Beltane and the Thinning Veil

I discover within the Witchcraft community an explicit, really affirmative embrace of every conceivable action and attitude under the bright sun which celebrates self-love and consensual pleasure.

As a practicing Witch, I am naturally drawn to narratives of our shared world which emphasize the cyclical nature of things. In the Major Arcana of the Tarot, the Wheel represents the changing phases of the moon, the journey of the natural world from one season to another. But those themes of change and return - revolving from one set of conditions to another and then back again - often find expression in our social interactions with one another. Perhaps the ancient influence of the old fire festivals - the solstices and the equinoxes, along with the cross-quarter days between them - still echoes throughout our own society, mediated by the festive trappings of our contemporary holidays, like Halloween and Christmas.

Again as a practicing Witch, I am hesitant to parse my universe into strictly natural cycles and strictly societal ones, where each side merely reflects the other, without really sharing some common origin. On the contrary, I find that the natural and the societal are deeply interconnected, drawing from the same deep metaphysical wellsprings. And so things fall, with the turning of the year.

This afternoon, I find myself reflecting upon two fire festivals, Samhain (October 31) and Beltane (May 1), and how the two holidays touch upon my life as a trans woman. These fall on opposite sides of the solar calendar, and yet - perhaps because of that opposition - they are much more alike than commonly acknowledged. In particular, with Samhain we speak about a thinning of the Veil between the physical and the spiritual. Often that bringing together of the worlds references the restless spirits of the departed. Beltane holds much the same energy, although the spirits associated with the maypole are more frequently elemental or faerie in character.

But this afternoon, I am interested in another aspect of the thinning Veil, the connection which we have with our own spirits, and with the spirits of living, breathing human beings around us.

This past Samhain, I recorded an episode which spoke to me, both as a Witch and as someone who's queer. That particular day, I was dressed as femme presenting, but with my green and black striped stockings, my trademark "wicked witch casual" look for Halloween at the office. Walking to meet my spouse for lunch downtown, I passed what I presume was a college student riding a bike, dressed as Zeus, complete with white toga and gold circlet. We briefly complimented each other's outfits in passing, and I continued on my way. Later that evening, while I was waiting at the crosswalk after leaving work, I saw the same young fellow riding in the back of a pickup truck. I caught his attention, and he gave me a friendly salute, which I happily returned with a smile, two exemplars of the Halloween spirit sharing a moment of camaraderie.

What can I say? The exchange brought a smile to my face! But that fleeting moment also affected me on a deeper level, in a way my compatriot could not have known. Because I have had other young men shout slurs at me, as I waited at that same crosswalk. To know that someone on the street could simply acknowledge me as a fellow celebrant of the holiday season, without judging me for being obviously trans - there's a certain precious magic which finds expression within that shared exchange between two earnest human beings, however casual, however momentary.

Perhaps that young man genuinely doesn't hold any animosity towards trans people, whatever the season. I would certainly like to believe that's the case. Perhaps he's queer himself, or perhaps he has friends and family who are queer, or perhaps he simply understands that an accepting and compassionate world makes for a much more fulfilling and joyful world - for everyone - than the alternative.

I have no way to know what animated that young man's heart in that moment back in late October. I certainly have no way to know what thoughts and feelings might be in his heart as I write this column today. But in that cool, overcast Samhain evening, the Veil grew thin, and he and I perceived each other genuinely, as fellow celebrants, bound by our joyful acceptance of the mummer's mask and the crackling bonfire of ancient days.

There's much the same ambient energy present today, with the bonfires of Beltane and the summer's warmth fast approaching, a thinning of the Veil which separates the physical and the spiritual, although where Samhain calls to mind themes of rest, rejuvenation, and remembrance, the central motifs of Beltane celebrate pleasure and sexuality and love. In both moments, though, we discover previously unknown depths of connection with the spiritual, provided that we are willing to be open and vulnerable and genuine in our encounters with spirit.

The subtle overlapping between the physical and the psychic which marks Samhain goes beyond our perception of the ethereal spirits of the departed, however important the recognition and remembrance of those souls might be. When the Veil grows thins beneath an autumn moon, we likewise grow closer with our own spiritual and intuitive aspects, and if we are brave enough to open to the possibility, we discover that those elements of ourselves exist within a communal network of other living spirits.

In Beltane, we discover much the same communal bond with our neighbors. As we explore and celebrate our own sexuality, our own sexual energy - in whatever form that energy might take, crucially - we discover and acknowledge a world wider than ourselves and populated with other human beings, themselves at once physical and spiritual, who are exploring and celebrating their own ways of being in that same world.

"All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals." Such we find in Doreen Valiente's Charge of the Goddess, and Beltane really elevates that spirit of joyful acceptance as the central tenet of the season. What is especially beautiful to me about the evolution of contemporary Witchcraft is how so many practitioners, so many genuine and compassionate voices in the community, have developed those twin motifs of freedom and fertility into a broader acceptance of all people, regardless of gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Perhaps more than ever before, I discover within the Witchcraft community an explicit, really affirmative embrace of every conceivable action and attitude under the bright sun which celebrates self-love and consensual pleasure.

Can you feel the Veil growing thin, as the daylight waxes longer, as the warm kiss of the summer sun rouses the natural world around you? Can you feel your own spirit reaching out for all the myriad wonders of passion and love? Can you acknowledge, in the secret depths of your wild heart, that the path you follow must be your own? And as your thoughts and feelings, tender and free, slip beyond the obfuscation of the Veil, can you acknowledge that the path which another soul follows must likewise and equally be their own?