Astute Pagan followers might have noticed that Beltane went by without comment on this page. This is because my job grows more voracious with budget cuts that do not threaten my tenured position, but load it with work that used to be part of other people's job descriptions. The Job ate up Yule long ago, since Yule is right about when fall semester grades are due, and until they are in there is nothing to even think about celebrating. Now the semester endgame seems to have eaten Beltane. There is also a certain vagueness about how tired, overworked old people should best celebrate this particular festival.

There was a delicious breakfast at a friend's after the the Morris Dancers danced up the sun on Inspiration Point in Tilden, and later the short, sweet, darkness of the Witches' Sabbat. Then the next day, some of us had a somewhat less than delicious brunch at Denny's (affordable and convenient, don't ask) and paid a visit to the free book exchange, a suitable mark of deference to the flowing of the Air Tide.

The fire tide began to ebb at the Spring Equinox. This has been the sowing season, when seeds have been planted physically, spiritually and emotionally. When the air tide flows, it brings the Time of Change, when the new plants must be nurtured and protected while miracles of growth and transformation take place. It is also the time when the Goddess and God come together in love, and humankind should do them honor by following suit-- either with one another or in solitary fashion, uniting the powers of the Goddess and the God within the self. It is well to begin this season with the wholeness and balance of this union, since the Time of Change is an unsettled and unpredictable time, when seedlings are tender and vulnerable, and things can go one way or another as the wind blows. It is not a season responsive to the works of magic; it is a time when the outcomes of our efforts are subject to the winds chance, to the flights of marauding birds and the whims of otherworld sprits. The veils between the worlds which opened at Beltane still remain thin. Connections are loose. All things are possible.

The Lady and Lord, locked in passionate embrace and wholly occupied with each other, leave their human children to shift for themselves.The most important work of this time is not work at all. Seek out the pleasures of the season and take joy in them; in lovemaking, in song and dance, in the joys of all unions and the joys of the mind and spirit. Take advantage of the vagaries of fate to which you are subject, seeking pleasure and new knowledge wherever they take you. In this season, honor the Lady and the Lord in the beauty of the world around you, and honor them in others and within yourself.