Reveling in Love and Lust: A Beltane Tryst

Beltane is the sexiest high holiday for witches and one that is anticipated all year. I always look forward to having a joyful “spree” every May. Witches begin to celebrate Beltane on the last night of April, and it is traditional for the festivities to last all night. This is a time for feasting, dancing, laughter, and lots of lovemaking. The Celts of old made this day a day of wild abandon, a sexual spree, the one day of the year when it is okay to make love outside your relationship. On May Day, when the sun returns in the morning, revelers gather to erect a merrily beribboned Maypole to dance around, followed by picnicking and sensual siestas.

Ideally, celebrate outdoors, but if you are stuck indoors on Beltane Eve, pick a place with a fireplace and have a roaring blaze so celebrants can wear comfy clothing and dance barefoot. Ask them to bring spring flowers and musical instruments, including plenty of drums! Place pillows on the floor and serve a sensual feast of foods from the following list, under the title “Oral Fixations,” along with beer, wine, ciders, and honeyed mead that you can make or obtain from a microbrewery. Gather some of spring’s bounty of flowers—roses, tulips, and my favorite, freesias, in your favorite colors, or whatever is blooming with the most vitality where you live. Set out candles in spring colors—yellow, pink, red, green, white, purple. With your arms extended, point to each of the four directions and say, “To the east, to the south, to the west, and to the north,” and recite this Beltane rhyme:

    Hoof and horn, hoof and horn,

    tonight our spirits are reborn. [repeat thrice]

    Welcome joy into my home,

    fill my friends with love and laughter.

    So mote it be.

Have each guest light a candle and speak to the subject of love with a toast of Beltane Brew. Drumming and dancing is the next part of the circle. This is truly an invocation of lust for life and will be a night to remember for all. Now rejoice!

Major and Lesser Sabbats

Four Major Sabbats

Candlemas—February 2 

Beltane—May 1 

Lammas—August 1 

Samhain—October 31

Four Lesser Sabbats

Vernal Equinox—March 20 

Summer Solstice—June 24 

Autumn Equinox—September 23 

Winter Solstice/Yule—December 21

Beltane Brew

Honeyed mead is revered as the drink of choice for this sexy Pagan holy day. It is an aphrodisiac, and with its sticky sweetness, it is perfect for dribbling on your lover’s body and then licking it off. This is my special recipe for honeyed mead, handed down through generations of Celtic witches. You will need:

• 1 quart of honey
• 3 quarts of distilled water
• 1 packet of yeast
  
• Herbs to flavor

1. Mix the honey and water. Boil for five minutes. You can add the herbs to your liking, but I prefer a teaspoon each of clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice

2. Add a packet of yeast and mix. Put in a large container. Cover with plastic wrap and allow it to rise and expand. Store the mixture in a dark place and let it sit for seven days.

3. Refrigerate for three days while the sediment settles to the bottom. Strain and store in a colored glass bottle, preferably green, in a cool, dark place. You can drink it now, but it is even tastier after it has been aged for a period of at least seven months.

Oral Fixations

Food can be foreplay, a wonderful prelude to a night of love, feeding each other, and placing a little whipped cream and chocolate in strategic spots. I recommend consuming these aphrodisiacs for your pleasure:

• Almonds, or erotically shaped marzipan
• Arugula, also called “rocket seed”
• Avocado, referred to by the ancient Aztecs as the “testicle tree”
• Bananas and banana flowers
• Chocolate, quite rightly called “the food of the gods”
• Honey, as the term “honeymoon” came from a bee- sweetened drink served to newlyweds
• Nutmeg, the traditional aphrodisiac for Chinese women; eat enough and you will hallucinate
• Oysters, prized by the Romans for their effect and resemblance to female genitalia
• Strawberries, often mentioned in erotic literature 
• Coffee, a stimulant for many things
• Garlic, the heat to light the flame of desire
• Figs, another symbol of ultimate femininity; just eating one is a turn-on
• Vanilla, captivating for both its scent and its flavor
• Wine drunk from each other’s mouths can be quite erotic 

Beltane Tryst

Beltane is the sexiest high holiday for witches and is anticipated all year. I always look forward to having a joyful “spree” every May. Witches begin to celebrate Beltane on the last night of April, and it is traditional for the festivities to last all night. This is a time for feasting, dancing, laughter, and lots of lovemaking. May Day is when revelers erect a beribboned Maypole and dance around it in gay garb followed by pagan picnicking and sexy siestas. Another bonus of Beltane is that this is the one day in the year when it is “officially OK” to enjoy sex outside your existing relationship. This is the day we look the other way.

First, serve a sensual feast of foods from the following list, called “Oral Fixations,” along with beer, wine, ciders, and honeyed mead that you can make or obtain from a microbrewery. Gather some of spring’s bounty of flowers— narcissus, daffodils, tulips, and my favorite, freesias, in your favorite colors. Set out candles in spring colors—yellow, pink, red, green, white, purple. With your arms extended, point to each of the four directions and say, “To the east, to the south, to the west, and to the north,” and recite this Beltane rhyme:

Hoof and horn, hoof and horn, 

Tonight our spirits are reborn. 

Welcome joy to my home,

Fill my friends with love and laughter. 

So mote it be.

