2012 update: re anomalous weather, it is remarkable how M.Earth succeeds in balancing out the seasons: 2012 March in North Britain was blazing hot [70ºF] for four weeks; then April rained eveyone out. But, as the first swallow returns to her nesting grounds, Beltane/Bealtaine/Bealltainn –the festival of new hope– begins:
Mayday, to rural Scots, was not to be trusted; as a weather entity, she could unleash a flash winter storm overnight, to coat the tenderest new blossom with snow. The hinge on the seasonal doorway that gives entry into this time of chaos, is May 1st; it is a leftover from the Scots Reformation that it was colloquially known by its Roman name, the Kalends. But to the country woman who had to get up at daybreak to feed the chickens in surprise snow, her entry into the month of May was via her Gab, her Maw. The name was not an endearment; it was a time to be feared; resonant of a leftover from ancestral tradition of burning the Beltane bonfire to drive away fear, danger, winter, the past, and rekindle the new. ©2012MCY

Youngblood Blog

Ne’er cast a cloot till May be oot
Old Scots rhyme

The old Scots of our little rhyme applies not just to the month of May, but also to the hawthorn bush, the Maytree. Thereby hangs a tale.

Gemini offers a kindly doorway to summer: and we are now thankfully a few days into this communicative astrological sign. Gone the stress and hardship of winter, cold spring, slow growth. Enter the Cosmic Twins: dualism, communication, seeing both sides of the same situation. In other words, enter the mercurial element. And warm.

Fingers crossed.

Gemini is usually a forgiving zodiac month. It fills one third of the calendar month of May. Its communication is tangible. Emblazoning shocking pink blooms dance on pale green leafy branches next to russet peeling-bark maples. Purple blossoms shout color from bending lilac boughs. Who wouldn’t want to communicate, yea, rejoice, in May? at least in the…

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