Beltane blessings in full bloom...
May all your projects and dreams flourish!
Beltane starts the sunset of April 30th that unfolds Walpurgis Night when (like in Halloween) the veil between the seen and unseen is very thin. It is usually celebrated with bornfires and leads to the 1st of May, Beltane or May Day, which is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals (along with Samhain, Imbolc and Lughnasadh).
Pagan handfasting marriage ceremonies usually take place all over the world on this date... as this is the day the union of the "The Goddess" and "The God" is blessed so they can conceive a child. A symbol of the fertility of the Earth, this is a blooming time, a time to grow. It's a celebration of life, of love and yes of sensuality and sexuality as well. Time to enjoy the outdoors, the sun, the life that stirs everywhere...
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May is the blooming month so may all your projects flourish!
You can dance around a May Pole, attach bells to your ankles, gather flowers as an offering or even tie ribbons to a Hawthorn tree (typically blooming in May) to ask the fae folk to grant your wishes.
Flora by By Sandro Botticelli Public Domain, Link
The Welsh goddess Creiddylad is connected with Beltane, often called the The May Queen. The Goddess of flowers and love has many names in different cultures like Persophone in the Greek Mythology and Flora in Ancient Rome.
Time to bloom
I'm heading to the Hawthorn tree by my neighbourhood and tie a couple for wishes...
what do you wish for?
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All the pictures were taken just by my neighbourhood, and you cannot listen to it but lots of industrious bees were doing their job and buzzing sweetly around me. And the scent of the little blossoms is intoxicating on warm days. It makes me hum right away...
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My elven tiara was gift from my friend Laura from Los Tesoros de la Ayalga. Photos of me taken in collaboration with @hedac
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I already posted the song sometime ago on steemit but just in case you want some Spring music to celebrate. I take the chance to re-share my song "The waking of Spring" as background music of this post. Click below to listen.
and barefoot as they gather as nymphs playing by the creeks
Note: People often ask me if I'm pagan due to the themes of my songs, drawings and photography. I have many friends that are but I happen to have my own spiritual connection with Nature.
But as you know I love fantasy, myths, legends and fairy and ghost tales. That is likely the gathering silver thread of my feed. Beltane Blessings everyone!
Celebrate life!
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Priscilla Hernandez
singer-songwriter & illustrator
http://yidneth.com
Wonderful to see others celebrating Beltane.
Enjoyed your post.
Blessed Be!
K
Hey, @yidneth YOUR PHOTOS ARE SIMPLY AMAZING, waaw bravo 👏 keep up the good work! I like your all photography.
I edited and included a song of mine too. I am mostly known for my music and illustration but going to Nature and "cosplaying" my stories has become my way of living too. My partner often jokes... do you always hike in medieval garments? and I sort of do ! :) Thank you :)
Amazing Post , like every time when i hop in to take a look for your new works...
Walpurgis is me known very well... but its more a kid thing here where i life now...
As Kids we walk through the village to collect Apples and Cake... and this peeps which didnt PAY got the WITCHES OF THE WALPURGIS NIGHT... The funny fact the ADULTS went to the DANCE into MAY ( most of em dont know why ).
The Walpurgisnacht (also witches burning) is a traditional Northern and Central European festival, partly with fire smoke on 30 April. The name derives from St. Walburga, whose feast day was celebrated until the Middle Ages on the day of her canonization on May 1. The Walpurgisnacht was the Vigilfe of the festival. As a "Dance in May", it has also found its way into private and commercial events as an urban, modern festival event on the eve of May Day because of the opportunity to dance and socialize.
Engraving by W. Jury after Johann Heinrich Ramberg (1829) on Goethe's Faust I: "A little thief's liveliness, a little bit of rambling. This is how the wonderful Walpurgis Night haunts me through all the members. "
Many Walpurgis rites live on in peasant May-customs. In folk tradition one protected his yard by nocturnal whip cracking, designed brooms and Maybushes. The maypole, usually a birch, is at the same time fertility symbol and actor of the world tree. At Walpurgis, the maypoles are traditionally brought from the forest into the village to put them in front of the house. In the village center is danced around the tree. The tree thus symbolizes the fertility of nature, which in this way is brought to the people. Ritual acts of love in the fields allegedly transferred human fertility to the soil in pre-Christian times. A special role is played by the monoliths in the Wendland (for example in Woltersdorf and Trebel), which were considered to be brittle bridal couples. It should have been a custom that on Walpurgis Night girls with exposed genitals slipped over these stones in order to wish their lover.
Many of the Spring Festival customs are entwined with young couples symbolizing the human community. The walk between two Walpurgis fires should purify and keep out pestilences (Walpurgis is considered the patron saint of plague, cough and rabies). The witches' bonfires, celebrated even today in large parts of Germany, presumably go back to this tradition. With the rigorously practiced Christianization not only in Germany, these old customs were condemned as pagan, the original, in the view of some researchers on matriarchal social structures due importance was lost and in rural youth.
Oh my such an in depth reply... You should post it as a post, indeed you should share. We do not have these celebrations in Spain, sadly. But I am out at this moment to smell the flowers. First butterflies are also starting to flutter.
it was only a country update from me ;)
Adventure Day: Part 3 of 4, The Elementary School for Odd People
I found this mural in an old elementary school. I wondered why I have never seen a maypole celebrated in my lifetime. It was a common sight historically.
By the way, I was struck by the beauty of your hair intermingled with the fresh flowers. I think you captured the spirit of the goddess, without any of the ego.
@creativetruth
Aww what a sweet coment and such a lovely compliment. I went to the blooming tree today... it's a bit cloudy but bees are still busy. I read your post (I'll stop later to drop my feedback better) and I see the school is in Oregon. I once performed a concert there and I loved the place... It has like somehing fae about it... Loved the murals in the school too.
I wish more sustainable fulfilling living comes easily to more who honor nature's creative impulse within , thank you for your post!
I think I have an harmonious relation with Nature. I hike often... and really I hike in crazy garments... it's my way to "play the fantasy game" that inspires me to compose my music... but somehow it became a way of living too, so yes, I carry my lap harp and sing to the birds and they usually chant back.
Absolutely gorgeous and beautiful as always. Have a blessed Beltane 💚💚💚
Thank you, same back to you...! :)
When I see something that moves me, I will then snap it, and hope to keep this moment forever… It looks like this is exactly what you did here as well!
Thank you so much, I intended to share a single steepshot and somehow editing the post has grown :) I've included now a song of mine too. I really love this time of the year...
Being a photographer as well, I just love it.
So if you are a photographer I appreciate even more the compliment :)
♥¸.•°”˜˜”°•.✫ B★E★A★U★T★I★F★U★L ✫¸.•°”˜˜”°•.♥
Thanks. I wish you the same to you!