Happy May Day! Let's light bonfires on hilltops and celebrate Life: old and new. The decayed compost nourishes fresh offspring. Aged wisdom and young blood commune in heart-felt exchange. Steady warmth and flames of inspiration encourage us to create in mindful cooperation.
Hug a tree, embrace a friend, revel in the beauty of Nature, immerse yourself in dance to the sounds of human speech and live acoustic music. Allow your Spirit to be on fire; nurture the warmth of your body. Yellows and reds blend into expansive orange, the color of inspired living.
We inhale the cosmic ideas of the future, and exhale the joyful creations in the present. Breathe in and breathe out. Live. Air moves through the body; move the air in space with your bodies. Life is expansion and contraction, the never ending, always changing relation between you and me, the harmonious movement of the Universe.
Planets and stars shine, tones and vowels and consonants sound, and I am danced in harmony. My bones sing, my feelings move. The overgrown skin falls away. The self-imposed cocoon cracks open. Mercury in retrograde grants additional three weeks this year to let go of the worn-out attire and create a fresh one in vibrant colors.
The first buds on the branches of the river birch and the oak in the backyard were small reddish bursts of early spring. And now, the vibrant green leaves are pushing through them. The initial breakthroughs from within have become too narrow for the exuberant growth ahead. The weaving of the Summer garments is in full sway.
Growing up in Slovenia, Europe, I looked forward to two occasions when bonfires were lit on the rolling hills surrounding my hometown: May 1 and June 23. May 1 is the Labor Day in Europe: a new title for the ancient pagan festival of Beltane. Time to forgo the daily routine of work and obligations. A night to gather outdoors and dance. Mhm, yes, and to mate.
The blossoms of fruit bearing trees are merrily blanketing the grass with soft white and pink petals for you. Sink into the fragrant carpet with grateful abandon. It's wonderful to make love with another person, but don't forget to love yourself first.
Beltane and the beginning of May are about the Cosmic Union. May Day as My Day. The Sacred Marriage of your earthly self with your Highest Self, who is at home in the Universe. You can change her/his name to Muse or Cosmic Beloved, if you wish. You are invited to enter into the harmonious flow of the Earth and the Sky anew.
We are to discover the cosmic dance of weeks and seasons, of stars and planets, of vowels and consonants and sounds of music. We are to embody the abstract sacred geometry of Life in breathing creations and movement that is alive.
Rudolf Steiner gave indications how each verse in the Calendar of the Soul is to be moved in eurythmy, the art of harmonious movement. His verse that inspired these week's sparks, holds a special place in my heart: with four of my classmates, we performed it in July of 2014 in Dornach, Switzerland, at the gathering of the graduates from eurythmy schools world-wide. The Steiner's form is a harmonious co-existence of a square, a triangle, circles, six-pointed and five-pointed stars.
The costumes are white silk gowns with red, yellow, and purple thin silk veils. No orange on the physical plane for this choreography: the orange emerges on the cosmic etheric plane in the opposing field of purple and yellow, and through the attraction of yellow and red.
The words, forms, gestures, and colors bring to life an understanding of the world as an intricate interlacing of creativity, breathing, and deep spiritual truths.
Over to you, dear Soulful Reader:
How do you celebrate the Mid-Spring at the beginning of May?
This article first appeared on the Soulful Sparks of Inspiration website.
