Beltane: The Oracular Garden
Caitlyn Barone’s Beltane altar.
In some agricultural communities, Beltane stands at summer’s threshold.
If your soil is newly thawed, your spring garden barely rooted, don’t fret – for a sabbat is not limited to a day, but a season. This means some Witches and Pagans honor Beltane on April 30th (Walpurgis Night) or May 1st, while others make their plans according to nature.
“Christianization of the pagan Goddess of Walpurgisnacht (May Eve), the orgiastic festival of springtime sacred marriage. Walpurga was the May Queen whose cult remained so popular in Germany that the church had to adopt her in its usual way, by spurious canonization. The name of Walpurga’s monastery means literally ‘home of the heathens.’”
Barbara Walker, The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths & Secrets
In the old world, the Beltane fires were only lit once the thorn trees bloomed. At the same time, farmers were moving their animals out to pasture. Since May Day flames were believed to protect from ill fortune, farmers walked their herds between two lit pyres on their way to the fields. Smoke from Beltane fires drove away the mischievous fairies that caused blight, pest infestation, and other threats to their future harvests. To appease any remaining fae folk, people hung bells and planted extra rows of flowers in their gardens. Others crafted flower crowns and thorny wreaths to hang around the home.
