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Beltaine at Sweetwood Temenos 2012

5/5/2012

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Beltane 2012 at Sweetwood Temenos

The day started out cloudy and cool and the weather promised some rain later in the day. Over as the day wore on some blue sky peaked out from the clouds and became warmer. I packed up the ritual tools, a posthole digger and shovel in and for the ritual circle. There was a mild breeze blowing but down at the ritual circle the air was quiet but filled with fragrant smell of land in spring.
The ritual circle was beautiful, filled with green a mixture of forest moss and grass. In the East there was bleeding hearts and daffodils. In the West there were some Hyacinth flowers. I dug out the ash soil where the past maypoles had rested, which the ritual fires have burned. I poured a libation of spring water into the hole that I have dug for many pass Beltane rituals. To the way of being, the Goddess, I poured a libation to; to her goodness, generosity, kindness, sensuality and sexuality and all that Beltane celebrates in her name. This year we celebrate the lunar expression of the Goddess and her many ways! 
With rain threatening I was wondering if anybody would show up for Sweetwood‘s Beltane ritual. Then several cars pulled up and down the trail through the woods my lovely spouse and a couple laughing and talking as they came. They brought down the potluck silver ware and food. The ritual had four good folk to raise the Beltane pole and dance around it, giving thanks and blessings to the Goddess, God and their love which spring is an expression of. 
We brought the may pole, the ritual’s phallic energy into the circle from its place in the South into the circle. We brought a new may pole wheel, the ritual’s Yoni energy made for this ritual and replacing the old one into the circle. The circle was cast and all greeted one another with love and laughter.
The men and women took a little bottle of anointing oil, each in turn blessed the Phallic energy of the may pole going round until all had spoken all that was in their hearts. They blessed the phallus as an expression of the beauty, sexuality, the power to steward, foster and defend life, joy of sex, and spirit of the God. The priestess brought forth the maypole wheel Yoni to receive blessings with each ribbon tied to it, eight in total. Each spoke their hearts’ words about the goodness, beauty, power, joy of sex and spirit as an expression of the Goddess  
 Then men took the may pole and offer it to the women embracing the may pole wheel Yoni. The women with laughter, sexy words and joyful noises place the Yoni wheel upon the May pole. The men then placed the phallic may pole into the ground where the sacred fires of the rituals past have burnt for 17 years. The women hooted and hollered as the May pole became erect and all were smiles as it stood there in the middle of the sacred circle with ribbon handing down fluttering in a light wind.
Everyone grab two ribbons, a man and woman walked desoil and the other woman and man walked widdershins around weaving over and under as they went around the May pole. They chanted “Love, Love, Love, Love, making magic, we make love! God and Goddess intertwining, we are Divine. We had a great time!
We tied off the ribbons, gathered around the Beltaine pole and shared water with one another. We first share the bless food of an apple and then passed a goblet filled with charge water from you another saying “Water shared is life shared, is love shared! May You Never Thirst, Drink Deeply! Thou Art God/ Goddess”! Then the circle was taken down and the circle was opened. The pole was removed and place in its resting place as a talisman in the south and a Beltaine fire built. However we only had a few minutes to enjoy the moment as the rain was coming. We packed up and went to the house for the potluck, good company and fun.  Such was Beltaine 2012 at Sweetwood Temenos.  
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2009 SweetWood Temenos Beltaine

5/7/2009

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SweetWood Temenos Beltaine 2009 

The land of SweetWood Temenos was greening up. The month of April had been dry. But the week before Beltaine we received rain and the weather became cooler. Temperatures were a bit below normal upper 50’s and low 60’s. So we were hoping for a warmer and sunnier day for our Beltaine celebration on Saturday May 2nd. 

Come Saturday it became partly sunny with temperatures in the mid 60’s. The land was greening up; everything had a green tinge to it. The wild plum was starting to bloom. 

The priest (me) did some grounds keeping, prepared the circle for the ritual and feast afterwards. Oak firewood and kindling was brought to circle. The priestess, my spouse readied the ritual items and our contributions to the potluck feast. I went to the local spring and collected spring water for the ritual. From there I went about collecting wild plum flowers for the ritual.

