Saturday 30 April 2011

The May Eve Faeries

Faery blessings on a wonderful May Eve, I do hope you are having a joyous occasion with lots of celebration. I would like to introduce you to Beltane and how the land of the fae celebrate.

Beltane celebrates the coming of summer which is nearly upon us! And spring is starting to make way for summer's first bloom, it is a time when we rejoice in the union of the sacred marriage of the God/King & Goddess/Queen. A wonderful time for fertility, growth & change. Just like the seeds that were planted and are still being planted they are growing and you notice little changes going on. My oak trees went from having the tiniest little buds to sprouting baby leaves and now they are growing bigger and are looking beautiful. If we look around us and take note of mother earth and all that comes from within her you will be surprised at what we see and how fast it all happens. So I hear you ask how does the land of the fae fit in, well in quite a big way!.

There are 3 main festivals when the faery realm and our world are almost one, when we can sense them even closer than at other times of the year, these festivals are May Eve, Mid~summer & All Hallow's Eve (Samhain). The ancient celt countries new day began at sunset so ideally we should start May Eve on April 30th 6pm ~ May 1st 6pm but don't worry as you can celebrate at whatever time you wish just be aware that at these times both world's are at their strongest together.

There are a few ways we can celebrate, ribbons are tied to trees for protection for the coming year and the Fae love coloured ribbons, don't be surprised if your ribbon disappears it will be a faery! But rest assured your protection will still be granted. I would be inclined to add a lovely blessing to the ribbon as you tie it to the tree, this way your energies will be carried with the faery who took it so make sure they are all nice words spoken! Any colour ribbon is fine but you might want to choose a particular colour to go with your needs/hopes etc such as yellow for happiness, green for healing. Thank the tree nymph for allowing you to use their branch.

Hold a May Eve Ball and have a may pole, this is always popular and lots of fun. The may pole has many differing origins so I have included a link to wiki for you to read at the end of this blog. You can also crown a King & Queen and adorn their heads with handmade crowns from what you can find in nature preferably anything that is already laying on the ground, Hawthorn was a very popular piece to add.

Decorating your faery altar or tables for outdoor parties is important as well, colourful cloths such as yellow/orange/gold/white can be used, make a mini crown for the king & queen, flowers, a mini maypole complete with ribbons, rose quartz for fertility, coloured candles, anything that represents Beltane for you. You can make items such as goddess dolls, pebbles painted with flowers on them, a besom with ribbons & flowers etc, with your imagination you can create a beautiful scene.

Ancestors would light a fire and leap across it giving promises to keep during the year while farmers made a divide of two fires and would walk their cattle through and off into pasture to keep them safe. Please be careful if you intend to jump a fire, make sure it is very small and that you will not fall or any part of you will catch fire, perhaps a lit candle is best!

You may be lucky enough to hear bells coming your way and this will be a faery parade with the Queen at the helm, it is rumoured that if you look at the queen you will immediately fall under her spell so avert your eyes and just listen.

More importantly it is a time to celebrate with those special to you, time to reflect on what has gone and what is to come, give thanks to your king & queen and for what we receive from mother earth. Make your celebration one to remember with good food, drink (non alcoholic!), good company, fun, laughter & love.

Faery blessings for a wonderful evening.


A good read~the faeries book~Samantha Gray

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