Beltane, the "New Fire"

A tradition in Ireland at Beltane Eve and Day (May 1) was to put out all home fires and candles, and go dark. That way, the "New Fire" could be brought back from the big bonfire. This is wildly right-on for this year's May Day, with a Jupiter-Mars conjunction in Aries (half hour after midnight est), to stoke the primal fires.

Aries creative spark brings the new forth. Jupiter Aries takes that something "New," and adds a buzz, to revive low spirits. Jupiter is travel, and in other ways extending your reach. Aries- ruler Mars is pure motivation. A "New Fire" starts to spark, that's wholly originating from you. With Jupiter, you're on an adventure to explore the new and undiscovered terrain of the Self, as it's showing itself....and doing this with action, risk, daring. It's an original pulse that can be the ground for a new beginning.

Then we go into the Dark Moon on May Day (May 1st) -- we go dark -- and the Aries Moon keeps the fires alive and smoldering with a conjunction to Mars-Jupiter! In the black rich void, the creative fires work their magic on the cauldron. At Beltane, women who wanted to get pregnant would jump over the cauldron. It's symbolic of the urgent fires of passion, out of which the new seed is conceived. The creative fires are stoked, for whatever you'd like to bring into being, including new style, attitude and self-image.

Beltane for many indigenous Europeans faiths, was a magical time when fairies were afoot. They'd talk of the supernatural, like drawing down mists, to play tricks on wanderers. There's dancing, singing, and you've probably heard tell of lovemaking in the fields -- it's a celebration of life and the lush summer season ahead. This year's blazing Aries fire, as a faith-reviver, is a magical lead-in to the New Moon Taurus late on the 2nd/early the 3rd (2:51 am est).

Being open to wonder and sense of discovery is all it takes, though that kind of openness is an achievement in itself. Take time to come back to yourself, to sense those pulses of the new. Light a candle to symbolize the "New Fire."

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