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So what’s the deal with Imbolc?

February 4, 2013 in Hearth and Home, Uncategorized

The days are getting longer and the wheel keeps turning, even though our planet is going through many changes I feel reassured by the seasonal cycles, that all things have a pattern that make up the “bones or structure” of the year. I love Imbolc because it signifies to me that I have made it through the winter months, the days are getting longer, the seasons of planting and growing will return, and it’s time to start planning for what I wish to create and manifest during the year. I feel like the trees, my inner sap is rising into an explosion of life, and I feel that energy around me, especially in the forest.

In these modern times we have families, work, service, activities and responsibilities that often don’t mesh with the “appointed time” of an event. There are some folks out there who practise what I call “Fundamental Paganism” and insist everything has to be spot on; I do understand that if you are doing a working and desire specific energy for a precise purpose, getting all the ducks in a row is of benefit, however sabbats are “a festevus for the rest of us”. Time is a human concept we use to measure life spans, the length of days etc. I have never been less blessed for honouring a Sabbat at a time that is not exact, I don’t think the powers that be mind if it’s early or late, it is the act of taking time out of our regular lives to remember and honour the deities, energies and seasons that makes it important.

Imbolc is one of the greater sabbats it’s also known as Imbolg, Oimelc, Brigit, Brigantia, Bride’s Day, and Candlemas. For our ancestors it marked the time when ewe’s began to produce milk for their young, and has many associations with dairy products for that reason. The Goddess Brigit is associated with this day for her links to animal husbandry, healing, light and fire, and the story that she danced with candles on her head to distract the Roman soldiers from capturing baby Jesus. Some of the animals who have been hibernating begin to stir, we even have Groundhog Day on Feb 2nd, if our furry friends emerge to a cloudy day spring is here, if it’s sunny and the shadow shows winter will last another 6 weeks. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the next Sabbat Ostara,/Spring Equinox, planting time, is six weeks down the road, do you?

The Lady and Lord are seen as young children and Valentine’s Day originally celebrated simple child like love without the adult orientation. This is also a perfect time of year to think about your unique gifts to the world and how to strengthen and nourish those talents throughout the coming year. The earth will spring to life, the land will become fertile again, the sun is getting stronger, the days longer and warmer and unlike Yule when changes are subtle, you do notice it’s not dark in the late afternoon. It’s a very hopeful time, the physical planting time has not arrived, this is a sabbat of thoughts and ideas, mapping out the direction you wish to go physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally.

One of the popular activities of this festival is blessing seeds, you can do a general blessing or choose a specific seed for a goal and bless it, keep the seeds on your altar until planting time. You could light candles to welcome the sun’s warmth and/or bless candles that you are designating for ritual use throughout the wheel of the year. Many people also bless and/or consecrate magical tools at this sabbat for use during the year, blessing is a general type of energy whereas consecrating means you will only use the item for a specific purpose, I discussed how to do that in my last two columns. Imbolc reminds me of promises, we often think of them in reference to other people, however it is also important to make pledges to ourselves, to recommit to our personal and spiritual growth, some folks also choose this sabbat to rededicate to a specific deity or their spiritual path.

At this time I think about the seeds resting in the earth, it won’t be too long until they germinate and begin the journey of growth that pushes up through the soil reaching towards the sun. Plants are so magical, the sun and their mojo (that we know as chlorophyll) transmutes into a form of sugar that makes them grow, by the magical process called photosynthesis. Plants are a wonderful example of alchemy at work; they celebrate their growth with flowers, when blossoms fade seeds remain with the promise and potential for the next generation.

Seeds also teach us about patience, like them, if we push too hard or too early it may defeat the natural progression of a cycle, we end up with stunted growth or something totally unexpected. Yes, you still need a healthy dose of focused thought and emotion to activate the Universal laws that is their water and fertilizer; however they need the freedom and right environment to flourish. That’s where we come in, spend a few minutes every day thinking about what you wish to create in your life this year, you might like to write it down and read it aloud when you wake and then before you sleep. That sends a clear signal to the powers that be, that you are open for business and not merely dabbling. After stating your desired outcomes remember to say thank you and connect with the feelings of how it will be to have that goal manifest. Also be open to any guidance, messages or impressions you receive while creating your year, you might like to keep a journal for this purpose. When you think about your wishes, remember to dream big, the forces of life have more stored potential than we can ever imagine. Happy seed thoughts to all!

