Release your wild
As we approach Bealtaine, a new cycle is born which ushers the beginnings of summer. Bealtaine translated means May and although the fixed folk date is May 1, the energy of this renewal can be felt the entire month. Bealtaine marks the halfway point between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice and is associated with Divine union, sexuality, fertility, passion, abundance and action. Although summer is represented by the Light and Masculine energies, Bealtaine provides a time of nourishment, when the feminine and masculine are in harmony; when Mother Earth and Father Sky incite magic. As we edge closer to Bealtaine, I’m reminded of one of my favourite moments of summer, the re-emergence of wildflowers.
A few years ago in Ireland, ecologists and biodiversity groups advocated for the return of wildflowers as a means to protect the health of our ecosystems, natural habitats and boost biodiversity to create homes for insects, bees and butterflies. Since then, wildflower meadows both large and small decorate our fields, walkways, parks and even busy roundabouts! Imagine a rainbow of colour dancing joyfully in the middle of a busy junction - working their magic to subside roadrage and maybe even induce a moment of awe. Nowadays, it’s common to see gardens with their own biodiversity patch, a part of the garden that is uncultivated, unruly and deliciously wild - a stark difference to gardens I saw when growing up!
Growing up in Dublin, it was more acceptable to have a tightly cut and brightly green lawn as if having a neat and tidy garden was a sign to the world that you were a ‘good’ citizen and could be trusted. We likely all had that one neighbour usually an old woman or man whose garden was wild with overgrowth - completely disregarding the unspoken rule of keeping our wild at bay! As a child, I remember that neighbour whom everyone called ‘witch’ and instead of running past in terror, I would pause and stare at the long grasses, weeds and flowers so high you could barely see the front door, bricks peeking through pockets of wisteria and ivy that draped the house, all the while resisting the urge to push open the gate and adventure through the rare and wonderful wild.
Today, I walk by neighbours with contraptions strapped to their back as they spray dangerous chemicals on the lonely dandelion who popped his head through the cracks in the driveway. At some point (and many times thereafter), we received the messaging that a neat, tidy, controlled and suppressed garden equaled goodness, trust and…I don’t know…sanity? Yet, when I hear of people scheduling their Saturday to pull up the ‘weeds’ {you know, the plants that provide medicine all year round?!}, that doesn’t feel like sanity to me and it certainly didn’t to that curious little girl who walked ever so slowly by the local witch’s house hoping to happen upon magic.
As I work with Goddess Maeve, I’m reminded that there is a wildness within each and every one of us. Our Feminine energy which has been supressed, oppressed and silenced for lifetimes and generations, is desperate to be wild and free once again. Goddess Maeve reminds us that our wild is our life force, our vitality that is woven by the Divine and interconnected to Mother Earth and our precious bodies who home it.
For so long, we’ve experienced an onslaught of attempts to erradicate our feminine energy - our wildness. Our feminine energy is organically and infinitely wild. It needs no instruction from outside council, for it is council. Our feminine energy, like wildflowers “grows in the wild, naturally, without human intervention or planting.” Our dreams and creativity, the ideas born from grace, inspiration and intuition followed are like the dandelions that push up through the cracks of the pavement, brave and alive, wild to the core. Let’s make more space that just a crack for our wild to seep through! Let us create meadows of wildflowers within so we can birth a life, a life-force that is beyond our wildest dreams.
Goddess Maeve Offering
Join this two-part online workshop connecting to the Irish Goddess Maeve and honour your Divine Feminine.
