beltane: the fire at the center

body ody ody and the holy riot of spring

Apr 30, 2025

Every year, when Beltane arrives, it stirs joy back to life in me. Something green and defiant, ready to bloom and explode like a dandelion.

Writing about Beltane, for me, is a way of remembering what it means to be alive in a body that is hungry for life. It’s a way of rooting myself back into joy, desire, warmth, and the way I perceive the Earth’s own hunger to become more of Herself.

So let me tell you a bit about it.

I studied the Wheel of the Year long before I ever lived it.
I read about the old festivals from books and courses and moon-watching women. I knew the names, the symbols, the meanings.

But back in South America, I didn't celebrate the Wheel of the Year. In São Paulo, where I was born and raised, we don't really have clear four seasons (and with climate change we barely have two now).

So even though I felt the pull of Celtic culture tugging somewhere inside - I do have Irish blood mixed in my Brazilian roots - I never really made it part of my life, the Wheel never shaped the rhythm of my days.

I immigrated to Europe in 2017, northbound and unprepared. I literally endured my first winter pregnant and without the right clothes, right shoes or knowing how to take care of my body in the cold. It was really hard, harder than I care to remember right now.

The next winter I was better prepared, physically, mentally and emotionally. But more than that: I started to prepare myself spiritually.

I had started to learn how living seasonally makes something ancient shift inside you, how winter teaches you to listen to your bones and be still, how spring stretches you awake with its light.

Living in connection to the seasons is, in a way, easier to do when you have a hard winter. The spring, summer and autumn take real shape, the enjoyment is deeper, fuller, the sun is more precious, the warmth is joyfully welcomed.

May 1st, Beltane is here again.

The earth was waking up, and so are we. The earth hums...

The old indigenous people of these northern lands would have known it by the way the hawthorn leans into bloom, the way the bees dance, the way the air tastes like something is about to break open.

This is Beltane.

Truly honouring the Wheel is not really about a date on the calendar, or a cute cottagecore aesthetic, not a hashtag to pair with flower crowns (though yes, we can still wear one, especially if we make it ourselves).

Honouring Beltane and the Wheel's turning is learning to live with the Earth’s rhythm stitched into your own skin, it is choosing to remember the seasons as teachers, it is letting yourself die and be reborn again and again, dancing to the deep hum of your own blood, your cycles, the moon, the tides.

It is the slow art of belonging to something older, wilder, something that asks for you to just be in tune with your own self. Beltane is a threshold. A fire-lit invitation. A festival that pulls us back into the body and says: want what you want.

Want fully. Bloom.

Beltane is the feast of fertility, but not just the baby-making kind (but if you wanna get pregnant, the portal is open, darling, go for it!).

It is fertility of Mother Earth and the the fertile soil that are our own bodies, thoughts, creations. It is a celebration of warmth returning to the bones, and desire returning to the breath. In the Wheel of the Year, it stands opposite Samhain, when the veil thins toward our ancestors.

Beltane is life insisting.

But yes, the veil thins here too. But toward the spirits of green things. Sexual beings. Mischief. Longing. The wild earth in heat. This is the season of lovers and blooming and hands brushing hands and knees in the grass.

It's all about body ody ody oooody!!!

In the ancient rites, people leapt the fires for blessing and protection. They walked cattle between high flames. Danced all night. Shared food. Made love. Made vows, handfasting rituals. Made offerings to the land that fed them.

At the center of these celebrations, the Goddess walks barefoot and crowned in blossoms, her hands full of promise, her mouth full with laughter. She is the May Queen, wild with joy, fertile with power, alive in every green thing that opens towards the sun. The Green Man walks beside Her, her consort, her match. He is Green with sap, skin lit by sun, bones awake with the rhythm of the land.

They come together as the land does, without hesitation. Their dance stirs the flowers, the fields, the fires. Their joy feeds the world, fertilizes the Earth.

Spring is victorious, it is back, winter cannot last forever.

Beltane belongs to our bodies, to this hum beneath our skins, to the pleasure of bare feet on warm earth, to the heat that builds when life is blooming all around you and you remember that you are part of it.

I sure am remembering. I'm raising my little witch in the ways of the Earth and also dragging my atheist husband into my practice (though he reeeeeally does not mind the sex magick we do on Beltane).

So maybe today, we can leap fires, raise our voices in song and weave flowers in our hair. Or maybe we keep it simple: just light a candle. Maybe we whisper to the sky. We buy some new flowers for our table.

Because Beltane is not about "manifesting high vibe feminine goddess energy" (yawn, no). It is about the sacred fire that says: go, dance, bloom.

Here is a simple ritual for today: a moment for you to say yes to this time.

beltane ritual: lighting the inner fire

Suggestion: listen to "In your bones" by Olivia Fern while you do this.

You will need:

A candle (any size, any color. best is red, gold, or yellow, if you have it)
A flower, a leaf, or a small branch from your local land
A journal or paper to write on.

Find a quiet moment. Sit. Breathe.

Light your candle with intention. Hold your piece of nature. Whisper aloud:

“I honor the fire within me. I welcome the bloom of my becoming.”

Let the flame dance for a few minutes as you breathe with it.

Reflect or write on this:

Where I am ready to bloom?

Where in my life am I ready to say yes to joy, to pleasure, to connection?
What do I long to create, nourish, or offer to the world?

When you’re done, thank the flame. thank the piece of nature you chose. Snuff the candle and bury your piece of nature in the Earth. Carry their energy with you.

a beltane blessing for you

May you remember the fire that lives inside your bones.
May you dare to want what you want.
May you open your arms to the beauty, the mess, the sacred wildness that waits for you.

Your blooming is holy.
Your joy is holy.
Your body is holy.

Blessed Beltane, beloved one.

Blessed be.

With fire, flowers, and deep love,

Marianna