Shimmerback Ranch Beltane Print 2026

If you live in San Francisco and haven’t heard of this magical oasis where I like to seek refuge, called Shimmerback Ranch, you should check it out. If you’re part of the radical faerie community in Northern California or the Bay Area, then you 100% should. It is nestled beside a quiet creek in a valley surrounded by trees and rocks. It is also on the ancestral lands of the Yuki and Pomo communities, the original inhabitants of the area around Willits, California. I invite you to explore it sometime—it’s truly magical!

This year I had the pleasure of making my way back up north to Shimmerback to celebrate a yearly tradition called Beltane. For the first time, I led a small screenprinting workshop and showcased a print I made.

What is Beltane (/ˈbɛl.teɪn/ BEL-tayn)?

“Beltane is a Gaelic May Day festival that follows the sun’s turning wheel and marks the bright stretch between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, when the world is at its greenest and most alive. Traditionally, it is held on May 1, also known as International Workers’ Day. At Beltane, a tree is traditionally chosen, cut down, and erected as a Maypole. Ribbons are tied to the top, and people gather in a rhythmic dance to weave the strands of fabric around the tree, marking a connection between spirit, body, and heart.”

For this year’s Beltane gathering, I had the opportunity to make a print and lead my first-ever screenprinting workshop! (More on that later.) The theme for this year was “Seek the Light, Be the Light.”

Below is a short description from the event registration on Ambrosia:

“Deep in the dark soil of last year’s decay, a seed awakens. A thread of light slips down through the earth, calling what is unmanifested to rise and take form. Tender green shoots emerge, soft and new, still vulnerable to storm and frost. Yet they appear again and again in the most impossible places. They grow in thin soil between cracks of concrete, in the margins, in forgotten edges. Supple and persistent, they Seek the Light. They grow. They push. In time, they split what seemed unbreakable, proof that what is alive cannot be contained by what is dead.

Together at this Beltane, we align with that force of Nature. We honor the power of Life to continue, to deepen its roots, to rise through hardship, and to reach for warmth and light. We gather to Seek the Light and to Be the Light for ourselves, for each other, and for the world we are still growing into.

Sometimes the light we need is not something we find alone. It is something we recognize in each other, in a face across the circle, in a hand offered without explanation, in laughter that loosens the chest, in the warmth of bodies near the fire. We seek the light in one another, and we become it for someone else. Desire, at its deepest and most sacred, is life reaching for life, reaching for light.”

Growing up Catholic, religion played a big role in my life through ninth grade and a bit into high school. I was taught about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I read the Bible and learned that Jesus died on the cross for our sins…and that if I were homosexual, I would go to hell. Although my spirituality has changed, Catholicism played a big role in this illustration. Beltane represents my own spiritual journey. For this print, I drew inspiration from the symbolism of my childhood: religion, Miyazaki, Christianity, nature, the city, whimsy, music, and energy, and tried to weave them all into the illustration.

The Maypole might symbolize a giant cross, with the sun above it emitting rays of light. The California poppies are interwoven to create the border of the composition, holding the world inside it. On the ground, a mysterious figure emerges from the cracks, rising from the darkness and donning a crown—symbolizing the May Queen. Each Beltane, it is tradition to crown a May Queen who brings forth a proclamation to the gathering, offering a perspective on what it means to be human.

I also drew inspiration from the lines on Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album artwork. I used that sense of rhythm in the rays flowing from the sun behind the Maypole, imagining them as both audio waves and the Holy Spirit—a kind of energy radiating light through the scene.

I had a lot of fun with this print and felt energized by those who chose to stick around and watch me more or less struggle through printing it for the first time. At some point, I’d love to explore different ways to colorize it, as this iteration was monochromatic to keep things simpler.

Before I started the print, I drew sketches exploring different styles of linework, poppies, and shapes. I explored the May Queen bursting out of the ground and into the frame while the Maypole rose higher, nearly bursting out of the composition. Some of the early ribbon illustrations were fun, but I liked the simple lines I ultimately chose.

Once the sketches were more or less headed in the direction I wanted, I digitized and cleaned them up before bringing them into Illustrator and Photoshop. Then I created the screenprint stencil in Illustrator, experimenting with different sizes and outlines.