Baltimore Reclaiming Celebrates Beltane 2021
This ritual is a weeklong (May 1—7), on-your-own hunt for magical wreaths in parks around the city, bookended by two Zoom circles. If you choose to participate, bring what you need to be comfortable outside!
May 1: Beltane Ritual at 7 pm. Zoom room opens at 6:45: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4942898732
May 1-7: Find a wreath at one of five locations in parks around Baltimore to work some magic. Go alone, go with your pod, or meet up with a socially distanced small group. More details to follow. Speak love and pleasure into the work you do in these places, use it to uplift the city.
May 7: Zoom ritual at 7 pm to seal the work from the week. May 7 is also a Baltimore Ceasefire weekend, and any donations we receive beyond our ritual expenses will go to Baltimore Ceasefire 365. Zoom room opens at 6:45: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4942898732
Intention: Rooted in the earth and glowing with pleasure, our Beltane fires spark healing and justice.
The earth, in this season, is once more awake and renewed. Our awareness of this blossoms within us as the trees shed their flowers, and leaves sprout. We breathe the air of possibilities drifting into being.
One of the beautiful things about being a witch is that we can create the reality that we want to live in. We can do this by being really honest with ourselves about what is happening, and daring to dream of something different.
Our intention for Beltane brings together the ideas of pleasure, healing, and justice. In many ways these things are connected to one another, but often there are societal messages that make them seem separate. White supremacist and capitalist structures frequently ask people to sacrifice their safety, health, and pleasure or the health of the land—or other people—to maintain police forces, cheap oil, cheap labor, and more. The myth of sacrificing pleasure for a better society often doesn’t yield great results, and certainly doesn’t create equity. In this ritual, we want people to really consider what fills them with pleasure, and use the magic of that to amplify healing energy—in ourselves, in Baltimore, this continent, the world. We want you to ask, “How can I fulfill my needs and desires in a way that helps others do the same, in ways that nurture the planet?”
We will cast our circle together on zoom on May 1. We will envision the world that we want to live in and write our hopes and wishes on ribbons that we will charge together. Wreaths will be placed at five parks throughout the city. You will be invited to visit these wreaths and add your ribbons to as many of the wreaths as you like. We will gather again the following Saturday to release our intentions into to the fire so that they can become reality.
Although we see an end in sight to the pandemic now, it is still far off. There are other really important issues on personal, local, national, and global levels demanding attention and action. Wherever your focus is, now is a good time to ask again: what resources do you need? What role can you play in helping other community members get what they need? Where do you need recovery time? Where and in what ways are you ready to engage with others?
Financial Contributions: In keeping with the Principles of Unity, no one is ever turned away from a Baltimore Reclaiming ritual for lack of funds. When we were able to hold in-person rituals the monies collected at ritual went to paying for facility rental, supplies (candles, lights, small tokens to hand out, etc), and often to fund a donation to a local activist or charity organization. Since the 2020-2021 Ritual Arc is taking place online many of these expenses are reduced or eliminated. Instead the RPC intends to use the funds raised in ritual to pay marginalized witches for their labor, supporting anti-racism work in Baltimore Reclaiming, and funding activities planned by other Baltimore Reclaiming cells. Please give as generously as you are able so we can support the ongoing effort to Decolonize Reclaiming!
What is Beltane? Beltane is a Gaelic May Day festival commonly celebrated on May 1st. In modern Witchcraft traditions it is celebrated as a cross-quarter holiday, marking the balance point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice. Traditionally, Beltane is a celebration of the imminent arrival of Summer, and often saw blessings and protective magics for cattle and fields. It is often seen as a time when the veils thin to the world of Faery.
About this ritual arc: Root to Rise is a ritual arc that was created especially for this pandemic year. It is an arc where community members have been invited in each ritual to help the Ritual Planning Cell create a story, and then the rituals themselves are based on the stories those community members choose to tell. This arc has emerged over time with the people who could be present for meetings each six-week period, and has a lot of flexibility built in.
Who is Baltimore Reclaiming? We are a group of witches, artists, pagans, healers, activists, queers, priestesses, anarchists, theater geeks, feminists, and other good humans. We see our work as teaching and making magic: the art of empowering ourselves and each other. In our classes, workshops, and public rituals, we train our voices, bodies, energy, intuition, and minds. We use the skills we learn to deepen our strength, both as individuals and as community, to voice our concerns about the world in which we live, and bring to birth a vision of a new culture. We gather, mostly on the Sabbats, to work magic, often for personal healing and also for the healing of our society and planet. We believe that the work we do together in our sacred circles really can change the world.
Drugs & Alcohol: All Baltimore Reclaiming events are drug and alcohol free. We respectfully request that you do not use drugs or alcohol before or while attending our events.
What to Expect: New to Baltimore Reclaiming? Visit this page on our website to learn more about what to expect at an event. https://www.baltimorereclaiming.org/rituals
Dress Code: Wear whatever you like! You are welcome to wear everything from jeans and a t-shirt to a tuxedo. Often, people like to wear something special for ritual, which might mean a favorite dress, a special shawl, a flower crown, or something else. We encourage you to wear whatever you feel most comfortable in.