Beltane is the celebration of the Fire of Bel, the ancient god of the Sun who at this time marries Danu, great mother Goddess of the Earth. This is the time on the wheel of the year when the Sun and the Earth become one - when fertility peaks, when union abounds, and when celebrations of the warming Earth take place. This is a celebration of skin and physicality, senses and sensations. 

Today, we will journey together to a sacred hawthorn grove and anoint ourselves with the most mystical and magical of waters - the Beltane morning dew. Hawthorn is a deeply important tree - the sixth tree of the sacred ogham; its berries offer human bodies profound circulation and heart medicine and its energies offer release and healing, and pathways towards love of self and love of other. It is a wild and enchanted tree under protection of the faerie realms - glennie kindred says it has the protection of the old magics and as such it must be greatly respected. Wherever it grows it brings the wildness, whether in a city or on vast lands. To know the Hawthorn is to know the heart, one cannot hide from the exceptional wisdom the Hawthorn brings.