 Hey people, I'm Ginny Metherall and I am a fourth generation witch. Today we are back with my ever popular Almanac series looking at all the witchcraft rites and rituals that you might do throughout the month of May. As always with these videos what I'm going to do is to give you a general overview of the witchcraft trends that are happening in May and then we'll get into the nitty gritty detail of the day and what witchcraft works best on which day. So to the general overview I love May, don't you? It is literally one of my favourite months of the year and I think it's madness to leave the UK in the month of May because it is bedecked in the gloriousness of its Hawthorne or May blossom and it's so pretty and smells so amazing and ladies laces coming out and bluebells are here, the birds are singing, it is just glorious. I love the Hawthorne and this is what makes May so magical, this frothy, creamy, wonderful flowery-ness. It is a flower but bedecked literally the whole of the UK in its white bridal glory and in fact it was used in bridal bouquets to signify purity and it is also one of the trees that is beloved by the fairies because May is the month of the fair. You've got to beware, the first and third of May are the particular days when you must beware of the fairies because that is when they're holding their revels and the fairies are incredibly jealous of beauty and so if you have a beautiful newborn babe they might swap him for one of their own little changelings but they've taken your beautiful babe down to their kingdom. It is between the first and the third of May when you are most at risk of having a changeling substituted for your beautiful babe that is lying prettily in their cot so what you must do is take primroses and line them across your doorstop and this will prevent the fairies from entering because it forms a barrier for them. Primroses are very associated with the fairies and they're like a gateway flower so you can use them in seeing the fairies, in using them toward off the fairies and if you brew them into a delicious wine you can transport yourself with your primrose wine into the world of the fairies. They are a gateway drug to the land of the fairies. I mean watch out they're pretty fickle creatures fairies and easily angered and not above a bit of kidnapping so do take care to not anger and upset the local fairies. May is also a time where traditionally witches would go to the sacred grottoes and wells and springs to bless them to ensure that the water flowed for the coming year so should you be in Derbyshire you might know this as well-dressing. They decorate their local wells with wonderful flower panels which is made by the local populace so on the Isle of Iona which is off the coast of Scotland there is the well of eternal youth. This one's a bit like the Blarneystone in Ireland where if you kiss it you will have great communication skills and talk non-stop. I don't know if that works actually because my father kissed the Blarneystone and he was known as being very silent but actually he could communicate quite well through his silence so maybe however back to Iona go and bathe in the well of eternal youth there and you will keep your youthful glow for the rest of your life. May is the time of the flowers and of course there is the beautiful Hawthorne which is currently bedeck the hedgerows of the British Isles at the moment but there is also the marvellous Lily of the Valley. Victorians adored Lily of the Valley they said it represented chastity and purity and so it was often put into wedding bouquets so the bride was obviously saying that she was chastened pure. However there is a wonderful story that the Lily of the Valley actually was brought into existence because it sprung up from where the blood that of the last dragon that was slayed in England had fallen on the floor the Lily of the Valley sprung up and May is also the time for the Dawn Chorus. The Dawn Chorus which is starting at about three o'clock in the morning I think at the moment I did actually wake up this morning to listen to the Dawn Chorus by mistake you know I just woke up and as it got light I did hear the first bird start to sing which I think was a robin by the time I went back to sleep about half an hour later it was rowling around with all of the birds singing the little hearts out it was very very charming and finally for May May of course is named after the goddess Maya who was a Roman goddess of growth and fertility and we'll get on to this in a bit later in the video with the jack in the green who is a symbol of fertility who dances through the streets of our villages and towns to bring in the May which is just a celebration of everything fertile that you could possibly want anyway so that's my overview for the month make sure you beware of the fairies because it is their time and you spend a lot of time with flowers you need flowers in your life during May so with that said let's get into the details so of course May starts on the first now the first of May as we all know is the Sabbath of Beltane but I'm not going to talk too much about Beltane in this video because I've already done a couple of videos because it's a sort of two-part about how to celebrate Beltane I'll put the videos up here for you so if you want to go and have a look and see what they say there's two of them because Beltane is a feast of two halves so it's the 30th of April and then the first of May but apart from that the first of May is a huge day it's one of the biggest witch's Sabbaths of the year and it's so pagan it has been celebrated by ancient Britons right through the ages and although lots of historians say that it was the Victorians who regenerated May Day celebrations well they might have done however they were quite big in Henry the 8th's time otherwise May Day very important that you do dance around the made pole and try and watch the Sun as it rises because when it rises up above the horizon you will see it take three leaps for joy in honor of this day and if you want to help out a friend take them a branch of May and leave