The Nudge - Dispatch 12 | Bealtaine 2023

 

“The flower doesn’t dream of the bee.

It blossoms and the bee comes."

Mark Nepo

Welcome to The Nudge | Bealtaine 2023
This seasonal care package has been prepared by The Trailblazery team.

Dear Friends,

We are delighted to prepare The Nudge, our latest care package for you on the seasonal festival of Bealtaine or May Day. This fire festival marks the transition from the dark to the bright half of the year, from giamos to samos. Like Samhain, on the exact opposite point in the Wheel of the Year, this is a time when the veils between the worlds are thin.

The festival of Bealtaine celebrates the God Belenus (Bright one) and welcomes the “rekindling” of the sun with the promise of summer. In many traditions and cultures it is a time of divine union and fertility. The countryside here in Ireland is already covered with the white blossoms of the hawthorn (Sceach gheal), the yellow blankets of coconut-scented gorse (Aiteann) and the flourishing green of wild foliage. The Earth’s fecundity seems to be bursting at the seams.

This portal ushers in the sensorial season of blossoming, aliveness, fullness, risk and opening. It’s a time of great fertility and abundance.

Traditions:

Flowers were collected just before dawn on May Day and were strewn across the floor of a house. Garlands and posies of flowers such as marigolds were made and worn as talismans for protection and prosperity in processions and gifted to young women. In Ireland, the marsh marigold is known as the shrub of Bealtaine, or beàrnan-Bealltainn in Gaeilge. It is a plant which is native to Ireland, and is associated with May and particularly May Eve and Bealtaine. It is also associated with love and protection: marigolds gathered on May Eve were believed to have strong healing properties and were traditionally given to women by their suitors and hung around the house for protection against supernatural forces. 

On May Eve, women would gather around a bonfire to tell stories and sing songs. At the end of the night, each woman would throw marigolds from her bouquet into the Bealtaine fire, of which the precious ashes would be collected and kept.

Bealtaine has always been associated with burning bonfires. The lighting of the Bealtaine Fire on the Hill of Uisneach is one of Ireland’s oldest traditions. In ancient times, a great assembly would gather on the Hill to witness the fire being lit by the High King of Ireland. The Bealtaine Fire is traditionally seen as marking the arrival of Summer in Ireland. 

This year, the festival will return on Saturday May 6th. We hope to see you there.

Some Bealtaine Journal Prompts to inspire you:
 

🌸 What is ready to blossom in my life right now?
 
🌸 What am I being called into at this time?

🌸 What aspects of self, talents, gifts or projects am I willing to bring into the world at this time?

🌸 Is there a risk(s) I am being nudged to take, so that I can blossom and live the highest and brightest version of myself?
 
🌸 What am I noticing unfurling within me at this time?

🌸 How do I move between darkness and light in my life?

🌸 How can I connect with my sensuality on a regular basis?

🌸 What am I noticing unfurling in the wild world?

🌸 What can I learn from the cues and clues of nature?
 

What’s coming up over the next
6 weeks at The Trailblazery:
 

As the Great Wheel turns yet again,  we are invited to pause and remember what we have traveled through together. We are excited to let you know what we have coming up for you over the next 6 weeks here at The Trailblazery:
 

Féile na Gaeilge
Bealtaine:
Returning to our Senses | Beo Bríomhar Arís
Sat, May 13, 2023, from 1:00pm - 09:00pm EST

We are overjoyed to announce Bealtaine: Returning to our Senses | Beo Bríomhar Arís curated by the Hedge School and presented in partnership with the Irish Arts Center in New York for this years’ Féile na Gaeilge/Irish Language Day on Saturday, May 13. If you have friends, family or folk in New York extend the invitation to them, we'd love to see them there.

Join Kathy Scott with special guests including Leah Song (Singer-songwriter, Rising Appalachia) and Brian Crosby (Musician, Composer, Bell X1) for a Hedge School-style day of cultural exploration, conversation and kinship. Tickets to the day-long programme which runs from 1 - 7.30 pm are available now on the IAC’s website.

