DrumRoll Promotions ... 31st OCTOBER - WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU - BELTANE ACTIVITIES TO CARRY OUT AT HOME

31st OCTOBER - WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU

Beltane, Samhain or Halloween?

DrumRoll Issue 141

October 2021

Welcome to our October issue

Traditionally, we celebrate the 31st of October.

That day can be filled with spiritual rituals or magick,

all the way through to plastic Halloween costumes and trick or treat.

This wide variety of traditions is another example of diversity and acceptance.

Generally, the 31st October falls into 3 categories. Samhain, Beltane, and the tradition of All Hallow’s Eve, which evolved into the modern day and highly commercial, Halloween.

All 3 have the same origins – long-held beliefs from a time when the veil between worlds was thought to be thin - a time when magick is possible.

The Samhain and Beltane festivals follow the Wheel of the Year – a schedule celebrating the seasons.

Samhain was the day to honour, (and possibly communicate with), the dead. It is easy to see how this tradition evolved into spooky costumes and horror movies as the centuries ticked over.

Beltane welcomes spring and new beginnings.

It is logical that many in the Southern hemisphere have ‘flipped’ the calendar and celebrate the festivals on a different date, but in the correct season.

So, for all of that ' down-under, read on for great ideas and activities to celebrate the day in a way that feels right for you.

Check out our Spotlight for information on the amazing Spring Equinox 2 Day Retreat, scheduled to usher the southern hemisphere into Spring.

Enjoy this magical month.

Sunset to Sunset

SUNSET TO SUNSET

Beltane honours Life. It represents the peak of Spring and the beginning of Summer. Earth energies are at their strongest and most active. All of life is bursting with potent fertility and at this point in the

Wheel of the Year, the potential becomes conception.

On May Eve the sexuality of life and the earth is at its peak. Abundant fertility, on all levels, is the central theme. The Maiden goddess has reached her fullness. She is the manifestation of growth and renewal, Flora, the Goddess of Spring, the May Queen, the May Bride. The Young Oak King, as Jack-In-The-Green, as the Green Man, falls in love with her and wins her hand. The union is consummated and the May Queen becomes pregnant. Together the May Queen and the May King are symbols of the Sacred Marriage (or Heiros Gamos), the union of Earth and Sky, and this union has merrily been re-enacted by humans throughout the centuries. For this is the night of the Greenwood Marriage. It is about sexuality and sensuality, passion, vitality and joy. And about conception. A brilliant moment in the Wheel of the Year to bring ideas, hopes and dreams into action. And have some fun.....

TRADITIONS OF BELTANE

Beltane is a Fire Festival. The word 'Beltane' originates from the Celtic God 'Bel', meaning 'the bright one' and the Gaelic word 'teine' meaning fire. Together they make 'Bright Fire', or 'Goodly Fire' and traditionally bonfires were lit to honour the Sun and encourage the support of Bel and the Sun's light to nurture the emerging future harvest and protect the community. Bel had to be won over through human effort. Traditionally all fires in the community were put out and a special fire was kindled for Beltane. "This was the Tein-eigen, the need fire. People jumped the fire to purify, cleanse and to bring fertility. Couples jumped the fire together to pledge themselves to each other. Cattle and other animals were driven through the smoke as a protection from disease and to bring fertility. At the end of the evening, the villagers would take some of the Teineigen to start their fires anew." (From Sacred Celebrations by Glennie Kindred) Green Man - Beltane

HANDFASTING

As Beltane is the Great Wedding of the Goddess and the God, it is a popular time for pagan weddings or Handfastings, a traditional betrothal for 'a year and a day' after which the couple would either choose to stay together or part without recrimination. Today, the length of commitment is a matter of choice for the couple, and can often be for life.

Handfasting ceremonies are often unique to the couple, but include common elements, most importantly the exchange of vows and rings (or a token of their choice). The act of handfasting always involves tying the hands Handfasting ('tying the knot') of the two people involved, in a figure of eight, at some point in the ceremony and later unbinding. This is done with a red cord or ribbon. Tying the hands together symbolises that the two people have come together and the untying means that they remain together of their own free will.

Another common element is 'jumping the broomstick' - this goes back to a time when two people who could not afford a church ceremony, or want one, would be accepted in the community as a married couple if they literally jumped over a broom laid on the floor. The broom marked a 'threshold', moving from an old life to a new one.

Mead and cakes are often shared in communion as part of the ceremony. Mead is known as the Brew of the Divine, made from honey which is appropriate for a love ceremony (and is the oldest alcoholic drink known to humankind).

GOING-A-MAYING

Handfasting or not, both young and old went A-Maying... Couples spent the night in the woods and fields, made love and brought back armfuls of the first May or haw thorn blossoms to decorate their homes and barns. Hawthorn was never brought into the home except at Beltane - at other times it was considered unlucky. Young women gathered the dew to wash their faces, made Flower Crowns and May Baskets to give as gifts. Everyone was free to enact the Sacred Marriage of Goddess and God, and there was an accepted tradition of Beltane babies arriving nine months later...

MAYPOLE

The Maypole is a popular and familiar image of May Day and Beltane. A phallic pole, often made from birch, was inserted into the Earth representing the potency of the God. The ring of flowers at the top of the Maypole represents the fertile Goddess. Its many coloured ribbons and the ensuing weaving dance symbolise the spiral of Life and the union of the Goddess and God, the union between Earth and Sky.

