The sun has emerged and the earth has warmed. We can see the evidence of new life, new growth, change, everywhere we look and just like nature, its time for us to shift again too. It is the time of year for us to emerge from our winter slumber and reap the rewards of the goals and dreams we set in motion in Autumn.
Although we are heading towards the celebration of Halloween, based on the Pagan tradition of Samhain, this in not actually in line with the season we are enjoying. Living in the Southern Hemisphere it can sometimes be forgotten that we celebrate our seasonal holidays backwards at times. In the North, where the leaves are falling and the cold is gathering, it is time to light the fires and celebrate Halloween.
The celebration originally involved keeping the evil spirits at bay through the long dark and cold of winter where many died due to disease and lack of food. Fires were lit and rituals were celebrated to ensure when spring arrived again, the village would be intact and ready to reap what had been sown in the Autumn. Although the holiday changed and evolved over time and now involves dressing up as evil spirits as fun, not to drive evil away, and the gift of lollies and candy rather than autumn harvest apples, we still in the South celebrate on the 31st of October. What we should be celebrating, is the festival of Beltaine which is also known as May Day in the Northern hemisphere.
Beltaine is the festival of Spring where we celebrate the fertility of the earth and all the gifts it is giving. This can be seen in the flowers that bloom and the ducklings on the pond or the lambs in the paddock, but it can also be used in our life. Traditionally the Pagan traditions including the Celts and the Romans, would celebrate the Gods and Goddesses of Spring by lighting a bonfire that gave birth to summer. They would dance and celebrate surviving the winter, giving thanks, and moving into the fertile and productive time of the year. We in modern society so often forget that we are connected to the earth and that our cycles reflect hers.
This is the time to be thankful for the end of the cold and the dark and rejoice in the many blessings we all have in our lives. Being a time of fertility, expressing all creativity is important at this time of the year. This creativity brings new life into the world weather that be the creation of human life or the creation of something new; a new home, a new relationship, a new beginning. The energy swells at this time of year and allows our plans and ideas to be born into existence.
Make sure that on this October 31st, even if you are celebrating the wonderful macarbe of modern Halloween, which I certainly shall be, you also take the time to celebrate the blooming world around you. Give thanks to the Earth for her bounty, give thanks to those that support you, give thanks to your body for all it does.
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