Minisode 16: Blessed Beltane!

In today's minisode, you can learn all about the ancient Celtic trampolines, as well as the history of, superstitions around, and modern practices to celebrate Beltane.

Make yourself a strawberry honey mojito, get your thorn bush decorated for the Best Bush contest, and settle in to this week's minisode!

Affirmation: The Beltane fires ignite my passion and creativity

In the Southern Hemisphere? Check out our Samhain Episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2429206/episodes/18110509

Amy's Beltane Sources

https://naturallymodernlife.com/beltane-celebrations-for-the-modern-green-witch-altar-ideas-tradition/

https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/the-origins-and-practices-of-holidays-beltane-and-the-last-day-of-ridvan/

https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/factsheets/the-festival-of-beltane/

https://www.history.com/articles/beltane

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Celtic-religion/The-Celtic-gods

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beltane

https://www.pagangrimoire.com/what-is-beltane-celebrate/

Oracle Deck: Seasons of the Witch Beltane by Lorraine Anderson and Juliet Diaz, Illustrated by Giada Rose: https://www.rockpoolpublishing.com/en-us/products/seasons-of-the-witch-beltane-oracle

Strawberry Honey Mojito (Energy: Abundance, Love, Creativity, Purification, Joy)

Ingredients (serves 1)

• 2-3 TB honey simple syrup (see recipe below)
• 90 mL (3 oz) white rum
• 1 lime cut into pieces (leave a half-wheel for garnish)
• 2 strawberries (+ 1 more for garnish)
• 4-5 mint leaves (+ more for garnish)
• Club soda

 Directions

1. Gently muddle limes, strawberries, and mint leaves in the bottom of a shaker.
2. Add ice honey syrup & rum & shake it up, baby!
3. Pour (do not strain!) into a highball glass.
4. Top with club soda.
5. Garnish with lime, strawberry, and mint leaves

Honey simple syrup

Heat ½ cup of water & ½ cup of honey together, stirring until honey is completely dissolved.

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Thanks - the Caftan Coven

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome to Cliff Iners and Cocktails Podcast with Amy Sissel. That's me and my delightful co-host, Shay of a Cloud. That's me. We are USA Today best-selling authors of paranormal women's fiction, among other things. And this podcast is brought to you as always by the Caftan Coven.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Woohoo! Today's episode is another. Did I do something bad again?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

No, this is the third member of our Caftan Coven here to be with us. Um Sam brought this for me when she came to the I love it.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

So now this is her. But yes, it's another mini soap with Baffinette.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

I guess Sam could be a pink ghost. Ooh, so cute. With the witch hat. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

She's with us.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

I have many things on my desk that could all be Sam. So she'll be a different thing every time.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

I like it. I like it. She's got to be with us in spirit always.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Sorry. We're not even like a minute into the podcast. And we're already detailed out.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Yes. We're all distracted and off. Willy-nilly. So today's episode is a mini pod. I think I said that. And where we discuss a single topic related to the craft, whether it be craft cocktails, witchcraft, or writing craft. Um, these are great to listen to when you don't have a lot of time for a full podcast or you want information on a specific topic. And today's topic is the upcoming Sabbath of Beltane. It's one of my favorites. I love Beltane. It's amazing. So you have an affirmation I hear.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

I do have an affirmation. And usually Shaya does the affirmations, so I get super excited when I do an affirmation. So I need you all to really appreciate this a lot.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Yes, I very much appreciate it. It's so appreciated. Woo-hoo!

SPEAKER_01 2:07

Okay. I haven't even said it yet, and I'm already getting appreciation. The Beltane fires ignite my passion and my creativity.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Yes. Love it. That's what I love about Beltane. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Because it's all fire and passion and creativity. Yes. Oh, I love it all. Fire.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Amy, what is Beltane and when is it?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

I am so glad that you asked. Beltane is one of the four fire festivals of the Hagan year. The others are Sawan, Imulk, and Lamas or Lunasa. And in the Northern Hemisphere, we celebrate Beltane on or around May 1st. And it's November 1st-ish in the Southern Hemisphere. It's roughly halfway between Ostara, which is the vernal equinox, Letha, which is the summer solstice. And depending on where you are, Beltane is celebrated anywhere between May 1st and May 15th.

unknown 3:10

Ah.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

With the if you're gonna go exactly halfway in between, that's around May 5th. But in May, a lot of places in Scotland do their festivals on the 15th of May. Beltane has been historically widely observed in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

According to my show notes, it's a hundred percent a fertility party.

