Astrologer Laura Craig

Beltane

Alphonse Mucha “Summer”


Today is May Day, or the cross-quarter holiday of Beltane, marking the halfway point between the Spring equinox and the Summer solstice. Beltane is a lusty celebration of life force and fertility, symbolized by fire, flowers and sex. The May Queen is betrothed to the Oak King, as they enact the age-old relationship of man to the sacred land. First, we cleanse and purify; then, we join together and unite. 

There will be no bonfires or Maypole dances or woodland trysts taking place this year, sadly, but the space weather still conjures up a fitting image for our imagination. The first quarter moon is in fiery Leo, soon to be waxing gibbous. Opposite is Mars in trine to Venus: I see flower children and free love, the crown and the sword, the wreath and the maypole…you get the picture. The Sun in Taurus is running the cattle through the smoke. The Oak King (Jupiter) usurps the Holly King (Saturn) and wins the hand of the May Queen (Venus + Vesta) across the skies in Gemini. Fire, earth and air all represented.

In the natal chart, Beltane corresponds to the waxing gibbous moon phase. People born under this moon embody the Lover and the Helper archetypes. They are here to here to learn compromise, co-creation, the social life and the intimate relationship.  

 Each of us holds a ribbon, as we dance around the axis mundi. We begin in separation but soon, we are united in a beautiful inter-woven pattern of life and human connection. In the spirit of May Day, what can you pledge yourself to at this time? How can you unite in mind and heart, if not body, with another? What idea can be created or consummated? And in what direction is your life force pointing you?

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