May Ceremonies, Festivals, and Rituals

May 1, May Day, Beltane

May 2, Last day of Ridvan, the Baha’i festival when no work can be done

May 3, Dia de la Crus, Day of the Holy Cross in Mexico and South America

May 4, Feast of Bona Dea, a Roman women’s mystery rite

May 5, Mexico’s Cinco de Mayo; Children’s Day in Japan

May 6, National Day of Prayer (United States)

May 7, St. Nicola, pilgrimage of the Italian Christian hero

May 8, Festival of the Roman goddess of the mind, Mens, from whom Mensa takes its name

May 9, Lemuria, when Romans banished ghosts from their homes

May 10, Women’s rights hero Victoria Woodhull is the first woman nominated for president in 1872

May 11, Anniversary of the year 330 CE, Roman ritual rededication of Byzantium to Constantinople

May 12, International Midwives Day

May 13, Portuguese Pilgrimage to Fatima

May 14, Mercuralia, Festival of Mercury

May 15, International Day of Families

May 16, French processions on Saint Honoratus Day, patron saint of all bakers

May 17, Norwegian Independence Day 

May 18, International Museum Day

May 19, Holiday of Poetry (Turkmenistan) 

May 20, Cuba’s Independence Day

May 21, Anastenaria, Greek fire-walking festival

May 22, World Biodiversity Day

May 23, The American Civil War ends, 1865—celebrate national unity

May 24, Slovenian Sveti Kiril I Metodi 

May 25, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s birthday

May 26, Birth of Isadora Duncan (1878), self-proclaimed Dionysian ritual dancer and choreographer

May 27, St. Augustine of Canterbury Day, make a pilgrimage to a local shrine or holy place

May 28, John Muir founds the Sierra Club (1892)

May 29, Oak Apple Day in England

May 30, Memorial Day or Decoration Day

May 31, Flores de Mayo, last day of flowers, or May Day

Lavender Love Massage Bars: Sweet-scented Herbal Healing

Massage bars should look, smell and feel luxurious. Cocoa butter is beloved for the delicious chocolate scent. I also recommend shea butter or mango butter  as other options for they are also sumptuous.

·        3 ounces cocoa butter

·        3 ounces beeswax

·        3 ounces  almond oil

·        1 teaspoon of lavender essential oil

·        soap bar molds (available at all craft stores)

Slowly heat the  beeswax, almond oil and cocoa butter in a double boiler over low heat until just melted. Remove from heat. Add essential oil when mixture has cooled slightly. Pour into soap molds and cool until hardened, approximately 2 hours. Place in freezer for a few minutes before popping bars out of molds. To use, rub massage bar onto the skin — the warmth of the skin immediately melts the bar. Package your handmade massage oil in a pretty bottle and give it as a thoughtful gift.

Have a Blessed and Bliss-filled Beltane!

Beltane is without doubt the sexiest of pagan High Holidays and it is anticipate greatly throughout the year. Witchy ones celebrate this holy night which falls on the last eve of April and it is traditional for celebrations to last all the night. This is a festival for feasting, singing, laughter and lovemaking. May Day, when the sun returns in the morning, revelers gather to erect a merrily beribboned Maypole to dance around, followed by picnicking and sensual siestas. The recipe below is befitting this special time of the year when love flows as freely as wine.

Beltane Brew

Honeyed mead is revered as the drink of choice for this sexiest of pagan holy days. It is an aphrodisiac and signals the ripeness of this day devoted to love and lust. This recipe is adapted from a medieval method.

A quart honey

1 packet of yeast

3 quarts distilled water

Herbs to flavor such as cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla according to your preference

Step 1 Mix the honey and water. Boil for five minutes. You can add the herbs to your liking but I prefer as tablespoon each of clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and all-spice.

Step 2 Add a packet of yeast and mix. Put in a large container. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise and expand. Store the mix in a dark place and allow it to set for seven days, ideally at the beginning of a new moon phase.)

Step 3 Refrigerate for three days while the sediment settles at the bottom. Strain and store in a colored glass bottle, preferably green. You can drink it now but after 7 months, it has gained a full-bodies flavor. Always keep in a cool dark place.

Nonalcoholic Mead

1 quart honey

3 quarts distilled water

½ cup lemon juice

1 sliced lemon

1 half teaspoon nutmeg

1 pinch of salt

Boil all the mixed ingredients for five minutes and let cool. Bottle immediately in a colored glass jar. Keep this in the fridge to avoid fermentation and enjoy any festive occasion. This is a healthy and refreshing way to celebrate.

Hoof and Horn Rite

Ideally, you celebrate outdoors but if indoor-bound on Beltane Eve, pick a place with fireplace and have a roaring blaze so celebrants can wear comfy clothing and dance barefoot. Ask them to bring spring flowers and musical instruments, plenty of drums!  Place pillows on the floor and serve an ambrosial spread of finger foods, honeyed mead, beer, spiced cider, wine and fruity teas. As you light circle incense, set out green, red and white candles, one for each participant. When it is time to call the circle, raise your arm and point to each direction, saying “To the East, To the North,” etc, then sing:

Hoof and horn, hoof and horn, tonight our spirits are reborn. (Repeat thrice)

Welcome, joy, to this home. Fill these friends with love and laughter. So mote it be.

Have each guest light a candle and speak to the subject of love with a toast of Beltane Brew. Drumming and dancing is the next part of the circle. This is truly an invocation of lust for life and will be a night to remember for all. Now rejoice!