Beltane, 2018

Happy Beltane, everyone!  It looks like our long winter is finally over and spring is here.  Still, remember that the average date for last frost here falls on the Victoria Day weekend, so we may still have some cool days ahead.

With Beltane, the Green Man begins to show his face hereabouts, ending the rule of the Horned God.  The phallic Maypole spins energy into the Earth, and the Earth responds, sending forth new shoots, grass, and leaves.

In my personal Wheel of the Year, the young Oak Lord transitions from Warrior to Lover; his romance and mating with the Goddess initiates her transformation from Maiden to Mother, as they conceive the Holly child.  Mapping the Wheel onto our lives, Beltane corresponds to adolescence and all it entails: challenging boundaries, authority, and self; dating, courtship, and sexual awakening.

Some of you may have heard this week of a Christian fundamentalist group who wanted (presumably symbolically, but one can never quite be sure) to “break the altar of witchcraft in Calgary”.  This local storefront church was alerted by a “Public” Facebook event posted by a local pagan market, beginning, “Calling all Witches, Wizards, Vikings and Shamans, Pirates, Fairies and Sprites, Pagans and Heathens of all Traditions…” The Christians typically overreacted, believing this to be the Pagan Worldcon, and prayed for our souls, or to save their own. Still, it prompted several pagans here to avoid the event, or to alert Facebook to the hateful and discriminatory nature of the self-professed Christians’ video and particularly the comments of a few of their followers (one used numerous knife and bomb emojis in hers).  Still others stayed firm in their determination to go, support the community, and face these people if they came to protest.

Ultimately, it proved to be tempest in a teapot, Shakespeare’s “much ado about nothing”.  There’s a Public Relations lesson for Pagan organizers here: be careful how you classify your events, particularly on a platform like Facebook.  Public means Public; ANYONE can see what you post, so if you do go public, be careful what you say; even a humorous prologue can be misinterpreted by the wrong people.  And be prepared for the backlash; I remember one group long ago who even requested a police presence for their public Sabbats.  Luckily it proved unnecessary.

May Events:

Note these events are listed for information purposes only; no endorsement should be necessarily implied. Dates and locations may be subject to change; see the source for details. If I’ve missed anyone and you’d like to add to this listing, please contact me. All times MDT.

May 1:  Beltane.

May 1, 10:30 am:  Second Annual Pagan Cultural Festival at Galt Gardens, Lethbridge.https://bit.ly/2jmCNYNhttps://bit.ly/2jmCNYN

May 2-6:  RESET (formerly Servants Anonymous)/Calgary Herald Book Sale at Crossroads Market, 1235 – 26 Ave SE.

May 4^th:  Talk-Like-A-Jedi Day.

May 4-6: CRLC Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Show at Vivo Centre, 11950 Country Village Link NE.  Those rocks at the silent auction? They’re probably Margarian’s…  Info: http://www.crlc.ca

May 5, 7:00 pm:  Abandoned Saloon Paranormal Investigation at Crossroads/Country Roads Saloon, 2120 – 16 Ave NE, hosted by Ghost Hunt Alberta.  https://bit.ly/2HVdVFx

May 5, 8:00 pm:  Fia Forsström “Legacy of Light” Concert at Rutland Park Community Association, hosted by Calgary Tantra. https://bit.ly/2JAX9sv

May 6:  Spring Goddess Gathering at Glamorgan Community Association, sponsored by Calgary Goddess Groups.  https://bit.ly/2KleRBC

May 11-13:  CBC/Calgary Reads Book Sale at Calgary Curling Club. https://bit.ly/2r2pkJg

May 12-13:  “Horde at the Hive” Viking Village at the Chinook Honey Company, south of Okotoks, with the Sons of Fenrir.  Bring the kids for the battles, and taste the latest batch from the meadery!  https://bit.ly/2r7CtRv

May 12:  World Fair Trade Day.  “Live fair, one product at a time.”  http://wfto.com

May 12, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Cuddle Party at Scarboro Community Centre, 1727-14 Avenue SW. https://bit.ly/2r9o0VG

May 13:  Mother’s Day. 

May 13:  Celtic Tree-Month of Uath/Hawthorn begins, according to Robert Graves.

May 15, 5:48 am:  New Moon. Lunar Month of Uath/Hawthorn begins.

May 19:  Noon – 4 pm:  Hergest’s Fabric and Notions Sale in Hawkwood.  Contact me for location.

May 21:  Victoria Day.

May 25-27:  Badlands Paranormal Weekend – Dorothy and East Coulee – sponsored by Ghost Hunt Alberta.  https://bit.ly/2r8YGOK

May 26, 7:00 pm:  Calgary Heathens Meet and Greet.

May 27, 6:00 pm:  Witchcraft Discussion/Education Group, hosted by Calgary School of Informal Education.  https://bit.ly/2JxhEGI

May 27, 7:00 pm:  Sound Healing Cuddle Party featuring Ocian Flo, at Scarboro Community Centre.  https://bit.ly/2JFrzd4

 May 29, 6:58 pm:  Full (Flower or Deer) Moon.

PrairyErth by William Least Heat-Moon

William Least Heat-Moon is best known for his Blue Highways, in which he went in search of America by driving lesser-known routes that circled it. In this, his followup, he cross-folded a map of the lower 48 states and landed in Chase County, Kansas. He spent six years there, talking with its people, walking the land, and exploring its flora and fauna, its history good and bad, its geography and geology.
 .
The book is divided up by the twelve ordinance maps that define this nearly-rectangular county. His writing style varies from interviews to extensive quotes on relevant topics, to amazing poetry documenting the lives of the coyotes and prairie chickens. He talks about many things, including floods, prairie fires, murders, race relations, feminism, the building of the railroad, the changing face of agriculture, and the plane crash that killed football legend Knute Rockne. He talks to farm kids who see little future there. Poignantly, he also covers the fate of the Kansa (Kaw) people, their history, downfall, deportation, near-extermination, and diluted revival.
.
Although perhaps a little dated now, PrairyErth is recommended reading for anyone seeking an appreciation of prairie ecosystems. It's also a demonstration of "deep ecology", exemplifying to those who seek to deepen their connection to the earth, to learn everything they can about their little corner of it.
.
My rating:  Five pentacles out of five.

The Mysteries of Britain

The Mysteries of Britain: Secret Rites and Traditions of Ancient Britain by Lewis Spence
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book was originally written in 1922, when academic standards on these topics was a bit more lax than they are today. As the blurb indicates, Spence theorizes that a "cult of the dead" arose in northwestern Africa during the Paleolithic era, and made its way by separate emigration routes to Egypt and Britain, where it was adopted and revised by the Celts. "Druidism", as Spence refers to it, became an initiatory mystery religion, tied to the myth of the earth goddess Cerridwen's cauldron and the sky god Hu/Esus/Hesus, who became equated with Arthur. The cauldron, which figures in both Welsh and British mythology, became transformed into the Grail myth. Spence also argues that Celtic Christianity was the natural result of the fusion of these two religions. Spence argues that the Druids themselves survived as the Culdee sect of Christianity.
On a more esoteric level, Spence cites the "Barddas" collected by Iolo Morganwg, referring to three circles of existence: Annwn, the watery abyss, Abred the plane of physical existence, living and dead, and Gwynvyd, the realm of animated and immortal beings. The fourth realm, Ceugant, contains only God, and may refer to the Sun itself. Spence ends with a call for the restoration and revival of Britain's native Secret Tradition.
Not being an expert on Druidry, I can't really comment on the validity of his claims. It may, however, make a good if somewhat antiquated starting point for anyone interested in modern Druidry.

View all my reviews