In our orbit around Mother Sun, our everyday sacred journey,[i] Earth’s tilt moves us into the Seasons of Samhain and Beltaine, as they are named in Old European traditions. It is the cross-quarter Moment between Equinox and Solstice: that is, in the Southern Hemisphere between Autumn Equinox and the Winter Solstice, and in the Northern Hemisphere between Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. The actual Moment will be at 18:13 UTC on the 5th May … that’s May 6th 4:13 EST Australia where I am. All global times are available at archaeoastronomy.com.
In the Southern Hemisphere as the dark part of the day continues to grow and to dominate, it is the Season of Samhain/Deep Autumn: a time for remembering those who have passed into the night, the ancestors, which may include all beings, and our old selves (and there is nothing we have not been). As last Summer’s growth de-composes, and the dark part of the day waxes, it may be a time for dreaming and conceiving the new – for new re-solutions, surely felt in these times. It is a Moment for celebration of the transformative power of the Dark: which may include the comfort and rest it may bring, as well as the breakdown and composting of the past. The Dark is the ground of being, and is a sentient fertility rich with possibility, in which the new may be composed/conceived.
In the Northern Hemisphere as the light part of the day continues to grow and to dominate, it is the Season of Beltaine/High Spring: a time for remembering the beauty and allurement of the dance of life, and essential deep desire itself which brings all things forth, also surely needed in these times. As the light part of the day waxes, and its manifest power becomes apparent in the garden and everywhere, it may be a time of awakening the senses and relational connections of all kinds. It is a Moment for celebration of the fertile power of the Light: the warmth received, the manifestation of flowers, fruits and beauty, the diverse colour wavelengths received into eyes,[ii] and the creative nature of the passion enkindled. Desire deeply felt and expressed multivalently is worthy of much contemplation: it turns the Wheel and brings forth all things.
Samhain and Beltaine are essential to each other – one cannot be without the other. They do occur at the same time: that is, they are co-incidental. Knowing a sense of death, the knowing of the passing of all, is intimate with appreciation of the moment of Now – its gift and its beauty. And life is built on death: this moment and all presently manifest beings would not be here, if all had not passed before. Death is actually the Mother of us all. It has taken everything to get to this moment, and we may remember that we are united with all who have come before us, in their desire, in their longing: we share this with all. We may sense the wholeness of form and trans-form, the flux and unity that this event of life actually is. Both of these Seasonal Moments have traditionally often been times of celebrating a wild fertile space – one a genetic fertility, the other a trans-genetic/imaginal fertility. It could be a kind of excitement felt in bodyminds in anticipation of the fullness of dark or light, the climax (as it will be at Solstice – Winter and Summer). In the evolutionary story the advent of meiotic sex is connected to the advent of death:[iii] there is intimate connection.
For some Samhain Poetry: PaGaian Samhain on YouTube
For some Beltaine Poetry: PaGaian Beltaine on YouTube
Many will celebrate the Moment on traditional dates, and yet others will enjoy it closer to the actual astronomical moment. Here in Australia where I am located, I will share Samhain ceremony with others on the 6th May. I invite and invoke celebration thus:
Earth’s tilt leans us further into the dark – this is the time for conceiving the new …
You are invited to celebrate
SAMHAIN
In this moment, between the old and the new,
all is possible.:
The veil is thin that divides the worlds.
We remember the dead, let go of the past,
conceive the Not-Yet.
We remember that we are more, much more.
We meet to trans-form yet again,
in the womb of the Dark Shining One,
of our own bodyminds.
…oOo…
PaGaian Cosmology blogs for Samhain/Deep Autumn
PaGaian Cosmology blogs for Beltaine/High Spring
Samhain/Deep Autumn and Beltaine/High Spring meditations are available in digital format and also on PaGaian Cosmology Meditations CDs, at that link. The meditations are a beautifully produced collection which supports ceremony for each Seasonal celebration.
Some Samhain and Beltaine story may be found in Appendix F of PaGaian Cosmology or if you have a paper version of the book, there is an Index for references throughout. These Seasonal Moments in relationship to the whole Wheel of the Year may be found in Chapter 5. Ceremonial scripts are offered in Chapter 7 , though they always evolve and are adapted to personal and regional poietics. The on-line versions are different from those in the paper copy of the book.
I have also just published a new book A Poiesis of the Creative Cosmos: Celebrating Her in PaGaian Sacred Ceremony, in which Chapter 4 is Samhain/Deep Autumn, and Chapter 8 is Beltaine/High Spring. There is a chapter for each of the eight Seasonal Moments that are celebrated in this cosmology. More information about the book and orders here: Girl God Books
Blissed and profound Samhain/Beltaine transition to you.
NOTES:
[i] Our everyday sacred journey around Mother Sun could be named as a Turas. Turas is a Celtic word meaning “journey”, “pilgrimage”, and refers especially to the circular, spiralling prayer used by people in Celtic countries as they walked sunwise around a sacred site. (Caitlin Matthews, The Celtic Spirit, p.31)
[ii] See Laura Sewall, “Earth, Eros, Sky” in Earthlight, Winter 2000, for more on this.
[iii] See Elisabet Sahtouris, Earthdance, p.134-135, and Ursula Goodenough, The Sacred Depths of Nature, p.143-149. More can be made of this link between these Seasonal Moments: orgasm has been termed “a little death” in French.
References:
Goodenough, Ursula. The Sacred Depths of Nature. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Livingstone, Glenys. PaGaian Cosmology: Re-inventing Earth-based Goddess Religion. NE: iUniverse, 2005
Matthews, Caitlin. The Celtic Spirit. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2000.
Sahtouris, Elisabet. Earthdance: Living Systems in Evolution. Lincoln NE:iUniversity Press, 2000.
Sewall, Laura. “Earth, Eros, Sky” in Earthlight, Winter 2000, pp. 22-23 and p. 25.
Swimme, Brian. The Universe is a Green Dragon. Santa Fe: Bea
PaGaian Cosmology 
This is beautiful, GlenysI’m so honored to be working with you. Every morning I go out in my yard and raise my arms to the sky with the surrounding trees. Breathing in I imagine my arms funneling light into my core. As I breathe out I see the light traveling through my legs and feet into the light in the core of the earth. Then I breathe in, imagining drawing up earth’s inner light to my core and exhaling it out into the cosmos. To think about the balance and connection of Beltane and Samhein carries my visualization even further, for now I see trees, and people and other beings breathing that same light in all directions.Thank youDebra
Debra Tyler Local Farm farmer(860) 672-0229 Motherhouse director (m) 860-671-7945
Hello Debra, I smile at your every morning ritual of raising your arms to the sky, as that is basically how I begin my morning mediations/exercises. I imagine the immense dark space I am immersed in, beyond my ken, and draw in its fertile space; then I bend over and touch the floor, holding that as I imagine reaching all the way to Earth’s core and Her other side, and Her amazing diversity beyond my ken. I draw up from Her all that I desire – some specific healing/wholing, again knowing that the pathway is beyond my ken, and hold my hands on my lower back for a while.
I love your blog name farmother – brilliant!
It is a joy to have you along on this turas – with your desire to know more. Thank you, Glenys