It is called the Great Rite. The divine consummataion between our Lord and Lady. The joining together of the God and Goddess, in love, passion, desire, and the fruitfulness that provides for us all. There is perhaps nothing more sacredly solemn and blissfully joyful all at once than this Great Rite of joining.

From this union is planted in the fertile womb of the Goddess, the God which-will-be. He who will be born to us in the dark coldness of winter, bringing with him the light and warmth and the hope of winter's end. From this union comes forth the bounty of the earth. The crops, the grains and fruits, the food with which the Earth sustains us. As the Goddess grows in her pregnancy, so the Earth becomes heavy-laden with all its generosity. The Mother and Father provide for their children through the very act of their love.

When we reenact this Great Rite, whether we do it symbolically with athame and chalice, or physically with the sexual joining of our chosen God and Goddess incarnate, it is with reverance, respect, and unadulterated joy. For in our hearts beats the rhythm of divine love and the passion of unbridled lust. We can feel the power singing in the air, the anticipation as if for a moment, the collective universe holds its breath. And in that space of time, no more than the sliver of a heartbeat, all things that can be imagined are possible and all things possible are real. And then the universal heart beats once more, in a rush of heat and blood that warms us to the depths of our souls.

It is a joining of the essences of Goddess and God, a transmutation that transcends all else. A coming together of fiery radiant passion and the cool soothing waves of the fathomless depths of the sea. Together they pulse, changing and renewing and replenishing all they touch in the sacred spiral. There is no greater rite than this. It is the consummate love that no other act can hope to equal.

Blessed Be, as in love and light we celebrate the marriage of our Goddess and her eternal lover. Blessed Be and Merry Beltane.

Niamh Mahal

2002