The colours of Beltane are green, red and white/silver. Green represents growth, abundance and fertility. Red represents strength, vitality, passion and vibrancy. White represents cleansing and clearing and the power to disperse negativity.

www.goddessandgreenman.co.uk/beltane/

Fun Beltane Activities

NANA VIOLET'S EGG CHARM FOR BELTANE

Think carefully about what you wish for! The general rule of thumb is a brown egg for wishes involving animals and white for wishes involving people and plants, for example healing a sick animal, person or plant. Eggs with white shells are difficult to come by now as chickens are generally given feed that produces the desired brown shell, but in recent years some of the supermarkets are making white eggs available at this time of year so they are worth looking out for.

Blow the egg. Using a fat needle, pierce a hole in both ends of the egg, making one hole larger than the other. Using the needle pierce the egg yolk gently and swirl it around to break up the yolk. Place a small drinking straw in one end and gently blow through the other hole to help gravity do its work.

Paint Your Egg Talisman. When your egg has thoroughly dried out place it on top of a little mound of blue tack to hold it in place and you are ready to go! Choose a symbol to represent your wish - a heart for love, coin for prosperity, a candle for wisdom, whatever is meaningful for you. Or you can paint the whole egg in a corresponding color - red for love, green for prosperity, purple for wisdom, and so on. Another way to do it is to stick rose petals on for love, or feathers for fertility - again it is what is meaningful to you that is important.

When it is ready find a suitable place for it and prepare for it for hanging by threading a thin thread (embroidery thread, thin wool) through the two holes and secure it with a large knot, a bead, or even a matchstick at the bottom to hold it steady.

Clear your mind and focus on your desire for abundance/fruitfulness and its place in your life: 'Little charm made of shell as I hang you here may all be well. May all things grow. May all things flow. Blessings for the turning of the Wheel." Use these words or any others that you are comfortable with - remember this is all about your intention.

MAKING A WISH BOX CHARM

Beltane is a good time for bringing hopes, dreams, and aspirations to life, and here is a truly beautiful charm to help you bring these into manifestation.

You will need:

A small shallow cardboard box. Shoe boxes are good.
Rose petals
Sunflower seeds and/or poppy seeds
Paper
A piece of willow bark or piece of willow, an acorn or oak leaf
Something that represents your wish (see below)

Take a piece of paper and write your wish on it while visualizing your wish coming to life and growing. You can do this alone, with friends, or as a family. If you want to, decorate the lid of the box, with a triple moon, pentacle, heart, or any symbol of your choice. Poke a few holes in the lid - this will help your wish/plants, to grow. Take your box and sprinkle some earth into it. Put in your paper wishes, wish symbol (see below), and seeds/bark/acorn. Cover with another layer of earth. Mix the rose petals with the seeds and scatter them on top. Cover with a final layer of earth and place the lid on top, leaving enough of the rose petal/seed mixture to scatter on top of the box when you are planting it.

Planting Your Wish Box

The best time for planting your Wish Box is just after a fresh cleansing rainfall as this gives you a bright new start, but if the season is dry just give the earth a good watering the night before. Dig a hole two inches deeper than your wish box and lower it into the earth carefully while concentrating on your chosen wish, visualizing it coming to fruition. Imagine your wish growing with the flowers reaching skyward.

As you cover the box with earth says:

"Dream that lies within the earth awaken now. Hope that sleeps awaken now. The stars await as so do I. Grow true, grow strong, toward the sky."

If you don't have a garden you can make a mini wish pot that can live on a window ledge and it works just as well. Just replace the box with a terracotta pot - one wish and one symbol per pot following exactly the same instructions as above. Remember that wishes are only to be used for positive motives.

www.goddessandgreenman.co.uk/beltane/

Judy Satori talks about

ASCENSION: Becoming Authentic

The ‘One Note’ of the Soul

Judy Satori is an internationally recognized spiritual teacher, multi-dimensional channel, energy healer, and Ascension way-shower. Judy’s work is housed in an online Ascension Library. She offers hundreds of audio and video programs to help people transform their lives for the better and to express their unique potential.

You are unique. There is no one on the planet just like you, but are you fully able to reflect your special version of uniqueness out into the world, or are you held back by self-doubt and limiting behavior?

If you feel that you could be more than who you show yourself to be to the world, delve deeper into the energy fabric of who you REALLY ARE as an eternal soul and how your past has shaped you. When you understand why you are as you are and that energy influences from past life may have blocked you from being your very best version of self you can begin to set yourself free.

The spiritually directed process of human Ascension is very much about clearing an old cycle of soul and getting ready for a new, more capable and joyful kind of life as a human person and in the realms of spirit. Ascension is not going up, or going anywhere. It is a process of upgrading and evolving what it is to be a human being and bringing more of the soul’s authentic Light into one’s day to day human experience.

We are people with flesh and blood bodies, but we are also timeless energy beings with an energy anatomy as well as a physical form. We are eternal souls existing for only a relatively short life span in physical human form. It is the core ‘note’ of that soul’s energy vibration that sets the energy template for everything that we are in our human life.

The ‘one note’ of the soul transfers its tonal quality via the cells and the body’s energy anatomy and also affects body and mind.

The ‘one note’ of the soul underpins the morphogenetic energy field light grids that first build and then crystallize into the structure of our physical form when we are a fetus growing in our mother’s womb. If the ‘one note’ of the soul holds off pitch, discordant energy vibrations, which are created by significant trauma energy in past life, the energy discordancy is transferred holographically throughout the morphogenetic light grid pattern of the newly forming physical body. The end result is a body that exhibits weakness, or is prone to chronic dis-ease issues, especially as we age, in the places where the light grids of form are under energized.

The grids of light that shape our physical form are also impacted by inherited lineage line DNA energy patterns and when energy issues inherited from our ancestors in this life time combine with similar soul ‘one note’ energy distortion from way back in time, the damaging physical or emotional effects for us in this life become worse.