Beltane's Flower

Hillsboro was a small Midwestern farming town, so named because it was nestled at the bottom of the highest hill in three counties. While the hill was technically private property, with three farms converging at its crest, the irregularity of the land made it difficult to till and its woods made it unsuitable for grazing. The farmers had left the flanks of the hill wooded, although since earlier generations had cleared the hilltop for use as a lookout against Indian attack, they maintained the meadow at the top and allowed the townspeople to use it as a park, a great boon for the small, unincorporated village. The park was a favorite daytime play place for local children because of its history and, the rock, a standing stone at the very peak that provided cover during the inevitable games of Cowboys and Indians.

Originally, the people of Hillsboro had all come from the same district in southwest England and settled together. Over the years, some people came and went, but the core of the population was of the same English-Welsh stock. These were people who had descended from the Celts and Druids who came before them and who revered the old ways even though they were nominally Christian. Families were closely knit and passed down stories of the old times. They lived close to the land and remembered the ways their forebears used to ensure the fertility of the land and the people.

As April was drawing to a close, Bob Johnson looked out across his fields and commented to his wife Sarah that it was almost planting time. Sarah smiled to herself and said "Bob, you know better than to go planting too early in the season. There's still the risk of frost and the ground hasn't been prepared yet." Bob nodded his agreement and said he knew he needed to wait, but he was ready to get started. Over at the Peterson's house, John and Maggie were having a similar conversation.

Bill Williams looked his wife Becky in the eye and asked her if she remembered the steps to a dance they'd once done. Becky smiled as she lifted her skirt with one hand, waved the other over her head, and started a jig in the kitchen. She stopped only when her kids came in, saw what she was doing and groaned as only teenagers can. "Mom! Stop it! Our friends are coming over and you'll embarrass us." Becky stopped dancing and asked which friends were coming and whether they would be staying for dinner. When she found out it was the Johnson twins, she grinned and called Sarah to find out their plans for the evening. The Johnson twins, Sue and Bonnie, had been born within two weeks of the Williams' elder daughter, Beth, and the kids were together constantly. Bill and Becky's other daughter was two years younger, but was accepted as a peer by the older children because she had a way of knowing things that made her seem wise beyond her years.

Later, as the sun went down, Becky called her neighbor, Jo Worthington, to see if she would be willing to watch all of the kids while the adults went out for the evening. "We need you to ride herd on the kids because we'll be out late. Maybe you can join in the festivities next year. In addition, because of the importance of the occasion, I'm going to pay you twice your normal sitting rate. Bring your sleeping bag and make it a slumber party." Since all of the girls were close friends, Jo was happy to look after the younger ones and thrilled to be getting the extra money.

Jo came with her parents, Rick and Marty, and as the adults prepared to leave, Marty told Jo, "I know you're responsible, but I want to reiterate the rules. There will be no boys allowed in here, no tying up the telephone, and everybody needs to stay in the house for the entire night. Everybody has sleeping bags and there's plenty of pizza and movies you can watch. If there's a problem that needs adult attention, Mrs. Phillips, across the street will be home and watching out to make sure everything's OK. She knows where to reach us if there's an emergency."

As the Williams, Johnson, and Worthington adults left the house, Marty asked Sarah if Joe and Suzy Henderson would be coming. The Henderson's were the youngest couple in Hillsboro and had just gotten married a month earlier. At 25, Joe had surprised everyone in town by taking over his father's car repair shop so his dad could retire early. Joe's dad, Hank, and his wife loved to travel and had just left for a four-week trip to see their ancestral home in England. Suzy was new to the community as Joe had met her when he was away at school, but she was friendly and interested in everybody, and she'd been accepted by everyone in town. Before Sarah had a chance to reply, Bob said he hoped Suzy would be there because he'd love to see her do the old dances. Sarah elbowed him in the ribs and said he really just wanted to see the town's newest hot babe. She then said he'd probably get his wish because Maggie Peterson had told her Joe and Suzy were looking forward to the celebration.