SPEAKER_01 3:35

And this And and not and not oh, like she always said, I don't mean fertility literally. I don't mean making babies.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

This one's literally for making babies. That's kind of the point. You're gonna have to blur that on YouTube for sure.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

I will blur that on YouTube.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

She made a very obscene and shocking gesture. I did not know she had it in her. I can of course I did.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

That's what she said.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Right. So now that we've covered fertility.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 4:12

Um, a little bit more just about the history of Beltane. Beltane means bright fire or the fires of Belle. And Bell is often considered to be Bellinus, a Celtic healing god who was worshipped from northeast Italy across Gaul and into Ireland and Great Britain. I did closely Italy.

SPEAKER_02 4:30

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

They had a whole thing there. Um it's pre-Roman, so it predates Roman times. And they had like, I read a lot of scholarly articles about this, so he was attested. His cult was attested in these towns in northeast Italy as well as in other places. Although scholars do differ on whether or not the bell that was worshipped in like the British Isles and Ireland is the same as Bellinus, who what is the name of the god, because it does sound more Roman, of the god that was um worshipped in northeast Italy and some of that area, but they think there is enough evidence to link those two together because this is not in the notes, this is just me going off. Um when the Romans did their thing of conquering and colonizing and all that stuff, they would be like, oh hey, here's some gods, and we're just gonna call them what works for us. So, like, this is an Apollo god.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

So it's the god of sunshine in medicinal waters and oracular functions. So it's Apollo associated, because that's what this god was. So we don't know if Bell and Bellinus are the same exactly, but they're all Apollo gods, and that's how they were named by the Romans as they went out there because they're like, we're not gonna write down what the locals call them, because who wants to do that? We will be like, this one reminds us of our god Apollo, so that's what we're gonna say, or whatever. So you'll find that a lot of similarities for these gods, and and it's hard to say how much of them, how how many of those similarities existed before, or how much of it has just been this is the the tale that's been told.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Yeah, we're gonna co-opt this for our purposes.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

We're just gonna call everything the same thing for simplicity's sake, and now the the waters, those medicinal waters, are muddied. But from what I could determine, Bellanus, Bell, this Celtic god that was across Gaul and in Ireland and Great Britain, also was associated with the sun, the oracular functions, and medicinal waters and healing. So there is a lot of those similarities, and that's why it he was uh an Apollo god.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

I love mythology, it's so cool. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

I I love the intersections of mythology and history, and that's why you should all be very happy that this script is not 15,000 pages long, and that this is not a three-hour Beltane episode. However, if you want me to do eight two-hour long Sabbath episodes, let me know because we will make that happen for you.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

And we can, because we do love our research.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

And we like to talk. So it's perfect. Perfect. Some early scholars also believe that the festivals of Beltane and Sawan were the most important. Um, it's the beginning and the end of summer. It's very important for pastoral societies, those that take their cows to pasture and back, because in this the spring they're going off to where they're gonna graze in the highlands or wherever, wherever cows graze. I'm from South Dakota originally, and our cows just grazed on the lands because our lands were all the same elevation.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Um, and then in the in the fall, at So and they would bring them back in.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

Mm-hmm. And so let's bring back the cows and have a party. Let's take out the cows and have a party. It's also probably fairly decent weather, so one can have a nice big outdoor barbecue or whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Poor cows. Speaking of fire and cows, the cows would light two bonfires, and then when the cattle would go out to pasture, they would pass the cattle between the fires, not through the fires, as I had originally written, and I'm like, well, that's confusing. Um, because the fires purify the cattle and ensure the fertility of the herd. They do that one coming and going.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Yeah. Interesting. Okay. I mean, that makes sense. Yeah. You got the pure smoke purification. You're basically you're basically saning the cows is what you're doing. It works.

unknown 9:06

It works.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

Yay, cows. We like cows. We like cows. So who's this Cormac that the Bishop of Cashel? Now that sounds fancy.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. So the first notice, the first notation, written notation of Beltane was by Cormac, the Bishop of Cashel and King of Munster.

unknown 9:29

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Um, in the early 10th century. Like he died in 908 or something like that. So it was very early 10th century that he wrote this down.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Um, and so he's the one who really talked about how Beltane and Sawin or when the cows went and came back, and that was the fire festivals, and how he didn't get into a lot of the pagan god stuff.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Bishop, Bishop of Cashel.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Not as much into notating the Peg and God stuff. However, I have not read all of his works, and maybe he's got some stuff on it, and I can let you know.

