Beltane 2008
by Blayze

Set-up
Bower set with hangings ready for King and Queen. Archway decorated with roses with the Rose Gate leaning against it. The Gateway also has ribbons hanging from it.

Maypole in the centre of the circle and the altar in the North East.

Stang is planted next to the altar and has a vine hoop hanging from it.

Props:
Baskets of Roses for children
Ribbons for Yoni Gate
4 torches at the quarters
4 x Beltane Phallic Staves
Candle decorated with Oak, Ash and Thorn as well as Red and White ribbons
Rose Gate
Drums
Stang
Vine Hoop
Sword covered in Oak, Ash and Thorn
Aspergum & Fan of Oak, Ash and Thorn
Cauldron and tapers.
Meths.

Roles:
HP, HPS, 4 Quarter Guardians(Male), Ribbon Dancers (Children), May Queen, May King, Goddess

Ritual:

Everyone lines up before the Gateway (Yoni Gate). As they enter the circle they take a ribbon from the gate.  Quarter guardians lead the children around the circle. Children have been given baskets of Roses which they scatter around the circle. Baskets are then placed next to the altar. The 4 quarter guardians carry the Phallic staves that represent their element, they shake the staves to ring the bells that are woven around them.

Everyone chants as the Guardians and the children caper around the circle. 

All: 	Hail the Rose, the Blood and the Thorn
	Hail the Seed, the Stem and the Horn

HP and HPS enter the circle

They take up the Rose Gate and walk around the circle, HP on the inside, HPS on the outside of the circle. It acts as an archway above everyone's heads.

When they get back to the gateway, they weave the Rose gate into the Main Gateway.

HPS takes up the Water and Salt from the altar. She blesses it. She uses an aspergum of Oak, Ash and Thorn. HP takes up the incense. He blesses it. He uses a smudge fan of Oak, Ash  and Thorn. Together they walk around the circle.

HPS:	By the Oak and by the Ash
	And by the Thorn of White
	We conjure thee, our circle here
	By earth and sea and sky.

They return to the altar. HPS takes up the sword, HP takes up the candle.
HPS casts circle with the sword as HP lights each of the Quarter torches.

HPS:	We conjure thee our circle here
	By the flame the burneth bright
	To guard, to keep and ever seal
	The powers of this rite.

HPS and HP return sword and candle to the altar.

Quarter guardians hold up their phallic staves and use them to call in the Elements.

Air: 	I call upon the winds of the world to witness this rite. Powers of Air guard us. Hail and 	Welcome.

Fire: 	I call upon the flames of light and warmth to witness this rite. Powers of fire, guard us. 	Hail and Welcome.

Water: I call upon the waves of the ocean to witness this rite. Powers of Water guard us. 	Hail and Welcome.

Earth: I call upon the stones of the earth to witness this rite. Powers of earth, guard us. Hail and 	Welcome.

All join hands for Central Invokation.

HPS asks all of the children to take a ribbon from one of the adults.

HPS: Beltane is a celebration, and time, of fertility. The fertility of the land, the fertility within ourselves and of our ideas. We celebrate the cycles of the seasons and of life, of conception, of gestation and birth, they are all part of the magic of the cycle and the wheel. We celebrate the past, the present and the future, and as our future, it is the children who create the first weaving.

The children are then taken to the centre where their ribbons are woven together for a cord dance.

Music is played as the children dance madly around in a circle. When the music stops they all fall to the ground, still holding their ribbons. The HPS and HP take up the Stang and the Vine Hoop whilst the children dance. HPS holds the hoop and HP holds the Stang.

HPS: Spring is heralded by the spark of new life. So as we weave our journey from spring into the ripening summer, I call upon two who mark the weavings of fertility in truth. Rebecca and Jason, please come forward.

HPS hands the vine hoop to Rebecca, saying:

HPS: Rebecca, as you journey from Maiden to Mother, so you are the circle that nurtures and holds all power within. Take from my hands the woven circle.

HP hands the stang to Jason, saying:

HP: Jason, as you journey from Youth to Father, you are the protector of all between Sky and Earth. Take from my hands the stang.