By Mid afternoon 10 good folk and two young children had gathered for the Beltaine celebration at SweetWood Temenos. It was a bit warmer in the woods, the skies had cleared and there was a wind blowing. The priest (me) got dressed for the ritual – Sky clad. The Altar was set and the spring water was pour into the SweetWood Temenos cauldron from which the ritual water will be drawn. 

The circle was cast and the Maypole that was placed in the South was now upon the ground in the circle. The men took the Maypole to a place in the woods for a men’s mystery blessing of the pole with anointing oil and prayers. The women tied ribbons to the solar disc with prayers and blessings. Then the women with bells and a joyous noise called the God to come and the men brought the phallic pole back to the circle.

The phallic pole slid into the yoni, sacred opening of the sun disc decorated with ribbons and hoisted into the air. The good folk each grabbed a ribbon, with half going clockwise and the others going counterclockwise. Around and around we all went, dancing, laughing and singing, “love, love, love, love, making magic we make love, God and Goddess intertwine, we are Divine. There was some playful affectionate behavior that made all smile and laugh and charged our knot magic that bonded the good folk to the land through the sacred marriage of the Goddess and God symbolized by the Maypole.

The Circle was taken down and the Maypole was then moved from the circle center to its place in the south. A fire was built then upon the center of the sacred circle and the feast started. Good company and conservation followed with good food and drink. Blessed be!

Never Thirst
Iacchus
 
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Sweetwood Temenos Beltaine celebration May 2008 

5/11/2008

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Sweetwood Temenos Beltaine celebration May 2008

This spring has been a much cooler and wetter than normal. I was hoping for a fair Beltaine day but as the day approached it looked like wet and cold. As the priest I was feeling somewhat disenchanted about doing the ritual and celebration. I was wondering if any one would show up.

Then Aine e-mailed saying she was going to make the trip and camp over night. On the heels of that e-mail I received a call from Lady Lee and she was going to come. Well their commitment to the ritual and celebration lifted my spirits. Then three more good folk called and let me know they were coming. 

So Saturday morning though overcast, cool and wet I went about preparing for the ritual and celebration. In the circle I sang to the Goddess and God as I set up the altar and cleaned the circle and its fire place. As I chopped oak for the fire, the grey of the day started to lift and I sang more to the Sun to dispel the gloom and brighten the day. The Sun started to peek through the clouds and I sang more praise to the sun  of Beltaine.

At noon I went home to dress and gather up food for the feast and some spring water for water sharing. Arriving at home Lo to the west there was blue skies and the clouds were breaking apart. By 3:00 pm when the ritual started Sweetwood was bathed in sunny skies and 60-degree warmth. 

The priest performed the Beltaine ritual naked. There were two men at this ritual and four women. I and the other man carried the May pole off in to the woods and blessed Divine phallic energy with anointing oil. We gave praise and blessings for the immanence of Divine phallic energy and its positive stewardship in the world.

Then the Ladies who, back at the circle, had been doing similarly with a circular symbol of the Divine Yoni energy finished their blessings and praising called for the phallic energy of the May Pole to return. The May pole entered the circle with laughter and boisterous shouting by the women. The Yoni was blessed with homemade mead and mounted the pole with tied  ribbons attached and each a blessing. 

We sang and chanted, “Love, Love, Love, Love, making magic we make love, God and Goddess intertwine, we are Divine” as we wove to and fro with the ribbons. Another lady dance naked with the priest and we all gave a great shout in the end and sent off the energy.

We did a water sharing, opened the circle and placed the Magically woven May pole in the south until Samhain. We built a fire, had a lovely feast and made a new friend, as the other man was new to Sweetwood.

Later that evening we built up the fire, told stories and talked about the Goddess and God. Then one of the ladies spoke and asked if the priest was going to jump the fire naked. I answered to the glory of the Goddesses and to the honor of the Gods I will. So I did three times, as it is a charm. 

So was the Magic of Sweetwood’s Beltaine 2008. So in times of gloom have faith that the love of the Goddess and God does renew and fair skies does return.   

