Beltane Ritual Suggestions

Wear bright colors or floral prints and fashion a wreath of fresh flowers and ivy to wear in your hair.

Use green and pink candles in ritual to celebrate all that is blooming and coming newly alive.

Cleanse yourself in an herbal bath with rose petals, frankincense, marigold, clover and pure almond oil. Place the flowers in a bundle of cheesecloth and hold it under the running tap, then add a few drops of the essential oil to your bathwater.

Instead of walking your circle with incense (or in addition to your incense), mark the boundary of your circle with freshly picked flower petals.

Honor the Goddess by honoring your female ancestors and loved ones. Place on your altar a small bowl of small clean pebbles (or rice if you haven't any stones) and a larger bowl of fresh, clean water. Drop one pebble at a time into the water as you say words of love or a brief prayer for each of the women you are honoring. You can end this rite by adding a bunch of vibrant blossoms to the surface of the water. When your ritual is complete, you can keep the bowl out to serve as a reminder of all those women you love and admire, but be sure to pour the water back into the earth and give thanks for the abundance you have in your life (use it to water the newly growing plants in your garden!).

Even if you haven't enough people to perform a maypole ritual, you can still honor the God and all his virility by tying ribbons and flowers around the trunk of a much-loved tree in your yard and spend some giving thanks for the blessings in your life.

Spend some time in advance of your ritual to think of all that you wish for in the coming season of abundance, or to give thanks for all that you already have (or both). On rectangles of colored paper with strings attached to one end, write what you wish to nurture and grow in your life during the coming year and tie them to the branches of a beloved tree. If you're lucky enough to live near a public wishing tree, bring them there to share in the collective positive and wish-fulfilling energy of so many others.

And if you do nothing else on Beltane, take a moment to smile and feel the pleasure in all of the new life birthing all around you. Rituals are lovely and fun to participate in, but nothing is as pure and heartfelt as simply feeling truly happy, and that's what Beltane is all about: joy.

Blessed Be.

This amazing photo of the May Queen at the Beltane Fire Festival (2009) is courtesy of Two Truths and the Beltane Fire Society.