HPS: The children have woven the beginning, now to you Rebecca falls the task of binding the wheel to the warp and weft.

Rebecca takes the vine hoop to the children. She places the hoop over the ribbons and ties the ribbon ends to it.  She takes up the woven hoop and takes the hands of the children and leads them around the circle. The children go back to their parents and Rebecca goes to stand next to Jason.

HP: Before you stands the Maypole, symbol of Beltane. In token and in celebration of your own fertility, join the circle to the stang and together crown the pole that stands between the worlds.

Rebecca and Jason crown the pole.

HPS: Rebecca and Jason, as you have opened yourselves to the magic of new life within, will you open your hearts and your minds to the fullness of Spring, to the tides and the rhythms of the earth?

Rebecca and Jason: We will open our hearts and our minds.

HP: Will you seek the mystery of transformation?

Rebecca and Jason: We will seek the mystery.

HPS: 	Then know this.
	All belief comes from within,
	and all truth is sought and found,
	in the Cup of the heart,
	and the Temple of the Spirit;
	in the deep places of the forest,
	where sunlight patterns the leaf-strewn floor,
	and there is only the song of the birds,
	to break the silence of the soul;
	there shall we find our gods,
	beneath tree and leaf and waving bough,
	beneath sky and cloud and in wind and rain,
	reborn of the ever-returning Sun
	like a Phoenix from the Flame.

	The mystery of transformation is found both within and without. The transformation, 	celebration and fertility of Beltane is there for all of us. So together let us call upon the 	Goddess of Spring to bless our couple and our rite. Everyone please hum together.

HPS and HP move to stand before the gateway. Rebecca and Jason take up Rose Bower and hold it.

HP invokes:

By bud of leaf and bud of flower
By running stream & lovers bower
Goddess of Spring, of Maidens Call
We invoke thee 

By sacred well and sacred flame
By sovereign stone and field of grain
Goddess of Spring, Queen of May
We invoke thee

By scent of spring that carries our prayer
By fertile fields and snow white mare
Goddess of Spring of Hawthorns Bloom
We invoke thee

By Greenwood paths & scented leaves
Come ride as Queen, on Summers eve
Descend we pray into our circle here
Goddess of Spring we invoke thee.

The Goddess, veiled and dressed in white, with a crown of Oak, Ash and Thorn, comes toward the circle. She passes under the Rose Bower and enters. She carries two crowns

She walks around the circle as she speaks eventually coming to stand before Rebecca and Jason.

Goddess: 	From the bowers of the green earth I was born
	For I am the Mystery and the Transformation
	I am all that grows, all that ripens

	Yet I am Virgin
	I am eternal

	I was with you when first you were young 
	beneath the budding trees of springtime
	I shared your first taste of the Cup of Life
	I was there when first you gave yourselves to each other
	For in truth, you gave yourselves to Me.

	Within me flow the tides of season's turning
	Within me burn the flames of season's yearning
	For I am She, for I am.

HPS:	O Great Goddess, Virgin Queen We ask that you bestow your blessings 	upon those who stand at the gateway of fertility. That by their joining, their 	weaving and their ripening Joy may be felt within all of us, for the good of all, 	and new life brought forth into the world.

Goddess:	All acts of love and pleasure are my domain, for the wheel spins never 				ending. This blessing I gladly give. Come Daughter of my Heart.

Rebecca moves to stand before the Goddess to be crowned.

Goddess:	I bless thee and crown thee Queen of Beltane. May the spark of my love and 			joy be ever kindled within thee.

		Come, Son of my Soul

Jason comes to stand before the Goddess to be crowned.

Goddess:	I bless thee and Crown thee King of Beltane
		May yours be ever the flaming spear that draws upon the power of the Sun.

		Crowned are thee, but not yet bound to the land and to your kin in spirit, the 			family of your heart and soul. Nor are you yet bound to the elements within 			you.

HPS:		Those of you who hold ribbons still, bind them to the staves of the elements!

All bind their ribbons to various staves.

Goddess:	As these two before me represent the fertility bestowed and carried within themselves, so may you all, by your own magic, awaken the powers of fertility within this realm.