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Definitely do. But I it's interesting because that would be post-Roman but pre um but pre-Norman invasion. So that's really interesting. Thank you, Cormac, for writing this down so we know about the cows.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Yes. I mean, it was later written down in other places. Um, so he was just the first mention. There's lore that goes back much, much earlier than that, especially in Ireland, but they uh foolishly didn't write it down in ways that modern scholars could understand. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:45

Frickin' oral truth. Why didn't they just get out a notebook?

SPEAKER_02 10:49

And their favorite pen. It's kind of rude of them. They really weren't thinking ahead for our benefit. Fun superstitions. Yeah. Oh, now I've heard about this one. The bonfire flames uh were considered to bring new life. So they would like kind of let the bonfire burn down a little bit because it's really hard to jump over a bonfire. And then the couples who wanted to, you know. Ancient Celtic trampolines. Mystify scientists. Um couples who wanted to conceive would like jump over the fire because it was supposed to help them get their fertility on.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

I I'm not sure how well that actually worked, but they thought it was well when I find all those notebooks of ancient Irish stuff, I will also see that they have any scientific studies about fertility. There's a lot of stuff too about the dew on May Day or May 1st. Interesting. Like okay. Dew collected on the morning of the first day of May will confer witch power on the gatherer and give protection against the evil eye. Um, it also will preserve the skin from wrinkles and freckles. It will give you a glow of you.

SPEAKER_02 12:07

Well, May 1st, I'm going out in my backyard and I'm sticking my face in this in the grass to get that dew.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Okay, but if anyone sees you, then they will be scared. Because a person seen in a field at daybreak on May 1st is an object of fear. Oh I don't know how these three go together. Like, are you scared of the dew collecting?

SPEAKER_02 12:27

Or yeah, or or the witch powers. Like, I just feel like there's a lot of conflicting.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Conflicting, yes. Or maybe it's not, and we just don't understand. Because the person in the field on May 1st is scary, and they're gathering the dew to confer witch powers on themselves.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

And protect themselves against the evil eye.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

And also their skin from wrinkles.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Right. So maybe the nosy neighbor that spots them in the field and gets scared is the evil eye.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Uh yeah. People are scared of witches because they don't get they don't they're like, oh, you guys are so cool and we can't be that cool, so we're scared of you.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

I mean, yeah, that's how it probably works. Probably. Yeah. Yeah. Now I've never heard of a Maybush. So tell us about this Maybush. I mean, I've heard of a May pole, I've heard of Mayflowers, but not a Maybush.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Um, so and this is really part this is really, from what I understand, mostly part of some Irish traditions and only in some parts of Ireland.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Um, although it was like people would get the hawthorns, and it's the only it's bad luck to cut thorn bushes most times of year, except for May, this May time. This is a good time to cut the thorn bushes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

Yeah, there usually were some correlation between these superstitions and these and actual scientific agricultural reasons for doing things.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

So, but this is the time of year to cut your thorn bushes.

SPEAKER_02 14:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:08

So you cut your thorn bushes down for agricultural purposes, most likely, and then you decorate them. Um, and you can put like flowers or ribbons or bright shells, just something to make it look fun. Some places they'd have a little parade and everybody had their little thorn bush. Uh and I I'm imagining it was a way to incentivize this agricultural practice. That yeah, that was so that people are out there doing it and then you get to celebrate, and maybe it's like maybe they had best thornbush decoration awards. I like to believe this is true.

SPEAKER_02 14:40

I love thinking about some like solemn druid guy handing out like ribbons to these little children with their decorated thorn bushes. Like, yes, you have to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Or to like like Goody uh whatever her name is, goody two shoes, who's won five years in a row, and everybody knows she's cheating somehow.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

They don't know how, but she is definitely cheating. She has made a pact with the devil, although they didn't believe in the devil.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

So but no, she was out there gathering the dew drop to make her thornbush beautiful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

I do know that in some places bannocks were baked. Oh, in the Beltane fire. Which is, of course, bannox is like a short uh short bread, a flat bread. Short, flat, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

I am only one of those things.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Short. You are definitely short. No, I've had bannox, but I've never, I don't think I've ever made it. But it's it's I think a fairly bad recipe. Yeah, it's it's yeah, it's kind of like I mean it's flatbread. Yeah, it's kind of similar to like an Irish soda bread, but it's it's it's like the Scottish version. Yeah, it's just baked in a skillet. It's just like flour, some kind of fat and water and a little baking powder.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Well, maybe I'll go make one. Yeah, not right now, because we're recording.

