Witch’s Wheel: Beltane — Revelation of Character
🌿 Opening the Veil
I don’t know which I love more: Samhain or Beltane.
With each, the veil thins.
With Samhain, some say we honor our ancestors.
With Beltane, some say we honor the fae.
When it comes to the turning of the wheel, I’m polyamorous.
Each solstice, equinox, and cross-quarter turn offers unique opportunities.
Different thresholds.
My work with the moon phases helped illuminate the smaller lunar cycles unfolding within the larger turning of the solar wheel, deepening my understanding of both.
Yes, we even have death cycles in Beltane.
During Beltane 2020, I began what became a three-year series of pagan peep art installations. I created them outdoors. Ritual altars for each turn of the Witch’s Wheel, shaped by whatever nature was offering at the time. Daffodils and crocus were long gone. Instead, cherry blossom petals peppered the ground. A perfect canvas for my first pagan peep altar.
So it seems apropos to begin this series here.
🔥 Beltane
🌔 Flaming Bud
🎭 Revelation
🥀 Shadow of Arrogance
🔮 Reflection & Contemplation
🕯️ Tiny Ritual for the Flaming Bud
🌀 The Wheel Turns
Pagan Peep Altar, Beltane, 2020
🔥 Beltane
Beltane happens at the midpoint between sunrise and high noon, when the sun reaches the heart of Taurus.
Most people celebrate Beltane on May 1-2, a few days before the sun reaches the exact midpoint.
The first motion of summer.
It signals the start of the growing season.
It’s a time when Celtic communities drove their cattle from sheltered grounds to summer pastures.
They performed blessings and fire rituals to protect the herd and ensure fertility and survival. Cattle were led through pairs of bonfires to rid them of winter disease.
Fire rituals also warded off evil spirits.
In modern times, Beltane is associated with the maypole and flower crowns.
The maypole represents the phallus.
A wreath placed at the top represents the yoni.
People dance clockwise around the pole, each holding a ribbon, weaving their magic together as the wreath slowly descends.
The original pole dance. 😉
In celebration of the sacred union between the maiden goddess and the primal nature of the god. Tying the knot of the divine feminine and divine masculine—polarity and life force.
This reminds me of The Lovers.
This turn of the wheel marks a rite of passage into embodied knowing. A movement toward the mysteries of desire, polarity, connection, flirtation, awkward couplings, and the pleasures experienced through the body.
🌔 The Flaming Bud
Beltane corresponds to the waxing gibbous moon. A time to evaluate what’s emerged since sunrise. Since Ostara. To refine what’s taking shape.
A phase I’ve come to know as the Flaming Bud.
The seed germinated at Yule now begins to bud.
The tree leafs before the blossoms unfurl.
The sun sets later each night. Light becomes dominant.
After resurrection, we seek revelation.
🎭 Revelation
The Sabian Symbol for Beltane is
“Head covered with a rakish silk hat, muffled against the cold, a man braves a storm.”
It’s about meeting everyday life challenges with resourcefulness and using existing resources to achieve a goal or overcome obstacles. While maintaining your dignity and refusing to settle for blending into the crowd. No matter the difficulties you face.
You develop character by accepting crises and going through them.
It’s also about visualizing yourself as you’d like to be and presenting that self to the world by acting “as if” through role-playing and putting your best foot forward with an unshakeable sense of self.
The revelation?
Your character under adverse circumstances.
🥀 Shadow of Arrogance
There is shadow too.
Arrogance, overconfidence, cockiness, making promises you can’t keep, creating expectations you can’t live up to, and a cavalier refusal to take life seriously.
🔮 Reflection & Contemplation
Look at your natal chart and see where 15° Taurus falls. This is the area of your life being activated during Beltane.
If you’re over 45, look at your second-half-of-life astrology chart to see the additional house being activated for you.
Where is Beltane unfolding in your life?
In those areas of your life:
✨ Who are you becoming as the light increases?
✨ Where are you being asked to put your best foot forward?
✨ How could you role-play the person you are becoming using resources you already have?
✨ What needs refining before the bloom fully unfurls?
✨ What do you need to burn away during this time?
You could use these as journal or tarot prompts, or for contemplation.
If you feel called, you could do a tiny ritual for the Flaming Bud.
🕯️ Tiny Ritual for the Flaming Bud
Choose one aspect of yourself that is asking to become more visible.
Not a fantasy self.
An emerging self.
Light a candle or stand before a mirror.
Ask yourself:
Who am I becoming as the light increases?
Visualize yourself as this budding version of you.
Now, act “as if.”
Dress differently.
Speak differently.
Move differently.
Adorn yourself.
Wear the flower crown.
Put on the rakish silk hat.
Role-play this budding version of yourself.
A living dress rehearsal.
Not to deceive.
To rehearse revelation.
Let yourself feel slightly ridiculous.
Flirt with becoming.
Call upon your unshakeable sense of self.
Notice what strengthens your life force.
Notice what collapses it.
Let challenges reveal your character.
When finished, extinguish the candle or step away from the mirror and say:
I welcome the self becoming visible through me.
🌀 The Wheel Turns
Every bloom begins as a flaming bud.
As the wheel turns, blossoms unfurl in their own time.
So do we.
Love,
Heidi
If something here resonated with you, the wheel is still turning.
You can explore more reflections, rituals, and seasonal writings here: Witch’s Wheel and Phases.
You can also subscribe to Field Notes below if you'd like to follow along.
