May : Water Element | Mental Health Awareness Month : Beltane
- The Garden Variety Witch
- May 1
- 10 min read
As we step into May, we find ourselves at a powerful intersection of a season's full energy, celestial movements, and ancient traditions.
This month invites us to explore the depths of the Water Element, honor Mental Health Awareness Month, and celebrate the vibrant fertility of Beltane.
Join us as we navigate these waves and discover how they can guide our personal growth and collective healing.
May : origins & lunar rhythms
May derives its name from Maia, the Roman goddess of Spring, growth, and increase.
In ancient Roman culture, Maia was associated with fertility and warmth, embodying the nurturing energy that helps life flourish after winter's dormancy.
This time of year was traditionally dedicated to honoring her life-giving qualities as the Earth awakened to its full potential.
This connection to growth and fertility aligns perfectly with the Celtic celebration of Beltane (May Day) which marks the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. As we'll explore later, this cross-quarter day represents a time when the veil between worlds thins, much like its counterpart Samhain (Halloween), though with distinctly different energies.
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This month's lunar cycle begins with a potent Full Moon on Monday, May 12th, in the sign of Scorpio; a Fixed Water sign known for its intensity, investigative nature, and transformative power.
While commonly known as the "Flower Moon" in popular culture, many Pacific Northwest Indigenous traditions use different names that more accurately reflect the ecological realities of their regions.
Among Coast Salish peoples, this May moon is often called "The Moon of Salmonberry Blossoms" or "Salmonberry Time" - marking when these important bushes bloom and later produce their distinctive orange-red berries, traditionally a vital early-season food source.
The Tulalip Tribe recognizes this time as "The Moon of Digging" (when camas and other root vegetables become ready for harvesting), and still others call it "The Moon When the Leaves Come Out" (observing the visible transition to fuller spring foliage).
These names aren't merely poetic alternatives to "Flower Moon" but represent sophisticated ecological knowledge systems developed over countless generations.
They served as practical calendars guiding communities on when to gather specific foods, perform seasonal ceremonies, and prepare for coming changes and were meticulously tailored to local environmental conditions.
Based on your personal observations of the local environment, what would you name May's moon?
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Scorpio energy excels at revealing what lies beneath the surface, making this Full Moon an ideal time for investigating which newly sprouted ideas, relationships, or projects deserve continued nurturing, and which must be compassionately released.
Like a gardener thinning seedlings to allow the strongest plants room to grow, this lunation helps us make necessary emotional decisions about what stays and what goes.
The watery nature of Scorpio finds itself at home during this season of spring showers.
Its transformative energy reminds us that emotional cleansing, whether through tears, creative expression, or deep conversation, provides essential nourishment for our continued growth.
What’s something you can release this spring to make room for upcoming bounty?
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Later in the month, on the 26th, we welcome a New Moon in Gemini, a Mutable Air sign that is associated with communication, curiosity, and intellectual agility.
Once again occurring on a Monday, this dark phase of the moon amplifies the qualities of initiation, renewal, and potential.
In Pacific Northwest Indigenous traditions, this late May lunar cycle might be known as the "Moon When Berries Ripen" as salmonberries begin to mature, or the "Moon of Gathering" when various plants reach their prime harvesting time.
For coastal tribes, it might signify "When Salmon Return to Rivers" - marking the beginning of important salmon runs that provided crucial protein sources. These names highlight how Indigenous peoples tracked subtle seasonal transitions, with each moon phase connecting to specific food-gathering activities essential for survival.
This Gemini New Moon offers a fascinating contrast to the previous Scorpio Full Moon. Where Scorpio dives deep into emotional waters, Gemini glides across the surface with lightning-quick thought and versatile communication.
This shift from the fixed, intense waters of Scorpio to the mutable, airy qualities of Gemini invites us to find balance between emotional depth and intellectual breadth.
After the slow, steady, grounded energy of Taurus season that dominated early May, this New Moon signals a shift toward more flexible and adaptable approaches.
It's an excellent time to:
Start new conversations- which topics invigorate your inner magic?
Explore multiple perspectives- how can you learn from people with different life experiences?
Gather information before making decisions- what resources do you already have easeful access to?
Experiment with different forms of expression- how can you play with your creativity?
Just as watering your garden regularly supports healthy growth, refreshing your mental landscape through learning and curiosity helps cultivate a resilient mind.
Remember that periodically pruning overgrown thoughts, whether limiting beliefs or excessive mental chatter, creates space for deeper roots, more beautiful blooms, and eventually, the delicious fruits of your consistent labors.
