Beltaine is one of the Celtic Fire festivals and is celebrated around this time of the year. When you go outside you can see that everything in nature is bursting forth with life. There are flowers everywhere and animals and birds are all having their young, at this time of the year the earth is at it's most fertile stage. There is so much creative energy in the air, everything is growing and evolving. Now is the time to reconnect, reconnect and unite the many sides of ourselves.

Each festival gives us the opportunity to work on specific parts of ourselves, to open ourselves up to deepen inner reflection and embrace the person that we have become. We only need to look to nature, to see what is happening naturally all around us. When we observe our natural surroundings we then become aware of the energies that are at their most active now.

Right now it is all about sexuality and fertility, the union of opposites of both the masculine and feminine energies within us all. The union of both our rational and intuitive self. When we do this, when we embrace our whole self , we bring more fertility into our lives. Allowing you to create the perfect environment in which to grow the seeds of yourselves.

This is why it is so important for us to acknowledge and celebrate the seasons, to allow ourselves to reconnect with who we are, to tap into our true potential. So by becoming in sync with the earth's cycles it allows us to tap into the energy of the earth, aiding us in our transformative journey. Because everything in life changes, it evolves, it is the natural order of things. Embracing change allow us to embrace our full potential.

As I mentioned earlier on, Beltaine is one of the Celtic fire festivals. Bel-tene means a goodly fire. Bonfires would be light on this night with two larger ones where the local people would take turns jumping over the fire, to purify and cleanse themselves and to bring forth fertility into their lives. Couple who wished to pledge themselves to one another would jump over the fire together and often HandFastings would be performed. A handfasting is an ancient ceremony where two people pledge there commitment to one another for a year and a day, by joining their hands together in order to form the figure eight, the infinity sign.

Image Source

In Ireland there is a long tradition of decorating the hawthorn tree on the first of May, with ribbons , thread and flowers. This is something that is still done today. It is done to appease the Fairy folk, who often come to visit at this time of the year and to ensure that they did not bring any bad luck your way. Just like in Samhain, the veil between our world and the underworld is very thin allowing the fairy folk to visit.

Hawthorn is the 6th Tree of the Celtic Tree Ogham, it represents love, fertility and protection. This is a very powerful tree. A tree that helps us to access the deepest parts of ourselves, to help release any pain we have been carrying, thus allowing us to become more open hearted , and to move forth into a place of giving. The tree is in blossom now and a tea made from those beautiful flowers is a wonderful spring tonic, giving you the strength to move forward in life. You can also add them to salads and make syrups with them.

Traditionally at this time of the year people would celebrate the union of the Horned God and Fertile goddess which ensure the fertility of the land. It is a time to acknowledge the female and male energies and their union, a union of opposite forces where the knowledge and power of both is honoured and shared. Through this union they become the fertile force of transformation and acceptance. Maypoles were put up in towns and villages where people would dance around it whilst holding long ribbons which would become wrapped around the pole. This is to symbolize the joining of the male and female energies.