The Rites of May were carried out every spring in England and other European countries. They took place on 1 May when in some countries it was said that witches went out and brought back spring. The Rites were a celebration of new life where people played, feasted and danced around the Maypole. They made offerings to the Pagan gods seeking a good growing season and a generous harvest.
Our ancestors celebrated change through Rites and Rituals. This gave their lives rhythm and gave their actions and their work form, context and meaning.
May is nearly here and as I write spring is so very here! Where I live there is such a sense of readying, such an intense kind of longing and promise in the earth. Nature is preparing to come out in a big way. The dark, damp, cold soil is beginning to break apart as lime green shoots push their way through so earnestly from below. I think the witches are already out there!
What the ground knows is that it’s a time for letting go of preparation and letting those shoots come through.
This is a time of incredible creation as well as great prudence and protection for the new that is coming forward.
What might be wanting to come forward now for you and the people in this community of creatives?
And how might you encourage and protect it?
What Rite can you perform that will welcome that newness into the world and strengthen it?
Ready yourself and your environment, and then let it through!