SPEAKER_02 16:21

And if you um now the ones I've had, it was like served with like a breakfast. So when they fried it in the frying pan, they don't they don't bake it, they fry it in a frying pan. It uh they use a lot of butter. Sounds good. Yeah, it was quite tasty, I have to say, thanks to the butter.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Okay, well, I will check this out and I will report back. Excellent. So hopefully when this episode comes out, you can then hop on over to our Instagram or whatever, um, or to our YouTube channel, and you'll get to learn all about me and Manic. Probably not at an open fire though, because I don't have one of those.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

Right, nor do I.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

But I'm and I can't imagine that Chris is gonna be like, start a bonfire on the balcony, babe.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

He's no fun, he just doesn't know how to party, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:16

No, right? So disappointing. Um, so obviously, fire, fire everywhere. Beltane is a really big time to set things on fire. Um, you and like we talked about jumping over the fire is fun. All the household fires would be doused and then relit from the Beltane bonfire. This is something that you'll see at most of the fire festivals, yeah. Is that everyone will douse their fires and then relight it from the community fire because these festivals are about community first and foremost. Yes. Um, you know, we're celebrating our agricultural practices, we have our whole, you know, times of the year that we do certain things, but it all is about coming together. And if you have fire and you have community, what do you have?

SPEAKER_00 18:04

A bonfire.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Feasting! A feasting, yes.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

I'm like, I don't know. A disaster. No, you have feasting. Feasting, yes. Because you've gotta like, you've gotta like roast something in that bonfire, right?

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Or like those poor cows that went the wrong way.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

Just kidding. No cows were harmed in the making of this podcast. I just want to say.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Oh, yeah, not in the making of this podcast. I cannot speak for what they roasted on their fire, so probably not like lost cows, probably on purpose cows.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

Pro yes, probably, or like maybe goats or something. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Yeah. You leave food and drink out for the ace she. Um, I know she is pronounced right. I listened to 7,000, I listened to two different pronunciation guides for this first word, and it's spelled A-O-S, and it's is she. And that's like the and the she um you'll see that that's like the the fair folks. And so you leave your food and drink out for them. And because this the veil is thin.

unknown 19:18

Really?

SPEAKER_01 19:19

Just like it is at Salin. But depending on, I I've been doing a lot of research into the thinning of the veil because different people believe it's thin at different times of year. Right. But there is a lot of belief that these are the two times of year because the seasons are going from winter to summer and and then summer back into winter.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Because um, spring and autumn weren't as defined um as they are now, and so these are the times, the changing of the big seasons when the veil would be just a little bit thinner, which that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

So now my creative brain is churning, which is good because this is what Beltane's about creativity.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

We're ign using those fires to ignite the creativity.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

And how would they how would we decorate for Beltane? Like back in the day.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

I like how you're asking this question. Yeah. Like you don't know because it's right there in the bullet point, but I feel good about this. Um, it's decorating with flowers. Put up those flowers. Yellow flowers are used a lot, partially because they evoke fire. But if you go out and look at what flowers bloom first, you're gonna see a lot of yellow stuff. Daffodils and buttercups and dandelions.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Right. Um and we see a little purple too, but I don't know if they had those in those areas at that time.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

I guess I'm not a medieval botanist, but now I want to be.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

I know, now I want to know. But yeah, definitely yeah, daffodils, you know, that that sort of thing was was blooming away up there. That's name.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Come back later for our multi-hour deep dive into medieval botany.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

And and oh, holy wells were visited. Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Because Bela I was gonna say Belarus, that's a country. Belanus. Belanus was like a god had sacred healing springs. And so there's a lot of healing involved with this. Yeah, yeah, you go visit your holy wells. And also remember, Beltain Dew, good for you.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

May 1st in the morning. I'm out there sticking my face in the grass. Or maybe I should scoop some up and put it on my face.

SPEAKER_01 21:29

No, no, no, no. Please set up your phone to record or um ask your butler to do so for you.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

So that we can get this, you just sticking your face in the grass. Don't you have a large number of uh blackberries in your backyard? No. No? Oh, okay. Because you could also cut out the thorn bushes and do a whole parade if you did.

SPEAKER_02 21:55

I mean, we do have one that likes to spring up out in the front. It just randomly Will sprout like no no actual blackberries grow on it, it's just a blackberry vine that just likes to explode and like okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

For some reason I thought your backyard had blackberries.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

No, uh-uh. We do have an area like down the road that's kind of like a no man's land that has some, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Well, don't stick your face in those. No, but do cut them down and do a parade up and down the road.

unknown 22:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

With my little thorn bush. I'll try and find a seashell or a ribbon to put on it. So, Amy, tell me about how modern people in the modern today times celebrate May um Beltane.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Well, polls are a fun one and not phallic, so that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Not at all phallic.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Dance around the fire or over it if you're good at jumping. I used I remember doing this when I was younger as part of like a church Mayday thing where you'd fill your basket, you'd make May baskets.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Oh, I remember that. Yeah, with like construction paper or something, right?

