Greening of Things.

We're a bit past Beltaine and Exaultation. We have reached the point in the season where the trees are getting leaves and flowers are budding out in greater number. My front yard looks to be green with yellow polkadots with all of the dandelions popping up. This year, we have far more songbirds flitting about (we now have 3 bird feeders up which results in somewhere between 10-15 birds at the feeders at a given time). They are quite busy making their nests and courting. The squirrels are just as much of a bother as they were last year, so I think their population is doing just fine right now too.

As I see the world take on greater shades of green, my heart is lifted. We are not yet ready to plant the lovely offerings from the local greenhouses (though my children truly and deeply wish to have an enormous tomato plant right now). Still, I have sown some seeds. I have taken cuttings from houseplants and begun the process of rooting them so that I might have more. I have begun the process of clearing weeds out of my little flowerbed on the right side of the front steps and trying to decide what I will be putting in the big pot on the left side.

I putter about plants when I feel up to it. As I do so, I feel Freyr with me. I feel his love and his guidance. When I engage the natural world, especially the vegetal aspects of it, I feel so close to him. I make a point of expressing my affection for him and my appreciation for the wights about me in those moments. While Freyr is present very often and we share much over a given day, I just feel it is an even more potent moment when I am engaging him in his element.

In Wiccan theology (which for many people in the pagan community, it is the template for much of their worship practices) Beltaine is when the Oak King weds the Earth Mother. It is a celebration of fertility and life. It is my personal feeling that this is when Freyr celebrates his marriage to Gerda. I usually make a point at this time of year to give an offering to both of them as a divine couple as well as one for them individually. Because of my Wiccan training, my offering is usually wine and some type of bread.

I do my best to express my joy in the fecundity of the Earth that comes with their union. I also do my best to express my gratitude for the blessings of prosperity that comes as well. Sometimes, the words will fail me. Sometimes, my feelings of joy are fleeting in the face of the suffering of my illness. Still, I strive to express my adoration for them that give to all the world the blessings that unfurl with the young leaves of the trees and blossoming flowers.