Bards Duel, Beltane Poem

Dear Blacky,

At the beginning of my Celtic Spirit Wheel class every day we take role by doing a Bard's Duel.  We cover the topic of the day and each person has to say what that topic means to them.  It starts out something like "Who is the Dagda?  Not hard to tell..." and then you say what the Dagda represents to you.  Some people get quite poetic, with rhyming and moving about, and some people just say a line or two.  There is no judging for your overly-flowery prose, just like there is no judging the one guy who never shuts up and never stays on topic.

For Beltane we mixed it up.  Each person was allowed to pick one of the types of Bardic Arts (we're studying the South quarter and all that it represents in the Spirit Wheel belonging to the Celts) and either write or perform or find something related to Beltane, the Celts or the Sidh.  I chose a poem from my childhood regarding the sidh (elves) of Celtic lore.

I read this poem to my Celtic Spirit Wheel class on Beltane and I got thunderous applause.  Believe it or not I used to have the entire thing memorized.

Elves, by D.J. Conway

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By the fern brake, deep and shady,
There I met an elfin lady.
Dressed in cobweb silk and flowers,
There she whiled away the hours,
    Waiting until dark.

On the soft green moss beside her,
Lay a baby wrapped in eider.
Skin so fair and hair like midnight,
The lady watched the coming twilight,
    Waiting till 'twas dark.

Silently, I sat beside her,
Hoping for some words to gather
In my numb and starled mind.
Said the lady, "You're most kind
    to wait with me till dark."

"Are you lost?" I asked lady.
"Is this your home, this fern barke shady"
Will others come by star and moon?"
She only smiled and began to croon
    To the elfin child.

The baby slept. The lady told me
Deep magic of the Earth and Sea.
Spells she whispered, strong and old.
"Use them well," she said. "Be bold
    when spelling in the night."

"Can I work these?" The lady smiled
Gathered up her sleeping child.
"Oh yes," she answered, "Tis a boon
For waiting with me till the Moon
    Slips up the sky."

Thinking deep, I sat beside her,
Keeping watch.  I heard the rider
Coming through the fern brake shady.
"Are you there, my lovely lady?"
    Called an elfin voice.

An elfin lord, his clothes all viney,
Armed with sword and dagger shiny,
Rode his horse into the fern brake.
Then my heart began to quake
    On seeing his dark eyes.

Twilight gathered; birds were still.
The Moon came up above the hill.
Suddenly I felt alone.
"Have no fear, for your have sown
    Good friendship."

The lady smiled and raised her hand.
Upon her brow a shining band
Glistened by the light of the Moon.
"Would you to give forth a boon?"
    She asked her lord.


"For here is a friend, a watcher bold."
"But they are enemies of old,"
The elf lord answered.
    "No," she said,
"But guarded us in this fern bed."
    He smiled.

"So there are some who wish us well."
His voice was like a distant bell.
A ring he took from off his hand.
"This will tune you to the land
    and magic."

Its stone was pale, just like the Moon.
The air was filled with eldritch tune,
As they mounted, lord and lady,
Rode off through the fern brake shady,
    I stood alone.

People say elves are not there.
But I have heard their voices fair,
When I sit down in the brake.
Magic spells I've learned to make
    All from the lady.

Elf lord's ring is on my hand
To help with magic from the land.
Sometimes I talk with lord and lady
In the fern brake, deep and shady,
    Secretly.

Is there magic? For me 'tis so.
For when the sun is sinking low,
I feel Earth's power within my heart
And know that I shall never part
    From the lord and lady

Salutations,

Sesh

Beltane 2014

Dear Neophyte,

In the Cletic Tradition Beltane is a fertility holiday.  It very much is, indeed.  In class we went over Ceridwen's cauldron and Taliesen's story.  Then we did bardic duels, which I have already posted here.  However, I would like to add some pictures which display what Beltane means to me:

Fire:

First off, Beltane IS fire.  It is a fire festival and a major holiday.  Fire = life.  Fire is the spark which creates knowledge, the spark which creates life, the spark which kindles emotions and the spark of healing.  Without fire we all die.  Summer has returned and it is this day which we honor the Sun for what it gives us.

