Drawing on modern Pagan witchcraft traditions, Phoebe Howe considers how to celebrate Beltane during the lockdown.
Illustration by Kaitlynn Copithorne
As I write this, I look out of my window at the fresh spring rain whose absence I have missed. Its return brings me a sense of peace. For the last couple of weeks, the sun has been blazing and Beltane—that festival which marks the beginning of summer—has been on my mind. For myself, being housebound has been a double-edged sword; we are unable to have our collective gatherings around bonfires, but there is opportunity to reconnect with the fires inside ourselves and within nature.
Beltane arrives at the midpoint between the spring and summer equinoxes. It’s a festival celebrated by Neo-Pagans; some may know it as May Day. It’s perhaps best known for its maypoles, but it’s also a fire festival. The fire has grown from the low flickering candles of Imbolc to the passionate, blazing bonfires of summer. This Neo-Pagan festival has historical precedent, even if some traditions have been forgotten and new ones devised.
Its name is Celtic in origin; the Irish Gaelic Bealtaine, and Scottish Gaelic Bealtium translate as ‘bright fire’. It was celebrated in various forms across England, Scotland, Island and the Isle of Man. The earliest mention of Beltane is in Old Irish, from the medieval texts Sanas Cormaic—a medieval Irish glossary—and Tochmarc Emire—one of the stories from the Ulster Cycle of Mythology. On this day, cattle would be walked through the two bright fires before being led to summer pastures. Such fire rituals were to protect the herd from disease and ensure their fertility.
Beltane is still a celebration of light and the beginning of the sun. Spring has reached its peak, life is in bloom. We are ready to experience the rapture of being alive. The energies in the earth are potent, fertile and full of the vitality from the sun. Beltane of yore often involved courting rituals, which could lead to marriage. Today possibility hangs in the air. You could say the earth is in her prime. Perhaps we are too.
But where to channel this vigour when we are stuck inside? This is the year I was actually hoping to conform to the Neo-Pagan stereotype and dance naked, with my community, around a blazing fire in North London. Feast on seasonal foods. Basically just have a bloody good time.
This sense of union—and the possibilities of finding love—are limited this summer. But there is a silver lining: this pandemic has given many of us more time with ourselves and with nature. We’re travelling less and air pollution in the UK has plummeted. This is a perfect time to bring forth the creativity within. Go on a walk. Even in the city you can find the wildness of nature creating new ways to bloom through pavement cracks. For those who personify the earth as a deity, whatever name we call her by, we can turn to her now. In his The Triumph of the Moon, Ronald Hutton traces the history of Pan as a wild spiritual deity, a personification of nature, expressed so articulately in the romantic era. At the heart of this Neo-Pagan festival is a creative blend of the past with the present, with a longing—one we’ve inherited from the romantic poets—to “return” to nature; for it is immersed in nature where we feel most alive.
If there is a project you have been delaying, now is the time to run with it. The seeds you may have planted at the beginning of spring will be growing. If there is a love you need to confess, a job you want, a dream you want to chase, now is the time for those leaps of faith. The time is ripe to nurture those things we want ready by Lammas, the first harvest. It’s a thing of beauty to align ourselves so we’re in sync with the natural cycles of the changing year. And through recognising the return of the season of fire, maybe we can get closer to our inner flames.
Here are some ideas to celebrate this May Day during the lockdown
Spend your daily exercise drinking in the signs of spring. Gather flowers on walks to hang around your hair, alters and homes. Make sure you only take what you need, and what the plants can afford to lose.
If you’re home alone, have a date night with yourself. Or with friends, or a significant other, if you live together. Dress up, if you want to. Or stay in pyjamas. Dance and let go.
Get creative in the kitchen and make dinner for yourself, and anyone you live with. Opt for seasonal foods for your springtime banquet.
Work on your craft, whatever it may be, so you might see the fruits of your labour by the first harvest.
Light candles in your home and watch the flicker of the flame.
Take a bath with wild flowers and reconnect with yourself — be conscious of the bath’s warmth and your breath.
Take heed of what the Beltane Fire Festival has to say about this celebration: “Our festival is a living, dynamic reinterpretation and modernisation of an ancient Iron Age.” We can adapt and reinterpret while being inspired by the past and the changing seasons.
This is a joyful holiday of love and abundance. We may not be able to dance together around the bonfire, hug or catchup over coffee, but we can still connect with each other through our connection with nature. At 9pm on 1st May I will be lighting a candle at my mini bonfire and meditating on union in times of separation. I hope you’ll join me.
Phoebe Howe is an aromatherapist, massage therapist and the creator of Earth Remedies, a homemade botanical skincare brand.