The four elemental guardians comes forth. One by one they plunge their staves into the ground – at the quarter points.

Air Guardian:		By the powers of Air and Wind, may this realm be made fertile!

Fire Guardian: 	By the powers of Fire and Flame, may this realm be made fertile!

Water Guardian: 	By the powers of Water and Tide, may this realm be made fertile!

Earth Guardian:	By the powers of Earth and Soil, may this realm be made fertile!

Everyone now comes together to empower the Maypole.

HP:	By the power of the Spirit within us All, may this realm be made fertile!

All:	By the power of the Spirit within us All, may this realm be made fertile!

All move back to edge of circle.

Goddess:		It is so. Now that the realm is prepared, you both are ready to be bound to 			it. Are you willing?

Rebecca / Jason:	Yes, we are willing.

Goddess:		Then take up the ribbons bound by your kin and bind each other.

Rebecca and Jason take the ribbons from the staves and tie them to each other.

Goddess:		Nothing is gained without effort. Ever there has been a chase between 				those who would capture each other's heart. Begin!

Love chase is performed as Jason needs to catch Rebecca's ribbons. Everyone claps and shakes bells as the chase is performed.

Rebecca: 	Come my love, my hunter, my king
		Catch the ribbons that weave Summer from Spring
		Come run through the trees in search of your Queen
		For then you shall win me, the maiden unseen.

		Come my love, my hunter, my king
		Catch the ribbons that weave Summer from Spring
		The hawthorn is blooming, the oak is awake
		For I will be yours when these ribbons you take!

Eventually the Queen captures the King.

Goddess:	You have been bound to your kin, bound by the elements and bound to each other within this realm made fertile. I leave you with one final charge, dance the magic this day with your kith and kin, spin the power between the worlds and weave for yourselves a journey of love and beauty. 

Goddess kisses Rebecca and Jason and walks around the circle touching each person on the forehead. She faces everyone from the entrance to the bower and says:

Goddess:	Know that I am always with thee, for I am that which is attained at the end of desire.

All:	Hail and Farewell!

Everyone prepares the dance the pole. The Goddess de-crowns and de-veils and re-enters the circle as a participant. She leaves the veil and crown within the bower.

Dance pole.

When everyone has danced, Rebecca and Jason are given a lit taper each by the HP.

They move to the cauldron.

Jason:		You have passed beyond the gate
		of inspiration's kiss.
		Found fertile the Cauldron and Flame

		You have journeyed with the Crone
		through the Valley of Mist
		to become One with the Hidden Name
			
Rebecca:	You have passed beyond the gate
		of knowledge and form,
		Found erect the Tower of Truth

		You have journeyed with the Sage
		through the calm and the storm
		to become One with the Temple Of Youth

Jason:		O Mystery of Mysteries
		Beyond flesh, beyond bone
		Open our minds, beyond tree, beyond stone

Rebecca:	O Mystery of Mysteries
		O thought and desire
		Open our hearts to the kindled fire

They light the cauldron. HP takes tapers and Rebecca and Jason leap over the fire. Anyone else who wishes to can also leap the cauldron.

HPS and HP bring Chalice to Rebecca and Jason, which they consecrate.

Rebecca & Jason: 	Two become One by the Circle and Sword
			The endless re-union of our Lady and Lord
			The spiral entwines the Lance and the Grail
			Beyond Sun, beyond Moon,
			Beyond Starlight pale.

Chalice is passed around.

HP and HPS consecrate the cakes which are then passed around.

Rebecca and Jason are then farewelled to the bower.

Farewell Quarters:

Air: I thank the winds of the world for witnessing this rite and the Powers of Air for guarding us. Hail and Farewell. 

Fire: I thank the flames of light and warmth for witnessing this rite and the Powers of Fire for guarding us. Hail and Farewell

Water: I thank the waves of the ocean for witnessing this rite and the Powers of Water for guarding us. Hail and Farewell.

Earth: I thank the stones for the earth for witnessing this rite and the Powers of Earth for guarding us. Hail and Farewell.

Close circle.

Feast.