It’s so fluffy! (Happy Beltane)

Beltane at last.

Imbued with the energies of love, abundance, new beginnings, passion and fire.

The sun continues to warm the soil and each day Spring makes itself known and Summer draws ever closer like the lengthening shadows in the evenings of these longer days.

Today we will light a fire and keep it burning all day to celebrate the return of the sun.

We will burn incense and leave ash in the doorway of our home for protection.

In the provinces around ancient Rome Beltane was also a time to celebrate serpent energy, with local snake charmers carrying live snakes through the village.

As well as their ability to shed their skin, a symbol of rebirth and renewal, snakes were also seen as a connection between our world and the underworld and its inner secrets of fertility and life.

I’m not one for dancing around a maypole or grand public shows of celebrations, I prefer to celebrate the cycles of nature quietly, with small gestures and meaningful acts.

With moments if peaceful acknowledgment.

I don’t know any snake charmers so I will wear my snake necklace today and take a longer than usual tea break to saviour the sun and the promise of summer ahead.

Tonight, when I am chopping vegetables make our dinner I will do so with gratitude, remembering how comparatively  easy it is for us to get food. In a world where we have become so detached from the Earth and where our food comes from its more important than ever to stop for a moment and understand why historically festivals like Beltane were so important, how our fates were tied to nature …

Are still tied to nature.

More and more people seem to be turning to the old ways, following the wheel of the year and reconnecting with nature and ritual.

More and more people seem to be feeling a need to turn away from mass consumerism and look to handmade, hand grown, organic, herbal remedies, and where possible in our fast paced world, slow living.

Since turning 50 I feel this more than I ever have.

Like a switch,

I have woken to the recognition that each moment here is precious.

It’s not about life being short exactly… it more about life being so rich, so utterly wonderfully vibrant and how easy it is to lose days, months, years to the whoosh of modern life that suddenly you look up and ten years have passed.

Forever fully focused on building, achieving and, (I was going to say mindlessly…. but that’s not true or kind, maybe unconsciously is better?) unconsciously moving through time like as if there will always be another day to start living…

I’ll do it when I'm less busy.

I’ll just get this bit done and then I’ll start to live…..

Can you hear it ?

I know I’ve thought like this …

When it’s perfect, and everything is in place … then I’ll start to live…

Meanwhile….the days pass, unnoticed.

I hope it’s not a phase, fad or fashion..

I hope people really are waking to the idea that there’s more to life than ‘stuff’ .

Don’t get me wrong, I am fully aware that I am privileged enough to live in a beautiful part of the world, to have supermarkets a stones throw from my home where I can choose from a ridiculous selection of different courgettes …

That I can choose to be vegetarian, live plant based or gluten free…

That I can take ‘stuff’ for granted and sit here choosing not to have it …

But it’s exactly collectively ‘our’ position that I’m talking about… we CAN choose to live life mindfully, compared to so many in this world, we CAN decide to be less wasteful, to be more connected and live our lives right now.

It so often seems those of us in wealthier  communities miss the point somehow.

Constantly striving for more …

More what?

Yesterday, as I sat in the grass chatting to our cat Betty, a ghostly, fluffy white Ermine moth fluttered down to land in the grass right next to me.

I put my hand out and he gently climbed onto my outstretched fingers, his beautiful furry jacket moving in the breeze.

Moths, like snakes are a symbol of rebirth and renewal, a reminder to trust your intuition and embrace change.

For me, it’s these moments of pure magic that can only occur when I take time to live and notice.

So with immense gratitude, today I will celebrate Beltane.  I will think about the fertility of the earth and our connection to the soil and how this is no less important today than centuries ago.

That even though my hands don’t sow the seeds, the seeds are still sown and food is still grown.

Summer is coming, nests are being built and everyone’s feeling fruity!

Breathe the Spring air, say your intentions into the breeze and smile your biggest smile today.