2020 - Mother Earth - Kilmurry & 'isolation pods'
Theme: Mother Earth
Nora M hosts our get-together.
Joining in from our 'isolation pods' sunset Thursday 30th April to sunset Friday 1st May 2020.
We shall be linking through WhatsApp, Facebook and TC website, with us all linking from our isolation pods or wherever. To form a community. It will be sign of the times we are living through.
Nora's thought to inspire your intentions and ceremony:
If we treat Mother Earth and our eco-systems badly we, as a society, experience the consequences of not respecting Mother Earth, with viruses such as Covid-19, getting from animals to humans and creating pandemics.
Preparation
Bernadette O'C suggests:
sitting quietly by yourself with the intention of connecting to spirit, to be advised with a clear view, how to best celebrate Bealtaine. Lighting a candle first helps with the energy. Have pen and paper ready, write down all your feel, see and perceive. Don't judge what comes up, just write it down. When you are finished give thanks and gratitude to spirit, then look at what you have come up with and see how this can be incorporated into a ceremony.
Bealtaine 2020 musings from Pat F.....
Somebody asked for tips on what to do for Bealtaine this year – 2020. Of course we won’t be meeting in person this year because of a certain virus, but just as our meditation nights are continuing through lockdown using the wonders of modern technology, so we’ve decided to host our own personal Bealtaine Celebrations and post photos/videos of them online to share with our friends worldwide.
Micro to Macro – Virus to the Sun
Bealtaine falls exactly between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice (it’s also exactly between the Winter and Summer Solstices) and is the mid-point of the ancient “year”which began after Samhain around the end of October. It signals a time of Fertility, Sunshine, Fire, Light and Abundance and was celebrated by our Ancestors as a particularly important festival in the Wheel of the Year. In Ireland, there was a huge Fire Festival at Uisneach – a tradition which is carried on to this day. (It won’tbe held this year but if you’ve never been, a visit to the Uisneach Fire Festival is highly recommended).
What to do?
When thinking of Bealtaine one thinks of Fire because as well as
being an ancient “Fire Festival” one interpretation of the name comes
from the Irish (Gaelige) words “Béal” meaning mouth and “Tine” which
means fire. Therefore, it might be an idea to light a (small) fire in
your garden – an old biscuit tin is an ideal substitute if you haven’t
got a cauldron – and have your own personal ceremony. (Obviously, take
care not to create too much smoke, we don’t want to be upsetting the
neighbours!)
At first, I would recommend opening your ceremonial “circle” simply
by calling in ancestors, spirits, angels, elements or whatever you feel
like to help you celebrate. It is quite common to also invoke the
Spirits of the Directions (East, South, West and North) to join the
party after which it is quite easy to stand there at your little fire
(or in front of a candle indoors if it’s raining) and do a quiet
meditation about Summer or Light or Fertility… or anything that “feels”
right. You could also use a symbol or symbols to enhance your
experience.
For me, personally, there’s TWO symbols I’m going to use.
One (above) is the Corona Virus, that tiny little thing that has caused so much heartache and panic around the world.
The other (below) is the only Corona I want to be focussed on – the Sun's Corona. I intend to have a picture of our little Pandemic-causing virus and I will gladly throw it into my mini-bonfire which will represent our nearest friendly star, the Sun.
Symbolically, the virus will perish at the hands of the Sun who will continue as usual to bathe our Earth with life-giving sunlight.
When that’s done, I’ll celebrate by sending healing around the world knowing that I am not alone because I’m being joined by fellow Light-Beings who are sending out similar intentions globally.
I will then thank the Ancestors, Spirit-World, Mother Earth, Father Sky, Universe, Source, God (insert whatever word you are comfortable with here) not forgetting of course the Sun.
Then, that’s it! Ceremony over, close the Circle if you wish, reflect for a while and log on to post your Bealtaine adventure online in words, pictures, videos or simply to just touch base with other like-minded folk here in the Tara Celebrations family. (Taracelebrations.org, Facebook, WhatsApp etc.).
