014 and 2015 I created a series of solitary rituals for the Wheel of the Year. In 2018 and 2019 I compiled a series of \u201c8 Things To Do\u201d posts. Here are the Beltane editions of both.<\/p>\n

Beltane \u2013 A Solitary Ritual<\/a><\/p>\n

8 Things To Do For Beltane As a Solitary Pagan<\/a><\/p>\n

While I performed all the rituals before I posted them and I\u2019ve done most of the things I suggested in the \u201c8 Things To Do\u201d series, I haven\u2019t been a solitary Pagan for a long time. And since most of my writing and teaching is less about \u201cyou should do this\u201d and more about \u201cthis is what works for me\u201d it seems appropriate to talk about what I\u2019ve done to celebrate Beltane, and what I\u2019m doing going forward.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Beltane 2016<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beltane BC (Before CUUPS)<\/h1>\n

I discovered Paganism in 1993, so I suppose I could call this post \u201c26 Years of Beltane.\u201d But I don\u2019t have a lot to talk about from the first ten years. I was dabbling, afraid to fully commit to this path \u2013 mainly I had religious issues I hadn\u2019t dealt with yet. There were times when I\u2019d forget all about a high day until a week or so after it had passed.<\/p>\n

Not Beltane. I always knew when Beltane was. Beltane was the sexy Pagan holiday \u2013 and I was a solitary Pagan. Yes, I was married, but my wife isn\u2019t Pagan and having sex on May 1 isn\u2019t the same thing as celebrating Beltane. It brought back unpleasant memories of being single in my 20s.<\/p>\n

Of course, I was in a committed monogamous relationship and I took that commitment seriously. I still do. I\u2019m not sure what I expected Beltane should be, or what I would have done if I had a chance. I just knew there was sexy stuff going on and I was missing out.<\/p>\n

Or so I thought.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Beltane 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My First Beltane<\/h1>\n

I visited Denton CUUPS for the first time at Imbolc 2003. By Ostara I formally joined the group. The next holiday was Beltane, and it was on the calendar as a closed ritual.<\/p>\n

I still didn\u2019t know the group very well. Beltane? Closed ritual? What were they going to do that they couldn\u2019t do in public?<\/p>\n

As it turned out, nothing. It was held indoors, in someone\u2019s apartment. I think there were a total of five people present. The ritual was\u2026 let\u2019s just say it was short and simple. It wasn\u2019t sexy, it wasn\u2019t scary, and it wasn\u2019t deep. Beltane 2003 may have been the biggest disappointment of my entire Pagan life.<\/p>\n

But I learned a few things that Beltane. I learned that when some people say they want a \u201cclosed\u201d ritual, what they mean is \u201cI don\u2019t want to have to deal with people I don\u2019t know\u201d and not \u201cI want to do something not suitable for a public circle.\u201d I learned that some people will put the necessary time and effort into creating a deep and meaningful ritual and some won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

And I learned that if I wanted Beltane done the way I wanted I was going to have to do it myself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Beltane 2004. Many years and many pounds ago. Still the same robe, though.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Maypole Dance<\/h1>\n

But that would have to wait a year \u2013 someone else led Beltane 2004. It was more celebration than ritual, but it was quite good. It was also quite cold, and we were outdoors. I wore running tights and a turtleneck underneath my Druid robe. The \u201cfairies\u201d wearing belly dance costumes weren\u2019t so fortunate.<\/p>\n

In 2005 I finally got my chance to do Beltane my way. I knew I couldn\u2019t make a UU Pagan ritual sexy, but I could make it a celebration of Spring \u2013 and that seemed more appropriate anyway.<\/p>\n

I still have the script. It\u2019s a mixture of serious and silly: invocations and offerings, a champion leaping the bonfire, and a cartoonish mock battle between the Queen of Winter and the Queen of Summer. I wouldn\u2019t do this ritual again (it\u2019s very duotheist) but it worked quite well at the time.<\/p>\n

This was also the first time Denton CUUPS had a Maypole dance. One of our members (who left us long ago) made a pole from PVC pipe. That\u2019s not exactly traditional, but it\u2019s lightweight (two people can put it up and one can take it down) and it\u2019s durable \u2013 we\u2019re still using it 14 years later.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Beltane 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Telling Their Stories<\/h1>\n

By 2013 a certain Irish Battle Goddess was speaking rather loudly \u2013 and I was listening. When I said I wanted Beltane to be dedicated to the Morrigan a couple people said we should wait and do that at Samhain. They were outvoted.<\/p>\n

We presented the story of the Morrigan and the Dagda meeting at the River Unshin (of course, their coupling was implied and not demonstrated) and the story of the Morrigan and C\u00fa Chulainn. I gave that ritual its own blog post<\/a>. While I got some criticism saying I misinterpreted C\u00fa Chulainn, I still insist that these two stories taken together demonstrate that when a Goddess offers Her help, we should say yes.<\/p>\n

In 2014 we presented the Four Hallows of the Tuatha De Danann<\/a>. In 2015 we performed a working to protect our local land<\/a> from fracking and other desecration \u2013 that got worse before it got better, but it did get better. In 2016 we invited the Fair Folk to join us. They decided we hadn\u2019t been sufficiently hospitable and literally split a pitcher of wine, spilling it all over the table. Since then we\u2019ve been careful to invite them specifically and not try to lump them in with the Land Spirits.<\/p>\n

Beltane 2017 was an update of our Cernunnos Ritual. He told me what He wanted that February, while I was standing alone under a full moon at the ADF Texas Imbolc Retreat<\/a>. We included a call and response to address the fear and uneasiness many people were feeling in the early days of the current Presidential administration. And then the drums started<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cernunnos Ritual \u2013 in its various forms<\/a> \u2013 is the closest I\u2019ve ever come to what I really wanted back in my early days of Beltane. It\u2019s not sexual, but it is very primal. Processions, drumming, dancing, and offerings to the fire. He was there, with me, and I was barely able to keep one foot in this world.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t felt like I was missing out on anything in a very long time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Beltane 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Future of Beltane<\/h1>\n

I don\u2019t lead Beltane every year, although sometimes it seems that way. I am leading it again this year<\/a>. We\u2019ll begin with a Maypole dance, because that\u2019s what we do, and because it\u2019s fun. Then we\u2019ll process into our Pantheon, where we\u2019re going to present all the Gods and Goddesses who we follow as individuals and as a group. The list is up to 24 deities, and that\u2019s just the ones we have statues for. If you\u2019re in the area come out and be a part of it.<\/p>\n

I have no plans for future Beltanes \u2013 I pretty much work on a year-to-year basis now. If Someone tells me They want me to lead a certain ritual in a certain way (and assuming the rest of the group agrees) I\u2019ll do it. Otherwise I\u2019ll show up and participate in a ritual someone else leads. I never get tired of leading rituals, but I\u2019m always happy to let someone else have a turn at it too.<\/p>\n

May your Beltane be deep and powerful, whether your celebration is solitary or with a group.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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