A New Fire

A Highland Blessing for Summer Coming In

An old Highland custom would have it that when May was new, throughout the district all fires were put out, and a new tein eigin, or need-fire, was kindled on the knoll. This fire was not borrowed from another flame. No, it was made with the sweat of a brow, and kindling, and friction. A new fire.

Flames were divided in two, and both people and creatairean, or creatures, passed between the fires as an act of purification and protection from mischance and murrain — accident, ill fortune, and livestock disease — in the year ahead. Afterward, families carried the new fire back to their homes to relight their hearths.

The Carmina Gadelica, compiled by Alexander Carmichael and first published in 1900, gives testimony to the years he spent traveling, recording prayers, blessings, hymns, charms, and oral traditions from Gaelic-speaking communities in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Its importance lies in the way it records Christianity as it was lived within ordinary household, agricultural, and seasonal life. This work reveals a faith woven into the daily rhythms of the home, past and present, the turning of the year. Though shaped by Carmichael’s editing, arrangement, and notations, it remains a valuable witness to a culture living organically within faith, but with the consecrating of daily life.

This blessing was recorded by Carmichael from the Highlands for the hastening of this new summer, for the protection of family, life in the fields, crops growing, and haymaking soon coming. Words held in the doorway of May, as we walk through a May we keep: its turns and phrases, worries and cares, utterances old and beautiful. May we too lift them to our “precious Father, the King of grace.”It goes like this:

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AM BEANNACHADH BEALLTAIN: THE BELTANE BLESSING

Page 73

BLESS, O Threefold true and bountiful,
Myself, my spouse, and my children,
My tender children and their beloved mother at their head.
On the fragrant plain, on the gay mountain sheiling¹,
On the fragrant plain, on the gay mountain sheiling.

Everything within my dwelling or in my possession,
All kine² and crops, all flocks and corn,
From Hallow Eve to Beltane Eve,
With goodly progress and gentle blessing,
From sea to sea, and every river mouth,
From wave to wave, and base of waterfall.

Be the Three Persons taking possession of all to me belonging,
Be the sure Trinity protecting me in truth;
Oh! satisfy my soul in the words of Paul,
And shield my loved ones beneath the wing of Thy glory,
Shield my loved ones beneath the wing of Thy glory.

Bless everything and every one,
Of this little household by my side;

Place the cross of Christ on us with the power of love,
Till we see the land of joy,
Till we see the land of joy,

What time the kine shall forsake the stalls,
What time the sheep shall forsake the folds,
What time the goats shall ascend to the mount of mist,
May the tending of the Triune follow them,
May the tending of the Triune follow them.

Thou Being who didst create me at the beginning,
Listen and attend me as I bend the knee to Thee,
Morning and evening as is becoming in me,
In Thine own presence, O God of life,
In Thine own presence, O God of life.

Page 74 (excerpt)³

The strength of the Triune be our shield in distress,
The strength of Christ, His peace and His Pasch,
The strength of the Spirit, Physician of health,
And of the precious Father, the King of grace.

Bless ourselves and our children,
Bless every one who shall come from our loins,
Bless him whose name we bear,
Bless, O God, her from whose womb we came.

Every holiness, blessing and power,
Be yielded to us every time and every hour,
In name of the Holy Threefold above,
Father, Son, and Spirit everlasting.

Be the Cross of Christ to shield us downward,
Be the Cross of Christ to shield us upward,
Be the Cross of Christ to shield us roundward,
Accepting our Beltane blessing from us,
Accepting our Beltane blessing from us.

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I finally brought in my branch of May, that old custom of people bringing flowering branches or greenery into homes, barns, byres, and doorways around the beginning of May. There are secrets in spring, a whisper if you’d incline your ear. The way all seasons tell of an older story, a better one — before the Highland peoples and their stories, past the powers, past fires and seasons and life and death. An overlay that was in motion before humans gave their words to it.

May, even in all her green, still knows the need for fire. My branch of May may not long last, the turning of the month nigh. I can see the fragile petals fall — indeed, I was late in my gathering.

Fire, light, warmth have always been paramount to humankind. There have been pillars in deserts, a bush that was not consumed… whispers. There was another flame too, one that brought comfort and power; the memory of its coming can be found in this season, and its guidance in every other.

I’ll take my quickly fading May branch, and when it is spent, to the flame it will go, sending sparks rising into a new summer night. This branch of May to feed old fire, the Root of Jesse leaving-taking for a new flame.

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A Golden Electuary for Spring & Summer

I have just released a new blend — Golden Creamsicle. It’s a perfect blend to have in your Still Room this summer. It feels fit for this turn of the year: golden like flame, bright with citrus, softening and restorative after long spring work and the beginning of summer labor.

Made with raw honey, orange peel, marshmallow root, turmeric, tulsi, and vanilla, it was blended for replenishment, steady energy, and gentle anti-inflammatory support. Marshmallow moistens and soothes dry tissues, turmeric brings its deep golden warmth, tulsi supports stress and recovery, while honey and citrus carry brightness into the body.

Stir into warm milk, water, or your favorite drink as the fields green, the hay rises, and the season turns once more toward fire and fullness — the Solstice comes soon.

Find it Here at The Local Wild.

1. seasonal hut or small dwelling used during summer grazing in Scotland and Ireland.

2. cattle

3. Read the whole Blessing HERE