The three couples climbed into the Williams' van and rode the short distance up the hill to the park, talking about previous celebrations and what fun they'd been. When they arrived, they saw three other cars in the parking lot, belonging to the Petersons, the Hendersons, and, an unfamiliar car that belonged to Fred and Grace Watson. The Watson family had lived in Hillsboro for many years, but the youngest generation had moved away after college to get jobs in the city rather than continue farming the land. A week earlier, Fred's dad, Jake, had asked him to come back to town with his wife for the annual celebration. Since Fred and Grace had never participated in the celebration before, Jake explained it to them and they agreed to come and carry on the tradition.

As the full moon rose and cast its white light over the hilltop, the lone figure of Jed Phillips appeared next to the rock and called them all to it. As the couples assembled in a circle around Jed and the stone, Jed said "Welcome to the annual Hillsboro celebration of Beltane. For those of you who haven't participated in this before, I want you to understand that our purpose here is to fertilize and renew our land. This is at once a joyous occasion and a solemn one because it brings our town together and it blesses our land for the coming year. While I am the leader in the sense that I get the celebration started, I am not a participant in the way that you are. As most of you know, my wife is at home and while I have her blessing to be here, I am old and can no longer do the dance, so my role is to keep the cadence and help you younger folk dance and celebrate."

As everyone looked at each other, it became apparent that without any coordination, all of the women were wearing similar outfits and the men were likewise similarly dressed.

Jed stepped down from beside the rock and said "I have a little more business before the celebration begins. Suzy, did you bring the cup you received as a wedding present, like I asked you to?" Suzy reached into the folds of her full skirt and pulled out a silver chalice. She handed it to Jed, who took it and bowed to her, then set it beside the rock. Jed helped Joe and Suzy up to the rock and stood between them holding their hands. He then pointed to five piles of wood stacked equidistantly along a circular track cut into the meadow and asked each of the other couples to go stand next to a pile.

As the couples got into position, Jed struck his drum once and shouted "As Prometheus brought fire to man, so I bring it to Hillsboro." With that, Jed lit a torch and handed it to the Petersons, at the northwest pile, and as they lit their bonfire, Jed called out "All spirits of the Earth who are within our circle, come to this flame and then leave our circle." Taking the torch back from them, Jed carried it to the Watsons, who lit the pile in the east as Jed called upon the creatures of Spirit to come and leave the circle. Next, Jed took the torch to the Williams couple to light their bonfire in the southwest and banished the spirits of Fire. Jed carried the torch to the Johnsons who lit the northern bonfire as he banished the spirits of Water, and finally Jed gave the torch to the Worthingtons who lit their fire in the south and banished the spirits of Air from the circle. Jed took the torch and continued around the circle, lighting small fires to enclose them all in a circle of fire.

Jed came back to the rock and once more stood between Joe and Suzy Henderson. Raising the torch, he cried out "Apopamos caca Thamanos! All evil spirits leave this circle and return to hell!" As he spoke, the silence inside the circle deepened and a fog rose to just below the hilltop so it appeared as if the circle of fire and its participants were alone on an island in the midst of the clouds.

Jed turned to Joe and Suzy and said to them: "As priest and priestess for this year's Beltane celebration, you will lead the celebrants in the dances and in the blessing our town with fertility for the coming year. This is an ancient ritual that was performed by your fathers and mothers from deep in the mists of time, just as you are performing it tonight. As you see, the mists have risen and the borders of the years have fallen away."

The couples all joined hands to form a ring around the stone as Jed picked up a flute and began playing a light-hearted dance reel. Joe and Suzy led the group in a dance around the stone in a clockwise direction, following the path of the sun on its daily journey. As that dance ended and another began, the group dropped hands and stepped back to make their circle larger. They continued to dance around the stone waving their hands and kicking their feet as they followed Joe and Suzy.

After a time, Suzy led the women a little toward the center as Joe expanded the men's circle, then he turned and led the men in the opposite direction, widdershins, while the women continued to dance deosil, so they formed two concentric circles, rotating in opposite directions around the axis of the stone.