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The Krewe of Brid

January 30, 2013 in Guests

Brigid's Fern

A subtropical Brigid’s Cross, made from a fern by the author.

In New Orleans, celebrations of Imbolc (or Oimelc or Candlemas or Groundhog’s Day or whatever you prefer to call it) inevitably get tangled up in our Carnival season. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Carnival starts here on Twelfth Night, which we reckon as January 6. Celebrations continue for weeks on end, building to a climactic finale on Fat Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras. The date of Mardi Gras varies, but it’s easy to calculate. It’s 40 days, not counting Sundays, before the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Simple, right? Another method: Mardi Gras is always the day before Ash Wednesday. That means the earliest Mardi Gras can occur is February 3, but it can be as late as March 9.

Thus Imbolc always lands somewhere in the Carnival season. Our Carnival celebrations take many shapes, but the preeminent form is without question the parade. New Orleanians love to parade and will do so at the drop of a hat. Carnival parades come in all sizes, from teensy impromptu foot parades to second lines to full-on gigantic all-day-suckers with motorized floats and copious amounts of pomp and spectacle. The vibe ranges from downright raunchy to upper-crust snooty. A festive atmosphere pervades, and there truly is something for everyone.

Established parading clubs are called krewes, and some of them go back well over a century. Many of krewes embrace esoteric, magical, and mythological themes. Yet none resonate so well with the seasonal celebration of Imbolc as a relative newcomer, the Krewe of Brid.

Brid (or Bríd) is of course just one way to spell the name of the ancient Celtic triple goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft. Other spellings include Bride, Brigid, Brigit, Bridget or Brighid. Many readers will be aware of the ancient connection between Brid and Imbolc. Imbolc is known as Brigid’s Day; it’s also the feast day of Saint Brigit of Kildare.

Krewe of Brid

Krewe of Brid banner from inaugural parade, New Orleans, 2008. Note triple spiral motif. Photo by Nicole Michel; used by permission.

The Krewe of Brid, then, is an organization of women taking the ancient goddess as their patron. They recognize three aspects of the goddess, sisters with the same name: Brid of the Forge, Brid of the Hearth, and Brid of the Spirit. According to krewe lore, these represent the archetypes of Warrior, Mother and Muse. Each year, the krewe selects three women from the community to be the Three Brids, and these three are given a place of honor in their annual parade.

One of the co-founders of the krewe is Mary Hogan, a friend and a personal heroine of mine. I recently sat down with her to talk about the krewe and its origins. She told me that it began after New Orleans went under water in 2005.

“One of the original ideas, one of the sparks, was of course right after the flood, rebuilding a community of friends. Most of us, the original members, and certainly the first four or five women I brought together to talk about forming a club, we lost — well, we lost friends. Friends who had returned and changed their minds and left, or gutted and cleaned, or took care of an elderly parent or whatever, and left the city, friends who never came back. A couple of us actually lost a friend or two through death.”

That sense of loss continued well after the flood waters receded.

“And so here we were. December 2006. It’s like we were going through these little losses all over again, of losing our community, whether it was friends or the places where we’d run into each other. The grocery store wasn’t our neighborhood grocery store anymore. There was no neighborhood grocery store. There was hardly a neighborhood. So how could you go on Sunday morning to grab a gallon of milk and run into a buddy and have a conversation?

“The infrastructure of our human community was gone, so our human community was falling apart. And it was an excuse, it was a reason to get together and do things together and actively rebuild our community of women, our girlfriends.”

Mary also cited some “really unthinking comments” made by Warren Riley, who was chief of police at the time. This gets into Carnival politics and neighborhood politics, so bear with me.

There used to be lots of Carnival krewes that paraded in their own neighborhoods across the city. But over the years, most all the big krewes have moved to one part of town. They roll along what’s become known as the “Uptown parade route.” The exception is the biggest of all the superkrewes, Endymion, which still holds its massive parade in Mid-City. That’s the part of town where Mary and I both live.

After Katrina, Endymion was forced to move Uptown for a season. Our neighbors were not happy about this, and neither were the Uptowners, but we accepted it. We were all in a state of shock, as most of the city still lay in ruins. That Carnival was balm for the soul, a stirring assertion that we were still alive.

