Beltane Spirits Come!

I wrote the first couple of verses of Beltane Spirits Come to Us several years ago. Actually, they were what are now the last two verses. Sometimes I’ll start on a song and get a couple verses, then it sits for months until I get motivated to write more verses. That’s what happened here.   

They all are based on the Beltane festival some of the Crow Women attend in New Mexico. Here’s how the song starts now:

Come, come to the grove, show the Mother lots of love;
Let us recognize her call, honor all life great and small.
Women sweat to dig the hole, men parade in with the pole;
Colored ribbons wrap around, Goddess blessings to abound.
Beltane spirits come to us, Beltane spirits come.

The Maypole ritual starts in late Saturday morning with the women digging the hole – the Mother Earth Yoni that will be symbolically impregnated as the pole is inserted and raised. There is drumming all during the digging. It gets more frenzied as the hole is finished and women straddle the hole very suggestively and give it a burst of their own yoni energy.

Everyone has gathered expectantly in their most flamboyant ritual garb. Men process in with the pole and carry it around the inside of the circle.  Last year’s May Queen (who isn’t necessarily female) rides in on the pole. The men approach the Yoni and help the queen disembark. Helpers install the forged iron top that holds all the colored ribbons, held carefully to keep them from getting loose and tangling.    

Then the pole bearers cautiously  insert the large end of the pole and tilt it up and up and up. The drumming continues through all this. Rocks and dirt stabilize the vertical pole. Helpers pass out the ends of the ribbons and instruct participants on how the two rows of people going in opposite directions need to operate to get the best possible wrap. Over and under, keep the ribbons tight. Don’t let them sag!  

As the wrap nears the ground, other participants insert fresh flowers. A woman gets on a man’s shoulders to place the highest blooms. Finally the ribbons are tied off, a couple of feet from the ground, and people gather close around the pole chanting Om and touching the pole reverently.  

Then comes the honey milk and cookies or fruit. Then the big moment as last year’s queen and king walk in front of participants looking for prospective successors. Ululations go up as they make their choice. They crown the couple with flowers and pass the staffs and beaded necklaces to the new queen and king.    

May Queen dance and sing, Green Man show us what you bring.
Banish winter to the past, call forth summer to come fast.
Pass, pass, pass the mead, earthly bounty oh so sweet;
Yeast and honey magic brew, Beltane spirits to renew.
Beltane spirits come to us, Beltane spirits come.

After the Maypole ritual comes feasting and mead or other libations, and resting up for the Bale Fire.  Many participants (especially the kids) jump the fire several times. Some people get naked. Some do hand-springs over the fire. I don’t do well with running and jumping, so I stride up to the fire and step across.   

Jump, jump, jump the fire, manifest your desire;
Jump, jump, sing and shout, as within, so without.
Pound, pound, pound the drums, celebrate as Goddess comes;
Dance and sing by fire’s glow, as above, so below.
Beltane spirits come to us, Beltane spirits come.

Finally the long narrow Bale Fire is covered and re-shaped for the drumming and dancing into the night. That’s how we do it in New Mexico, and that’s what my song portrays. I didn’t even mention the fire spinners. Maybe I’ll have to add a verse about them.  

I don’t really see this as a song to do during ritual; more an offering for the Bardic Circle the night before, to get people psyched up for the big day to come. But if you are designing a Beltane ritual and it fits, go for it.

Carole’s song Beltane Spirits Come to Us is on our brand-new album Seasons: A Pagan Journey Around the Wheel, available here!