Beltane and Samhain form gateways opening into and out of summer, a pathway to be followed with hope and with courage. For Samhain, the time of the ancestors is the alter ego of May-time that was once the ultimate festival of fertility and new life, sharing without conflicts the magical period from April 30 sunset till May 2 sunset,
In the turning of the year, at Beltane in the northern world, we dance and cast ribbons and flowers towards the vibrant flower maiden of May. Half a world away the same maiden, as the old woman of winter, awakens as Samhain dawns from beneath her rock tomb and womb, where she has rested since Beltane six months earlier. The old hag of winter, Cailleach, just one of the names of the fierce but loving grandmother, knows we must rejoice; but at the same time does not forget the cost sometimes of unbridled happiness, while the flower decked maiden vows to revel in the day and not fear that this loveliness may not last.
Samhain’s Jack o’ lantern, whom the loveliest of the Celtic Morrigu Fate sisters three times in his lifetime asked him to go with her across the river of death to immortality, was too afraid; now he walks, perpetually old but unable to die, between worlds with his small light, recalled in the Samhain pumpkin. But instantaneously on the other side of the world he leaps high in joy as wild reborn Beltane Jack ‘o’ Green, who seizes life and crowns the maiden goddess with wildflowers. Both Jacks are one, as are maiden and grandmother on this festival, able to simultaneously grieve and rejoice without conflict and value the here and now.
In this coming together, summer’s beginning heralds summer’s end and as we look up at the fires of the ancestors in the stars we know that hundreds of years hence and the passing of many summer’s beginnings and ends, our descendants will still wish upon the stars and rejoice at the seasons’ turning.
Beltane and Samhain, summer’s beginning and summer’s end, are brief moments out of time, to be celebrated just for now without regrets of yesterday or fears of tomorrow.
Wherever you live in the world, mix newly blossoming flowers of summer with dying leaves. Cast them together into flowing water, saying, It is all the same, we rejoice in what fills us with new life and let go of that which no longer serves its purpose. Summer’s beginning and end are one and we take their beauty this day within ourselves.
.