One year later, Mid-City was making progress, and we fully expected Endymion to return. To conserve resources, police tried to wrangle some Uptown krewes to the Mid-City route. This led to a kerfuffle and a power struggle, and some prominent people said uncharitable things. The mayor got involved. Ultimately it was decided that Endymion would go Uptown again. That’s when Warren Riley, Superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department, said it was a matter of public safety. “The Mid-City area, with all of the blight and with the abandoned houses, makes it a lot harder to control what’s going on,” Riley said. “We certainly wouldn’t want to see some kid getting pulled into some abandoned building.”

This was like salt in the wound for those of us who had returned to the devastated neighborhood and were doing our damnedest to rebuild. The message seemed to be: “You don’t wanna bring kids to Mid-City.” As Mary puts it, “We had not only brought our kids to Mid-City, we had actively and affirmatively decided to rebuild our houses and raise our children in Mid-City.”

The insult provided the extra impetus for forming the Krewe of Brid.

“So we said, OK, we’re going to have a marching club of all women. And we’re going to get together every month and have our little chatty things, and we’ll plan social and community service activities in between those monthly meetings. And we do. And we did. And it was good.”

Furthermore, Mary said, “We are about marching in a neighborhood. We will never march on the Uptown route. Or any other pre-established route. We purposely looked to the second lines and the other kinds of marching clubs for how do we go get a permit, who do we talk to. We looked for that model rather than trying to get into the Mardi Gras Task Force. We purposefully didn’t want to compete with [the big Carnival organizations], we didn’t want to deal with that, we wanted to have more fun than anxiety.”

It all makes intuitive sense to me: a krewe of women, honoring and celebrating women, in the name of an ancient goddess. It’s a perfect package deal. Nevertheless, I asked Mary: Why women?

P1120372.JPG

Brid of the Spirit 2008 Ashlye Keaton and Mary Hogan, High Priestess of Brid. Photo by Michael Homan; used by permission.

“I was at a stage in my life where I realized I had a really good cadre of female friends, which I only have had periodically in my life. So that was really in the forefront of my mind. I really was mourning losing some of those individuals. And as I started talking with girlfriends who were still in the city and having to make that particular effort to get together because we weren’t running into each other in the grocery store or whatever — all of that just kind of started simmering.

“Thinking about it from the perspective of men versus women, I think in part it was maybe a little selfish that we said OK, this is for women, and in part it was just a natural evolution. It was: We’re missing our girlfriends. We’re missing doing girl things. We’re missing talking about doing girl things.

The krewe is actually at the point now, seven years on, where men are being considered. One of the pieces of the current plan, assigned to one of the volunteer members, is to think through and decide how do to welcome men into the krewe.

“There are men who want to come and hang out and march and be members and etcetera,” Mary said. “Going forward, men are going to be an integral part of the club.”

That doesn’t mean the krewe will lose its focus on women. The krewe will change over time, but there are some key things future krewe leaders will remember when facing those changes.

“We are about women and family and things that are important to women. We’re all about women and their glorious variety and diversity. Men will be more formally recognized and involved in the krewe than they have been in the past. But still we’re about the community of women, the energy of women, what women do. The krewe is for women and the men who love them.”

Leslie & Jenny

Two members of Krewe of Brid in costume for the 2008 theme: Pothole Patrol. If you’ve driven on the streets of New Orleans, you understand. Photo by the author.

Since the krewe always marches around the time of Imbolc, I was curious to know if Brid was selected as patron specifically to capitalize on this correspondence. Turns out it was coincidence.

“No, that was just a serendipity,” Mary told me. She further explained that she was the one charged with finding the right goddess. “I had a list of instuctions, and the first instruction was flood. We’re looking for water themes, home themes, rebuilding themes. The next was women. Rebuilding, women, family, flood, women.” With those main themes, she first investigated Polynesian pantheons. “We knew we did not want Greek, Roman. Those are all taken, let’s not even bother to look it up. So I started actually looking Polynesian, Caribbean, and there were a couple of goddesses — well, Pele was one. But fire is such an element. Fire, volcanoes, etcetera. Nothing was resonating.”

She changed tack and started investigating the history of her neighborhood, which lies right at the border between Mid-City and Lakeview.

“What’s the history of Lakeview? And then I’ll look at the history of Mid-City, I’ll look at the history of City Park, somewhere in there will be a spark of inspiration. Well of course, it was a duh moment. I think I did literally hit my forehead.

“So the New Basin Canal was being built. Who’s digging the New Basin Canal? Indians, slaves and Irish. Irish! Duh! Major, major immigrant group for New Orleans. Go look at Irish mythology.”

