BEARING THE BRIGHT FIRE ©
by Dale Carlyon

Situated as it is between spring and summer, the festival Bealtaine, traditionally held on the first of May, is a time of life and energy. The eve itself is an in-between point of the year when the sun is waxing into the apex of its strength. In Ireland, the hearth fires of each home were once relit from the central bonfire at Uisneach on Bealtaine; this tradition emphasizes renewal, purification, and a literal rekindling of community bonds.1 While romantic love is perhaps more often attributed to spring, Bealtaine could be said to reflect the fruition of loyalty out of passion, which is a truly magical transformation. This is one of many interpretations that can be gleaned from Bealtaine’s association with fire; it is a point in the year when love can swell, like the Bealtaine bonfire, to the realization of honor and devotion, when individual unions are cemented and then fully integrated into the larger arenas of family and community. Though we may not fully appreciate the polygyny that was commonplace to our pre-Christian forefathers in Ireland, the Celts were aware of the microcosm-macrocosm connection between the kind of love that draws two individuals together and the similar yet different feeling that also unites groups of people, large and small. Clues to this awareness are to be detected in Bealtaine symbolism and in the myths behind those symbols.

One Bealtaine tradition that survives today is the creation of “May Bushes” in farmyards during this time, which may be made of hawthorn or rowan. Hawthorns, of course, bloom beautifully during this time of year, and in the Tree Ogham, Hawthorn could be said to represent a purifying or humbling effect following the riotous warrior energy of the Ash, the wood of which was most often used for making spears.2 The knotted and thorny wood of the hawthorn appears threatening, but the tree can also be a protector, a sanctuary where one can regain strength, just as the sun gains strength at Beltaine. The rowan tree is significant, too, in that the Fianna of Finn MacCumhal often met as a group under these trees. A completely different reference is made to the rowan in the Táin Bó Cuailgne when Cú Chulain breaks the geis that forbids him from eating the meat of a dog, thereby dooming himself to death—it is a spit of rowan on which the dog was cooked. Yet another reference is made to the rowan in “The Wooing of Etain” when Fuamnach strikes Etain with a wand of rowan after Etain is brought into the faery mound of Fuamnach’s husband Midhir, a powerful Otherworld king.3 Etain is turned into a pool of water, which becomes a worm, and then a butterfly of exquisite and delicate beauty. Between these three myths, the rowan seems to embody the processes of life, death, and rebirth—in other words, change.

In symbolic terms, then, a connection exists between love and change. To flow with the process of change brings understanding; to resist it is to incite chaos. Though we should do everything we can to protect and nourish the people we love, we cannot cling to them and expect them to never leave our sides as they continue their own journey through life, and we cannot prevent circumstances from eventually being altered, at least on this plane. In the Society of Celtic Shamans, we hear about being one with the mystic rose of creation. A rose unfolds in the light of day, but will wither and die without the light of the sun. So it is, too, with the rose of creation; left without the light and the nourishment of love, it will waste away, though like the physical rose, it never really dies, but may go to lie dormant within the earth to await a time when it can rise again. Everything—absolutely everything—is an opportunity for growth, and what we lose today, we gain tomorrow, given time.

As Bealtaine arrives and departs into the burning heat of the summer sky, take time to appreciate your lovers, your families, and your community, be they in the past, the present, or the future. If there are things to be said or done to improve a situation, or if you know someone who could simply use a smile or a word of encouragement, say it, do it. It is by caring, and also by acting, that we build and sustain enduring relationships and thereby help one another to grow.

Sources:



  1. “Beltane.” Wikipedia. Online, internet. Last accessed 4/25/2007. http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/beltane [Return to Article]
  2. Blamires, Steve. Celtic Tree Mysteries. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1997. [Return to Article]
  3. “The Wooing of Etain.” From translation by Bergin, Obsorn, and Best, Richard I., 1937. Online, internet. Last accessed 4/25/2007. http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/~tomshoemaker/celtic/Etain.html [Return to Article]




Dale Carlyon currently lives in Long Beach, California, just outside of Los Angeles. He is currently a member of the Oak Grove, and has been practicing shamanism and studying Celtic lore since his teens. A graduate of Loyola University New Orleans, where he earned a degree in English, he is now in the process of beginning graduate work in Celtic and Irish Studies. His hobbies include a great deal of reading and writing, making and performing both traditional Celtic as well as goth/industrial music, DJ-ing, and karate. Contact Dale at carlyond@gmail.com or visit him at http://awenyddion.zaadz.com

Bearing the Bright Fire copyright © 2007 by Dale Carlyon, all rights reserved. Used with permission. Top of Page



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