Beltane/May Day 2022
Join us and celebrate the new incarnation of Holy Book of Women's Mysteries
Come celebrate 50 years of Women's Spiritual community! Save the Date! Goddess Festival, September 8-11, 2022!
It's been fifty years since Z founded the first coven in California. Fifty years of Sisterhood and Goddess energy. Let's all come together and celebrate this amazing milestone.
Goddess Festival 2022 is now in the planning stages! Our beloved Z is gathering her Busy Bees to plan and organize the Festival, so we can make magick again! The festival will be held in September in person! The Goddess is calling Her women home! Please check out our Frequently Asked Questions page to get some basic information on the festival.
Join us for a blissful weekend filled with magic, sisterhood, and deep connection to the rhythms of the Earth! Once again, we gather together in the coastal redwoods of La Honda, California among the enchanted energies of Mother Nature to honor the Goddess, ourselves, and one another. For three days we live together in this sacred setting, partaking of powerful workshops, rituals, singing, drumming, dancing, and the dynamic vitality of female-focused intentional community. Guided by world renowned Priestesses and leaders, you can learn to identify and use herbs, contribute your voice as we pass the rattle, develop ritual skills, empower yourself through the sacred archetypes of women, and much, much more.
Each day we offer a variety of workshops and opportunities for learning. Choose to attend as few or as many as you like, or simply relax— hike through the woods, listen to the music, enter into deep discussion, shop with our hand-selected vendors, or just sit quietly and meditate in this sacred space.
Evenings are reserved for us to come together in the Gaia Bowl, our sacred ritual space. It is here that we call to the Goddess and weave our magic; honor and invoke our Foremothers; hold Initiation and Ordination rituals; and drum, dance, and sing our prayers—for ourselves and the Earth!
All of nature is just a step outside your cabin door. All meals are prepared for us—there is no work duty, no food to cook, no dishes to do. Your only responsibility is to come with an open heart and open mind, find connection through Sisterhood, and share your energies in this movement for social change. Come and meet us Between the Worlds, outside of mundane space and time, to find rejuvenation and renewed purpose!
For more information or to register, click here: Goddess Festival 2022
Thank you to Sharon
McCarthy for our Beltane
Message:
Greetings!
The next subtle shifting of seasonal tides coincides with the energy of
Saturday’s Dark Moon…
Her radiance unseen amidst the stars on the last night of April.
Then Sun-day morning’s golden light rises with the bright dawning of
May.
Still remembered as Beltaine, May 1st blooms midway between the
Vernal Equinox and Summer Solstice.
On May Day we especially feel Gaia’s heartbeat as a grounding
vibration, humming with the Green World.
May our hearts fill with the pure joy of bird song, trilling throughout the
increasing hours of sunlight.
Our alignment with Nature’s cycles is deeply relevant to our well-being.
Our bodies are of the Earth, and sensitive to these changing rhythms.
Our planet is pulsing ancient codes of wisdom into our flesh and bones,
helping us to remember who we are.
The flowering Earth caresses and Blesses us with Her fully embodied
ecstasy.
This knowledge sometimes appears to us as metaphor, and the insights
we receive may surprise us.
Our quiet attention to the mysteries of life, death and rebirth helps us to
belong more fully in this world.
Flowers are very clear about their passion to Love and Be Loved.
They Sing their longings directly from their Seed Center.
~~~
Beltaine reminds us to generously bloom into our wholly embodied,
exuberant potential.
Please feel into this seed’s journey, listening for your own insights along
the way.
If you have time, read the primary text first, and come back around to
feel into the questions.
~~~
A tiny gift shaped by its own lineage returns to the Living Earth, carried
by birds, breezes or loving hands.
Landing, it is fully embraced by the Elements.
Earth ~ always the Great Mother ~ becomes this precious seed’s cradle.
What brought me to where I am now, and do I fully belong to the life I’ve created?
Sister Rain understands persistence and showers Her watery essence wherever She can.
One day when conditions allow, the seed casing softly opens - perhaps even surprising itself.