The New Basin Canal was constructed in the 1830s and 1840s. Workers had a tough time in the swampy area. It was deemed too expensive to subject slaves to the risk of yellow fever. Therefore most of the work was done by Irish immigrants.

“We’re all mutts of one kind or another anyway, we’re all immigrants. Potato famine years, etcetera, women were following their men or leading their men or leaving their families and going off on their own, emigrating from what they knew, from everything they knew, all the community they knew, and going to a new place to build a new community. OK, so we’re here already, and we’re re-building. It was that instant, that was the aha duh moment.”

Mary started looking through the mythology of Ireland. She found Brid and said, “I like this. It’s every aspect of womanhood, and as I dug a little bit deeper I found the interpretation of the talents or skills. So that was it. Pretty much once I found Brid it all started falling into place.”

A footnote: The Krewe of Brid did not roll in 2012 and is not rolling in 2013, more’s the pity. “It’s not rolling this year, no,” Mary told me. “My excuse is that we’re an all-volunteer organization, and I’m the main culprit. But we have a plan in place to revitalize, and it’s a matter of executing the plan, which we’re working on.” I wholeheartedly hope that in 2014 I will get to see Brid again — all three of Her.

Furthermore:

  • Official website for Krewe of Brid (not quite up-to-date)
  • More on Brigid from The Ancient Art of Enchanting the Landscape (hat tip to Nicole Youngman)
  • A mix of songs for Imbolc. From Celtic folk to Italian metal, this is eclectic mix I scrounged together myself — hope you enjoy it.
  • If you have ever wondered about how ancient goddesses like Brigid became syncretized with Christian saints like St. Brigit, I highly recommend Pamela Berger’s book, The Goddess Obscured. It’s clear, concise for an academic tome, well-researched, authoritative and absolutely fascinating.

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Our Imbolc With Small Children

February 27, 2012 in Family Crafting

As is all too common here, life gets in the way of ritual on a regular basis.

For Imbolc, it was the issue of getting our daughter out of the hospital the next week, after a 3 month stay, and all the things that had to be done before she could come home.

As you may recall, I wrote about our plans for Imbolc a few weeks ago. Of the things on that list, I read a story to Acorn from “Circle Round” and we made butter. Making butter was our most successful – though we didn’t eat it with bread that day, we made buttermilk biscuits with the buttermilk a few days later and ate them together.

Making butter turns out to be really easy, and not all that time consuming. First, you need heavy cream, and a container to shake it in.

Supplies For Making Butter

Supplies For Making Butter

Pour the cream in, put the lid on tight, and shake. This is the point where I realized that making butter with a 3-year-old is a lot like making butter by yourself:

Acorn's Idea of How to Shake Butter

Acorn's Idea of How to Shake Butter

So, I went back to shaking on my own while chasing him up and down the stairs. A little over 10 minutes of shaking, and I clearly had whipped cream.

And a few minutes after that, the whole batch of cream seemed a little more of a solid lump. I set the container down for a bit and came back to find very grainy butter that didn’t hold together.

Now, I don’t know about you, but we made butter in my 2nd grade class, and I was sure that the butter separated from the butter milk, and so now I just wasn’t sure what I’d done wrong, so I looked it up on the internet. Sure enough, I hadn’t shaken quite enough.

So, another 3-4 minutes of shaking and suddenly the container was going slosh when I shook it:

Butter and butter milk

Butter and butter milk

A little more shaking, and all the grains of butter had really clumped. My internet instructions suggested scooping the butter out of the buttermilk, squishing the milk out, and then rinsing in cold water, which left us with butter

Butter

Butter

 

and buttermilk:

buttermilk

buttermilk

I will say that the buttermilk turned out much sweeter than I expected. Most store-bought buttermilk is vaguely sour, and this tasted more like regular milk.

So, hopefully this will go better next time, with Acorn being more willing to play along. But all in all, not bad for a first attempt at a holiday celebration in the midst of complicated family drama.

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Our Imbolc

February 20, 2012 in Family Crafting

courtesy of free digitalphotos.net

I realized I was remiss in writing the followup to my last article on how my family’s Imbolc went. So here is the brief on how things went.
Due to a case of the flu, we forgoed doing a ritual  and focused instead on family. Imbolc for us, has always been a time of rest before the explosive growth of Spring.

