Beltane Ritual Ideas for the Season

Our path is one of doing.

A living tradition practiced and evolved yet rooted in thousands of years of wisdom and direct experience, developed from relationships with the local Spirits of the Land, The Gods and Goddesses that dwell there and our Ancestors, our Bone Kin.

It's full of story myths and folklore of those ancestors, coming from the fabric of the very land we stand on..

For the blood and bone of our ancestors, become a part of the land, they become a part of the Story... The Eddas and the Sagas.

Building an altar

Your altar is a personal reflection of how you are journeying through the cycles of the year. There is no rule or requirement, except that it should be led from the heart and your instinctive pull.

When we build our altars, we like to include natural elements that reflect the season we are in, or are moving into - flowers, berries, foliage, seeds...

We place our blot bowl in the centre as our receptacle for the offerings to the land, with a candle to light the way, and surround them with items pertinent to our ritual and magical items which help to clean and charge the ceremonial "charms". These can include incense, crystals, wands, spring water, feather smudge sticks etc.

Rest for a while and reflect...

What will adorn your altar this season?

What does each item mean to you as you move through this turn of the wheel?

Your altar, once built, becomes the anchor for the rest of the work that you weave. It can be a place to visit at the beginning and end of each day, to light the candle and set your intentions, marking in ritual that which you mean to set in place within your life and a station at which to give thanks and honour the spirits, guides and ancestors which lead you through each moment of your life.

Out on the Land

Start simple, very simple, and build from there.

Find a place where you can be undisturbed, a place that feels good, and bring a small offering.

Find a tree, a lake, a stone that gives you a good feeling, and think of it as a meeting place. A place at which to find and be found.

Talk to the place, talk to the gods, and do it out loud if you can. Speak from your heart or write something down in advance, but be personal - this is you introducing yourself to the gods, after all.

You may feel silly, to begin with, but you’ll get over that after a while.

Speak the names of the gods you want to know, greet them, tell them who you are, and tell them you bring them an offering.

Hang it from a branch, throw it in the lake, leave it on the stone, bury it in the ground, or burn it in a fire.

I’m sure you can figure out what to do but remember not to offer something that might be harmful to nature,

you’re there worshipping gods that are nature!

You might not feel anything the first time (or times), or you might be blown away by the intensity of the experience.

Regardless, there are going to be times when nothing seems to happen, but persistence in practice is what gets us there in the end.

Try doing things differently and see what works better for you - this is the time to start doing research.

I don’t know of any good beginner’s books for Heathens (good being the operative word here!), but there’s a lot of suggestions around the web.

Try them.

Keep doing what works, and discard the rest.

You’re the boss of you, and you’re doing it right!

Let's begin

Here are some ideas and inspiration for rituals this season:

Craft a Prayer Arrow

Craft and Weave a Floral Sun wheel, Circle and hang it from a Gatepost, Fence , or Crossroads

Weave a floral headdress

Make a wish on a star

journey to meet your personal tree Spirit/ Dryad

Go on a date, propose on a hilltop

Weave a Handfasting Braid
Watch the Sunrise from a sacred site, or hilltop

Bless a spring, well or river

Overnight vigil at a sacred site, be sure to leave a offering to the Fey, so you do not get swept away with the Fairy Folk

Jump the broom

Jump the bonfire
Connect with your personal gods, angels, power animals, spirit guides, whatever you are drawn to honouring
Craft a magical tea blend and read the leaves...
Take a flower of the season and pick the petals placing intentions into each and every one and placing into a cauldron or blot bowl
Write your prayers and intentions onto a small piece of paper, roll into a scroll and seal with red candle wax. These can either be placed into your cauldron/blot bowl or...
Weave a small boat with leaves, place your prayers within it and set it a-sail down a river or stream
Sow wildflower seeds under a new moon, placing wishes and intentions into the soil, to bloom in the summer time - what will flower for you?
Sing a song of the season or drum to seal your intent for the weeks to come!
Symbols of the season: Ribbons, Sun Wheels , Floral Circles , Floral

Headdress , Hot Cross Buns, Green Man , Dryads' The Goddess , Morris Men , Maypoles

Gods And Goddesses, Deities of the season: Brigid , Freya , Odin, Diana, Herne, The Fey, Anoana