The Beltane Papers
Magazine · United States · 1984-2011
Cover Art: "Spelling the Runes" by Mishel Bergman
Issue 4 · Samhain 1993
About The Beltane Papers
The Beltane Papers was a long-running women’s spirituality magazine founded in 1984 by Helen G. Farias. The content was centered on Goddess traditions, women’s mysteries, ritual, mythology, creativity, and women’s religious experience.
Its pages brought together essays, personal reflections, ritual and seasonal material, poetry, artwork, interviews, reviews, and community news. Recurring subjects included priestessing, the eight seasonal festivals and Wheel of the Year, mythology, divination, healing, sacred sexuality, spiritual practice, and the relationship between women’s everyday lives and the sacred.
Publication Details
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Title: The Beltane Papers
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Subtitle: A Journal of Women’s Mysteries [revived series]
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ISSN: 1074-3634
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Founder: Helen G. Farias
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Editors: Helen G. Farias (founding editor); Judith G. Maxwell (associate editor, early series); Helen G. Farias and Waverly Fitzgerald (editors, revived series); later editorial leadership included Waverly Fitzgerald and Joanna Powell Colbert
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Publishers: Juno’s Peacock Press, a division of Northwest Graphics (early series); Seven Sisters Corporation (by 1987–88); Brideswell Collective (revived series)
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Places of publication: Mount Vernon, Washington (early series); Point Arena, California (1992 revival); later Bellingham, Washington
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First publication year: 1984
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Publication run: 1984–2011, with an interruption prior to the 1992 revival; exact cessation date of the original series is still being documented
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Language: English
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Frequency: Varied. Originally eight times annually; by 1987–88, The Beltane Papers appeared four times annually alongside eight annual issues of Octava; following the 1992 revival, The Beltane Papers appeared twice annually; later issues appeared three times annually
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Subjects/Tags: Goddess spirituality; women’s spirituality; feminist spirituality; women’s mysteries; Paganism; Goddess worship; priestessing; women’s ritual; seasonal festivals; Wheel of the Year; lunar and solar calendars; mythology; folklore; women’s mythology; sacred sexuality; rites of passage; divination; astrology; healing; meditation; trance; dreamwork; sacred sites; eco-spirituality; ritual arts and crafts; feminist theology; women’s community; Pagan community; poetry; visual art; book and music reviews
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Traditions: Goddess spirituality; feminist spirituality; feminist theology; Goddess movement; modern Paganism; women’s spirituality
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Document type: Magazine/Periodical
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Rights status: Copyrighted; rights to individual contributions may remain with their respective creators
Publication History
The Beltane Papers (TBP) was founded in 1984 by Helen G. Farias as a periodical devoted to women’s spirituality, Goddess traditions, ritual, mythology, and Pagan community.
The publication evolved considerably during its early years. By 1987–88, TBP was being published four times annually alongside the closely related The Beltane Papers’ Octava, a spiritual feminist gazette organized around the eight seasonal festivals. The two publications were offered together to subscribers, while retaining distinct identities and publication schedules. By this period, TBP was published by the Seven Sisters Corporation.
The original series of TBP subsequently ceased publication, although the exact date is still being documented. Octava continued for a time before it too ceased publication.
In 1992, members of the earlier Beltane Papers community helped revive the journal. Joanna Powell Colbert and Duncans Saunders began discussing its return, and Colbert gathered a group of women who formed the Brideswell Collective on Brighid’s Day 1992. Founding editor Helen Farias remained actively involved, serving as an editor of the revived publication alongside Waverly Fitzgerald. Other people associated with the earlier publication also participated in the new collective and its advisory council.
The revived Beltane Papers described itself as rising “like a phoenix” from the earlier Beltane Papers and Octava. It restarted its numbering with Issue 1 and adopted the subtitle A Journal of Women’s Mysteries, reflecting a shift toward a broader exploration of women’s spiritual and everyday experience. Octava was incorporated into the revived journal as a substantial, separately identified section that retained its own title and numbering, while The Beltane Review provided reviews, letters, announcements, and community news.
Farias continued to play an important role in the revived journal while living with breast cancer. In 1994, as her health declined, she assumed the title of Editor-in-Chief and transferred increasing editorial responsibility to Waverly Fitzgerald and Joanna Powell Colbert. Farias died on September 23, 1994. Issue 6 (Winter/Spring 1995), which was already in production at the time of her death, became in part a memorial to the journal’s founder.
The Brideswell Collective continued TBP after Farias’s death, explicitly expressing a desire for the publication and its work to be carried forward by future generations. The journal continued to evolve in its editorial leadership, format, frequency, and place of publication, ultimately remaining in publication into the twenty-first century.
Sources:
The Beltane Papers, surviving issues and publication records
Nontraditional American Religions: Western Esotericism from Witchcraft to the New Age, Part 1: Witchcraft, Paganism, and Magick, American Religions Collection, University of California, Santa Barbara