Water Element : flowing power
Our exploration of May's energies continues with a deeper dive into the Water Element, which governs our emotional and intuitive realms. As we discussed in April's examination of the Suit of Cups in Tarot, Water represents our capacity for feeling, connection, and psychic attunement.
The human body is approximately 60% water - our blood, lymph, tears, and cellular fluids all participate in this internal ocean.
This physical reality mirrors our emotional nature; it flows, surges, recedes, and sometimes floods through our present experience.
Do you see a connection between your current physical and emotional states?
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Water in the body serves several critical functions that parallel its spiritual significance:
Blood circulation: Just as blood carries oxygen throughout our physical form, emotional fluidity allows life-giving awareness to reach every aspect of our experience. Proper hydration ensures optimal blood volume and circulation, much as emotional honesty ensures the healthy flow of our internal experiences.
Internal communication: Water facilitates communication between cells, allowing them to receive signals and respond appropriately. Similarly, our emotional intelligence enables meaningful connection between different aspects of ourselves and with others. Without adequate hydration, our organs struggle to function properly, leading to fatigue and mental fogginess - just as emotional suppression creates inner disconnection and confusion.
Intuitive wisdom: The water element connects us to our intuition - that deep knowing that arises not from logical reasoning but from the accumulated wisdom of our bodies and spirits. In Tarot, this element corresponds with The High Priestess card of the Major Arcana, representing mystery, receptivity, and the subconscious mind.
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In the classic Raider-Waite-Smith Tarot deck, The High Priestess sits between two pillars, one black and one white, which symbolizes the balance between conscious and unconscious awareness. She's the governess of liminal spaces where insight emerges from the depths.
Like the moon (her planetary ruler) reflecting sunlight, she represents how our intuition reflects deeper truths that our conscious mind alone cannot access.
During May, this High Priestess energy is particularly accessible. The thinning veil at Beltane creates opportunities for intuitive breakthroughs (much like at Samhain) with a focus on growth and abundance (rather than ancestral connection and release of Samhain.)
Some methods to honor this watery wisdom include:
Creating space for reflection through meditation, journaling, or time in nature
Paying attention to and recording your dreams and synchronicities
Practicing attuning to and listening to your body's signals
Spending time near bodies of water to align with nature's healing rhythms
Mental Health Awareness Month : honoring inner spaces
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, an observance that began in 1949 when the Mental Health America organization (formerly the National Association for Mental Health) designated May as a time to raise awareness about mental health conditions and promote mental wellness.
What started as a week-long observance eventually expanded to encompass the entire month, gaining widespread recognition over the decades.
Today, Mental Health Awareness Month serves as a crucial platform for education, advocacy, and the de-stigmatization of mental health challenges that so many of our global citizens live with every day.
Take a moment to reflect on the state of your mental realm as we take steps further into May. Overall, are your mind, thoughts and sense of logic currently: calm, controlled, or turbulent?
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The United States currently faces a complex array of mental health challenges that deserve our collective attention. A few of them include:
Chronic stress and depression: Financial insecurity, political polarization, and environmental concerns contribute to widespread anxiety and despair. Many people feel overwhelmed by these systemic pressures, unsure how to maintain hope and resilience.
Substance abuse and overconsumption: As coping mechanisms for emotional pain, many turn to substances or compulsive behaviors involving food, shopping, or digital media. These temporary solutions often deepen suffering over time.
Crisis levels of overdose and suicide: The most severe manifestations of our collective mental health struggles continue to claim lives at alarming rates, with marginalized communities often bearing disproportionate impacts.
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If you are struggling with aspects of mental health or your human practice overall, you are not alone.
Seeking help represents a powerful first step in restructuring your life path, and it requires courage to confront familial patterns and choose new directions consistently.
Similarly, offering help when you have the capacity to do so becomes essential for both inner and outer transformation.
Find Immediate Support:
Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 for immediate support
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 for crisis intervention
National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI): Provides education, support groups, and advocacy (www.nami.org)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA): Offers treatment locators and information (www.samhsa.gov)
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA): provides peer support
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): Provides research - based information (www.nimh.nih.gov)
The Jed Foundation: focuses on emotional health and suicide prevention for teens/ young adults
Active Minds: supports mental health awareness among students
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA): offers training to help others in crisis
Give An Hour: connects mental health professionals with those in need
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP): works to prevent suicide through research, education, and advocacy
Remember, caring for your mental health and inner wellbeing is a way to honor your watery realms.
It encourages emotions to flow rather than stagnate, creates channels for healing communication, and respects the depths of human experience.
Please seek support when you need it, and please offer it whenever you can.
