A Beltane Blessing for Your Pets
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Happy Beltane!
If you’d like to take a deep dive into this holiday, we did a podcast episode on it in 2022, where we talk about everything from its roots as a sexy pagan folk festival; its connections to Robin Hood; plus the anarchist egalitarian origins of Int’l Workers day (also May 1); and springs, wells, and other places sacred to the Beltane lore. It’s a fun one!
Here’s a link to the episode:
In the meantime, know that Beltane is the pagan holiday in the Wheel of the Year: a celebration of the lustyness of the life force.
Legend has it that in days of yore the agricultural folk of the Northern Isles would drive their cattle between two bonfires to bless them for the coming year.
Fire is sacred to Brigid, and a symbol of the god Bel, a solar deity.
A fun and easy way to celebrate today’s holiday is by saying a blessing over your pets as you pass a candle flame over them three times…
Beltane Blessing for Health and Joy
You can say this Beltane blessing over your pets. It’s a Christian Gaelic Prayer, which was probably a modification of a Pagan prayer. The Christian version was revised by the fantastic pagan writer, Patti Wigington, on the Learn Religions blog, and the version here has been further revised by me.
When you celebrate Beltane this year, even if it’s just to light a candle and say the blessing, know that you will be joining witches and other magical folks all throughout the world in this celebration.
Bless, O Old One, O Preserver, O Spark
Ourselves, our protectors, and those in our care
Bless everything within and around us,
In our bodies, in the land,
Bless the animals, bless the plants,
Bless the fungi, the insects, the pollinators, the air itself
From Samhain Eve to Beltane Eve, Beltane Eve to Samhain
Bless us all with kindness, love, and courage to heal
Bless us from sea to sea, and every river mouth [and from the river to the sea!]
From wave to wave, and every drop of rain.
May the Old One, the Preserver, the Divine Spark
Pervade all life, of which we are a part.
May the Green One, Wild Spirit of the Wood and
Our Lady of the Flowers, the roots and all her seed
Protect everything within and around us in truth and honor
Satisfy our hungers and let us shield her so that only love may enter
Bless every thing and every one
All the land and all the world
Great Ones who create and flow through all life
We pour our blessings upon your earth
Where from your holy wells they rise
Flowing back to us, Beltane blessings
On this the day of holy fire.
Reminders / Upcoming Events:
Reading Group on Monday 5/5/25, 6pm PST. We’re reading Consider the Lobster by David Foster Wallace. In particular, we’re considering how this literary reference to lobsters might inform our interpretation to the Moon card in tarot, which often depicts a lobster.
Full Moon in Scorpio Ritual on 5/12/25, 6pm PST. This month we will be doing purification rituals to clear the conditioning of the dominant culture and access our authentic self. If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed by trash, this one’s for you!
If you’re going to be in the UK in July, come join me and the poet Rebecca Sharp in Edinburgh for our Sonnets for the Muse ritual on Saturday July 26, 2025. where we will be working with the classical poetic form of the sonnet as a way of coming into new relationship with our creative passions. No experience with poetry necessary!
*If you’re experiencing income insecurity, but want to join Mystery Cult, don’t be shy, please email us at guardian@oracleoflosangeles.com to find out about our scholarship opportunities.
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