Beltane ~ Celebrating the Vitality of Life!

BELTANE GREETINGS!

The strength and power of life, the natural force that propels young growth to break thru the pavement and water to shape rock, was in full display this year as April gave way to May.

The well-known proverb, "April showers bring May flowers.", felt more akin to March's familiar saying, "In like a lion, out like a lamb.". Those of us who live in Maine were reminded of nature's power with a full-blown storm: rain bringing flooding and wind gusts up to what felt like 60 knots(!), and (as to be expected) power outages - the last day of April.

It "seemed" an unusual energy for Beltane, a fire festival that celebrates flowers, fertility, and the early days of summer. But don't be fooled! Nature is full of surprises!

The fertile and vital energies of Beltane are both active energies where yin and yang, feminine and masculine join, bringing about new growth and new life. Nothing new that has ever been created from this union has arisen through passivity and without disruption. We can look at everything from volcanic eruptions, caterpillars becoming butterflies, water droplets forming into clouds, fiddleheads breaking through the surface of the soil, to the roots of a tree planted in a square of dark soil breaking up the concrete of a sidewalk in your local urban jungle. All are expressions of the energies of Beltane! Life is happening!

Beltane is all about community, of opposites coming together

and manifesting the new.

The Earth is vibrant with the energies of growth now

and inviting us to birth the new together.

Beltane Portal Painting

Property of the artist, Janet MacPherson Moller

THE PAINTING PROCESS:

It's my intention to tune into each festival at the time when it's happening and manifest its energies for you in the form of a portal painting. This time I was painting during the storm as the winds howled around the house and the rain pelted down on the windows. As a result, the painting process was more intense in its delivery and the final piece was not like anything I've done before. The spirits of Beltane and of the storm were definitely working through me.

THE VESICA PISCIS

The place of manifestation - where the non-physical comes into physical form.

In this portal painting the energies of the spring equinox evolve as the two balanced halves come together and manifest the new, shown here through the sacred geometric form of the vesica piscis and its almond-shaped mandorla at the center. The Vesica Piscis is a powerful form expressing the energies of Beltane in that it consists of two circles coming together, where the circumference of each passes thru the center of the other. Where they overlap in the center, the mandorla, is a place of emergence, a place of birth - where that which is manifested by the joining of the two circles is given life.

I found it somewhat ironic that the guiding oracle card for this Beltane painting process referenced the hidden and subtle energies within nature. Indeed, both the subtle and hidden are present within the vibrant and visible side of life. All work together. If you look closely, you'll see within the layers of this painting subtle worlds and hidden gems.

I hope you're able to pick up the vibrant life force radiating from this piece, and that it inspires new growth in your life during this exciting and powerful time of Beltane!