Open to Gaeilge enthusiasts of all levels from absolute beginners to advanced, and people who are simply curious about Irish cultural heritage. Our Bealtaine programme includes workshops, conversation circles, a film screening, and a special Hedge School-style immersive closing experience.

If you can’t make the full day’s activities, individual tickets to the film screening and Bealtaine Immram events are available.

Moon Medicine on Mon May 01
Moon Medicine Presents:
"Reclaiming our Worth, Wealth, and Wellbeing"
featuring Loretta Kennedy,
Tomorrow night 7pm Irish time
 

Loretta is Ireland's first Trauma of Money practitioner & works with women to help them identify & rewrite their deep seated money blocks, rebuild trust & a healthier relationship with money, with their self worth & with feeling resourced. In her conversation with Kathy, Loretta will share her teachings on embodied business, feminine leadership and the Trauma of Money.

For more info and to book your ticket for tomorrow’s event, visit our website here. 
Remember, if you can’t attend live, you will be sent the recording 24 hours after the event.

 

Recommended Resources
 

Here are a few reading, watching and listening pieces to nourish your senses in the days ahead:
 

♪ Listen: For your ears

Herb of Bealtaine: Hawthorn

Hawthorn is one of the sacred Ogham trees of Ireland. It goes by the name sceach gheal in Irish,  being the tree that symbolises Bealtaine, the merry month of May! This is also a wonderful, magical herb of abundant medicine, known as a potent heart tonic. Hawthorn, or whitethorn, is easily identifiable during this time as her creamy blossoms brighten hedgerows, stone walls, fields and sacred sites. Herbalist David Hoffmann says, “A tonic in the true sense, Crataegus [hawthorn] can be considered a specific remedy for most cardiovascular disease.” 

Visit here for a recipe for a hawthorn heart elixir.

✯ Watch: For your eyes

Celebrate the Festival of Fires - Ireland's Ancient East | Watch here
The Hill of Uisneach with Marty Mulligan | Watch here
Bealtaine in Irish Folklore & Society by Lora O'Brien | Watch here

 ❤ Read: For your heart

From the creative team behind Appassionata, they made a book called ‘Blathanna’ (this means flowers in Irish ) with flower installations all made by Ruth, Kasia & Ultan. It is shot by Sean Breithaupt & Yvette Monahan and designed by David Wall – A stunning curation of floral short stories in exceptional Irish spaces.

Kathy wrote this piece for Irish Central to mark Imbolc in 2022

✬ Connect: For your Soul 

 
 

Ag Éisteacht le Huath with Aoife dé Danann - Saturday 20th May, 2-7pm

🌿 Listening to the Hawthorn, a day of ceremony on the Land

Come and gather in council with the sacred wisdom keeper that is the Hawthorn. In this event hosted by Aoife dé Danann, you will be invited to connect with and listen to the teachings of the trees on the sacred land of the Hill of Tara.

For more information and to book, contact aoifededanann@gmail.com

❤ Touch: For your pleasure

 
 

Seaside Squirrel is a small craft & herbal skincare venture run by Lauren and based in West Cork, Ireland. Nurtured in a little herb garden, all the plants used in the making of these luxurious ointments are native to Ireland and cultivated using organic methods. Over a period of several months, they will be dried, steeped in organic oils, and left to infuse in jars at a sunny windowsill like in the Olden days. This traditional folk method allows the oils to take on the therapeutic properties of the herbs used, and natural beeswax produced by local honeybees will be the only ingredient added to the mixture, to ensure the highest quality and purity of the products.

Visit here for more info.

EnJOY these days - may the awakening  light be yours.
 
Thank you for walking this path with us,
 
Beannachtaí,
Kathy and all at The Trailblazery

 
 
Kat Scott