Happy Beltane

Amongst other things, today is the first day of summer in the old Celtic calendar. It is exactly six months until Samhain, more commonly known as Halloween.

Samhain is the most important festival of the Celtic year - the Celtic new year, the time of death and also the time to begin to reflect on the new life that will bring. Beltane is the complement of this, the height of spring and a celebration of flowers, fertility and delight.

There's lots of good information on the internet. If you were more organised than me you will have been out at one of the many fires and celebrations that were held around the country last night. But many people have never even heard of Beltane, and it makes very little impression on our lives today.

On the other hand, thinking about health and self-expression, thinking about the visions that some of the people I work with in hospital have, thinking about Jung's faltering engagements with Shamanism, I can't help feeling that these ancient festivals do have an impact on us today - only we are so distracted by other things we usually don't notice.

I'll write about this again, but on this special day I just want to make the point that our society, so focused on economic consumption and growth, so focused on objectivity, knowledge and truth, seems to be quickly destroying itself.

Now I'm going to get away from this radiation emmitting screen and go far a walk...