When Flame Meets Earth: A Tarot Reading for Beltaine
What we need to offer to the fire and how to honor the ground.
Welcome to this edition of Walking the Liminal!
I am so glad you are here! Today is Beltaine and it’s my pleasure to offer a tarot reading for you, for me and for our world!
Beltaine
I recently wrote a post for Beltaine, you can find it here:
Here is a snippet from that writing explaining Beltaine…
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we arrive at Beltaine, the midpoint between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice. A Celtic fire festival of fertility, honoring the earth as it bursts into full bloom and life is humming with vitality. Where the sparks of creativity and flames of passionate sensuality manifest as the sacred marriage.
An entanglement that mirrors our deep interconnection. The sacred union of sun and soil, god and goddess, spirit and flesh. Beltaine invites us to awaken to our bodies, our longings, our joy. To celebrate life in all its fullness of expression with unbounded joy and holy YES.
Beltaine Reading
This is a tarot reading for you, your life, and our world… At this time of Beltaine we are invited to reflect on what wants to come together, and what must be released to make way for this new expression.
The top two cards reveal what longs to be united in sacred marriage, two forces when joined, generate something new.
The bottom three cards represent the Beltaine Fires: What must be burned away, what forges union, and what is blessed and born anew.
(The third card, ended up being two cards… tarot just goes that way at times)
The first two cards, an invitation of what can be brought together at this time:
SEVEN OF PENTACLES: Here we encounter the earth element, the slow and steady rhythm of the feminine creative process. The moon phases at the top of this card speaks of pregnancy, reminding us that development takes time. The cactus, both prickly and blossoming, tells us that while the path may not be easy, it is fruitful. This card invites patience, trust, and a surrender to the unseen alchemy that happens behind the scenes. Like a seed in the soil, it’s not ours to dig it up just to check its progress. We must trust the unfolding mystery.
THE TOWER XVI: A Major Arcana card of upheaval, destruction and revelation. This fiery, masculine force brings a dismantling of old structures. (I find it fascinating this card showed up when considering the current movements in our world) Maybe this represents our world, but if you are looking at this reading from the perspective of your own life, this may indicate an ending of a job or relationship. There is no going back. But look deeper, what is collapsing is not truth, but illusion. The Tower clears out old paradigms of thinking and conditioning. Revealing the raw truth beneath, making space for a greater alignment and authenticity to emerge.
THE TWO TOGETHER: The invitation here is to unite these energies of Earth and Fire, Feminine and Masculine. The Tower is stripping away and exposing the falsehoods and outdated patterns, while the Seven of Pentacles roots us in patience, trust, and grounded creation. Encouraging us to allow what is crumbling to fall away, while nurturing what is taking root. This is the sacred marriage: destruction and creation, collapse and cultivation, chaos and calm. Let us weave this together.
The bottom three/four cards, the fire qualities needed for this marriage:
WHAT NEEDS TO BE BURNED AWAY? ◈ FIVE OF PENTACLES: Firstly, it’s important to acknowledge the tangible grief that results from the Tower. Perhaps we see this currently in our health, finances, or self-worth. Yet, this card asks: what outdated beliefs of lack and separation are you ready to cast into the Beltaine fires? What false narratives and stories of polarization are you willing to let burn away? Letting the deeper truth of our shared creativity together rise from these ashes.
WHAT FORGES THE TWO TOGETHER? ◈ TEN OF WANDS (R): Ah, here we meet fire directly, how appropriate. When upright this means we are carrying a heavy load, either one of endless responsibility or constant striving. Reversed, this card tells us we are ready to let this go. We no longer need to be burdened by the weight of division between parts of ourselves, or the world. This fire becomes a forge, melting what was once rigid into something fluid and new, as the catalyst for the sacred marriage. The number ten tells us that the cycle is completing. From here, we return to the spark of the Ace or step into the curiosity of the Page, a new chapter begins.
