A Spark of Bright Fire

May, clad in cloth of gold,/Cometh this way;/The fluting of the blackbirds/Heralds the day.

Raven Grimassi, Beltane

          On the eve of May Day sits the old Celtic celebration of Beltane (“bright fire”).  Its origins in the distant past have to do with the start of the summer breeding and crop-growing seasons, as well as marking the cross-quarter point between the vernal equinox and summer solstice.

          At the back end of the Celts’ year came Samhain, which has become our Halloween.  On both occasions bonfires were (and sometimes still are) lit on hillsides across Scotland and Ireland, and both occasions were believed to be times when the veil between worlds was especially thin.  Not only that, but in those Northern climes the late-April weather was finally becoming favorable to everyone getting outside and romping around.

          Events such as these, from every age and people, have imprinted something powerful, life-affirming and obviously long-lasting onto the collective consciousness of all humankind.  Even in their heyday they were regarded as containing many layers of meaning and metaphor.  So instead of this just being another day at the midpoint of another week for you or me, we might choose to consecrate it into a celebration of long light and greater warmth, imagining ourselves emerging from a lengthy hibernation into the welcoming green of deep spring.

Today on April 30th, let the ancient fire be rekindled in you.  Draw upon this feeling and fan it into something tangible and continual in your life today.