Beltane: A Brief Introduction—and a chance to score a free Tarot reading

In which I share some youthful snapshots and thoughts about May Day

My introduction to Beltane was May Day at Bryn Mawr College—which is not to say that I recognized it as such at the time. May Day at Bryn Mawr is a celebration that happens between the end of classes and the beginning of exams, a time when the footpaths between dorms and classrooms are spangled with the petals of cherry blossoms. There was no bonfire, but there were maypoles—and a mayhole, an innovation that I very much suspect began at Bryn Mawr and may be unique to Bryn Mawr.

Mayhole 1992. Find the author!

Mayhole 1990. Photo by Deborah Rowan and used with her kind permission.

The maypole dance is stately and beautiful and I’m grateful that I had the chance to participate. The mayhole is chaotic and beautiful and everyone can participate. The first photo above shows women bound by patriarchy—represented by toilet paper. The second photo is a parachute filled with cherry blossom petals being lofted into the air by women who have been released from the bondage of patriarchy.

If this sounds cheesy, I get it. But I promise you that, when you’re engaged in it, this ritual is ecstatic. The mayhole is, maybe, the most effective ritual in which I’ve ever taken part.

Me at May Day 1994. I’m sharing this photo mostly because I didn’t know how lovely I was when I was young, and I know it now. Time is weird. Credit goes to Georgina Larkin. (You can’t see it, but that’s a Sheela Na Gig pendant I’m wearing.)

The maypole dances at Bryn Mawr’s May Day connect this celebration to older Beltane traditions, but the most interesting connection for me is that both take place during liminal time. Bryn Mawr was, in a lot of ways, a tough mistress, and I know that I needed a moment to get a bit bacchanalian when classes were over before I started sweating exams.¹ Also, the campus is so glorious at that season. Mother Nature is definitely calling students to come out and play.

Beltane, traditionally, is the time when cattle were moved to their summer pasture in Ireland and Scotland. This, too, was a time of transition and a time to cut loose. Bonfires were lit for their purifying and protective power, but I suspect that they also had the same thrilling effect that any bonfire has.

For neopagans, it’s at Beltane when the Young God and the Goddess are united. The connection to the fertility of the land is clear, but I like to think that we get to interpret fertility however we like. Similarly, I see the symbolism of this marriage in straightforward terms while also interpreting this sacred marriage as a personal process, a union of Animus and Anima—of the aspects of the self coded as “masculine” and the aspects of the self coded as “feminine.”

It’s this interpretation of sacred marriage that inspired the Beltane Tarot Reading that I am offering this year. I will be using the Lovers as a querent card. I have made 7 of these readings available in the Postmodern Witch shop.

Paying subscribers should read on to access my Brief Introduction to Beltane (for sale here) and my Brief Introduction to the Lovers (not currently for sale).

But before we move on…

A client, friend, and benefactor just purchased 2 4-card readings and told me to do what I wish with them. I’ve decided to give subscribers a chance to…

Win a Free Tarot Reading

Here’s how you become eligible:

• If you upgrade to a paying subscription at any level—monthly, annual, or Founding Witch—by Wednesday, May 1, 2024, you will be entered to win a 4-card reading.

• If you restack, recommend, or review Postmodern Witch by Wednesday, May 1, 2024, you will be entered to win a 4-card reading. This is open to anyone who is currently a paying subscriber and to new paying subscribers.

I will choose 2 winners at random on May 2.