it by their door don't take it inside their house leave it near to their door because this will bring them luck for the year there are certain days of the year that just have that magic about them a shimmer in the air or sparkle in the smile and May Day or Beltane really is one of those days there is such a frisson and that's sexual climax May Day is a very very auspicious day to get pregnant on so try your hardest if you're looking to have a baby to get pregnant on May Day the fifth of May is the day of the full moon the full moon is in Scorpio and Scorpio is a water sign and is deep and filled with passion so should you wish to make some moon water on this day the moon water that you create will be great for any spells that concern relationships this month's moon is known as a bright moon a flower moon or a milk moon in May cows can be milked up to three times a day I mean and so month of May is all a flowing with milk this moon is slightly special because this is the day when there's going to be a penumbral eclipse meaning the moon passes through Earth's shadow and there is a lunar eclipse so lunar eclipses attend to be looked on with great suspicion and dread watch out tradition states that should you be pregnant on the fifth of May and you go out into the moonlight the moon will not give good blessings to your unborn child so pregnant women stay indoors third of May is one of the unlucky days of the year so don't start a journey begin a task or get married on this day don't do it on the third of May just stay indoors and watch box sets on telly because this apparently was the day when the heavens expelled the dark angels now I'm not into the Christian version of the god expelling you know a golden st. Peter and st. Michael expelling Lucifer from the heaven however there was some altercation and today is the anniversary of that the 7th May is the day of the accurate meteor shower and what do you do when you see a shooting star which you might well do if you go outside on this night you make a wish wish magic is a complex magic systems you want to make a wish on this day the best thing I would suggest that you do is make the wish for yourself don't wish for other people or anybody else wish for you it is also the last day of the actual belting festival now belting festival of the old days although it started on the 30th of April it finished on the 7th of May so communities would celebrate belting somewhere between these dates not necessarily on the 1st of May they might have gone out on the 1st of May of part of their May Day celebrations but the belting festival does last for seven days apparently children born betwixt the belltains i.e. between the 1st of May and the 7th of May have great power over man and beast if you're a belltain baby and your birthday falls between the 1st and 7th of May let me know in the comments below because you do have a particular energy to you the 8th May is one of my favorite festivals of the west country and this is the helst and furry dance which is where the townsfolk dance up and down throughout the town in and out of each other's houses um i think they do it four times in different parts of the community do it at different times but it is something that's been going on for so long and it's obviously the leftover of some pagan festival of May it's the spiral dancing with your partner it's all about you know winding the energy of the earth up go and have a look at it if you're in Cornwall because it's a fabulous day out the 13th of May is known as Old May Day due to the vagaries of the calendar changing over the years Old May Day will May the 1st used to be on the 13th and many communities in the UK still celebrate the 13th of May as Old May Day for example Garland Day in Abbotsbury which is just around the corner from me this is where they parade through the village with garlands of flowers carried by the children it is quite a witchy area that if you go to the top of the tour which is by Abbotsbury you'll find St Catherine's church there which is actually built on an old pagan site as the Christians often did and it's really it's a leyline cross up there and if you want to go and feel some leyline energy do go take your dowsing rods have a go at finding where that leyline cross actually is the 19th of May is the night of the new moon new moons are believed to have a particular energy depending on what star sign they are in this new moon is in Taurus which is an earthy and steady sign of a practical nature who is very protective and likewise family orientated if you have a family orientated new task why not start it today the 23rd of May is a spectacular day for palm readers should you wish to have your future told by a palm reader go to them today because today their prognostications will all come true so traditional witchcraft states it's not known as palm readers day it's just known that this is a great day for palm reading divination so this is what you can do on the 23rd and so that concludes the daily nitty gritty ideas of witchcraft on what you can do and when may as I said is one of my favorite months and I love the belting festival almost above all others possibly not halloween though I can't decide but belting and halloween have equal attractions for me personally belting is such a special time it is one of days where the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest so you can do lots of divination spirit work on these days and I would suggest that you have a go let me know in the comments what you think I would love to hear your thoughts and otherwise don't forget my coven meeting will be coming up in a couple of weeks so go to patreon.com forward slash a ginny mezzaroll for all the information I hope to see you there we are having a thrilling time at the moment everyone's come on so well you know leaps and bounds the whole of the coven I'm very pleased with the all well done coven please also don't forget to like and subscribe because it really helps my channel and enables me to continue making these videos for you I will see you therefore in another few days