2008 BELTANE/SAMHUINN SEASONAL ENTRIES

[Earthwoman]

Notice: This is the Pepper (Piastra) Scott Memorial Category for seasonal entries. Please enter your best work that reflects the current season for this Eisteddfod. For example, in the Beltane/Samhain Eisteddfod your work must be about either Beltane or Samhain. Any type of work can be submitted (Poetry, Artwork, Photography etc.). Judging in this category should be based on the work that best reflects the season. Completely original entries ONLY.

[eilis]

Suspiring Trees

Suspiring trees
surround cool water
shimmer in the breeze
and summon laughter

tracing your fragrance
with pulsing fingers
I taste your essence
warm sweetness lingers

secret liaison
boundaries dwindle
in the setting sun
our souls commingle

love, in the moment,
a burden carries:
bittersweet torment
where the heart tarries

thunderous merger
breathless ecstasy
embrace the danger
of intimacy.

[City Druid]

My queen

Come dance in the fire with I
come lay down here beside
lets chase the desires of each
and rekindle what lies inside

Both of us walk through the gateway
warm are bodies upon the earth
rejoicing here this new day
as we bask upon the tide

You be my may flower
and I’ll be your branch of green
caressing you my petal
my Goddess and my Queen



Tim Hall

[GreenOak]

Springtime Openings

Clouds open,
The sun shines down.

Curtains open,
Sunlight pours in.

Ice opens,
Rivers flow once more.

Windows open,
Fresh air comes in.

Buds open,
Sleeping trees awake.

Faces open,
Smiles come out.

Shoots open,
Flowers return.

Doors open,
We go out.

Gateways open,
New experiences call.

[Abhaill]

I wrote this song for the Cailleach originally, to sing to her at Bealtaine, as I burned my corn dolly effigy. The dolly had been crafted at Samhain, and I always sing to her then The Lament of the Old Woman of Beare. She told me she wanted a funeral song as she was freed from her body on the opposite side of the wheel, and together we wrote the following song.

As I sang it over and over again I came to realize, however, that this is also a song of remembrance for women of wisdom who have passed on and crossed the veil. So I can think of no more fitting an entry in this category dedicated to the memory of such a woman as Piastra. May she travel far and wide, and fly with reckless abandon!

This is the first time I've recorded this song. I hope you enjoy it!


Shell of Corn

http://www.paintedred.com/abhaill/music ... f_Corn.mp3

Old mother seated by the fire
Through winter's long age
We have built your funeral pyre
O sun-whitened sage

Your shallow tide has ebbed away
The silence of death
The wind blows on across the waves
And carries your breath

Chorus:
Shell of corn, how your spirit shone!
Keening women cry
Black our sorrow, now you're gone
Whiskey-soaked you fly

This body now engulfed in flame
Passes to ashes
Watch as the fire laying claim
Sputters and flashes

The spirit's house burning bright
Bony and so thin
Husk that is blackened tonight
Lying there broken

(Chorus)

Scatter this soot on the soil
Girls heavy-laden
Nourish our seeds and our toil
Corn poppy maiden

Daughters grow tall and be strong
Ripple with laughter
Sing out now your joyful song
And ever after

(Chorus)


~ Abhaill

[Draziwekans]

Here is an oil on Canvas - 'Mother Earth'

Snakeman

[Draziwekans]

This post was edited, not realising the rules.
My entry is the above oil painting 'Mother Earth' celebrating Beltain.

Snakeman

[butterfly watcher]

Beltane Candle Holder

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With the theme of fertility the overall design says it all From a female perspective that is
On the masculin side we have the yellow candle with a yellow disc for the Sun on the otherside a white candle for the Feminine and a white disc to represent the Moon. Also appearing ....The Great Stag and on the other a square for the directions enclosing a tree to represent knowledge of nature.

[butterfly watcher]

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[Jingle]

Beltaine
Acrylic on Stretched Canvas
Actual Size 3 x 2.25 inches (approx)

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[Aylyn]

Beltaine Fires

Doorway to Summer
Beltaine Fires in the Night
Burning till Morning

[pangurban]

Beltains Dawn

Early morning mists cover the earth,
shrouding Her as if with grave cloths,
deadening all sound.
Life is on hold, a pregnant pause
in the
symphony of growth.
Then the dawn breaks, and the world
regains its voice.
And
Rooks,
Crows
and Jackdaws,
call their greetings to each other
and you.
And on my roof
a Black bird
sings
as if his heart would burst
his peaon of praise
to the dawn.

pangurban Beltain 2008

[*Coyote*]

Sorrowing
Lilies and the fading of the eye’s last light
Crossing the divide, lifting the veil
Laughter’s loss, aching at the water’s edge
Tulips struggling
Homeland

Sweet antipathy, glorious grief shining in a shirred sky forever
Falling, calling, returning to the dark
Even as the skies lighten with the coming of Spring
Maiden striding, Crone dividing, Mother hiding, Sorceress biding
Fragments

Hail to the new matriarch
Hail to the ancestors, joined in the ranks
Hail to the tides of time that wash over us all

No giving tomorrow she rode
High now, now low, near now far
Goodbye

[Brianna]

I think this is the best category for it. Hope you think so too
Addition edit (same day): I should say something about it. Well I didn't see this diagram anywhere. I made it up myself as part of my bardic studies and from my pagan background. I put very much thought in it, especially in the positions of all the points on the circles.

[susan]

Seasonal Flowers

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