Goddess Art : Our May Day Craft

I hope everyone had a joyous and celebratory May Day! Although our Beltane festivities didn't flow quite as I had imagined [a few unplanned projects required my immediate attention], it was a day of abundance and love. In my last post, I mentioned the art project I had planned with the kids: decorated images of the Goddess to hang from a maypole in our garden, bringing blessings of fertility and abundance [dancing included.] We did indeed make our goddesses, although we opted to hang them on our altar instead of in the garden, where they would have washed away in the torrential rain. [They can bless the garden on some sunny day.]

This was a really fun and satisfying project. We included it in our May Day celebration, but it could be a project for any festivity: Summer Solstice, a full moon celebration, a blessingway, or any day you would like to bring in the sacred.

We started out with a piece of cardboard. I drew simple figures first, then cut them out with some scissors (an exacto knife would have been helpful. The cardboard was stiff and difficult to maneuver. Paperboard would probably work too.] Then the kids got to painting, collaging, coloring, and sparkling [both sides of the figures].

When everything was dry, I took a sharp implement [I'm pretty sure it was an awl for book binding] and poked holes at the top [for a loop for hanging] and on the sides and bottoms [to hang sacred items].

The goddesses rest while their paint dries

From various baskets and boxes and drawers in the house, we collected adornments for the goddesses: feathers, dried flowers [lavender, marigolds, straw flowers, poppy seed-heads], dried cedar sprigs, shells, beads, string and ribbon. I knew there was a reason why I keep those little stashes around...

Sacred adornments

When each goddess had been decorated, we hung them on our altar. Back at the Spring Equinox, we had placed pussy willow branches on our altar. I kept them in a vase with water, and the pussys sprouted into green leaves. The goddesses now hang from the branches.

As Jai hung each one up, he named them. Afterwards we held hands and danced around our invisible maypole, singing spontaneous songs of gratitude.

This is the Goddess of the Shells

From left to right, Goddess of the Earth, Goddess of the Flowering, and Goddess of the People Growing

Goddess of the Lavender with Goddess of the Earth in the background

Hey and a ho and a hey yan yan! [the chorus for our little ditties]

May your creativity and gratitude flow!

*Blessings*