To our Ancestors this time marked the end to the long period of confinement forced upon them by Winter. Hence why Groundhog day obsesses so much over the shadow of rodents.  We would all want to know how much longer we had to be cooped up inside.

Yet our recent ilness begs the question, how do you honor the Turning of the Wheel of the Year, when you are sick?

For most of us, I would venture a guess, the act of setting up ritual  and casting circle is likely beyond our energy levels, when we are sick. Yet none of the trappings our absolutely necessary.

Instead we can sit in quiet thought and say a small prayer to the Gods. Marking the change in the world around us in silent reflection. For, as we all know, it is the intent that counts, not the actions. At least for ritual, this holds true.

And above all don’t beat yourself up about missing ceremony. Life happens. If all you do is to walk outside and look around nature for signs of the Gods and speak to them with respect, then that is enough.

So here’s hoping that your Imbolc was a blessed one.

Blessed Be!

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Imbolc In My House

January 9, 2012 in Family Crafting

As many of us know most of our Pagan Sabbats are modern interpretation of ancient Pagan traditions. And that Christianity co-opted most of these holidays for their own. So celebrating many of the Sabbats come easy to us, especially if we come from a Christian background. Imbolc is one of the exceptions, and as such I have always have found this Sabbat hard to celebrate. But with the decision to raise my daughter Pagan, I had to figure it out pretty quick. So here is how we celebrate Imbolc in our household.

Imbolc is known as the return of the light, because the days are getting longer even if they are getting colder. At least in some places they are. The Sun King is on his quest to find the cure for the sleeping Maiden (the Earth Goddess slumbering beneath the cloak of  Winter) and we are in a waiting period between Yule and Ostara. So with this in mind we decorate our house with the few flowers that can bloom at this point in the year, Daffodils, Daisies and Snowdrops.

We make corn dollies to represent the Goddess through the year. These we bury at Mabon to symbolize her journey into the Underworld. We also are planning this year for the first time to make sand candles from the scraps of candles left over from the year before.

But our plans for this Sabbat is just that, making plans. Like in our garden it is to early to plant anything but not to early to plan our plants and to till the soil, preparing for the coming Spring. The same can be  said for our life, any goals we have usually take planning and preparation. This is the time to do this.

Hope you all have a great month and a blessed Imbolc and check back later for how our Imbolc went.

Blessed Be!

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Imbolc with Small Children

January 8, 2012 in Family Crafting

2011 was a pretty chaotic year for us. I don’t think we really did a great job of celebrating any Sabbat, much less big mainstream holidays or even birthdays.

There was a time where that really wouldn’t have bothered me, but my son, Acorn, is now 3½, and he’s at an age where he’s starting to understand holidays, and I wish we’d done a little better at it for him.

And that’s where the idea for this series of posts came from. For each Sabbat, I’ll post a planning post with links to various resources I find and with my thoughts on what we’ll do, and then I’ll post again after the Sabbat to talk about what worked and what didn’t. We don’t have years of history celebrating these holidays – all of our extended family is at least nominally Christian. My plan has been to keep notes so that we’ll have guidance, year to year, of what things we did that really resonated and what things were a flop so we don’t do them again.

Our household includes two children under the age of 4 (a 7 month old and a 3 ½ year old), so my main focus will be on including them in our celebrations. Both of my children have some special needs, so I’ll be including that in the plans. As of this writing, our baby is in a hospital, but doing well and preparing to come home in a few weeks, but it’s doubtful she’ll be home by Imbolc; if she is, we’ll see what new experiences we can give her.

Does your family do something different? We’d love to have you post about your religious holidays too!

*****

For me, Imbolc has always been a challenge. Here in Michigan, winter is just getting rolling come the first of February. It’s hard to envision it being a celebration of spring. The Dianic coven I trained in used Imbolc as the time of initiations – of starting new things, beginning new journeys, and preparing for the year ahead.

I started looking around online for ideas of what we would do this year. While I was researching, I read a site [1] that mentions that spring is coming, but it’s hidden under the snow – it’s “in the belly” so to speak, unseen but still there. So I’m hoping that thought helps me visualize this holiday better. Imbolc is also tied to Brigid (and thus to wheat and fire) and was historically celebrated with custards and other milk dishes, since milk was plentiful and new, even as stores of other foods were running low.

Hands-on things work well for my very spirited little boy. Things that involve moving are always good – the more energetic the better.

