Quick View
What: Beltaine and Engagement Celebration for Rachel and Michael
When: Saturday April 30th, 2022
- 10am to 1pm– preparation (Please come help! As a community celebration we welcome and need many hands to set the space)
- 1 pm to 6 pm– Ritual and Ceremony—Opening circle, Waterblessing, Flower Crowns, Soil Blessing, Sacred Fire, Handfasting of May King and Queen, Maypole and Closing
- 6 to 10 pm– Potluck, Music, Dancing (bring a gluten free, dairy free dish, food for the grill and any musical instruments)
Where:
The Sacred Sanctuary-
25 Crisman, Boulder CO 80302
We are located about 15 minutes form Canyon and Broadway. You will need to be sure to put the address in maps before you head up the canyon.
Items for all guests to Bring :
- Blanket and chairs to sit on
- Community Potluck Dish for evening celebration (GF/DF/Organic)
- One or two bouquets of flowers (if coming before 2pm)
- A personal lunch and snacks (if coming for the day)
- Musical Instrument (if you have one)
- Plate and Cup (if possible)
- Love Donation to support the engagement and land mission
- Healing Herbs and Smudge (If you have a heart call and plant allies. These are for crowns and water blessing)
- Sacred Item for community alter (blessed items)
Attending the Celebration:
A note From Rachel and Michael:
Thank you so much for coming to witness our engagement and this blessed fertile time on Mother Earth. We feel deeply grateful that you will be joining us to celebrate our deep heart connection, engagement and fertile love with a celebration of Beltaine and handfasting on our sacred land!
On April 10th we felt a huge spark of deep love and sacred union come between us. It was like 5000 magical fairies were shooting fireworks in our hearts. We sat in deep connection and conversation for three days and became very clear that we are ready to deepen our union and agreed to join one another in marriage. We feel very excited to align with the natural rhythms of the earth and her cycles and to bring blessings to the land with this union through ritual and sacred circle.
The Beltaine Tradition:
Beltaine is a time of love, union, passion, fertility and playfulness. It is a time to look forward to the future and to prepare for the warm summer months of growth and abundance.
On this new moon in Taurus, Divine Priestess and Ceremonialist Erin Sunniva will lead us in sacred ritual as we feast our hearts in the joy of community and love. Let us bless our crops, sacred land and waters with the dew of the Maiden’s sweet breath! This is a community gathering and ritual to connect us with the Earth, our creativity, passion , fertility, and the land that we live on. Come, and give reverence to the Mother who loves you so much! Come and get your feet in the ground, your hands in the soil, and allow the fertile energies of this time nurture your being and life force.
As the time of union, Beltane also celebrates the coming together of the creative energies of the divine masculine and feminine. As the great wedding of the God and Goddess it is a popular time for Handfasting, a traditional betrothal for ‘a year and a day’ after which the couple would either choose to stay together or part without recrimination. Together we will all witness the sacred union of our May Queen and King, Rachel and Michael, as they join together in this time of fertility and sexuality of life and bring this divine energy to the land.
If you would like to deepen your knowledge of this ritual please visit this page.
Community Support for Preparations
Beltaine is a community celebration! We welcome you to join the core team of co-creators to help set and prepare the sacred space for ritual and ceremony. If you choose to come for the preparation portion please bring a lunch for yourself.
Feasting and Celebration
After the ritual we will have a sacred fire through the evening and a potluck with music, drumming and dancing. We can honor our sacred fire with our hearts, passion, dance and love! If you plan to stay please bring an organic (preferably gluten and dairy free) potluck dish to share. We will have a keg of amazing local kombucha, fresh spring water, and the grill will be hot and ready for anything you would like to offer! We want to honor our earth mother and create a zero waste event. We will have plates and cups available and also encourage you to bring your own!!! Special thank you to our brother and friend Cochise for being our fire keeper.