WHAT IS BLESSED BY THE FIRES, BORN ANEW? ◈ THE MAGICIAN 1 (R): As the alchemist of the Tarot, the Magician wields all the elements and channels them into manifestation. Here specifically, with earth and the flame. Reversed, this energy is subtle at first, emerging slowly from dormancy. But it’s there, alive and rising. Inborn by our connection with everything as the web in this card indicates. The ouroboros (the snake biting its tale), representing eternity; from death and destruction something new is born. Reminding us we are in this life together, we collectively are the magic. Blessed Be the sacred marriage. You are the vessel of new life. Let the spark awaken.
WHAT IS BLESSED BY THE FIRES, BORN ANEW? ◈ SIX OF PENTACLES (R): I love this card, and it’s my theme for this year. Reciprocity:
“Here we see the interconnectedness of six hands forming a six-pointed star. The upward triangle as the masculine/giving energy and the downward triangle as the feminine/receiving energy. A synergistic harmony and balance through being with both sides of this circulation. Recognizing that flow is dependent on each one being generous no matter the direction of it.”
Reversed, it’s the unlearning of any ingrained habits of hoarding, grasping, or self-denial. The blessing it offers here is a shift: from transaction to sacred exchange, from scarcity to interdependence. We are invited into authentic flow, where to give is to receive, and to receive is to give.
The Takeaway From this Reading
At Beltaine, we stand at a potent threshold, a liminal space where fire meets earth, and endings make way for beginnings. The cards offer a sacred invitation: to unite the feminine patience of earth with the masculine fire of transformation. To release what no longer serves us, inside and out. To tend the emerging roots of a new way of being.
What dies is illusion. What is born is truth.
Through the fires of Beltaine, we burn away the burdens of scarcity, division, and the constant need to micromanage life. Space is made for the mythos, one that honors reciprocity and the sharing of responsibility for each other’s well-being. True healing begins when we stop othering, by recognizing that the suffering of one affects the whole, and the joy of one can uplift the many.
We are reminded that flow requires an ebb, that growth demands letting go, and that magic arises from the ashes of what has passed. Beltaine calls us to remember who we are: not bystanders, but co-creators. Not isolated or standing alone but woven as the threads within the great web of life.
Reflective Questions at this Threshold
What parts of my life are crumbling or being challenged, what truth is trying to emerge?
Where am I being asked to slow down, trust the process, and allow something to grow?
What burdens or outdated beliefs am I ready to release into the fire?
How am I being called to unite opposing forces within myself, masculine and feminine, action and rest, destruction and creation?
What does reciprocity look like in my life right now? How can I shift from grasping to giving, or from over-giving to receiving?
How can I grow in presence, having more empathy and shared responsibility?
Blessing
May this reading be a blessing and a call.
To burn away the false.
To plant the seeds of veracity.
To rise in beauty, together.
May this sacred marriage within,
birth a whole new expression of living.
And may the Beltaine fires light the way forward
for you, for us, for our world.
I offer both tarot readings and personalized one-on-one sessions. Both designed to support and nurture your inner journey, helping you gain deeper insight into the movements of your life. If you're interested, feel free to reach out to me via direct message or email. Love and Blessings to you!
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Julie, my sister, this is such a potent reading—wow. I love how you’ve brought the sacred marriage theme to life through the cards, especially the invitation to weave together patience and trust with the necessary fire of dismantling. The way you framed the reversed Magician and Six of Pentacles hit home for me in particular...this sense of emerging subtle magic and the deep recalibration of reciprocity feels so alive right now, both personally and collectively. Thank you, as always, for holding these thresholds with so much care and insight. I'm feeling inspired to sit with these reflective questions and let the Beltaine fires work their alchemy. 💖
I read your blessing a couple of times, Julie. It was a balm. Burning away the false and planting the seeds of veracity. It all reminds me of the way in which fields must sometimes be "slashed and burned" in order to allow the fertility to return. The journaling prompts were so helpful to sit with, too. I tried looking at them through the lens of the personal and the collective. Balancing rest and action really stood out. I'm struggling with that right now. Thank you so much for all of this goodness! 🔥🌱❤️🔥