THEMES OF BELTANE:

• Sexuality, mating, pairing, flowering
• Jack-in-the-Green, the Green Man
• May King and Queen
• Hawthorn flowers, apple blossom
• Maypoles and phallic symbols
• Dancing, song, joy and celebration
• Hobby horses
• Closeness of the Otherworld, the sidhe
• Activity, expansion, growth
• Fire, purification

BELTANE RITE:

Cast the circle.

Priestess: Lady of Summer, we call upon thee. Be with us here tonight in all your beauty and gentleness.

Priest: We call upon thee, Lord of the Forests, be with us here tonight in all your wildness and strength.

Priestess: I call upon the Lord and Lady and all here present to witness that we gather here tonight to celebrate the coming of summer, Beltane, when the Lord and Lady celebrate their sacred marriage and the earth grows fruitful from their love. We give thanks for their blessings.

Dance and chant:

The sacred Beltane fires burn

Great wheel of life again has turned

Priest: As the summer comes the gift of the Lord to his Lady is beauty as the earth flowers.

Priestess: As dead winter passes, the gift of the Lady to her Lord is summer and life.

This is the signal for everyone to put on their summer garlands and to embrace all those present.

Bard:

"O do not tell the priests of our arts, for they would call it sin,

For we will be in the woods all night

A conjuring the summer in.

And we bring you good news by word of mouth.

 For women, cattle, and corn:

The sun is coming up from the south,

With oak and ash, and thorn."

Priestess: Listen to the words of the Goddess. I am the joy of the earth and my love moves throughout all existence. Love is my law. I am all love, I am all desire. My love creates all. I am the joy in your hearts, the words in your songs.  Let blessing be.

All: Blessed Be.

Priest: [Points the wand at the earth as a sign of the power of the God to fertilise Mother Earth] "Life to the earth!"

There now follows a period of silent meditation.

Priestess: [Taking up the wine] I bless this wine, the blood of the earth pressed smooth, in the name of the Lady and her Lord. I ask that as we drink of the wine, we share their love.

Priest: [Taking up the cakes] I bless these cakes, meal which sprang from the earth, in the name of the Lady and her Lord. I ask that as we partake of them, we share their bounty.

Priestess:  Tonight we have celebrated the coming of summer, Beltane. Only the Lord and Lady can know and measure our hearts. May they bless our hopes this night. Blessed Be.

All: Blessed Be.

Cakes and wine.

Break the circle.

This is the signal for the feasting to begin.

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