“The earth laughs in flowers.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Happy Beltane! Happy May Day!
Following the wheel through the seasons, we can pause today to honor the beauty of flowers and our aliveness.
With the bursting of May flowers infusing us with the joyful, creative force of Nature and the growing energy of the sun, this is the season my senses delight in Nature’s expanding energy.
This past month I’ve noticed how much the trees have leafed out, and I am delighted by the vibrancy of new flower blooms even as older blossoms fade. Just noticing the changes in Nature daily fills me with wonder and awe.
Now, at the beginning of May, there is no denying that the Earth has been reborn. Right now, when Nature is bursting with fertile energy, it’s a powerful time to acknowledge and celebrate the fertility inherent in all life.
May Day and Beltane can be observed to celebrate the return of passion and vitality we feel as the Spring season unfolds.
In this blog, I’ll share how the Beltane and May Day festival has significance for connecting us to the deeper aspects of life. This awareness deepens our sense of femininity that helps us embody our ancestors’ traditions.
May Day Gold
Where I live, the hills and fields are brilliant with the yellow glow of daisies and mustard blooms. I’ve noticed the wild radishes blooming in the past few weeks with white and lavender flowers.
The contrast of the golden spots of color against a backdrop of green lights up my spirit, enthusing me with heart-expanding happiness.
I recently encountered a fantastic array of colors and hidden blooming plants on a local coastal hike along trails through the chaparral hills: 
Black Sage, Indian paintbrush, buckwheat, blue dicks, chia, dwarf pink rock rose, morning glory, brittlebush, and more. In the wild, they grow, bloom with a splash, make seeds, then disappear.
Around my neighborhood, I’ve noticed sweet peas, citrus, nasturtiums, roses, manzanita, and the apple tree blooming.
California Super Bloom
Although these pics are from Central and Northern California, I couldn’t resist sharing the incredible beauty of this year’s super bloom! The breathtaking beauty lights up my spirit!
The Earth is Laughing in Flowers!
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Beltane
Beltane is the name of the old-world seasonal Gaelic festival. The agrarian cultures in Ireland typically celebrated it, as did the Isle of Man and Scotland. Traditionally, Beltane honors the Earth in her flowering time and celebrates all the pleasures of being alive!
Ancient Europeans were known to have a symbiotic relationship with nature. They saw themselves as a part of the natural world, not separate from it. Their lives were organized around the changing seasons and rhythms of nature.
The Celtic God ‘Bel,’ meaning ‘bright one,’ and the Gaelic word ‘teine’ means fire. Together Beltane signifies the ‘Bright Fire’ that honors Nature’s strength, abundance, and erotic power at this time.
Considered a cross-quarter point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice, Beltane was a springtime festival of optimism during which fertility rituals were revived in connection with the sun’s waxing power.
Beltane is celebrated on May 1 with flowers, arduous passion, and hopeful abundance to be reaped later at harvest.
Baskets filled with as many yellow and white flowers were used in traditional Beltane festivals because they resembled fiery energy.
Forgotten May Day Traditions
May Day is a day of celebrating Spring, fertility, and femininity. The history of this holiday goes back to Roman times as a festival of flowers.
I remember having great fun as a child on May Day. We celebrated the day wearing flower crowns and garlands we made from the flowering plants and wildflowers we gathered.
Traditionally, dancing and singing around a maypole tied with colorful ribbons left us giggling hysterically. Each dancer would hold onto a ribbon while dancing together, weaving our ribbons around the Maypole.
In the 1800s and early 1900s, people would mark May 1 by hanging baskets of flowers on neighbors’ doorknobs, knocking on the door, and dashing away before they could be discovered.
Goddess of Flowers
In Roman mythology, Flora was a goddess of Spring, flowering plants, and flowers. She was among several fertility goddesses. She exemplified love, pleasure, sexuality, beauty, fertility, and abundance.
She is depicted as a lovely young woman wearing light spring clothing, holding flowers, and crowned with blossoms. She embodies the flowering of all Nature and teaches us to enjoy the pleasures of the moment and the promise of the future.
The ancient Roman festival of Flora – ‘Floraila” – is generally considered the prototype of traditional May Day celebrations. Initially, this was a five-day festival in honor of the Goddess Flora with offerings of flowers, dancing, ringing bells,
Mid Spring, the Maiden Goddess reaches her peak vitality and fertility. She becomes the May Queen with the Young Oak King / Green Man, and they make love as the enactment of Earth and sky in sacred union.
Flora’s Gifts
Flora teaches us to harness our creativity. She helps us align with her potent energy bringing inspiration into action and manifestation. You may honor Flora by revisiting your New Year intentions, desires, and dreams.
Call on the Goddess Flora to help you tend your flowers, orchard, and garden. She will teach you to awaken parts of you that have been dormant. She will lead you to appreciate the beauty and wonder of the Earth. Flora will help you conceive new ideas and plans, allowing them to blossom.
Honey, made from flowers, is one of Flora’s gifts to us. Appropriate gifts for us to give others are baskets of spring flowers, floral water, floral perfumes, and spring water.
To connect with Flora, spend time outside in the spring sunshine, appreciating the sun’s warmth, the breezes’ fragrant scent, and the spring garden’s beauty and diversity.
To harness Flora’s energy forward in your life
- Look and notice the presence of Flora embodied in flowers growing nearby
- Attune to the frequency of green and gold
- Celebrate the abundance of blessings in your life
- Choose what you now want to amplify into manifestation
- Hold space for your intentions to manifest fully by the summer solstice
- Wear bright floral prints
- Anoint yourself with floral botanical perfume such as Amore Love Oil
- Place fresh flowers in your home or sacred space or on your altar
- Add edible flowers to your salad
- Create pretty floral crowns with your children
- Make and gift May Day baskets with gathered wildflowers to a local retirement home or an elderly neighbor
- Open your windows, and re-kindle the joy that has been dormant within.
Enjoy Nature’s Delights
Early May, it’s a wonderful time to celebrate the beauty of our world. When you see those first May flowers blooming, take a deep breath and let their freshness fill you up.
With each season, we can enjoy Nature’s delights. You can find ways to notice moments of joy wherever you live each day.
Look for the small things — the shape and color of blooming flowers, sharing a meal of your favorite seasonal fresh foods, sitting with friends, enjoying a sunset, or taking a local hike off the beaten path.
Decorate your homes with flowers and spend more time beautifying your yards by tending to the flowers if you have garden space.
Spring flowering plants are fleeting, here today and gone tomorrow. As the season progresses, appreciating the little things can bring renewed joy as you laugh with the flowers!
All my aromatic love,
Vidya
