My Beautiful Beltane 2012

Have I been slacking or what? Oopsie!  I have been spending a ton of time reading lately, as well as stressing, but, I’m pushing past that, in the mean time, here is some info on how we spend our Beltane in my house.

The day started out with me adding some mead and water to the altar as offerings and then doing my Beltane Oracle reading, which I wrote about right afterwards.  It was an interesting reading and has been on my mind ever since I had the reading.  Not long after I finished that post, a couple of friends stopped by to offer us a bit of company. We talked a bit about the day, plans, entheogens, and life in general. As our visit came to a close, they offered me some mushrooms which have been waiting under my altar for the right time of use, which originally was going to be Beltane Eve, but didn’t happen as by the end of the evening, I was just exhausted and felt that the Super Moon/Full Moon/Lunar Beltane would be a better time, as it would be somewhat of a powerful and significant day, but, that also, did not take place, as it just didn’t feel like the right time. So now, they sit, and they wait for me to come to them and ask for their wisdom.

After our visit, I went out and collected some flowers to add to the center of the altar which turned out beautifully and added just the right feel and energy to the altar for me. After the flowers had been gathered, I went to pick up some friends to come over and celebrate Beltane by drinking copious amounts of mead and then, by making some mead. There was music, drinking, snacks, and lots of general enjoyment all around. One of the batches of mead made was a lavender batch, the other, was a mint, juniper berry, and strawberry mix (unfortunately, the latter was put into a glass bottle, sealed up, and subsequently exploded the next morning).

After taking the company to their various homes, I came back home and my honey and I had a couples ritual with the Beltane incense burning next to the bed.

Beltane Eve 2012

Wow! What a holiday! I decided to celebrate from the day before Beltane starting at sunset until Saturday Night, the night of the full moon.  

Beltane Eve was spent creating a special Beltane incense which mean grinding grinding grinding. I pulled out my wooden mortar and pestle and my small food processor and a multitude of shot glasses and measuring spoons. I carefully ground out each ingredient, making sure it was just the right texture texture, then, each ground herb was placed into a shot glass to be measured out and then mixed up. It came out smelling delightful and really set the mood for the rest of the evening. There is one more ingredient I want to add, but, it seems to have been stolen away by the pixies (read: I was careless and lost it), hopefully I’ll find it soon and be able to powder and then add it. Once the incense was done, I put a coal on the stove and took a short break, letting the coal heat while I started working on my Beltane playlist. (Speaking of which, if you have any awesome songs to add to such a play list, please do let me know.) Once my coal was done I grabbed my cast iron pan and began burning my incense, which I found works better with an incense stove than putting the incense directly on the coal.  As I burned incense, I prepared the altar. I used a shimmery, gauzy, multicolored cloth as an altar cloth. I filled my green man cup and added a wine glass for an offering of mead. I also added a red apple cinnamon scented candle, a bowl for lose incense and a holder for stick incense, and the skull of a dear, to symbolize earth. In the center, I added dried flowers in different forms and a bowl, to fill with water and fresh flowers that I would put in the next day. Here is the final product. (Unfortunately you can’t see the bowl of incense on the front left corner.)

Tomorrow, I will add in some details of the day of, today, I’m off to the stone circle to enjoy the Maypole!