A Druid’s Web Log – Celebrating May Day and Summer in the time of viral pandemic

It’s finally Beltaine (May Day)! Our culture mostly ignores this all-important Celtic festival. For the ancients there were only two seasons, the light half of the year, or summer, which began on Beltaine, and the dark half of the year, or winter, that began at Samhain (Halloween). Beltaine was as potent a Spirit Night as Samhain, a time when the walls between the worlds were thin and Fairies and Spirits stalked the land. You can learn much more about these festivals by listening to the podcasts below in the BOOK NEWS section.

Despite the continued lock down I still get outside every single day, rain or shine, to tend the garden and take walks in the forest. I urge everyone to do that for your health and sanity.

Thank goodness we still have the internet. I can’t imagine what life in the current pandemic lock down would be like without it. My Druid group TRIBE OF THE OAK celebrated Beltaine on line. We will be doing semi-public rituals as a public service to the community, for the duration of the world-wide health emergency.

In the midst of the pandemic we are all learning what is essential and what can be lived without. This morning I had a bit of a scare – as I was composing this blog my computer suddenly went dark. Those of you who know me are aware that I manage a number of lists on line and with a new book out I am doing three or four podcasts or interviews every week. I experienced a moment of panic, thinking my computer had died. I called my ISP and they couldn’t identify any problems. Then I called my cable company who reported an outage. In-between I was frantically calling the few people whose phone numbers I still have, to ask them to monitor the internet lists.

In the past when I had a crash I could take the computer to the shop and use the public library as an emergency backup. None of those options are available now. What a world we live in at this time!

SOME FOOD FOR REFLECTION

BOOK NEWS

April 2020 The Spaces Between, positive things about the current pandemic

April 2020 Stirring the Cauldron, Beltaine

The Sacred Herbs of Spring: a review
The companion volume is The Sacred Herbs of Samhain
April, 2020 The Sacred Herbs of Spring, and interview (starts at point 40:00)
The Real Witches of New England (and other books) This podcast was just reposted by Circle Sanctuary

*Reminder – you can purchase books signed by the author from this website*

Below you will find the usual past Moonth’s news; archaeology, herbs, climate, nature, health news and updates on the Covid-19 virus, Celtic news, Fairies, religion, art news, politics and ethics. Please enjoy the offerings!