May 1st is one of my favorite days. Not only is it the beginning of the most beautiful month here at Fernwood (thanks to the former owner who planted for spring) but it’s also my husband’s birthday and May Day/Beltane. So many lovely things to celebrate all packed into one day!

“Now is the moment to flourish and thrive: to open our hearts and welcome meaningful connection with nature and with each other, and to revel in the joys and blessings of being alive in this beautiful world. It's no easy task at such a difficult and uncertain time, but if anything the spirit of Beltane is an important reminder to seek and offer support wherever we can, and to find beauty and contentment in the simplest of things.” ~ from the Folk + Field newsletter  

I have plans to gather some hawthorn branches and make some bouquets, plant some potatoes and sunflower seeds, and of course there will be a special birthday meal, and if the weather holds, our first outdoor fire. I find these little rituals so helpful in transitioning to a new season. (And we are on the cusp of more than just summer as we begin to enter a new phase with the pandemic. It feels more important than ever to ground and center, doesn’t it?)

Here at home I am leaning into some new writing rhythms that are working well and I have a head full of ideas. I just need more time (and er…discipline) to translate them to the page, but it’s hard to be disciplined when Mama Earth is being so beautiful and showy right now! I’ve learned though, that creative work is not just about the number of hours you force yourself to work but the amount of time you open yourself to life, to allowing the beautiful and the difficult things to work on your spirit and sharpen your senses. We live in a time of striving for notice and a certain type of accomplishment, but there is a lovely synergy and freedom that happens when you let that go and spend that striving time caring for your soul instead.

My Beltane prayer for you:

Peace to your heart.

Peace to your mind.

Peace in the letting go.

Peace in the receiving.

Peace in the being, just as you are.

Just as you are.

Peace, peace, peace to your soul.

<3

I’ll leave you with these little glimpses of home:

Happy May Day, my friends.

So much love.

tonia