If you are looking for me, I’ll be picking flowers on the wildside

Beltane – my second favourite pagan festival. Spring, sunshine, flowers, love, sex…. as celebrations go, this is a good one, and much needed after what’s felt like a pretty long winter. Beltane and Samhain go hand in hand to me, and though it’s the latter that is the official start of the pagan year, it’s always Beltane that makes me feel like I’m waking up after a long sleep. Everything feels different – brighter, more alive, clearer.

That last one is a relief if I’m honest. My head has been…..crowded, to say the least, over the last few months and I think I’m finally starting to see what I need to and make some decisions. I hope so anyway because it’s one thing to be lupus tired, it’s another to be headspace tired. I’m ready for a rest now and I think I might be getting there – my restless soul might finally be doing a little less longing 🙂

And so this Beltane has been fun. Admittedly it didn’t involve a fire festival (Simon, if you’re reading this, I’m going to have to come visit for another fire festival – I missed it a lot this year), but it’s just been blissfully simple and full of love. The night before, as always, was just spent quietly contemplating – where I am, who I am, and where I want to be. It thew up some unexpected questions, but some interesting answers. I eventually went to bed at 3am with a pretty clear mind for a change.

Beltane itself was spent at Mum’s for dinner and general chaotic madness, in the nicest possible way of course! There were supposed to be bluebell woods too, but it was far too full of people for us to be able to stop, so we headed off for art gallery mooching and cake instead. It was nice to be out enjoying the sunshine regardless, and we had a lovely drive around in Bug with the roof down, before heading back for what can only be described as a feast.

The other bonus of Beltane is that it’s the one pagan holiday that I actually get the day off work for, since May Day is a bank holiday in England. So after much snoozing, catching up on the F1 from yesterday, and putting off work that I need to do, I instead spent the afternoon at the park in the warm spring rain, poi spinning and watching the dog try to rescue her frisbee from the stream. Bliss. I could spend hours sat in the rain when it’s warm like this – I know everyone else complains at the lack of sunshine, but sometimes warm rain is just as good, if not better. I’ve always loved days like this – when the clouds are thick and low enough to feel as though they could reach down and hug you tight. It’s a safe feeling.

So Merry Beltane everyone – here’s to spring rain and summer sunshine 🙂

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