We need you.
You ARE magic.
Your Magic In Action seeds transformation.
Beltane : Fire meets Water
As the month begins, we celebrate Beltane on May 1st, a cross-quarter day marking the height of spring and the beginning of summer.
This year, Beltane falls on a Thursday, the day associated with Jupiter and its expansive, fortune-bringing qualities, and this alignment offers a special opportunity for practitioners to tap into magic that expands their heart, mind, and luck.
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Beltane's ancient roots reach back in time to long-ago Celtic traditions, where it was one of four major fire festivals. The name likely derives from the Celtic god Bel (meaning "bright one") and the Gaelic word "teine" (fire).
Traditionally, Beltane celebrated fertility, abundance, and the flourishing of life as communities prepared for the growing season, and some historical practices included:
Lighting bonfires, often in pairs that people and livestock would pass between for purification
Decorating homes and barns with yellow May flowers like primrose and rowan
Dancing around the Maypole, a symbol of fertility and the axis connecting earth and sky
Crafting May bushes adorned with flowers, ribbons, and eggshells
Preparing special foods like oatcakes and dairy products to honor the season
Today, many communities across the United States host Beltane celebrations that honor these traditions while adapting them to contemporary contexts.
Notable events include festivals in cities like Asheville, Portland, and New Orleans, where modern pagans, cultural enthusiasts, and community members gather for music, dance, and ritual.
This cross-quarter day is grounded in the earthy aspects of everyday human life, which aligns perfectly with the Sun's position in Taurus during early May.
Modern branches of the Beltane celebration tend to emphasize:
Cultivation to ensure abundance and avoid scarcity
Sharing resources with community
Finding joy in sensory pleasures like food, music, and dance
Creating stability through reliable structures (like the Maypole)
Honoring the tangible gifts of the Earth
Do you have a favored custom, tradition, ritual or ceremony that you return to every Beltane? (Comment on this publication or send us a message, we'd love to hear about it!)
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To celebrate Beltane's energy of growth and abundance, we offer this ritual activity that can be as simple or elaborate as you choose...
Growing Abundance
Materials:
An existing house plant or seeds to grow a new plant
A new pot (optional if using an existing plant)
Quality soil
Your preferred gardening amendments (compost, fertilizer)
Gardening tools as needed (hand shovel, scoop, etc.)
Optional: journal, candle, or other ritual items
Process:
Begin by entering a state of gratitude. If you choose to use a candle or other item, now is the time to deploy it. Take time to acknowledge the abundance already present in your life, from simple pleasures (the first sip of morning coffee, a restful night's sleep) to extraordinary gifts (meaningful relationships, transformative experiences, the beauty of sunrises and sunsets).
Express this gratitude mentally, verbally, or in writing. Speaking your appreciation aloud enhances its magical quality, and writing creates tangible records of your intentions.
Gather your plant or seeds, pot, soil, and amendments. Create a clean, sacred space for this work.
As you re-pot or begin the growth cycle with seeds, maintain the intention of protecting your existing abundance and attracting new sources through your care and attention. Visualize the plant's growth as a mirror of the abundance growing in your life.
With each action - adding soil, tucking it the delicate roots or seeds of potential, watering, pruning - affirm your commitment to nurturing growth in your life. You might say: "As I tend this living being, so do I tend the abundance in my life. As it grows and flourishes, so does my prosperity and joy."
Place your newly potted plant/seeds somewhere visible, where it can serve as a daily reminder of your intentions and the growing abundance in your life.
This simple practice combines the earthy energy of Beltane with the Water Element's nurturing qualities, creating a powerful alignment with May's unique energies.
Weaving It All Together : you are magic
As we move through May 2025, we are surrounded by a powerful confluence of energies.
The Water Element flows through our emotions and intuition, while Mental Health Awareness Month reminds us to tend to our inner spaces with compassion.
Beltane's celebration of fertility and abundance teaches us how tending to growth - both internal and external - creates the conditions for flourishing.
The Full Moon in Scorpio invites us to dive deep and release what no longer serves us, while the New Moon in Gemini encourages curiosity and fresh perspectives.
Through it all, we're reminded that regular tending, whether to our gardens, minds or emotions, creates the conditions for sustainable growth and eventual harvest.
May you flow with these currents of transition and transformation, finding your own perfect balance between depth and movement, emotion and thought, receiving and giving.
Like Water itself, may you adapt to the containers life offers while maintaining your essential nature: fluid, life-giving, and profoundly transformative.
Resources : further research
Mental Health-
Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741 for immediate support
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 for crisis
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