These Celebrations are a time of personal reflection as well as a Celebration of the wonders of Nature and the Universe.
Regarding the reflection, it could be a time to reflect on positivity, light, sunshine and such-like. Our Ancestors were extremely close to Nature and perhaps we can use these lockdown times to get back closer to Nature ourselves.
Sit in the garden or balcony without a screen and look at the sky, listen to the bird song, feel the breeze. Remember what is REALLY important and what we REALLY miss at the moment. (Hint: what we miss usually doesn’t involve money, work or “stuff”!) and resolve to remember these things when we are all “released”. Things such as a walk on the beach with friends, a hug, handshake or kiss. A stroll to the local and a pint with a friend, a coffee and scone and a chat with a loved one, a meal with work colleagues.
It’s also a time for gratitude for what we have even in the trying times we find ourselves in at the moment – things like Life, Health, Sunshine, Technology, Food, Family, Flowers, Hope… the list is actually endless.
Finally, I’ll leave you with this thought which is pertinent as we watch Mother Earth actually thrive while we humans are struggling. Examples of this can be seen in reports all over the world – The Himalayan mountains visible to folk in Indian cities for the first time in a decade because of lack of air pollution, animals, fish and birds being spotted in places they haven’t been for decades and clearer skies because there’s very little air traffic.
The message from Mother Earth is simple and direct:
“Remember, you are my guests, not my masters”.
You can download Pat's Musings document by clicking here.... Bealtaine 2020 - Musings
May Day - 1st May 2020
- Kilmurry, Cill Mhuire, Co. Meath by Nora M.
Hosted my first Tara Celebrations get together. I felt you were all there in spirit!
Transcript of Nora's commentary for the video....
Here we are at Kilmurry. Out on the farm, looking at nature at it's best. Sheep, land, lambs, birds singing. Today first of May, Bealtaine, Festival of Fire.
So now, as Pat has suggested, light a fire now and symbolically burn the coronovirus in the fire.
A beautiful tree. Fire in the pot ready to go.
Here we are now, lets burn that covid-19. After this, please, everything back to normality.
Mandarin heartsAn idea for a practical aspect of your celebration from Nora |
Pat's Bealtaine Celebration 2020 on Lockdown (Dublin, Ireland)
This years Bealtaine was a strange one as it was a solo effort held in my garden. However, seeing as Nature and the Universe seem to be getting on just fine, I felt I should still mark the occasion.
The Moon is still there... | The Sun is still there... |
I took to the garden and had my own ceremony alone - apart from the Spirits, Ancestors, Elements, Animals, Birds, Insects, Plants & Nature which were also present.
The corona virus was reduced to nothing by the Sun - Symbolised on this occasion by my Bealtaine Fire - and a request was made to the universe that we humans learn from this experience and enter a new age of Health, Love and Compassion sooner rather than later.
Corona virus v The Sun... | ...and Fire |
Bealtaine Reflection
After the ceremony I took a little time to reflect on Bealtaine this year (let's be honest I wasn't exactly rushing off anywhere!). I put away my phone and just sat in my garden for about 30 minutes. Not meditating or thinking or doing anything in particular, just Being. Watching, Listening, Smelling, Feeling and Tasting all around me using my 5 senses but maybe more importantly and more powerfully using my SIXTH sense, my intuition, my gut, my conscious awareness to FEEL what was going on around me. My attention was drawn from the star in space setting to the west to the ant in the grass at my feet and to how important everything in the Universe is - including me.
These are strange times we're in but the Sun still rises and sets and the ants still do what they do - in other words life goes on. Perhaps we can take the opportunity that Lockdown provides to contemplate on our part in the great mystery that we call life. It might be an idea as we move into the season of light, sun and abundance to re-assess our lives and think about what "abundance" we actually want in it.
Corona virus burns witnessed by the Sun in the West. |
Symbol from Anne N in Fingal...
what symbol comes to mind for this Bealtaine?
Pair. Male/female and acknowledging the balance of both within each person. The infinity symbol with male symbol inside one and female symbol inside the other.