While searching, I found a page titled “13 ways to celebrate Imbolc” [2]. Among the suggestions here that I like are things like going through toys to give some to charity, making/decorating candles, planting seeds, and eating spicy food and dairy dishes.

Planting seeds could work here too. We used to have potted herbs in the house; there are none now for a variety of reasons, but having fresh again might be fun. We simply don’t have time to manage much of a garden, and frankly, the planting season runs so late here (our last frost date is May 15), we’d have to start things inside anyway.

Acorn probably wouldn’t grasp the concept behind giving away toys, but it’s a good precedent to set, and we have so many toys that the grandparents have given that we seem to be drowning in them.

Making candles with snow (or ice) is also suggested quite a few places [3]. We have a lot of restrictions on burning candles here due to the oxygen, but might be interesting to make some anyway.

The ADF [4] talks about making bird feeders, which is probably highly appropriate here in Michigan, given our usual snow pack at Imbolc.

So, I think we will start our day by making butter – the shaking of the cream will be a good energy burning activity. We’ll make fresh bread to go with it as part of our celebration. We’ll plant some herbs. We’ll have a very short ritual where we read a story – I’m thinking there must be something in Circle Round or Celebrating the Great Mother – and have bread with butter. After that, we’ll see what’s left. Maybe make some candles, maybe box up some toys, or make bird feeders – I’m thinking peanut butter on pinecones, rolled in seeds.

Now you just have to wait for next month, for me to let you know how it goes!

*****
Other Imbolc resources you might find useful:

http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/imbolcfebruary2/a/AllAbout_Imbolc.htm

http://www.muddlepuddle.co.uk/mpblog/themes-2/festivals/imbolc/

http://www.kidsnkin.dragondreaming.com/?q=node/45

http://www.druidry.org/obod/intro/festivals.html

http://clatsopduck.awardspace.co.uk/imbolc.html

Notes:
[1] http://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/02/expectancy-and-creativity-feast-of-brigid/
[2] http://www.widdershins.org/vol4iss7/05.htm
[3] http://www.essortment.com/pagan-parenting-imbolc-crafts-activities-children-55365.html
[4] http://www.adf.org/articles/kids/ol5/

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Imbolc: One Witch’s Way

February 3, 2011 in Guests

For as long as I can remember, I have approached life from a highly spiritual, earth-rooted perspective – even before I discovered the craeft, I was a green witch.

The truth is, who I am today as a proudly “outed” witch, is very much the same as who I have always been – the only real difference is that my perspective is clearer.  Thanks to the love and support of other pagans, I am no longer afraid to be who I am, and most importantly – I now have a framework of understanding and a vocabulary from which to communicate about it.  Since this year is really my first being 100% out of the broom closet, and the first for including my family in my magickal tradition, I am finding myself exercising this new vocabulary often.

What is Imbolc?

The question I have been asked most this past week is, “What is Imbolc?”  And I’ll be honest, this one has been a very hard one for me – harder perhaps, than it should be.  Even though I have celebrated Imbolc myself, every year for the past 7 years, I guess I just never really thought about how, as a green witch, I would define it.

As I may have mentioned in previous articles, either here or on Magick Mirror, I am not a very “deity-oriented” witch.  My path is a very “green” path – centered more about honoring Earth and communion with the Elementals than ritualistic practice or deity worship.  Yes – the Lord and Lady are very much a part of who I am as a witch and of my magickal workings, but the deity stories and specific rituals to which a particular God or Goddess is attributed, play very little a part in my actual craeft.  So, with traditional explanations of Imbolc being deity and worship heavy, I have had to dig deep within myself to decipher how those stories actually apply to our developing family tradition.  Here is what I have come up with:

An Elemental Approach:

Imbolc for us is a time of preparation and looking forward.  We look at Yule as a time for reflection, endings, and delighting in the promise of new beginnings – but Imbolc is our call to action.  We celebrate all the sabbats through observation and exploration of the seasons.  We honor the divine through active application at the Elemental level – with Imbolc there is no exception.  We take action through our understanding of the Elements – Earth, Air, Water and Fire.

EARTH

We recognize Mother Earth in her duality as both womb and tomb.  For Earth – winter is a time of stasis, of stillness and rest.  At Imbolc, she awakens, and we witness the stillness and decay of winter begin to shed as new life stirs within her womb – and just as that new life stirs within the earth as the cold winter begins to melt away and the promise of spring hangs in the air, new life within each of us stirs us toward the promise of new experiences to come, thresholds to be broken and new loves to be made.

