May Day or Beltane

"Everywhere is the green of new growth,

The amazing sight of the renewal of the earth.

We watch the grass once again emerging from the ground.

We notice the bright green atop the dark green on the pine, the

fir, the hemlock, the spruce, the cedar.

The alder is already in leaf

The old plum trees still blossom, leaf and give forth fruit.

The locust tree is late as always.

Everywhere and always the song of birds . . . bees raiding the

     orchard, raccoon prowling at nightfall, the earthworm

     tunneling in the garden, chickens and rabbits pecking and             

     nibbling, the goats tugging to reach new delights . . . 

     all are the ubiquitous energies of life.

     ...

May we today be touched by grace, fascinated and moved by this

    [Divine] creation energized by the power of new growth at work

    in [our] world.

May we move beyond viewing this life only through a frame, but

    touch it and be touched by it,

    ...

May our bodies, our minds, our spirits, learn a new rhythm paced

    by the rhythmic pulse of the whole . . . .

May we forge a new friendship with the natural world and

    discover a new affinity for beauty, with life, and

    with the [Divine]."

                           Chinook Psalter

     

The heart shaped leaves of the native California morning glory,
not to be confused with the invasive European bind weed.

     

The first of May is known as Beltane which for thousands of years has been the day on which fertility and beauty of the flowering Earth have been celebrated. It is a cross quarter day marking the half way point between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice.

When I was a child in Corwith, Iowa, we knocked on neighbors' doors and left May baskets filled with Spring flowers hanging on the door handle. We then ran away laughing.

Below are my "May Day baskets" to you . . . .

Here in Santa Fe, New Mexico there is
an abundance of lilac bushes in gloriously
full bloom.

There is a magnificent range of colors from white to pale pinkish
lavender and soft lavender  to vibrant dark purple.

As the qi of the time of Beltane supports a-wakening, may we each embrace the process and