What an amazing retreat! It goes by so quickly that looking back now is a blur – but so many moments jump out nonetheless! At the start of the retreat I knew only a few people beyond their names and some online discussion, so being able to attach a real person to a name (or meet new people all together) helped me see how our community is growing.
Attraction! Our world reawakens, and we see beauty around us! How fitting for the planet named after the goddess of sexual attraction is giving us a special show in the sky for Beltane. Venus and Jupiter approach within less than the apparent diameter of the Moon, getting to their nearest point to each other on the eve of Beltane! It’s our Beltane conjunction of Venus and Jupiter! You can see them easily – simply look east, just before sunrise, on a clear morning within the next week. They’ll be slowly getting farther apart as we pass Beltane.
As if that weren’t enough to celebrate Beltane in our sky, there is a solar eclipse on the eve of Beltane as well! Here is the video so you can watch it whenever you like. Remember that eclipses always happen in pairs – when the plane of the moon’s orbit crosses the plane of the ecliptic, a pair of eclipses is formed. So the pair of this Beltane solar eclipse is a Lunar eclipse, which by happy coincidence will happen during the Suntree Retreat!
Some of the ways many of us are celebrating were published a few weeks ago, and now we also have many online celebrations and rituals to attend, as we like (the updated list, with links, is below).
Date | Time | Group | Link |
30-Apr | 6:00 PM | Druids of the Light | https://druidsofthelight.org/2021/04/03/beltane-a-celebration-of-the-life-energy-that-flows-through-us-all/ |
1-May | 2 pm EDT | Cunning Folk | com/e/beltane-celebration-tickets-302918235597?aff=erelexpmlt |
1-May | Any | John Beckett | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_cIFIeedK0 (use Youtube video of previous ritual) |
1-May | 7 pm EDT | Wyoming Valley CUUPS | https://wyomingvalleycuups.com/our-events.html |
1-May | ?? | OBOD | https://www.facebook.com/druidry/photos/a.10155793447234837/10159613051889837/ |
7-May | 7 pm EDT | Mystic Grove CUUPS | https://www.facebook.com/druidry/events/?ref=page_internalhttps://www.facebook.com/druidry/photos/a.10155793447234837/10159613051889837/ |
Various | – | CUUPS full list – check it out! | https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f4cVUPfDhZg6kejbSYtSt2MubX9T82XM35LEfGpvJp8/edit |
Beltane also reminds us of the symmetry of life and death, – as Glenys does here. For some of us, the celebrations will be later this week – the actual midpoint between the Equinox and the Solstice is May 5th. And of course, for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, Happy Samhain! However you are celebrating, may your be celebration be blessed.
This is an updated version of our annual Spring Equitherm post.
Over the years, I have created rituals to celebrate the Wheel of the Year with my wife and children. Music has been an essential part of the experience. Without it, it would be much more difficult to create the sense of sacred time and space and to evoke the experience I desire for each ritual. So I want to share with you my playlist for each station on the Wheel of Year. Here’s the third list. Enjoy! And share your suggestions in the comments below.
Read MoreJoin us for a LIVE gathering of Atheopagans (a type of Naturalistic Pagan) at the magnificent La Foret retreat center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, May 13-16, 2022!
Presented by The Atheopagan Society, this 3-day, 3-night retreat will feature workshops, rituals and lots of socializing time in beautiful spaces and around the fire. The facility includes a magnificent meeting space, the Ponderosa Lodge; a fire circle; a beautiful labyrinth and more. There will even be a full eclipse of the Moon at the retreat on Sunday night!