Bernadette in Navan
On the eve of Bealtaine day before May Day, the first of summer, in this lockdown, I took these photos from the back bedroom. I noticed the sunset and the colours were very much heart warming in the room.
I decided to rest a bit. I had just done my 2k walk and some shopping - multi-tasking I call it. I park my car at the supermarket, go for my walk, go to the shop, then home. I thought I would love to go to Tara right now or to the labyrinth in An Tobar for the 1st of May, then I saw some primroses on the side of the road and some dandelions. There was a floor of yellow colours. It was beautiful to see.
Then I remembered the story of my auntie Kathleen who lived just down
the road in Connolly Avenue, which happens to be on the Trim Road. Every May Eve she would go up the Trim road and pick the primroses and
just before midnight she would leave a bunch of primroses at every door
in Connolly Avenue.
If my memory serves me right there's about 40 houses on that row and I thought to myself I don't need to go to Tara or anywhere else to celebrate the first of summer. I don't need to pick the flowers as in these days you're not allowed to pick primroses like you were many years ago. I remembered the story of how my auntie Kathleen made the effort to do such thing.
She did this because she believed in an old wive's tale that she learnt when she was a little girl, so long time ago. If you leave a bunch of primroses just before midnight at somebody's door on May Eve it brought them good luck ,and good health for the rest of the year. I thought to myself wouldn't it be nice to wake up in the morning and have a bunch of flowers at your front door.
And then I got an inspiration. When I go to the shop where my car was parked I went in got my essentials and I got myself a plant of a yellow Daisy type flower to mark 1st of May and to remember all those old lovely stories and our ancestors and...
to be grateful for my health today,
for my family's health today,
for my friend's health today.
On the right - the plant I bought in supermarket after walk today to mark the first of May, the beginning of summer. bless you all.
We may not be able to go to far distant places to celebrate the first of summer but, our soul can, and in memories can we can journey to the past. We can journey here in the present and we can journey to the Future.
Wishing you all a magical peaceful 1st of May and good health. love and light.
Bernadette McDonald
Mayday photos were taken on my 2k walk as I headed back to my car.
A floor of apple blossoms in the sunshine, a feeling of better things to come and a realization of how life is so precious and to let go of things that no longer serve you.
Don't judge others. Be kind and mindful at this time as it might be easy for some in these strange times, however, there are others that need that chat, that call on the phone or a simple hello, a hug from family and friends. Let them know you are there and you do care and remember we are all in this together.
As I was out walking yesterday and thought to myself the world has paused, the wheel stopped turning in our lives, we stepped off the merry go round, and wondered, when this is all over will anyone have learned or unlearned something including myself?
What talents have you discovered you never knew you had and will you continue to use this talent in the weeks and months even years to come? Bernadette Mac.
No, not snow, but beautiful apple blossom petals looks like a path of pink snow this evening. The little things in life have a glimmer of magic.
Susan B-J in North Carolina
Her iris is blooming this weekend. Iris is Greek for rainbow. |
Camille's Inspiration
A surprise flower in her front yard reminded Camille of the powerful creative energy she felt at Tara with everyone at Imbolc 2019.
A little burst of positive energy from Lithuania. |
Marta's Goddess and tulips in Zurich connect to Glastonbury
We seem to be all hearts and flowers in our connections.... and as Anne says, April showers bring forth May flowers.
Source Goddess from Glastonbury recieved today (30th April 2020). Set her up here beside the tulips. |
Nora in Peak District
This plant lived with me in Tara and is now in Derbyshire. It was only when I took the photo did I realise there was a sun on the plant pot, linking into Pat's symbols.
As sun set in the west felt a draw to photograph it sitting in an eastern window, linking through the night to 1st May tomorrow. |
On Friday 1st May did a meditation (as Bernadette suggested) and was inspired to go out of the front door and photograph the three things that drew my attention. Milk and eggs from the dairy, blue forget-me-not and may (hawthorn) blossom. Across the lane the blackbird sat in the gutter singing and the pheasant cock's cry echoed across the gardens.
