Beltane ritual

Beltane is a celebration of life and fertility (using the term broadly and with the knowledge that these traditions originated with people who lived much closer to the land than average Jo does today). Most of us aren’t able to dance around a may pole with flowers in our hair, jumping hot coals, feasting and running off into the bushes to grope whomever we please, which makes Beltane tricky to celebrate in modern times. A low-key gathering might involve sitting in a circle of ivy, passing a kiss around, and reading out inspiring poetry or prose.

In my home, Beltane is a celebration of nature’s spirits. We spend time tending our fairy garden and we leave offerings. If we had a backyard, we’d decorate a May bush and dance around it, but we don’t, so we’ll be creating a May bough instead. In November, because Australia.

Below you’ll find a base ritual which you can build on and adapt to your needs. Read it all the way through first before attempting it.

You’ll need:

• Items to create a May bough
• Items to create a bonfire or candles that will stand in for your fire / other alternative
• Offerings for the fae. We often use cupcake sprinkles or biodegradable glitter
• Upbeat music
• Small feast

Create a May bough by gathering bright flowers and tying them together with brightly coloured cord or ribbon (choose natural fibres wherever possible, especially if you intend to throw this on a bonfire afterwards). Traditional plants used as the basis of the may bough are hawthorn, rowan, holly or sycamore, but I don’t have access to any of those, so I’ll be using roses and any Jacaranda flowers or gum tree branches that have fallen in my street.

Decorate your bough. Some ideas:

• Paper or cloth steamers
• Paper chains
• Leftover painted eggshells or wooden eggs from Eostre
• Coloured popcorn threaded on string
• Flowers

If you have small children or wild adults, set aside some flowers and popcorn to be thrown in the air while dancing.

If you wish to, you can use a sigil or summoning pentacle as a portal to let spirits in. Either set the summoning plate under the bough, or “cut” the portal into the air over the top.

Next, set your fire. If you’re doing this in a unit like I am, open all your windows, use fans to direct smoke away from your fire alarms, and put your cauldron on a wooden cutting board to protect your floor. Take into account any animals that share your home, especially birds, making sure they have somewhere to go to get away from the smoke/smells and noise.

Beltane’s bonfire has protective properties. Traditionally, there are nine sacred woods going into the fire, but again, work with what is local, readily available and not endangered. My cauldron is about as big as a manly fist, so I’m going to be hard pressed to get nine of anything in there, but likely my tiny bonfire will include rosemary, lavender, cinnamon and blueberry wood.

Whatever you choose, state out loud the wood and its properties as you layer it into your cauldron or fire pit.

Set your fire and bough far enough apart that you can dance around and between them.

Replace “us” with “me” and “our” with “my” if practicing alone. Say:

Fire protect us, our home and our loves, our cats/pets and our children/plants, below and above.
We welcome the spirits of the earth and the flowers, the trees and the woods, all benevolent powers.
Together we dance for life and good fortunes, giving thanks for all our blessings and boons.

Turn up the music and pass ‘round a kiss as the magick of life fills us with bliss.

Skip or dance around the bough and fire, feast on seasonal fruits, drink and be merry. Spend time together. It can be fun to cover yourself in biodegradable glitter. When the fire dies down, you can mark yourselves with the ash for its protection, sprinkle the ash on your gardens and/or keep the ash to use in spells throughout the year.