It’s a special weekend in the pagan or Celtic Wheel of the Year.
In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s Spring and May Day, which aligns with the festival of Beltane.
In the Southern Hemisphere, as Autumn unfolds, the seasonally relevant celebration is that of Halloween and Samhain.
These are both cross quarter festivals, and occur when the Sun is around the middle of one of the four fixed signs.
In early May, like in early November, the Sun is midway between an equinox and a solstice. The Sun is turning, either towards it’s brightest time of the year (associated with mid Spring) or it’s darkest time of the year (associated with mid Autumn.)
For those welcoming the onset of Spring (so welcome after our bitterly cold winter), Beltane ‘opens the ‘light half’ of the Celtic year’. The next 6 months bring growth, progress and development. It’s a time to celebrate growth, and often involves lots of flowers, as well as offerings of milk and honey.
If you’re welcoming Autumn, Halloween or Samhain marks the transition into a more introspective time, when the light of the Sun is darker and less strong than usual. This shifting Sun highlights the importance of remembering the dead, when the veil is thin between this world and the next.
Around the corner this year is the potent Scorpio Full Moon. Weirdly it seems to honour themes of both Beltane and Samhain.
As a water sign, a Scorpio Full Moon is a powerful indicator of fertility and the abundance of the natural world. But Scorpio is also associated with transformation, or the death/rebirth cycle, especially in modern astrology.
So it’s a potent weekend of feasting, festivals and frolicking. Emotions may rise, but hopefully to provide insight and help you adjust your focus – either outwards if you’re heading into summer, or inwards it winter is around the corner.
Do you follow or celebrate the Celtic or pagan wheel of the year?