From the inimitable Ariel Spilsbury:

Happy Beltane, Beloveds...

Our culture has it so backwards. Get your work done, then if there is any time left in your day, find a moment of pleasure or joy. Over time, I have found that the more I stay in my joy and ecstasy and out of struggling with the 3D world, the more the Universe, in its delight, is magnetized to joyfully support my life! 

A friend's letter that arrived a couple of days ago (that follows) is a prime example of this divine truth. She had been struggling financially to keep up with her daughter's college education expenses, and her ex partner continued to be unresponsive. Though her fear and anxiety were escalating, one day she made a conscious choice to give up her worrying, and instead put her intention on her creative expression. When she allowed herself to do that, she spontaneously entered an ecstatic state with her writing. 

When she had finished writing and opened her email, there was an email from her ex partner saying he had changed his mind and would help her! So what turned things around? We need to start asking ourselves that question and get on with doing whatever that is with whatever appears to make us contract or thwart our living in joy. 

In my interpretation the hallmark of that turnaround is clearly ecstasy... the choosing to enter the ecstasy of hearing the rejoicing dawn birds singing, the ecstasy of bringing form to the mystery in writing, "dancing a jig", building an altar... anointing oneself... etc.

Here is the friend's email so you can decide the answer for yourselves:

Though I was feeling downhearted, I decided to drink " joy juice” yesterday, focusing my intentions on the largesse and abundance that surrounds me at all times.

"I woke up this morning at 4:45 am to the sound of a woman in ecstasy somewhere in the neighborhood. It made me smile. The pre-dawn breeze was so delicious that I could not, would not go back to sleep. The Muse appeared at my bedside, with pen and pad in hand. She had a bemused, and slightly piqued expression that said, “Let’s get back to it, shall we?!?” I took the paper and wrote page after page until sunlight drenched my room and the song of birds rejoicing was too overpowering to dismiss. 

I got out of bed and danced a jig, anointed myself, and proceeded to create an altar on top of my dresser of bird nests and flowers and beeswax candles. It was decidedly a most excellent start to the day. After taking a walk in the impossibly verdant hills near my home, I came home and booted up the computer. Two emails stood out: One was from my ex partner, saying that he was willing to pitch in with our daughter's extra college expenses (!) and the other was from a friend offering a part-time job I could do from home (!!!) All I can say as I laugh out loud is “Goddess is Good!!!”

So if you are heads down getting your work done, blatantly ignoring the fact that it is Spring... Beltane... the season of Ecstasy Exalted... you might want to reconsider your choice generally in your life or at the very least to take a day off to celebrate Her High Holy Day of Beltane on May 1st for Goddess' sake! Consider celebrating this Turn of the 8-spoked wheel, the precious Holy Day of Beltane, simply by choosing to do whatever gives YOU ecstasy, pleasure and delight... enacting and bringing to life the Celtic tenet: "All acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals!"

                             In Delight, Ariel

Beltane Benevolence

Today my favorite bank teller said, "Oh, it's the first of May ~ that's called May Day, isn't it?" And I had a perfect opening in which to explain to two intrigued bank employees (the teller next to him was all ears, too!) that the secular version of these holy days leaves a lot out.

May 1st is Beltane: a time for celebrating the beauty and sanctity of all life. No matter how challenging your life may be now, today is a moment for reclaiming your power, balance, and inner strength.

Beltane is one of eight Shabbats on the Wheel of the Year. The others include the Solstices and Equinoxes, Lammas (August 1st), Samhain (October 31st), and Imbolc (February 2nd). Beltane breathes renewal into our cells as we acknowledge the Nature Kingdom and the advent of summer. For our Southern Hemisphere allies, the Wheel of the Year is reversed: Myth*ing Links offers a fine page on the Southern Year.

Although traditionally observed on May 1st, astronomical Beltane arrives on the 5th, a nice sync-up with Cinco de Mayo, so we actually have an entire week in which to renew, dance the fire back into our beings, and open once again to a sacred reUnion of our masculine and feminine selves. Mythologist Kathleen Jenks provides a page rich in Beltane lore from around the globe.

Beltane: Going A-Maying

Today heralds the official end of winter and advent of summer, in the Northern Hemisphere; for our Southern Hemisphere allies, it's the reverse. Personally, I'm reveling in the return of the Light and warmth! Here's a lovely article detailing the history of Beltane and why this is truly a time to say, "light my fire!"

Thanks to What Shines newsletter subscriber Eileen Balint for this fabulously perfect May Day offering:

The Springtime of Now

Yellow forsythia, periwinkle blue
Almond buds bursting, moist with pink dew.
SPRING shoots forth ... from Eros's quiver
Rushing and gushing like a raging river.
Woodruff nestled in shades of sublime
Beneath cedar and dogwood, blue spruce and pine.
Flaming red cardinals serenade the wild
Feathering their nests with the down of beguiled.
Annuals, complacent, cheery and tame
In bed with bohemian perennials just the same.
Wildflowers don't care where they seed or they grow
In the Garden of Eden, you go with the flow.
The Maypole decked with ribbons and bough
Spirals awareness to the threshold of Now.
"Life is the dancer and I AM the dance"
Spring is the lusty rhythm of romance
Caught off guard in the twilight is Presence,
By the fragrance of Being, we remember our Essence.