As the sun set again I questioned if I had celebrated Mother Earth 'properly'. Was there anything more to do? There was the Quan Yin goddess statue and the Earth Mother figure to photograph?
And I realised that all I had to do was what I had done. Step out of the front door, see the nurturing of earth with the milk and eggs, be reminded of the ancestors and those not present with the forget-me-nots and celebrate the season with the May blossom. The phrase 'alpha and omega' came to mind.
Just step outside the door and say - "How beautiful!" |
Bealtaine, Galway 2020, Martin D.
For me Bealtaine is about honouring the traditions and culture of the past, remembering our history, our story.
Bealtaine is the mid point between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice and the sun enters mid Taurus. In Ireland all fire was extinguished and a new fire was kindled at Uisneach and the flame was brought to all the sacred centres in the country.
It's the time of the year when winter is replaced by spring, the earth which has been barren is now in full flower, the earth has been reborn, the new replaces the old. Our mythology remembers this as the Milesians usurping the Tuath de Danann, St. Patrick usurping the Druids. The energy is expansive, effervescent, abundant, fecund, etc.
This year Nora M who was “Holding Space” guided us to remember mother earth and our relationship to our planet home within the background of lockdown.
It is also worth a mention that if Samhain is the part of the year when the veil is thinnest then Bealtaine, which is opposite it on the wheel of the year, is perhaps when the boundaries couldn't be any more blatant, especially with covid19. What I did realise though is that my garden is on the intersection of four townlands, its boundary central!
Earlier in the week, as part of the creativity in times of crisis ideas for the web site, - Read more here - Crafts - I had cut a small labyrinth into the lawn which I hadn't intended for anything other than, ”This is fun project in lockdown” . However, when walking around the garden to see where felt right to have the ceremony, the labyrinth didn't feel right.... In fact I had decided on a spot under some trees.
When it came to tuning into the spirit of the landscape I found it exceptionally difficult. Normally I would meditate and ask for the spirit of the land to appear to me in a form I could relate to....... this time I asked but all I got was the proverbial tumble weed..... after several failed attempts I was wondering why I wasn't getting any connection. Then I thought well this is typical of the human experience with our earth mother. That is, no connection, no conversation. Reflecting, I realised I had never made time to get to know the genus loci in my garden, let alone the townland.
I asked the creator to help me directly with that connection and at that moment mentally saw a flowing form of a spirit, female, long dark hair, intense eyes and two fires burning in her breasts endlessly circulating around the peninsula.
I saw
geometric shapes of hexagons and concentric circles. The Hexagons
were superimposed over blue flower petals and the concentric circles
were carved in stone, like neolithic rock art. I made mental notes
and asked if there was anything else. Then I saw a meteorite
strike the earth and shock waves fracturing rocks on the planet in
concentric circles. My impression was this was an event aeons
ago during the formation of the planet. Reflecting
on the meteorite it seemed like the pattern was recorded in stone,
like the rock art,
it was a snap shot of time. Not so much an event frozen in time but a
message and an energy flowing through time and space. It
struck me as something that was here so long it was almost timeless,
part of the eternal continuous
present.
What if at some point in the future our future selves would look back with 2020 vision and say to us that Covid-19 was defeated by people realising it was a doorway, an opportunity to live life in a more environmentally friendly way, in a more fulfilling way, a way that put the mother back into our experience of earth..... and it all began with people like ourselves thinking about, behaving and experiencing life in a different way. What if this thought was a message transmitted through time by our future selves as a response to the impact of a viral trauma transmitting shock waves through time and space?
The final thought was that the ceremony could be transmitted into the living landscape by mindfully linking it to the nearest active earth grid node point, which in my case was the intersection of four townlands. One of the fires would represent the here and now and the other fire would represent the distant celebrators in time and space.
So I came out of the meditation and wrote down my experience.
Later that day I got an offer of support from my partner, where he kindly offered to participate in the Bealtaine ritual. It was then that the labyrinth seemed to be calling as a more appropriate spot for Bealtaine.