We honor Earth in her duality by taking this time to purge ourselves and our home of all that is outgrown or unnecessary.  We slough off the decay and clutter of the years before and make room for the new ideas and experiences we feel stirring within to take hold.  We recognize Earth in ourselves as body and strength, and we use our Earth to take action, by:

  • Performing a deep, spring clean – physically cleaning, purging and purifying our home.
  • Physically cleaning, purging and purifying our bodies – be it as simple as having a reiki treatment or a day of pampering at a spa, or as complex as committing to a juice fast or other detox program to physically cleanse the system.
  • Getting outside – physically touching and working the earth, clearing away debris, turning the soil and making way for new life.  Participating in a community clean up or tree planting is always good practice for this time of year; and
  • Grounding meditation – for me this means taking time to actively reflect on my role as Earth to my family. I am Mother. Having brought forth my children from my womb – I am life giver, nurturer and strength for my children.  Meditation on my experiences with pregnancy and childbirth helps me to ground my emotions so I can understand and appreciate the role of the Earth elemental at Imbolc and the importance of Imbolc in the cycle of seasons.

AIR

We recognize Air as inspiration and intellect.  As cool crisp winds whip away the stagnation of winter on bright sunny days, we are awakened from our winter lethargy, and find ourselves motivated by the promise of what’s to come.  We honor Air with our positive intentions, and take action by:

  • Opening doors and windows – bringing fresh ideas in, and sending stale perceptions out.
  • Creating art and playing music – allowing inspiration to manifest in our hearts and home.
  • Working Air Magick – divining, casting spells and sending out intentions for peace and change in the world and in our individual lives; and by
  • Using our Intellect to create action plans that will aid us in meeting the goals and resolutions we have set for ourselves at Yule.

WATER

In the cold depths of winter, water is physically present mostly as ice and snow.  At Imbolc, as the ice begins to melt, movement is present and the quiet of winter stillness is lifted.  Melted snow and ice lead to rising waters and rushing rivers; and once foggy, iced over ponds provide crystal clear reflections of the world around them.

In our bodies, water is our emotion, our life blood and bodily fluids.  As such, Imbolc is often a time of increased emotion.  The icy, emotional numbness of winter is melting away and our emotions rise and rush just as the physical waters we observe on earth.  Imbolc is then, a time of rhythm and movement.  It is the time to look within, to feel deeply and to understand our inner voice.  We honor water as we utilize this time of increased emotion to fuel our intentions, wash away impurities and move us along our desired path; and we take action by:

  • Physically washing away impurities, both internally and externally as discussed before.
  • Incorporating physical movement and flow into our everyday actions, through yoga or dance.
  • Relinquishing emotional control – at least enough to allow our emotions to motivate us into positive action; and by
  • Taking time each day to reflect upon the rapidly changing emotions that come with the changing of seasons and releasing of fears; dream divining can also be an extremely insightful practice this time of year.

FIRE

At Imbolc we recognize Fire as Sun and seed.  The sun is returning, shining his light and brightening our dark winter.  Fire within us is seed – it is our life spark, just as fire is the seed and life that stirs within the earth.

Fire is our energy, our will and our passion for life; Fire is also love – particularly romantic love.  As the sun kisses the Earth to bring new life into being, so the spark in our personal relationships is also ignited – at Imbolc, we recognize a desire to honor or develop our relationships with loved ones, particularly our romantic relationships.

We honor Fire by recognizing its power and life giving energies; we take action by:

  • Bringing light and warmth into our homes – lighting candles, burning fires, opening blinds and so forth.
  • Expending energy in action – taking walks on sunny days, working out at the gym, or just generally approaching work and life with intensity of spirit.
  • Taking the first steps toward meeting our goals as outlined in our previously discussed action plans; and by
  • Honoring our loved ones – we celebrate Valentine’s Day and my husband and I re-commit ourselves to each other, taking time to rediscover ourselves as lovers rather than simply as the roles of being parents and workers, that we find so easy to get wrapped up in.

Imbolc for us is about taking action – it’s about waking up and moving forward; and it is one of my favorite times of year.  But this is just one witch’s way – I would love to hear about your Imbolc.  What stories or observances do you look to this time of year?  And how do you celebrate?  I’m looking forward to hearing from you –

Loves and Blessings – and Happy Imbolc,

Luhnna

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