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Well, we had like ours were like more robust, and you put like food and flowers in them and you gave them to people in the church who didn't who were like shut in or oh um couldn't get out or needed something, and that's something that making sure your whole community is fed and cared for.

SPEAKER_02 23:31

That's a cool idea. You can even just grab a random basket that you have in your house, add a bow to it or something.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

You could probably use a gift bag or like a recycled takeout bag or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Totally.

SPEAKER_01 23:45

You don't have to be fancy, you do you, boo.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Mm-hmm. Recycle, reuse, reuse, reduce. There we go. I'm like, what was that last one?

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Um, and also just feast. It's a time for feasting. Um have those first fruits. Um, have honey. Honey is a big thing to start having right now. Yeah. Eat, drink, be merry.

unknown 24:09

Yay!

SPEAKER_02 24:11

Now, do you do a Beltane? I do.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

I sure do.

SPEAKER_02 24:17

Tell me about it.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

And I finally have all my stuff together now that I've moved here, but I can definitely do this. So the the big color themes for this time of year are red for fire and passion, and green for new life and fertility, and then yellow for fire and sunshine. So red, yellow, and green, those are the color themes that you're looking at. Okay. Uh so on your altar, you can also leave food offerings, not for too long, generally speaking, um, of honey, honey cakes, strawberries, mead, um, herbs and flowers that are appropriate for this time of year include almond, ash, clover, um, lily of the valley, mint. I'm I'm only reading some of the ones on my list because I got carried away. Lilac, thyme, other flowering plants. And then the crystals are gemstones that really work for this time of year. And I, you know what would have been handy is if I'd looked up why, but I didn't. So emerald, though, the green ones, emerald, um, malachite, and then you have bloodstone and amber, carnelian and rose quartz. Yeah. So you're getting some of that red and green and yellow energy.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

Yeah, a lot of them have to do with well, they also have alignments, like for instance, the ones like the carnelian and the amber and stuff, they often have alignments with like the sun and things like that. So sometimes it's just about the color, or sometimes often those colors correspond to um something similar, like you know, the sun or the earth, or um fertility or whatnot.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

So I think that may birthstone is emerald as well. So I think that's one of I mean there's probably some association with this time of year.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

I imagine its ability to cure the sick is well documented. It's healing. As are its tell is not working virtues. Um when placed under the tongue, it was said to help predict the future.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Okay, I don't think that has anything to do with Beltane, but that's Well, this is a time where we worship a god who it has oracular powers.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

Well, that's that's true. It's a life-affirming stone. It provides inspiration, which goes along with creativity, balance, wisdom, and patience. It's also said to promote friendship. There's your community, peace, harmony, and domestic bliss. It promotes honesty and loyalty, uh, and is beneficial for business transactions and all types of uh partnerships. Um, it brings joy, recovery, rejuvenation. Oh, it cures claustrophobia and rage. Oh, there we go. I mean, it's it's a magical, it's a magical rock. But yeah, so it's got a lot of there you go. So it's got a lot of it's associated with the creativity, with healing, with community. So it totally makes sense that it would go with Bell Tane from that. Very cool. There we go. Oh, and you've got here I see a Bell Tane ritual. Please tell me about this ritual because this looks fun.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Oh, I would love to. Um, this is a time of abundance, and as we're moving into summer and planting, and the first things are being picked, like strawberries. This is a time of abundance. So this is a great time to pull that abundance into you. And honey jars, honey abundance spells. The honey jar sweetens and entices the universe towards your wishes. So you need a couple of materials, you need a small glass jar, not like a giant glass jar, small glass jar, like a jelly jar size, um, with a metal lid. This is important, and you'll find out why in a minute.

unknown 28:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

You need some honey.

unknown 28:22

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

You need some herbs that are associated with drawing money, like um cinnamon, basil, peppermint, nutmeg, those are all, and there's others that's just a very small selection. So find an herb or spice that that is associated with drawing money towards you. And then you need a piece of paper. Okay. Something to write with, and then for this many, four small or medium green candles. And they can be votives, they can be chime candles or tapered candles. But don't birthday candles, right? They could be birthday candles. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Yes, but they have to be green.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

Okay, green.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

Or, you know, you have to at least imagine that they're green.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Well, a lot of times you can use white when you don't have a particular color. So you could use green, I mean white, and then like, since we're doing a money spell, you could do like straw a money symbol on it with like a, you know, carve it on there with like just like a knife or a toothpick or something into the wax. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

Oh, and then something to light the candles with.

