Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

April Showers are Bringing May Flowers

At Winter Solstice, the light starts returning; gradually the memory of the long nights fades until the light and dark are equal on Spring Equinox. From that point on,  the light returns more rapidly and on May 1st we arrive at the midpoint between equinox and Summer Solstice.

Today, my sunrise was at 5:47am CDT and my sunset will be at 7:48pm … more than 14 hours of daylight, adding 2 hours since the equinox. By the end of May, we will have added 49 more minutes of daylight.

May your May days be filled with sunlight, flowers … and kissable snouts!

(Don’t forget to hover!)

Beltane, celebrated on May 1st, is one of the cross quarter holidays from the pagan Wheel of the Year. It is  “the celebration of life, the land, the union of mankind with the mother earth and the purification and rebirth of all things”.

As with all earth based holidays, we celebrate what we see around us in nature: the weather is warmer, plants and flowers are blooming, wildlife is more active and we are energized by what we see and feel. Beltane is about the sheer joy of life and taking part in it.

This advice for Beltane should sound familiar to progressives:

   “Being on a spiritual path of any kind is not a part time thing. It is a way of life, and that is an everyday thing. It is not enough to make a commitment to spirit if you don’t carry that through all your thoughts and actions for the rest of the year.”

Go out and enjoy the day, leap a bonfire (carefully), dance around a maypole and listen to some stirring music from Loreena McKennitt performing the Huron Beltane Fire Dance:

To all my pagan and non-pagan friends alike: “Bright Blessings on Beltane!”

Let’s reaffirm our commitment to our spiritual and progressive path and dedicate ourselves to the work that, quite clearly, still needs to be done.


14 comments

  1. bfitzinAR

    Here in NW AR strawberries start to ripen around Beltane.  Can you think of anything more promising along the line of first fruits?  By some ancient calendars this is the first day of Summer – and our temps in the 60s here today are what I remember mid-summer being the one time I visited PA – I was cold all the time during that visit 🙂

    Thank you for the diary to remind us – the Spring flowers promise the Summer’s and Autumn’s harvests.  Blessed be.

  2. Diana in NoVa

    Loved all the photos, especially the one of the beagle puppy–I have a thing about beagles.

    I made the oatcakes, using a recipe that didn’t call for sugar. It called for a lot of butter, though. They’re very tasty and so easy to make I can see myself making them when I get up early on a cold morning.

    Just put the dried woodruff in to steep all night in the non-alcoholic Ariel Blanc wine. Tomorrow I’ll take the woodruff out and put in the strawberries, club soda, and possibly a little sugar, but not much. I’m not a fan of sweet drinks.

    It’s so blissful that the days are longer and the temperature actually got up to 73 F. today!  Mostly it’s been sunny, although it occasionally has clouded over.

    We love Loreena McKennitt in our Circle and often use her music for rituals.

  3. princesspat

    The grand puppies and their families came to dinner last night and made me even more aware of how much I’m wanting a dog of my own again.

    Thanks Jan…..as always your seasonal posts are an appreciated treasure.

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