Part of my Beltane celebrations include jumping over a fire.  As you jump over it you say or think an aspect you are jumping out of and an aspect you are jumping into.  This is also a time to light Bridgit's flame and do healing work.

I love to have a HUGE fire for the sake of fire because it's fire and I like fire cause it's all fiery.

Sexualityty:

Beltane IS sexuality.  Beltane is a celebration of a body which was made for YOU alone to use.  Sexuality is about your connection to your primal self, not submission to someone elses biological drive to mate. It is the understanding that if I do not own my body then someone else will.  

I behooves me to have to mention a problem in our society where we are told that our bodies were intelligently designed for the purpose of procreation and that this is our only task.  This is a lie.  Your body is capable of doing so much more than procreation, and it belongs to you, not society.  Own your body and figure out what YOU want to do with it.  

Part of my Sabbat celebrations is taking the theme of each Holy Day and using it to undo some of societies programming.  The last several years I have been focusing on reclaiming my sexuality by separating it from the opposite gender.  It has becoming increasingly harder for us to be sexual beings without doing it for other people, to get attention or to validate our existence or worthiness.  This is a far cry from the people of some cultures who would dance naked for themselves or others of their gender and just celebrate their woman-ness or male-ness.  This is what I call Sacred Sexuality- the celebration of just being your gender, outside of that role in procreation.

Being sexual means knowing your body, knowing what it wants in terms of carnal pleasure and honoring that.  Partnered sex certainly can enter into that arrangement.  Both partners must understand that Sacred Sex on Beltane is not the mindless rutting without honor for each other, but about sharing your own understood sexuality with someone else who also understand theirs.  Alone and without the (unnecessary) partner, you will experience your own sexuality with yourself.  Who better?

And Cernunnos.  Yowch!

Love

Beltane IS love.  Beltane is a celebration, a balance between male and female energy which brings about the dynamic changes in the universe and to our lives.  Beltane is the Valentine's Day of the Pagan world, and has gone so far as to be dubbed "Pagan Sex Day" on social media.  I diferentiat sexuality and sex because they are different.  Those who are not bonded to anyone may express love to friends, family, pets, people you encounter on a daily basis (co-workers, classmates, etc) or to themselves.  Falling in love with yourself is something I suggest everyone try, especially on Beltane.  

"You had me at  'I have my own farmstead'.  Take my now!"

Community

Beltane IS community.  Without community we would all be dead, same as for fire, sexuality and love.  Community brings us other people, from which we draw our friends and lovers and even our enemies (who, lets face it, make life worth living just as much as our lovers).  Feasting, dancing, maypoles and the whole nine yards.  Beltane is the time to learn social skills and practice them in public settings where everyone is already laid back and flirtatious.   Beltane is a time to celebrate your community. The summer has come and you have made it through the long winter months.  Give thanks for all that you have and most of all give thanks to those who helped you make it through.  Beltane, for me, is a time for me to take stock of the favors I owe everyone over the last year and to get ready to pay it back now that we're getting into the hot summer months.  You're all here together, you may as well enjoy each other's company!  

You may notice I didn't bring up fertility.  I don't want children and Beltane is specifically about procreation fertility.  The other holidays focus on food, money, roof over my head, clothes on my back, etc fertility and those are the times I celebrate the fertility of those ideas.  Beltane is not a fertility holiday for me, at least not till I get a garden again!  Until then I choose food, fire and friends :)

My sister and I went ot the nude beach instead of taking me to class as our own celebration this year.  We played fetch with someone's huge white German Shepherd and froze our jelly beans trying to get into the river.  The water is runnoff from the ice melting off the top of the mountain now the sun is at an angle to touch the peaks once more.  It's about 38 degrees, but that didn't stop my Nordic sister from jumping in tits deep!  AFterward we practiced our underwater archaeology where we amassed quite a crowd who wanted to see what we had found attached to some bungee cords in the river bed.  Turns out it was the volleyball nets and they were there on purpose!

All in all it was a wonderful Beltane!  No pictures of myself, though I got quite a few of my sister.  None of them are appropriate for this site, however, so you'll just get to use your imagination.

Salutations,

Sesh