As Jed picked up the pace of the music and the heat of the fires warmed the participants, Suzy pulled the scarf from around her neck and began to swing it around over her head. As she did, the other women did the same so that, from above, the inner circle appeared to be a whirling, twirling band of fabric. After three revolutions waving the scarves, a great "Harumphf!" came from the men and the women dropped the scarves while the men waved their caps. Three more revolutions and the women yelled "Harumphf!" as the men dropped their caps and the women pulled off their blouses and twirled them as they had the scarves. The dance continued in sets of three revolutions as the men twirled their shirts, then the women twirled their skirts, and the men twirled their pants.

When both groups were down to their underwear, Jed picked up a drum and began striking a primal beat. The dancers slowed and reversed directions as they adapted to the new rhythm. As the drumbeats grew in intensity, Suzy and the women removed their bras and swung them over their heads. As the female scenery became more interesting, the men started to slow as they watched the ladies' boobs bounce and swing. As the men slowed, the women started lashing them with their bras as each one passed. After three revolutions, the women dropped their bras and the men pulled off their shorts and danced naked as they swung them around. Finally, the men dropped their shorts as the women pulled off their panties and each woman danced up to her husband and held them out to him, only to snatch them away when he reached for them.

Finally, as the drumbeat became louder, the women fell to the ground, arraying themselves in a wheel so that each woman's head was pointed toward the stone and her feet were extended toward the circle's circumference. The energy of the drum and the dancers shifted again as each woman took the hand of the woman on either side of her and spread her legs so they all formed a six-petalled flower, with each woman fully baring herself to the men dancing around them.

The drumbeat slowed and the men fell to their knees before their wives and began lapping at their pussies. At first, the women seemed oblivious to their ministrations, but soon, one moaned, then another, and before long, all six women were moaning and arching their pelvises up to meet their men's tongues. Jed stopped drumming and the night became quiet except for the sloppy wet sounds of tongues on clits and the moans, until suddenly, Suzy cried out her first orgasm of the evening and then five other women joined in her primal cry.

As the women gushed, Jed handed the chalice to Joe who captured as much of his wife's nectar as he could, then he passed the cup to the man on his right, who did the same. The men carefully passed the cup around the circle so they didn't spill any as they collected the precious juices from all the women.

After a few minutes of rest, Jed began drumming again. As each man stood over his wife, she knelt in front of him and sucked his cock until his erection raged before him, and then she lay back down so he could enter her. All six men began thrusting into their wives in time to the drumbeat. As the beat intensified, the couples began slamming into each other, pubic bone on pubic bone, penis in vagina, building toward an intense climax.

Once again, Joe and Suzy led the group in screaming out their lust in a mass orgasm. Each man deposited his seed into his wife as she bucked, howled, and came in a spasmodic explosion. As the couples lay together and professed their love for each other, Jed passed the cup again and each woman squatted over it to let the semen drip from her into it. After each one had let a tablespoon or two of semen drop into the chalice, she lay back down and her husband cleaned her up by tonguing out any remaining liquid from her pussy. Throughout the night, the couples came together and each time, they passed the cup to collect everyone's juices.

As the fires began to burn low and the sky started to brighten in the east, old Jed carefully picked up the cup containing the precious fluids from the couples and roused those who had fallen asleep, telling them they all must be up and out before dawn. As the light began to grow, all six couples gathered up their clothes and dressed. Jed stepped up to the rock and spoke aloud "All you who gathered here for this celebration are free to go in peace. Thank you for coming and witnessing our celebration of Beltane's flower. Please do whatever you can to help fertilize our land and our town." With that, he struck the drum once and proclaimed "This celebration is at an end."

As the couples started toward the edge of the circle, they heard noises from the woods as if all the animals of the forest were leaving after having watched their fertility ritual.

The conclusion

The next day, May Day, was celebrated with dance and gaiety by the people of the town, including the six families. Jed Phillips was strangely absent until late in the day, when he was observed taking a small vial of liquid to each of the town's farmers and, with the farmer's permission, pouring it on their seeds and planting equipment.

In September, the Hillsboro farmers brought in their best harvest ever. In the two weeks around the first of February, the population of Hillsboro grew suddenly as the Hendersons, the Petersons, the Johnsons, the Williams's, and the Worthingtons all gave birth to children, including two pairs of twins, and Jake Watson reported that Fred and Grace had made him a grandfather.