We have a crazy schedule this week, so we had to schedule our May Day or Beltane family circle a couple days prior to May 1st. Nonetheless, we talked about the significance of the day, the shifts in seasons, and the things we’re looking forward to this Summer.
The beginning of summer heralds an important time, for the winter is a difficult journey and weariness and disheartenment set in, personally one is tired down to the soul. In times past the food stocks were low; variety was a distant memory. The drab non-color of winter’s end perfectly represents the dullness and fatigue that permeates on so many levels to this day. We need Beltane, as the earth needs the sun, for our very Spirit cries out for the renewal of summer jubilation.
Beltane marks the passage into the growing season, the immediate rousing of the earth from her gently awakening slumber, a time when the pleasures of the earth and self are fully awakened. It signals a time when the bounty of the earth will once again be had. May is a time when flowers bloom, trees are green and life has again returned from the barren landscape of winter, to the hope of bountiful harvests, not too far away, and the lighthearted bliss that only summer can bring.
We watched a couple new Spirit Science videos on YouTube about black holes and singularities. That was some food for thought and interesting conversation, too!
Next we drew cards from the fortune cards deck, and had fun pondering the significance of the cards we chose. We then read a poem (below), and wrote in our gratitude journal.
Before closing the circle, we had a little gift-giving fun. Flo’s been wanting a portable electric piano, and Zofia has outgrown her bike. So, we decided to present them with print-outs of their new toys, currently being shipped across the country. Joe was appeased with a new Nerf gun he’s been eyeing on-line. I didn’t know it made noise! Darn! But, it was fun seeing their excitement. Although, Zofia didn’t quite understand the delayed gratification aspect, and kept asking why her bike couldn’t be here tomorrow instead of in five days!
“The Summer Day”
by Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?