Journey on Bealtaine: Lighting the Seven year Fire

What: May Day Reflection
When: 11 am Mountain Time
Where: Online with Zoom

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Taking inspiration from the Celtic mythologies, this year, after a year of pandemic and change, I invite you to a journey to meet a guide to your own inner flame, to meet the light that will sustain you, the fire that can feed all the other fires within you, that will heal you, protect you and give you energy for the longterm.

Bealtaine (May Day/Beltane) is the Celtic festival that marks the beginning of Summer, the season of light. It occurs six months before Samhain or Hallowe’en, the festival that marks our entry into winter. As such, Bealtaine is an important festival, associated with fire, luck, protection, and light.

Like Samhain, it was regarded as a time when the energies of the otherworld were particularly active. Like today, Mayday carried many positive connotations for the Celts, but the festival was also a time of ambiguity. It was a liminal time when the veils between this world and the other world were lifted. Traditions of hospitality were reversed. Nothing was given away as to give something away was to give away your luck. Bealtaine was a vulnerable time, open to disruption by darker forces. The traditions developed were ones of protection and healing, designed to lessen the powers that could harm and strengthen the powers that could help.

The traditions included building large fires and running cattle between them for purification; decorating cattle with flowers; decorating May branches for the protection of the home; lighting hearthfires from a central, sacred flame; spilling milk or blood to keep malice, from either human or Sidhe (faery) away.

In the Lebhar Gabhala, the Book of Invasions, the Nemedians are the third Peoples to come to Ireland. One of their druids, Mide, is said to have lit the first fire on the Hill of Uisneach, which lasted for seven years. Uisneach is regarded as the center of Ireland and is visible from 20 counties. During those seven years, every Mayday, the fires of each Tuath were quenched and lighted anew from the fire at Uisneach.

This year, I invite you to a journey to meet a guide to your own inner flame, to meet the light that will sustain you, the fire that can feed all the other fires within you, that will heal you, protect you and give you energy for the longterm.

About Deep Imagery

Imagination is a gift all people have. Some look to it for inspiration for art, or writing, or their creativity. Depth psychologists describe it as a function of human psychology, as part of their psyche. In Deep Imagery, a form of integrative, interactive imagery based on the work of Dr. E.S. Gallegos, we understand imagery as the part of us that knows our inner world intimately and can best guide each of us on the path to our wholeness.

In a deep imagery journey, we call for a guide, which is often an animal, to lead us through what we need to experience in the journey. The direction is always to healing and to whatever can be healed in the journey.

How do I need to prepare?

Mostly, you need to take care of the practicalities.

• Make sure you have a good internet or phone connection in the space where you will journey.
• Be in a space where you will be undisturbed for the duration.
• You may lie down or sit. Whichever you choose, make sure you will be comfortable.
• Have a blanket or someway of staying warm, if you need it.
• Since we are connecting online via Zoom, make sure I will be able to see you or at a minimum, see your face while you journey.