A Beltane Spell

Beltane – It’s great! What could be better than Maypoles, gathering with community, dancing, singing, eating and cavorting all on a warm spring day. For those so inclined there might be other rites too (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, it’s all about consent here, Squire).

But of course, not everyone is out of the broom closet. And not everyone has a local community to gather with. And some folk may not be able to partake in the swirling, spinning Maypole dancing. And those “other” rites are right out of the question at the moment for a fair number of folk for all sorts of reasons. So what to do?

A Beltane Spell

Find yourself wherever it is you that you are able to practice.

Set your space just so, with ritual cloths, altar items, statues or images of your deities. If setting the space is difficult for you or it’s impractical to put these things on display, imagine them about your space. If you feel called to, make this place special by “drawing” a circle around the room with your finger or your magical tools. Perhaps, you might just mark these next few moments as “off limits” to the mundane world.

Perhaps you can imagine the forces of nature in your part of the world, right now. A gust of Air. The warmth of the sun or a heater. Water as rain or snow or a glass of cool lemonade. The very Earth might be soil you can touch or a wooden table top. Notice the parts of the world around you.

If working with deity isn’t something you are used to or choose not to practice, then picture a favorite place in nature you’ve visited or the tree outside of your window or something that connects you to the current of life.

Gather five ribbons or pieces of colored yarn or cut five long strips of colored paper. Perhaps find five different colored 4 inch, chime candles or left over birthday candles. Whatever you have. We’re big believers in work with whatever you can find.

Now settle in and think, cogitate, ponder, meditate on or otherwise hold in your mind what might be fertile or growing or being created, or coming to be in your life…right now, at this time of year.

Picture all of the forces that have brought you and whatever it is that is growing for you coming together, right now, in your ritual space. Each component is complete and as you have envisioned it. Each piece is being woven together, just like the ribbons around countless Maypoles in countless places all over the world this week. Hold that vision in your mind. The magic you are weaving in your life right now, being interwoven with the magic of ribbons everywhere.

Take your ribbons or yarn or paper slips and braid them together. Melt those candles so that the colors all mix into one.

Your ribbons. Your yarn. Your paper. Your candles are part of the spell of making and creating and creation and bringing to life what is asking to be brought into being.

Hang your braid somewhere you can see it all year. Let the melted wax form one new solid candle that you can place on an altar, or hide in a desk or wherever you can put it that is special for you.

When your work is completed, thank any gods you might have welcomed and any elements of nature you’ve thought about. Take  a moment to shift back into “ordinary” space and time, letting your circle dissipate, giving your space back to itself, as it were.

To paraphrase the poet Rumi, there are hundreds of ways to kneel and do ritual. This might work for you and you might find a thousand variations of something like this. It is intentionally simple. Complex rituals and spells are wonderful and we highly recommend creating spell work that serves you, a magical tradition or your community with as much intention and care as possible. And we also know that sometimes, in the moment, you just have to do what you can with what you’ve got, with whomever shows up – even if that’s just you!

Happy Beltane from The Witches Next Door