If you flip the Wheel of the Year to match Southern Hemisphere seasons (which we do; the full calendar is here), then 31 October is Halloween and 1 November is Beltane. Two festivals with almost opposite moods, back to back. It sounds awkward. In practice it makes for a very good weekend.
What Beltane is
Beltane is the fire festival that opens summer: passion, fertility in the broad sense of things growing at full speed, bonfires, the maypole, the bright twin of Samhain. Historically it's one of the better-attested Gaelic festivals: cattle were driven between two fires for protection before being moved to summer pasture, and hearth fires were relit from the communal bonfire. The modern witchcraft version keeps the fire and the growth and drops the cattle.
In the Northern Hemisphere it's 1 May. Here, 1 May is Samhain and 1 November is Beltane, because that's when the season actually turns. The imported Halloween on 31 October is a cultural holiday rather than a sabbat, and there's no reason not to enjoy both: Halloween night for the costumes and the dark, Beltane morning for the light.
A Beltane growth ritual
Recipe and reasoning. Beltane is about growth, so this one is built around something you want more of over summer: not something you want to receive, something you want to grow.
You'll need: a red candle (orange or white if that's what you have), something to write on, a pinch of cinnamon or a few rose petals if you'd like them, a safe dish.
- Name the thing. One sentence: "Over summer I want to grow ___." A skill, a relationship, a business, your own confidence. Why: Beltane's energy is expansion. Asking for something to arrive is a different working; this is about tending what's already started.
- Dress the candle, if you like. Roll it lightly in cinnamon (warmth, speed) or set rose petals around its base (the heart side of growth). Why: optional, but touching the candle with an ingredient in mind is a way of putting the intention into it physically.
- Light it and say the sentence. Then say the first concrete step out loud too: "and this week I will ___." Why: mundane before magical. The step is the part that makes it real; the candle is the part that makes you remember you said it.
- Let it burn for as long as you can safely sit with it (a chime candle takes about two hours); snuff it and relight another night if you can't. Why: Beltane is a fire sabbat. The flame is the ritual; the longer you tend it the more of the evening you've spent on the thing you want.
- Do the step within seven days. That's the actual working.
If you want to make more of it: a bath with rose petals and hibiscus the night before, a small fire outside if you safely can (a fire pit, a barbecue chimney; check your local fire restrictions, it's November in Australia), or a simmer pot of orange peel and cinnamon to bring the warmth indoors.
Is Beltane only about sex and fertility?
Fertility is the traditional theme and plenty of practitioners keep the romantic and sexual side front and centre; that's a legitimate reading. It's equally about creative fertility, growth, fire and vitality generally. Take it wherever it's useful.
Can I do Samhain on 31 October as well?
Yes. Lots of Australian witches keep an ancestor moment on Halloween night because that's when the culture around us is thinking about the dead, then turn to Beltane the next morning. Our own Samhain proper is 1 May, but there's no rule against marking the veil twice a year.
What herbs suit Beltane?
Rose petals and hibiscus for passion, damiana for warmth, cinnamon for fire and speed, red clover for luck and growth. Anything red, warm or flowering fits. Please keep essential oils and burning herbs away from pets: here's what's safe.