SPEAKER_02 29:30

Fire.

unknown 29:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Yeah, it's gotta have fire. Um, so you write your wish four times in a row on a paper. This could be a dollar amount and write the words out so it's like more. Like, so you wouldn't write dollar sign one for one dollar. You would write one O-N-E dollar. That's not thinking big enough. But um. Like, so the a dollar amount. So like let's say you want ten thousand dollars. You write the word ten, the word thousand, and the word dollars. Okay. Because that that is more words that's more, you're putting more into it than just scribbling some numbers down.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

Right.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

That's absolutely four times in a row.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:11

And it could, it doesn't have to be a dollar amount. You could just write prosperity or whatever kind of abundance you're trying to bring into your life.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:19

Write it four times. While you're thinking of this wish that you have just written down, fill your jar halfway with honey. This is why you don't want a giant jar, y'all.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

That's a lot of honey.

SPEAKER_01 30:31

That's a lot of honey, and I don't want to say this is wasted, but there's better things you can do with your honey that that when you don't need to.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

So small jar. Small jar. Um, and as you're pouring that honey in, think of think of the honey as this abundance. Because honey is rich and it's sweet. And so think of the honey, the honey you're pouring in, the abundance that you want to fill your life. And then you fold the piece of paper, and when I where I found this ritual, it said nine times with no mention of why. So it said nine times, I wrote down nine times. The source will be linked in the show notes, and we can maybe find out why nine. Nine sounds like a nice number, but I have no idea why. My guess is it's nine.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

It's three times it's three, three times. Yeah. And in a lot of witchcraft practices. Now, this is a modern Wicca thing. The rule the rule of three, you know.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Yeah. I don't think nine is gonna be significant.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

No.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

I wouldn't unless that's a practice that you believe fully in your heart, I probably wouldn't do nine times. Fold it your favorite number of times.

SPEAKER_00 31:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

That's a good thing. That many times.

unknown 31:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

And then put it into the honey. Um, oh, if like if you write down 10,000, fold it 10,000 times. Um, and then you put it in the honey, and then you keep thinking about like keep all of this in the forefront of your mind, and then you sprinkle your money drawing herbs into the jar on top of the paper on top of the honey. And then you close that jar up tight.

SPEAKER_02 32:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:14

And then you take your candle and you melt the bottom of the candle a little bit so it sticks, so and sprinkle the wax on the jar. Because you kind of want to get it to like stick there a little bit, which is why like a small um votive candle would probably be easiest for something like this. Something with a wider base. But um, if you put enough wax down, the candle will stick there. Smaller candle, again, easier to work with. Um, birthday candles would be great. And then you light the candle and then let's just let it burn out. Let the wax drip all of it.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

You're only doing one candle, but you're sticking it to the top of the lid, which is why it needs to be metal.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

Yes, that's why you want a metal lid. So, and then you set your candle on fire. Set your candle on fire, you light your candle. You don't really like it's slightly different connotation, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 33:08

Well, you do light the candle wick on fire.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Yes. So then as the candle burns, you say your wish aloud.

unknown 33:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

You close your eyes, visualize having what you desire. Like, really think about how it's gonna feel when you have what you want, when you have what is coming for you. And then let the candle burn down completely. Again, another reason why a small candle is good, because um sometimes it can take a while. Um, and then once the candle's burnt down, you put the you put it where someplace where you're gonna see it a lot, your little honey jar. And then you do step six and seven, which is like light candle, let it burn out, burn down. You do that three more times, once a week for three more weeks. Okay, and so keep this jar on or near your altar or somewhere where you'll see it often until Letha. And repeat your wish to yourself every time you see it. And some of this is sourced from a place I saw, and some of it is stuff I put in that makes sense for me. And so I think if you're going to do something like this, what you do is you read through a ritual, figure out what works for you, right? What's gonna make it powerful for you, and then you do that. Because this is somebody else's ritual that they put together that I took and mixed all around to make it work for me in my mind before I shared it with you. And now y'all can do that.

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Yeah. And clearly the the whole point of this ritual is is that of intent, as all magic is, and then the the reason that you're putting it where you can see it, and you're doing this repetition once a week for these four weeks, is to keep that in your mind, to remind you to continue to visualize, to continue to have that in the forefront of your mind, so that you can see you can be attracting that, so you can see when there's those opportunities coming. Um so that's really cool. I really like that. It's a it's a good rather than just being one and done, it's like a a continuation of it kind of gets you in that mindset. I really like that.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

Yeah, I I think it's better to not just do, you know, like set it and forget it or whatever. We're not a crackpot. Um, I think it's just really helpful to to have that repetition for stuff.

