Beltane is the next stop on the Wheel of the Year. Most (though not all) traditions observe it on May 1, while most modern Pagans celebrate it on the weekend closest to the actual date. I’ll be celebrating with Denton CUUPS this Saturday evening.
However Beltane may have been celebrated in ancient times, in our time it’s become a celebration of Spring, of fertility (metaphorically speaking), and of sensual pleasure. This celebration of sexuality may be ahistorical, but as I wrote in 2023, it is very necessary.
That necessity has only grown stronger in the past two years, to the point that I’m now encouraging Pagans and everyone else not just to celebrate Beltane, but to celebrate it as sensuously and as decadently as you can.
Celebrate being Pagan
It would be humorous if it wasn’t so dangerous: the most irreligious and un-Christ-like President in modern history has established an “anti-Christian bias task force.” The goal is two-fold. First, paying off his Evangelical supporters who love to pretend they’re persecuted. And second, intimidating followers of other religions and those of no religion, trying to frighten them – us – into silence, especially when it comes to criticizing conservative Christians on social issues.
The only reason nobody is attacking Pagans is because there aren’t enough of us. Right now they’re focused on silencing Muslims and atheists. But make no mistake – we’re on their list too.
So what do we do in the face of this pressure? We dance the Maypole.
And also protest and call our representatives and vote in every election and all the other elements of being engaged citizens trying to resist authoritarianism. But more urgently, we do the things that celebrate being Pagan, of being anything other than the kind of culturally homogenous quasi-Protestants the authors of Project 2025 are trying to coerce everyone to be.
The Wheel of the Year gives us eight opportunities each year to honor our Gods and ancestors, to observe the changing seasons, and to celebrate being Pagan.
Let’s party.
Remember who you are
It’s good and necessary to tell the world we’re Pagans and we’re here. It’s even more necessary to tell that to ourselves.
It’s easy to get so caught up in the mainstream world that we forget who we are. Oh, if someone asks – someone we trust, anyway – we’ll proudly say “I’m Pagan” or “I’m a Druid” or “I’m a witch.” But people don’t ask these things very often. And so we fall into the trap of “I’m too busy” or “it’s all the same anyway” and we forget who we are.
And we lose our connection to our Gods and other spiritual allies, our connection to Nature and the spirits of Nature, and our connection to magic.
Ideally we’re maintaining these connections every day with our spiritual practices. But the less-devout are just as Pagan as the more-devout. Celebrating the seasons helps us all remember who we are: Pagans.
Help others be who they are
Instead of worrying about non-existent “anti-Christian bias” we need to be focused on the very real anti-trans bias.
Red state after red state are passing laws making it virtually impossible for trans people to live safely. And it’s not just outlawing transition for young people. It’s bathroom bills and restricting medical care. One Texas Republican proposed making what he calls “gender identity fraud” a felony (that bill is unlikely to pass, but the fact that someone even proposed it is disgusting).
The current federal government is making things worse, refusing to change passports and other documents and trying to force trans people out of the military.
We need to fight this politically, but we also need to make sure our trans friends understand they are welcome in our communities and in our circles. They are who they say they are, and we need to affirm it.
Wouldst thou like to live deliciously?
Butter and pretty dresses don’t sound like much to us, but to a New England Puritan they were extravagances. Yes, they had little because they were poor subsistence farmers, but also because they believed anything beyond the most basic essentials were sinful.
Our society has material goods in such excess that would be unbelievable to people a few hundred years ago. Yet we still have those who think living deliciously is a sin – particularly when it comes to sex.
And Beltane is – historically or ahistorically – a celebration of the goodness of sex.
I’m a little uncomfortable writing about sex and the celebration of sex. My own sex life is private. I admire those who flaunt their sexuality, but if I tried to do that it would be forced and it wouldn’t be helpful to anyone. And also, it’s private.
But the fact that my sex life is private doesn’t mean everyone’s must be. And it especially doesn’t mean that anyone’s sex life should be constricted by someone else’s morality.
One of the driving ideas of the modern Pagan movement throughout its history is the insistence that sex is not sinful or shameful or anything of the sort. Sex is good and natural and necessary. It just needs to be really and truly consensual. [For more on this, read Pagan Consent Culture – Building Communities of Empathy and Autonomy, edited by Christine Hoff Kraemer and Yvonne Aburrow. I have an essay in it, but I get no royalties – just the satisfaction of knowing some good ideas are being read.]
Whatever your sexual orientation and whatever your level of comfort in expressing it, I hope you’ll affirm and celebrate the right of everyone be and express who and what they are.
Let’s live deliciously.
Celebrating Beltane promotes a Pagan worldview
When we celebrate Beltane – publicly, loudly, deliciously – we promote Pagan concepts, thinking, and practices to ourselves, our community, and the world at large.
Things like the idea that Nature is not sinful or “fallen” but rather that even though Nature can be harsh, Nature is good.
Everyone has the right to be who and what they are, as they understand it. More than that, we all have a responsibility to be ourselves as fully as we can.
Many different Gods call many different people to worship, work for, and work with them in many different ways. No one religion has exclusive possession of Truth.
Life isn’t a dress rehearsal or a test to qualify for the “good place” in the afterlife. Rather, life is a gift to be lived to its fullest, not following someone else’s set of rules but embodying timeless virtues as best we can. We understand that we are human and therefore imperfect, but we also understand that perfection is not required.
Participation is.
Enjoy your Beltane, however you choose to celebrate.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In