May your seeds sprout and start to grow.
Light the fire inside your heart and start.
It is time to awaken!
Spring is coming, can you feel it? When I look outside today I see everlasting Autumn in The Netherlands. We haven’t really had a ‘proper’ winter, all but dark days and rain. But everything is still possible. Now I am not a Winter person so I am rejoicing at seeing the first flowers pop above the ground and show their bright and shiny faces.
Imbolc (February 1st) marks the half-way point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, and it’s a celebration of the return to life. In the Old Irish, the word Imbolg means “in the belly,” which refers to the pregnant ewes and the season when the lambs are born. Imbolc celebrates Mother Earth who has just given birth to the Sun God at the Winter Solstice and is now nursed at Imbolc (and he grows to manhood at Ostara, marries the Goddess at Beltane, imprgenates her at Midsummer, is honored as High King at Lughnasadh, sacrifices himself at the Autumn Equinox, rules the Dead at Samhain and is reborn on Yule). The Divine Mother is now starting to recover from having given birth and she is transforming back from Crone into youthful Maiden. This is time of celebration, renewal and hope!
Brigid
This festival is dedicated to the triple Goddess Bride or Brig(h)id. Brigid is the traditional patroness of healing, poetry and smithcraft, which are all practical and inspired wisdom. As a solar deity Her attributes are light, inspiration and all skills associated with fire. Although she might not be identified with the physical Sun, she is certainly the benefactress of inner healing and vital energy.
Many Imbolc customs make offerings to Brigit for protection from lightning and fire as well as fertility. Here are a few of them:
▪ Bread and butter or cake is left outside on the windowsill for Brigit.
▪ St. Brigid’s cross (a woven four-pointed cross made of rushes) is hung over the door to welcome her.
▪ Cows were blessed in her sacred wells.
▪ St. Brigit’s girdle (a circle of woven straw) was brought around to the households and stepped through for protection.
▪ Brat Bhríde / Brigit’s Cloak a piece of cloth was hung outside to be blessed. The theme of protection is strong at Imbolc.
▪ In the Outer Hebrides, a corn doll (called a ‘Brideag’) is dressed with “shining shells, sparkling crystals, primroses, snowdrops and…a specially bright shell or crystal is placed over the heart” (Ronald Hutton Stations of the Sun).
Promise of new life
Can you also feel the potency of this year and all that it promises it brings? Imbolc is the harbinger and the indication that better times are coming. It’s a time of renewal and protection when the seed of the sun that was planted at Winter Solstice begins to stir in the ground and the first seeds are starting to sprout.
Like the first flowers, it is time to awaken from hibernation and peep your head outside, time to grow and flourish. I am ready, I feel creativity stirring inside of me, I am yearning for life and action. Here I am, ready to grow. I am delving deeper into the Tarot Path and esoteric studies. Also I am eager to continue working on the creation of my own Tarot Deck. And most of all this year I am ready for passion! Imbolc is a fire festival and perfect for fueling the sparks of creation.
This is also a time of making space, purging, detoxing and cleaning for new energy to come in. I am doing a prolonged Dry January and even thinking of staying sober indefinitely. Also I booked myself a sauna date and I am giving away and selling books, shoes and clothing. Imbolc starts with a pure and clean feeling. The nesting urge to welcome spring!
A Sober Life
Now this I will come back to in a few months and see how I am doing and what insights I have about myself and drinking alcohol. Are there any differences? What issues did does being sober raise? etc. I am curious to find out. I like to challenge myself, learn and develop, so here goes. Now I am not a big drinker, I even measure my intake so I don’t drink more than 150 ml per day (red wine not spirits ;-)), but I did drink regularly, only 150 ml of red wine, but still it became a habit, something I started a long time ago, from when I was still living with my parents. It was normal in our family to drink, so I did as well. But in the end I saw my parents not dealing well with alcohol and I really didn’t like them much when they were drinking so why would I want to imitate that? I have always admired sober people and drunk people annoy me (probably because I would be the only sort of sober person in the room, because from one glass of wine you don’t get very drunk. I have seldom been drunk as I am too much of a control freak. For me alcohol was like a cookie, I don’t like sugar or sugary drinks, but wine was a way to end a busy day and relax on the couch with a book or film. It became a reward system. Like a dessert to top of the day. And also it was social glue. Being an empath and introvert, alcohol helps me loosen up and be more open in social contact as I forget about what other people may be feeling and thinking for a bit. It dulls my senses. But I no longer want alcohol fueled contact and so yearn to truly connect and not need a social lubricant. But the alcohol fueled connecting is seldom real. It is often shallow and frankly the next day it often feels empty. The past year I started to dislike parties with alcohol less and less and made my exit quickly. I felt lost and lonely and didn’t want to get pissed myself, so I just went home. But I am getting into a long story already and will get back to this topic. But for now I am sober and I choose not to drink, I don’t have to stop drinking, I am never hung over or drunk and I can’t say I feel better or clearer now I don’t drink anymore, but I want to have a choice and be deliberate about what I put into my body. And perhaps at times I will drink a glass, but it is no longer a mindless habit and I want to challenge the social pressure.
Celebration
I celebrated Imbolc with the Taxus witches where we made a Brigid’s Cross with our seeds and passions written on it and sealed, so it may break open throughout this year to come. And we made ‘music’ outside and stomping the ground to awaken nature. It was a beautiful sunny day, we don’t see many these days, so the Sun King was blessing us. And as the sun begins to grow in length and strength we will honor the power of the sun and ask it to illuminate the paths to our goals.
Today is Candlemas. Happy SUNday to you and until soon!
St. Brigit’s Day February 1st. in Ireland
Candlemas (Christion Festival of Lights, Presentation of Jesus and Purification of the Virgin Mary) February 2
Druid, Pagan and Wiccan Imbolc/Oimelc: Sundown February 1st to the day of February 2