SPEAKER_02 35:44

Absolutely. Um, so now we're moving on to my personal favorite part of today's episode.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

What part is that?

SPEAKER_02 35:56

It's the Bell Chain Cocktail.

unknown 36:00

Woo!

SPEAKER_02 36:02

Now you chose the cocktail for this episode. Tell us about it.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Well, I chose a strawberry honey mojito because um we've talked about honey being very important this time of year. Strawberries being one of the first fruits that are available in the northern hemisphere, at least around where you live and where I live. And um mojitos are delicious. Oh, and mint is an abundance um um thingybobber, and also delicious. Um, so the energy around this is abundance, love, creativity, purification, and joy. It just really mirrors what we're celebrating at Beltain. So um the full recipe will be in the show notes, but we have a honey simple syrup, which is uh simple syrup made with honey, so it's uh equal parts honey and water. Uh white rum, but you know, uh if you want to use dark rum that have a little bit different magical properties, but not much, so that would work too. I think white rum works better for mojitos in terms of flavor, but they're both good. I've done both ways. Um, and then you need lime, strawberries, and mint, and a little bit of club soda. So, first off, you muddle your lime, strawberries, and mint leaves at the bottom of a shaker. You add the ice and the rum and the honey syrup, and then you shake it like a polarity picture, and then you pour the whole thing into a high ball glass. Don't strain it. You're not straining out the ice, you're pouring the whole thing in, topping with club soda, which um, if you're me, that didn't end up being very much club soda, which is just fine. And then garnish with lime strawberry and mint. And then you have something that looks like this after you've drank half of it.

unknown 37:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

Now, of course, I me being me, I wasn't able to get my hands on fresh mint or fresh strawberries. So I used frozen strawberries that have been defrosted, which works just fine.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Perfectly fine.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Yeah, and I did have mint tea. So I what I did was I made a a honey mint simple syrup. It's on it's not as good as fresh mint, but it works. That's what I did. So I that works acid. I did strain mine because the when I made the mint, like it the bag. It did. It the bag broke because I had all kinds of little things, you know. So I was trying to strain strain it to get those out.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

And um that is an excellent reason to strain.

SPEAKER_02 38:37

Yeah, that's why mine is a little bit um not as fun. And so mine's much more rum forward. It's not quite as balanced, but it's still very, very tasty.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

You liked it.

SPEAKER_02 38:49

I yes, and for club, I didn't have club soda, but I just used sparkling water with like a touch of um salt.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

So I use sparkling water with a little bit of baking soda.

SPEAKER_02 38:59

Yeah, see, and I'm like, there was something else. Yeah, baking soda. I should have put a pinch of baking soda.

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Yeah, I just had my soda stream, and then I do like a pinch of baking soda um and a wincy weensy bit of salt for the club soda. Yeah. Look alike, really, not look alike. I guess it all looks alike.

SPEAKER_02 39:16

Yeah, you have a very special. We don't usually do necessarily oracle polls or or on card polls on our mini sodes, but you have a beltane deck, which is perfect. So shall we do a card poll for today?

SPEAKER_01 39:30

Let's do it. And again, this is the Seasons of the Witch Bell Tame edition uh by Lorraine Anderson and Juliet Diaz, illustrated by Diata Rose. And the cover of the deck is this beautiful black woman with braids. She's wearing a gorgeous red dress with a red necklace and gold choker thingies, I don't know what those are called, and gold arm bracelet bracers, I don't know, and um some other gold accents, and she's standing in front of the sun, and there's butterflies everywhere, and golden flower or golden leafy thingies. See, I need to go become a medieval botanist, so I don't have to say leafy thingies.

SPEAKER_02 40:14

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Because that would solve it.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

You'd be calling things like like snake tongue of snake or bat swings or something.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Yes. We're gonna call them that. Oh, and on the back of these cards, uh-huh, they're gold. Oh, that's gonna be a gold. And there's the moon with bees.

SPEAKER_02 40:37

I love the bees and the moon.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

And it's got like the gold foil edges.

SPEAKER_02 40:42

Speaking of the moon, did you see the pictures that Artemis took of the moon that actually show that the moon is has color?

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Isn't it so pretty?

SPEAKER_02 40:51

It's so pretty, the moon.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

I saw somebody on the interweb say that in a few months from now there's gonna be a rash of little girls born with the name Artemis Moonjoy.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

I am easy.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

And I'm like, actually, I love that.

SPEAKER_02 41:05

And now I want to have a character named Artemis.

SPEAKER_01 41:09

Moonjoy.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

Artemis well, Artemis Moonjoy. I mean, yeah. She may be a character.