Donations Encouraged and Welcomed
As a festival of abundance we welcome you to weave seeds of abundance into your life through sacred reciprocity. Please consider a donation of $20 to $200 (or more) depending on what your heart feels and your financial abilities. This will go to cover costs of the co-creators, supplies and our ceremonialist. Michael and Rachel are also deeply tending the land. This year we have many projects brewing! Our Temple of Wisdom, fire mitigation, the Healing Hut and maybe even a greenhouse! We deeply appreciate and welcome community support for the land and these projects. If you would like to see what we have going on please visit https://angeliclightconnections.com/the-sacred-sanctuary/
If you feel the heart call, engagement gifts and donations can be made to paypal or zelle to Racheltracy77@yahoo.com. Please select friends and family for Paypal.
Diving Deeper into the Details
PREPARATION AND TALKING TO THE LAND – 10am to 1pm:
- Connect with the land and talk to her
- Get old maypole and cut off ribbons. Give to fire keeper for sacred fire>
- Prepare new ribbons for maypole
- Set Ribbons on Maypole
- Refresh Maypole Hole
- Prepare Water for water blessings and prayer blessing
- Set up Altar (community alter. All welcome to offer an item)
- Get Firewood from Yurt Space
- Set up sacred Fire ( Coshise bringing wood and will set up fire )
- Set up Poltluck Table
- Set up dish station
- Set up Crown Making station
- Set pop us for shade
THE CELEBRATION / SACRED RITUAL/ DIVINE UNION – 111pm to 555pm
- OPENING THE SACRED SPACE- Rachel will open with a prayer and song for the Sacred Sanctuary and 4 pillars of light . Erin will lead sacred space holders in calling in the 7 directions and open the space and begin our sacred ceremony.
- STORIES OF OUR UNION- The mission of the sacred sanctuary, how Michael and Rachel came together, Our Three day Decision
- CROWN WEAVING – Celebrate the Flora and weave our love and intention in to our flower crown creations to celebrate the fertility of life. We will hear stories of the Beltaine and weave sacred songs together. We ask that that you please bring a bouquet or two of flowers to offer for crown making. Please also bring herbs that are special to you as we honor the magical healing properties of the plants.
- SOIL BLESSING FOR THE GARDENS- please give your prayers and blessings to out compost for our 2022 gardens
- WATER BLESSING – anointment and blessings at the river. Sending our prayers to the waters for the wholeness and balance of all our relations.
- PROCESSION TO THE MAYPOLE
- HANDFASTING CEREMONY of May Queen Rachel and May King Michael. The union of the divine masculine and feminine and bringing of fertility and sacred mission to the land.
- MAYPOLE DANCE and weaving of intentions to come
- BLESSING THE TEMPLE OF WISDOM- circle around yurt space to bring in blessings to it upcoming creation
- LIGHTING OF THE SACRED FIRE to encourage the support of Bel and the Suns light to nurture the emerging future and harvest and protect the community. Cochise is sacred fire tender.
- Closing of the ritual space
POTLUCK AND CELEBRATION – 555pm
- Gather around the fire to feast, share music, play, dance and bring bliss.
- Light the grill
- Potluck and feasting
- Doing dishes and tending space
Items Needed for Ceremony and Ritual
- Ribbon for maypole (Erin)
- Base for crowns (Erin)
- Cord for handfasting ( Erin)
- Hall of Hemp String ( Erin)
- Cleansing Herbal Blend for Michael and Rachel ( Erin)
- Herbs for Smudging (Rachel and all participants Welcome)
- Wire and wire and wire cutters (Erin?)
- Flowers (We will have some and all participants asked to bring a bouquet or two)
- Bubbles
- Wands
- Saws
- Items for altar (Rachel to provide base. All community participants)
- Drums and instruments (all community participants)
- Local herbs for sacred water (Rachel from land and any water carriers welcome)
- Tibetan singing bowl for water holding ( Rachel)