At some point
Pat sent a picture of the Covid-19 virus to say he would be burning a
picture of it in his Bealtaine fire and at first the picture on the WhatsApp was heavily blurred before it downloaded but my heart
skipped a beat when I noticed that the image he had used,
specifically in its blurred state, was that of a hexagon. What if the
virus had an underlying geometry? What would this mean metaphorically
or symbolically? Could this be incorporated into understanding the
message the virus represents? I believe it's here because we, as
co-creators, have created the narrative and the energetic conditions
for its existence. Perhaps we could understand it better from a fresh
perspective and perhaps this could help humanity evolve beyond it's
necessity as a messenger. And was this the hexagon that I had seen
in the meditation.
So I simply Googled hexagons and followed one of the first links that came up.
https://imperiumadinfinitum.wordpress.com/2017/06/07/the-meaning-of-the-hexagon/
From a more extensive discussion on hexagons refer to the web site above, but the bits that jumped out at me were:
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“The hexagon has uncanny properties. The hexagon is the shape which covers and creates open area the best while minimizing boundary”
(My previous comments on boundaries being an issue around lockdown)
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“The hexagon is the connecting centre of universal coherence which ties everything together and links everything back. “
(Pat's comments on a non-denominational, universal lattice of spiritual inter-connecting love.)
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“This is also why hexagons are structurally stable – their regularity and evenness of shape allows them to repeat.”
(My previous comments on Covid-19 whose sole mechanical purpose is simply Repeat!)
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“On the north pole of Saturn, is a massive hexagonal storm, large enough to fit the planet Earth. Saturn is the 6th planet from the Sun, and its hexagonal storm is a 6-sided shape. Saturn is the Roman god of law enforcement, discipline, order, and structure, as the planet signifies in astrology as well. “
(Think about the parallels here about the enforcement of limitations during lockdown and my comments about boundaries)
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“Saturn was a god of agricultural season keeping. His Greek counterpart was named Kronos.”
(Refrences to the cycle of the year)
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“The hexagon’s perfect compromise between polygonality and circularity also implies something radical about the nature of time itself: it inherently contains a rhythm of its own interruption, time’s segmentation versus time’s flow.”
(My comments on the message through time)
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“During Saturnalia, hierarchy was suspended, slaves went free.”
(Anne's comments on Wesak and freeing captive animals comes to mind)
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“Many design specialists have noticed the dual nature of hexagons as both natural and artificial, both organic and technological.”
(Bear this in mind when considering the true origins of the virus as being both natural and augmented)
So it seemed the hexagrams, circles, viruses, time travel and mother earth were all in the melting pot for Bealtaine
We conducted the ceremony as per the outline below modifying it here and there and as I finished organising my thoughts and writing about it afterwards it struck me...
The labyrinth seed pattern is simply a set of 4 concentric circles. Somehow that fact had been lost in the labyrinth of my mind until this very moment! I suppose like walking the labyrinth…. you see and then you don't. Maybe it wasn't about a time travelling message.
Or maybe that
was all it was about....
Bealtaine 2020 Doorus
Intro: Beal-tinne, mid point equinox-summer solstice, mid Taurus, fire at Uisneach, mythology and nature new usurps old (St Patrick v. druids), expansion, effervescence, wealth, abundance, summer, flowering, boundaries, may bush, may poles, washing face in the dew.....
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May he who is lord.....
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Smudge and Light
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Directions
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We swear by peace and love to stand.....
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Bless the Fire (In Praise of Fire, John O’Donohue)
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Meditation: violet fire
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Use fire to burn joss paper intentions and Covid-19
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Jump fire for Bealtine energy to personal goals, family/friends & world events
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Thank the Directions
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Close Circle
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Eat
Weekly Card and Message for week commencing 4th May 2020
It will not surprise any of us that Bernadette Mac drew these cards! They certainly represent the energies many of us were experiencing over this Bealtaine.
Omega. Victory! so move forward, keep focusing on your efforts, stay true to yourself and know that you will succeed.
... healing our planet the rainbow colours remind me of the chakras each receiving healing at this time and the moon....
Read more of this week's message from Bernadette Mac here