Nature plans - and plays too, choosing improvisation whenever possible.
What part of me longs to open ~ once again, or for the first time?
Curiosity guides this emergence, as it breaks free from its shell of protection.
A tiny green shoot makes its way upwards to dance with the currents of Air -
Simultaneously reaching a rootlet of belonging into the microbial world below.
Do I stay grounded while accessing inflows of inspiration?
This briefly singular life establishes its ground of being first,
So that one day its resources can be expressed with full reciprocity.
Right now, it is learning the language of the sun’s warming rays.
Do I value and care for myself as completely as I care for others?
Ancient sunlight delivers its radiant Fire energy so kindly in May.
New leaves stretch out, becoming little solar collectors in a beautiful array.
Transforming light into green magic – such brilliantly self-sustaining bio-dynamism.
Am I drawing upon ample nourishment to honor my body and my spirit?
Responding to its innate sense of timing - a bud emerges filled with wonders to come.
So much potential gathers for this celebration until the joy can no longer be contained.
A blossom bursts forth, revealing its gorgeously unique presence.
Is there something my creative self is longing to bloom into the world?
Brilliant hues, sensual contours and textures, intoxicating scents, zillions of variations.
Each flower accepts its inherited endowment, permitting its best self to be seen.
There are few limits to what is possible in the pursuit of life’s continuance.
What parts of myself are still waiting to be brought into the light of awareness?
Its secret depths may be designed to draw pollinators into its heart
It may fully spread its magnificence open to the heavens.
Each blossom allows us to see both its Truth and its Mystery.
As we flower into our wholeness, we take even better care of the gardens of our heart.
May we all Love ourselves in ways we’ve not yet imagined.
May we allow our bodies to deeply feel what our hearts know to be true.
May we feel showered with Blessings, even through these strangest of times.
Here’s to fresh energy flowing freely!
Sharon McCarthy
Beltane Cake, Pagan Rituals
and the Real Story Behind May
Day!
According to the Smithsonian magazine, May Day as it is known today derived historically from the Celtic festival of Beltane and was a celebration of fertility and renewal. Huge bonfires were lit, around which people danced and feasted.
A highlight was the serving of the Beltane cake, which had a scalloped edge and held a special ( and rather morbid!) surprise for the person who received a hidden slice of charcoal blackened piece.
What happened next is described in the 1922 book The Golden Bough, by Sir James
George Frazer:
"Towards the close of the entertainment, the person who officiated as master of the feast produced a large cake baked with eggs and scalloped round the edge, called am bonnach beatine—i.e., the Beltane cake. It was divided into a number of pieces, and distributed in great form to the company. There was one particular piece which whoever got was called cailleach bealtine—i.e., the Beltane carline, a term of great reproach. Upon his being known, part of the company laid hold of him and made a show of putting him into the fire; but the majority interposing, he was rescued. And in some places they laid him flat on the ground, making as if they would quarter him. Afterwards, he was pelted with egg shells, and retained the odious appellation during the whole year. And while the feast was fresh in people’s memory, they affected to speak of the cailleach bealtine as dead."
Fraser McAlpine of BBC America describes how this day was heavily covered in ritual and this extended deep into the rural farm-lands. In parts of 19th century Scotland and Ireland, farmers would drive their cattle between two Beltane fires, and sometimes made to jump through the smoke in order to ensure their future health.
In the Isle of Man people were encouraged to breath in the smoke too, for the same reason. And the ashes from those fires will have been sprinkled on the budding crops to ensure a decent harvest.
Historian reveal these ancient pagan rituals that are still celebrated, more now for the cultural, artistic theatricals and musical influences than any true sacrificial element. The Beltane Fire festival still traditionally take place every year in Edinburgh, bringing back some of the otherworldly like rituals re-enacted in full flair drama and theatre…
There is always something new to learn, ancient and fascinating stories from differ-ent cultures buried deep in history that are waiting to be revealed. I’m obsessed with the detail, especially if it is anything to do with food symbolism.
