It’s Beltane season! Today, I’d like to talk about one of my favorite aspects of this holiday, and something that seems sorely lacking in the world right now – Joy.
We as human beings need joy.
Joy and pleasure are as much your birthright as breathing air and drinking water. Joy is an inherent part of our being. And we need joy to function, especially in uncertain and challenging times.
Joy is so much more than just something nice that makes our day better. Joy brings resilience. It is what keeps us going. Having something to look forward to or something that brings us comfort helps us to make it to tomorrow. In a broken world that seems to be the antithesis of happiness, joy gives us the energy to fight another day. It nourishes us and sustains us on a profound level. Just like our bodies need food, our spirit needs fuel, too. We can’t run on empty.
When life feels like a never-ending cycle of work and chores and not enough sleep, joy is a breath of fresh air, an end to the monotony, and a break in the cycle of burnout. When life feels like a battle, joy gives us something worth fighting for. When life feels like a pit of despair, joy brings us hope. Hope is protective. I know that hope may seem a bit far off these days, but even if the thing you are hoping for doesn’t come to pass, it does not erase the positive effect that hope had on you for the days, weeks, and months prior. Having those positive emotions makes us more resilient when bad things do happen (or when good things don’t happen). Anchoring ourselves in hope and joy can carry us through when times are chaotic and overwhelming.
Joy connects us to the deepest parts of ourselves – Our desires, our hopes, our dreams. Joy brings us comfort when facing challenging circumstances. Joy gives us a spark that cannot be extinguished – a part of ourselves that we can feel grounded in as the storm rages around us. It is an internal beacon of light in the darkness.
So let’s take Beltane, a holiday filled with joy and pleasure, to really ground ourselves in joy. How can we bring joy into our lives, in both small and big ways, so that it nourishes us to keep going, even when we feel like giving up?
Take a moment to journal and think about your responses: What is joy? What does joy mean to you? How has it changed over time? How does it show up in your life?
To me, joy is that feeling of fulfillment deep in your soul – when your heart can’t help but sing. It is pleasure, ecstasy, elation. It is delight, bliss, and a bone-deep satisfaction. It is more enduring than transient happiness, though it can absolutely inspire happiness. It is also comfort – a warm blanket on a cold day, or a cup of your favorite tea. Joy doesn’t have to be grandiose – In fact, the most powerful joy I’ve found comes from the accumulations of all the little small moments in my day that I can more consciously infuse with happiness and pleasure.
It’s petting my cat, it’s talking to a friend, it’s bopping along in my car when my favorite song comes on, it’s singing at the top of my lungs in the shower, it’s painting my nails with a ridiculously sparkly polish, it’s wearing bright colors that I love, it’s making my computer background the best photo I’ve ever taken and that I’m really proud of, it’s filling my home with spiritual art that I love, it’s singing to Aphrodite every morning as I put on my jewelry, it’s going hiking, it’s having lunch with my parents, it’s finding a new lip gloss that I adore, it’s crawling into soft clean bed sheets right after a long hot shower, it’s getting lost in a book, it’s designing my video game character to look like a flower fairy, it’s a spoonful of delicious gelato, it’s watching a candle flame flicker, it’s the taste of honey on my tongue, it’s the scent of rose petals, it’s watching the trees leaf out and the flowers bloom, it’s smiling to my woodpecker friend who lives outside my apartment window, it’s learning something new, it’s helping someone, it’s smiling at the people I love, it’s going to my weekly dance class, it’s laughing with friends, it’s speaking Italian for the first time in a while, it’s watching a bright pink sunset, and it’s so much more!
Think about something that brings you joy – it can be something that resonated in you from my list just now, or something else. It doesn’t have to be big! Really feel into that joy. How does it show up in your body? How can you make it expand?
What are some little ways that you can bring joy to your everyday life? You just heard a whole laundry list of mine! They don’t have to be big or fancy – it could be something as simple as wearing your favorite color more often! I invite you to write down some of your ideas – on a sheet of paper that you can hang up so they are easily visible, or somewhere you can access them often, like your phone notes app.
If you want to take it to the next level, think about your list in terms of resilience. What are things that you can do every day so that they are always present in your life? What are some easy things to do on low energy days, when maybe the idea of having a bubble bath or cooking a nice meal is too much work? What are things that really, truly fuel you?
It might also help to structure your list in terms of time – Joyful activities that you can do in under five minutes, others that take fifteen minutes, and expansive practices for when you don’t have time constraints.
When you have finished with your list (for now – you can always add more later!), you may wish to say the following prayer to Aphrodite:
Αφροδιτη Χαριδώτης (Aphrodite Kharidóhtis)
Golden Crowned Goddess and Giver of Joy
Please bless these sources of joy in my life
And the steps that I take towards pleasure and happiness
So mote it be
Your joy makes the world a better place. Joy nourishes us and fulfills us. It inspires us to be better people. It helps us feel peace and ease. And it provides us with resilience in challenging times so that we can continue to show up for ourselves and for the people we love.
And this is a beautiful feedback loop. The more joy we feel, the more joy we create in our lives and in the lives of others, and the cycle continues. It uplifts not just us, but also our communities.
So why not feel joy? Invite it into your life with a smile and see what happens. Release the limitations and conditions that you place on joy in your life. Go out of your way to infuse your day with joy. You’ll be happier, stronger, braver, kinder, and more resilient for it.
Brightest blessings!
If you struggle with feeling like you deserve joy, I encourage you to read this post from 2024.
Are you ready to…
- Dive deeper into your spirituality
- Level up your magickal skills
- Develop a fulfilling devotional practice
- Receive guidance on a variety of spiritual topics
- Embrace your power
- Love the amazing being that you are
All with the support of myself and a community of like-minded spiritual seekers?
If your heart is singing YES, I invite you to join us in The Temple of Flower and Flame!
Priestess of Aphrodite 
There’s a lot of great advice in there. It’s too easy to neglect joy. Or worse. Deny. Replace joy with duty and consider joy a childish pursuit. Of which I’m guilty more often than not.
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I feel like that is such a common thing once we reach adulthood. Joy is treated as a luxury, or as a relic of younger days. It can be hard to break out of those habits, but it is so worthwhile to do so. I am happy that this article resonated with you – Thank you for reading!
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