Can Beltaine be for lesbian pagans? How can this celebration of fertility and impregnation be shared by those of us who choose partners of our own sex? Granted, the guys may be able to figure out something clever around the Maypole theme, but for us lesbians to run around in the fields with turkey basters somehow doesn't seem quite Celtic.
A common Celtic image of Beltaine is for the young men of the village and the young women to run off into the fields at night to engage in sex. This was supposed to fertilize the earth and undoubtedly fertilized a few young women. Such an image is perhaps best expressed by Marian Zimmer Bradley in The Forest House, when Gaius and Eilan give themselves over to the passion of their young lust at Beltaine.
Individual participation in this manner recalled the ritual union of the Sky God and the Earth Mother. At times, a priestess would play the role of the Goddess and a young man, chosen by contest or trial, would play the Horned God. They would copulate in ritual sex to ensure the fertility of the spring and the continuance of the tribe. Thus death was conquered and life was renewed. (A connection between this Celtic practice and the Great Rite of Eleusis in Greece is inescapable, but that's another story. See Carl Kerényi's book Eleusis.)
So let's go back to the issue of lesbians at Beltaine. Do current authors give us any guidance? Janice Broch and Veronica MacLer in Seasonal Dance and Starhawk in Spiral Dance present only heterosexual views. Barbara Walker in Women's Rituals does not advance much further when she says the Maypole is appropriate even in an all-female group because "ancient matrifocal religions were always much concerned with the proper sexual relations between the Goddess and her male consort." No help there!
Diane Stein in A Woman's Book of Ritual does offer an expanded view. She allows that the custom of having sex in the fields may relate to an earlier custom of women menstruating in the fields to ensure fertility. This would make the relationship between the individual pagan woman and the fertility of Mother Earth a personal one-on-one relationship without men.
Stein also alludes to the Maiden discovering her sexuality and exploring it, experimenting and changing partners as she learns. This concept transfers sexual expression at Beltaine from fertility for the earth to personal awakening of one's own sexuality. Therefore, sexual passion becomes a personal expression and as such, could be found in the arms of a lover of either gender. Now we're getting somewhere! This is a more universally inclusive position where both lesbian and straight women can find something meaningful.
That was in 1990. A year after Stein, Ffiona Morgan published the Goddess Spirituality Book. She calls Beltaine a focused release of earth energy. Lovers play and love together. The Maiden of spring celebrates the fullness of her sexuality, dancing skyclad in the fields to ensure a good harvest — no blood or bodily juices necessary. For ritual, she describes a Sapphic rite in which each woman in turn mounts the altar naked to receive sensual worship from the other women:
"I lay in the middle of the circle on the soft velvet bed strewn with flowers and sweet-smelling herbs. They intoxicate me. I am undressed by my (circle sisters), gently, each one kissing a different part of my body as they bare my skin to the fragrant night air. The warm lavender oil is brought from the altar and sixteen hands massage my legs, arms, throat, face, feet, stroking sensually, deliciously, warming all my intimate parts, reaching into all the crevices and canyons of my body.... My sex is aroused by them, as they open the direct line from breast to yoni, clear and strong it pulses. So many hands and mouths; they bring my body higher and higher — I am aware of my clitoris throbbing under the rhythmic caress of a tongue, first slowly, then faster and faster. I strain against the beautiful mouths, tongues and hands of my lovers."
For the rest of the story, please see Morgan's book, pp. 116-117. Union with the Goddess is found in sexual ecstasy with others of her own sex. By the way, if any women readers out there are planning such a Beltaine rite, my number is (206) 322-2436. I'm very religious!
So our sources allow for a wide range of Beltaine expressions of sexual energy. All acts of love and pleasure are my rituals, speaks the Goddess in the Great Charge. The scope of direction becomes even broader and more inclusive when we take the themes of fertility, love, passion and new life beyond physical lust. Beltaine can be a time of passion for life, fertility of new ideas, love for each other and for our Mother Earth.
The remaining question is how or if to integrate this sexual energy into our Beltaine rituals. Most of our circles, even those of only one gender, are mixed as to sexual orientation. Even in an all-lesbian circle, we may not want to have sex with all the other women there — not even for a good cause like religion.
Some alternatives would be to incorporate hand or foot massage in the ritual. Foot massage with scented oils is really very pleasurable and can be done one on one, or two on one, to accomplish full enjoyment without unduly drawing out the ritual. Hand and arm massage can take on symbolic significance as well, because the hands both receive and give. The cycle of giving and receiving is a perfect metaphor for sacred sex and sacred love.
A more verbal, and not necessarily less sensuous, alternative would be for each woman in turn to praise the physical attributes of her neighbor in circle, giving glory to her age or youth, to her strength or white hair, to her kindly smile or bright eyes. This could be followed by the song "Now I Walk in Beauty" or "May You Walk In Beauty." The possibilities of women honoring and loving each other's bodies is endless.
Which you choose for your Beltaine depends upon the basic foundation of all ritual: intention. What is the intention of the ritual? What work do we want to accomplish through the energy we raise at Beltaine? We do not need to fertilize the earth, at least not by our own fluids. We may, however, need to acknowledge and express our sexuality in ritual, if for no other reason than to contrast our pagan ethic to the dominant puritan ethic of America. How best to do that will depend on the members of each circle. Whatever method we choose, we cannot go wrong if we base our intentions on the personal expression of the sexual Goddess within each one of us, and respect and celebrate the sexuality of those in circle with us.
Janice Van Cleve is a lesbian writer doing her horizontal best to advance the pagan ethic for Beltaine.
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