Elva May - The Beltaine Babe

Elva May — My Beltane Babe

This time 29 years ago, I was pregnant with my youngest daughter.

With each of my children, I knew I was pregnant at the moment of conception.

I can’t explain how I knew. There was just… something.

Something strange and sprinkled with starlight and magic.

A knowing. A spark. A sound, almost.

Something that moved through me and said, hello, hello, hello!

Back then, you had to wait about six weeks before a pregnancy test would show those little lines.

And with my eldest, who is now 46, there were no home tests at all, it was a visit to the GP and a three-day wait.

But I already knew.

By my own calculations, I believed this baby would arrive late June, early July.

This was later confirmed by a midwife.

I was over the moon, me and my partner had been trying for a baby for a while.

My belly and breasts began to grow. My body changed. I was well, strong and happy.

Something that I was grateful for.

And then, somewhere in my second trimester, I had a particularly vivid dream.

Now, I’ve always been a dreamer.

Dreams come easily to me, and I pretty much remember them every morning.

But this, this was different.

This was one of those lucid, alive, real dreams, in a way that I knew something important was happening and I needed to participate.

Are you sitting comfortably?

I found myself in an ancient woodland.

Grandmother Moon poured through the trees in soft silver beams.

There were flickers of light like tiny winged sparks, moving all around and in front of  me. I could sense the magic in the air.

I was wearing a sheer white gown, and my belly, full and round, seemed to glow.

I could hear voices.

Soft at first. Muffled, without words, or possibly another language?!

Then it became clearer, singing, laughing, coming closer.

And then, suddenly, I was lifted off the ground. I felt as light as a feather, I may have even felt a whooosh.

I was carried through the forest.

My belly facing the sky,  the moon, the stars,and heaven itself.

Who was carrying me?

I cannot say for certain.

Woodland creatures? Elves? Fae?

Little people, tall whispy, ethereal beings.

Creatures with horns and hoofs, others with halo's of light and wings.

Something ancient and kind and full of mischief and magic.

Luckily, I knew I was safe. And something very special was happening.

As they carried me, their voices became words.

They sang:

“Elva May is her name…

Elva May is her name…”

And in that moment, just as I had known at conception…..

I knew again.

I am carrying a girl child.

And something had happened.

Her beautiful soul had arrived, in her tiny little body. An ignition.

Just as it had with my other two children.

A threshold moment,  that cannot be explained.

I felt it. Like a breath from the heavens.

When I woke, the dream stayed with me, clear as day.

“Elva May… Elva May…”

Why May? Why Elva?

This was long before Google. I had no idea where the name had come from.

A friend had a baby name book, and we looked it up.

I was astonished.

Elva means friend of the elves.

Of course.

Of course she was.

Daughter of a Witch!

I felt such excitement to meet her.

I planned a home birth, imagined welcoming her gently into the world.

Into our home.

But life, as it does, had its own rhythm.

On the 1st of May 1997, almost five weeks early, I woke with contractions.

“Braxton Hicks,” I thought.

I got out of bed…

…and whoosh.

My waters broke.

So off to hospital we went, and after an emergency cesarean, she arrived.

My baby daughter, in my arms.

Born on Beltane.

Elva May my Beltane babe.

And if you know anything of that day, you’ll understand why that feels so significant.

Beltane is a fire festival of fertility, passion, and becoming.

It is the turning point into fullness.

The moment the earth says yes to life in its most abundant form.

Traditionally, fires were lit on hilltops. People would walk between them for blessing, for protection, for renewal. They would even drive their cows through.

The land was honoured.

Love, creation, sensuality, spirit all woven together.

The Goddess and the horned God, bringing everything into fullness.

There is a such a wildness to Beltane.

A raw energy.

Think, Sap rising.

Blood warming.

Life blooming.

And each year, I remember,

The woodland.

The unknown beings.

The song.

The excitement

We came through it.

Through that threshold where the veil softens and magic slips more easily into form.

And here she is, my beautiful, fiery, fairy, passionate babe.

Elva May.

Friend of the elves.

Carried in on moonlight and song.

I have learned, over the years, not to question these moments too much.

There are ways of knowing that do not belong to our logical mind.

Mothers know this.

Our soul remembers.

And birth, birth is one of the great thresholds. Along with death.

A crossing between worlds.

As I look forward to celebrating her birthday and Beltaine it feels like yesterday.

The awesomeness of life around Beltaine.

I love and long to watch and listen to the land around me. Grandma Hawthorn, dressed in her petticoat of blooms. (Said to carry an aphrodisiac perfume)

Where lovers would lay and make love under her arms and fingers.

Belatine for me is not just one day, but the season. The feel of nature as it grows into fullness.

If you follow the Astrological calendar, then its May the 5th this year. And if you choose to follow the moon the new moon os the 16th May.

5th May is another of my Daughters birthdays.

And my eldest daughter, she is a Winter solstice (Yule) baby.

They chose their birthdays beautifully.

Brightest Blessings one and all, May your lives be full and abundant with all things good.

If you are feeling called to:

Womb healing and reconnection

Blessing ceremonies for pregnancy or new motherhood

Baby name blessings and soul welcome or soul departing's.

You don’t need to understand everything you’re feeling.

We can co-create.

Because sometimes…

we are already being sung into something new, before we know!