SPEAKER_01 41:15

I have a kid. And I have decided to see if I can convince her to change her name to Artemis Moonjoy. Artemis Moonjoy. Alright, so I am going to cut the deck because I've just been shuffling quietly down here and dropping the cards. And I will cut the deck and let's see what we got going on for Bell Tame.

SPEAKER_02 41:32

I'm excited.

SPEAKER_01 41:33

Chant. Hear me loud, hear me roar, for I am here in my truth.

SPEAKER_00 41:40

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 41:41

So there's three women wearing white shift dresses dancing. And there's a very, very pale woman. White woman. And there's a black woman with natural short curly hair. And then a woman who is maybe East Asian. I'm not going to speculate too much on her race. She is not a pale white lady. And she's got a long brown braid. And they're dancing in what looks like Queen Anne's lace, and there's bees, and it's sunrise. So let's see what we got for chant. It's about speaking your truth. Communication isn't just about listening. It's true that you must be willing to hear different sides of a story and give others their space to be heard, but you also need your time to share what is within your soul. You have pulled chant because your voice needs to be heard. There is strength and authority in you that is ready to take charge of your situation. Not only that, but you may find others have been looking to you for guidance, and your willingness to share your truth gives others permission to share theirs. It's like hearing a sudden voice in a room of silence singing the beginning of a moving song. Then, one by one, others will join in until the room is full of the melodic thunder. You have more influence than you probably realize, and it's time for you to step up by allowing others to see that you will be silenced no more.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

Ooh.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

That was powerful.

SPEAKER_02 43:16

That's powerful because I am seeing this whole movement with uh, particularly with millennial, older millennial and Gen X women that are perimenopause, menopause, postmenopause. There's this whole movement going on, and I'm seeing it in you know, spaces that I'm in on online that are done with being silenced. That are speaking. Yeah, they are taking up space whether it's with their voices, with their bodies, with the way they dress, uh, they're not being silenced anymore, they're speaking out, they're speaking truth, and it's just like the matriarchy is done. With this complete nonsense, and it's it's rising. If you believe in like reincarnation and that you choose when to come and what to experience, um not all folks do, but uh there is a a lot of people who do believe that, and if you believe that it's like you chose this time for a purpose, and we all chose this time for this purpose, not to necessarily, you know, what's going on in the world right now, but not necessarily like it's gonna come to an end. We're going to build, we're gonna bring it, help bring it down, and then we're gonna we're our biggest purpose is to help build what comes next. And so, which is rooted in matriarchy, not this nonsense.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

And we need to we need to be there taking up that space and not allowing it to be built without us. Right. Without you.

SPEAKER_02 45:04

I'm looking at you, viewer slash listener. You viewer slash listener. We already know we're gonna be there. We're gonna be building this.

SPEAKER_01 45:15

You need to do this too, and I don't know if you need permission. Sometimes I need permission to do stuff that I shouldn't need permission for, but you have my permission to take up that space. Make your voice heard.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

She will write you a prescription.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

Yes, I am Dr. Amy.

SPEAKER_02 45:31

And she will write you a prescription. I'm serious, I'm saying join us and help take up space.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

You too can be in the caftan coven.

SPEAKER_02 45:39

You too can be in the cause.

SPEAKER_01 45:42

You could be this ghost.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

With your little pink caftan to join my blue caftan and her green caftan.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

Oh look, I'm wearing green and gold.

SPEAKER_02 45:55

Like I'm you are full-on Beltane right now.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

I did it on purpose and didn't just notice right at this moment.

SPEAKER_02 46:04

Well, I want to thank y'all. We both want to thank y'all for joining us today for our little trip through Beltane. And we hope you have a really marvelous Beltane. And Amy, where can they find out more about us and more about Beltane?

SPEAKER_01 46:21

Well, Shaya, uh, in the show notes.

SPEAKER_02 46:25

Really? That shocked me because that never happened.

SPEAKER_01 46:28

I'll have a list of all the sources I used as I gather this information for our episode. You can sign up for our newsletter on our website. Yes. You can follow us on Instagram or Facebook. I mean it posts there too. But if you want to talk to me, Instagram is the better way to go. And if you have any questions, if you want to give us corrections or feedback or suggestions or tell us how pretty we are, DM us on Insta. That's the fastest way to get a hold of me. Or you can email us at cliffhangersandcocktails at gmail.com. And thank you for being along for the ride.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

Smash that like button. Don't forget to subscribe, leave us a comment, and share. Share. Yeah, sure. And we'll see you next time on Cliffhangers and Cocktails. Bye. Bye.