Studying traditional recipes for Beltane cake – these are basic sponges, heavily spiced with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cocoa – a significant nod to the fertility aspect of May Day. On baking and cooling, this cake is finally soaked with Amaretto liqueur and finished with a soft dusting of cocoa powder, reflecting the historical association of food aphrodisiacs related to this celebration.
There was in Florence in the oldest time a no-ble family, but grown so poor that their giorni di festa or feast-days were few and far between. However, they dwelt in their old palace (which was in the street now called La Via Cittadella), which was a fine old building, and so they kept up a brave show before the world, when many a day they hardly had anything to eat. Round this palace was a large garden, in which stood an ancient marble statue of Diana, like a beauti-ful woman who seemed to be running with a dog by her side. She held in her hand a bow, and on her fore-head was a small moon. And it was said that by night, when all was still, the statue became like life, and fled, and did not return till the moon set or the sun rose. The father of the family had two children, who were good and intelligent. One day they came home with many flowers which had been given to them, and the little girl said to her brother:--
"The beautiful lady with the bow ought to have some of these!"
Saying this, they laid flowers before the statue and made a wreath which the boy placed on her head.
Just then the great poet and magician Virgil, who knew everything about the gods and fairies, entered the garden and said, smiling:--
"You have made, the offering of flowers to the goddess quite correctly, as they did of old; all that re-mains is to pronounce the prayer properly, and it is this:"
So he repeated the Invocation to Diana.
“Lovely Goddess of the bow! Lovely Goddess of the arrows! Of all hounds and of all hunting Thou who wakest in starry heaven When the sun is sunk in slumber Thou with moon upon they forehead, Who the chase by night preferrest Unto hunting in the day-light, With thy nymphs unto the music Of the horn--thyself the huntress, And most powerful: I pray thee Think, although but for an instant, Upon us who pray unto thee!”
Then Virgil taught them also the spell to be uttered when good fortune or aught is specially required.
The Conjuration of Diana.
“Fair goddess of the rainbow, Of the stars and of the moon! The queen most powerful Of hunters and the night! We beg of thee thy aid, That thou may'st give to us The best of for-tune ever!”
Then he added. the conclusion:--
“If thou heed'st our evocation And wilt give good for-tune to us, Then in proof give us a token!”
And having taught them this, Virgil departed. Then the children ran to tell their parents all that had happened, and the latter impressed it on them to keep it a secret, nor breathe a word or hint thereof to any one.
But what was their amazement when they found early the next morning before the statue a deer freshly killed, which gave them good dinners for many a day; nor did they want thereafter at any time game of all kinds, when the prayer had been devoutly pronounced.
There was a neighbour of this family, a priest, who held in hate all the ways and worship of the gods of the old time, and whatever did not belong to his religion, and he, passing the garden one day, beheld the statue of Diana crowned with roses and other flowers. And being in a rage, and seeing in the street a decayed cabbage, he rolled it in the mud, and threw it all dripping at the face Of the goddess, saying:--
“Behold, thou vile beast of idolatry, This is the worship which thou hast from me, And the devil do the rest for thee!”
Then the priest heard a voice in the gloom where the leaves were dense, and it said:--
“It is well! I give thee warning, Since thou hast made thy offering, some of the game to thee I'll bring; Thou'lt have thy share in the morning.”
All that night the priest suffered from horrible dreams and dread, and when at last, just before three o'clock, he fell asleep, he suddenly awoke from a nightmare in which it seemed as if something heavy rested on his chest. And some-thing indeed fell from him and rolled on the floor. And when he rose and picked it up, and looked at it by the light of the moon, he saw that it was a human head, half decayed. Another priest, who had heard his cry of terror, entered his room, and having looked at the head, said:--
"I know that face! It is of a man whom I confessed, and who was beheaded three months ago at Siena."
And three days after the priest who had insulted the goddess died.
(The foregoing tale was not given to me as belonging to the Gospel of the Witches, but as one of a very large series of traditions relating to Virgil as a magician. Leland, Charles G.. Aradia: Gospel of the Witches )
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