Never Thirst
Iacchus
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May 20th 2006 Sweetwood's Beltaine Celebration 

5/21/2006

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05/20/06
Sweetwood Temenos Celebration of Beltaine

We moved the Sweetwood Temenos Celebration of Beltaine from the weekend of Beltaine to a time in May when the weather was more likely to be fair in the Kickapoo River valley region. The lilac and many other plants were still in bloom and it sure looked like Beltaine.

The circle was prepared, all groomed and decorated. There was a bed of straw made for the Goddess and God that was decorated with flowers. The old ribbons were taken of the Maypole. The Maypole was removed from its ward in the south and placed in the woods.

20 good folk, 15 adults and 5 children showed up to celebrate the reunion of love between the Sun God and Moon Goddess. She who is full of renewed fertility and wisdom and he full of renewed virility and understanding.

The celebration recognized our ancestors’ ancient way of looking upon the great lights of the sky as expressions of the younger Deities, children of the Earth and Sky Gods. Sweetwood’s Beltaine celebration recognizes the on going Myth of the Sacred Marriage of the Younger Deities for the Age of Aquarius. This was a sacred marriage enated at the beginning of Sweetwood Temenos that enshrined a new peace between the matrilineal and patrilineal ways and establishing a new way of peace between women and men and harmony with in the community of humanity.

Sweetwood Temenos has a two-year ritual cycle, one year the Sun Goddess and Moon God preside over the year and the next year the Sun God and Moon Goddess. This two-year cycle is a continuing renewal and remembering of the Peace marriage of the Aquarian younger Deities.

The Sweetwood Beltaine celebrated the values for which the peace marriage stands for, Deep Friendship, Self Knowledge, Positive Sexuality, Attunement with Nature, and Religious Pluralism and a belief in immanent Divinity. With Beltaine’s emphasis on the goodness of sensuality, youthfulness, Eros and renewal of the cycle of life, the value of positive sexuality was celebrated as a reinforcing factor of our community’s values and as goodness in of itself.

The Sweetwood ritual reenacted symbolically the sacred marriage of the Gods upon their return from the summer land and being renewed, fertile and virile once again. Mythically Sweetwood envisions Spring as a physical manifestation and expression of this seasonal act of sacred matting and renewal of vows.

 In the ritual the assembled good folk built the bed for the sacred marriage of Gods. The Bed represented the community and all that was good in the community and blessings were offered by the good folk by placing flowers on the bed. Then the men and women separated with the men going off to the woods to bring back the Sun God with them in the form of the phallic maypole. The women blessed the Lunar disc and tired ribbons upon the Lunar disc each with more blessings. The men went to the Maypole in the woods and anointed the pole and gave blessings upon it. There were 4 satyrs who show up and took part in the anointing of the maypole.  Both the women and men’s blessings honored the goodness of being women and men, femaleness and maleness and their sexuality.

The women called the men back to the circle with joyous shouts and laughter and the men came. In the circle the women placed the lunar disc upon the maypole with joy and laughter and the men with glee lifted the maypole and placed it into the ground. All grab a ribbon and chanted with much enthusiasm and laughter as we wove the love and did the cosmic dance of the Moon Goddess and Sun God.

After the union of the Goddess and God was woven with a rainbow of ribbons, symbolizing heaven upon earth, the good folk of Sweetwood’s ritual celebration of Beltaine shared water and then the circle was opened for feasting.

Due to the threat of rain we moved to the Sweetwood’s picnic shelter where a fire was built and there was drumming, eating and pleasant conversation or in other words we ate drank and made merry in the sight of the Gods. Whole batches of morel mushrooms were picked and fried up for the good folk who attended the Sweetwood Beltaine celebration. The children had a good time hunting morels and eating them too! The last of the good folk left at 10:30 pm. under starry spring night skies. 

I as the last of the good folk went to the circle with one torch lit walked into the lovely circle and up to the altar and gave thanks to the Goddess and God, the Divine Community, the Wee folk and the life, both plant and animal, of Sweetwood. Today was a blessed event, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You I shouted and it echoed through the valley below.

Never Thirst
Iacchus 


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