Blessed Girl come to me
Girl of the Fires,
Girl of Poetry.
Blessed Girl come to me
Girl of Therapeutic,
Girl of Skillful Means.Blessed Girl of the land
Information my coronary heart and information my hand.
Blessed Girl of the streams
Information my soul and information my desires.Blessed Girl come to me
Girl of the Fires
Girl of Poetry.
Blessed Girl come to me
Girl of Therapeutic
Girl of Skillful Means.Blessed Girl of the hills
Heal all wounds and heal all ills.
Blessed Girl of the flame
Awaken me to resume once more.
Lisa Thiel, Music to Brighid, from Invocation of the Graces
Today we have fun the nice sabbat known as Imbolc, Oimelc, or Brighid, or the extra Christianized identify of Candlemas.
And for our pals within the Southern Hemisphere, we want you a Blessed Lughnasadh in the present day!
This can be a cross-quarter sabbat, which means that it falls midway between the astronomical occasions of Solstice and Equinox. Usually celebrated between Feb. 1 and three, the precise celestial timing can be when the Solar is at 15º Aquarius. That will make it round Feb. 4 this 12 months, if you’d like astronomical precision.
One other sky marker of Imbolc for these of us above the Equator is that it’s celebrated when the Pleiades are at their zenith within the sky at sundown.
The phrase Imbolc (often pronounced “Imm’-ulg”) comes from the Gaelic phrase referring to the lactating of the sheep. Lambs are born a lot sooner than calves, and the approaching in of the ewe’s milk was a lifeline for agrarian households whose Winter shops would have been very skinny by this time. Thus, this primary signal of Spring supplied a significant reward of life-giving sustenance, shared by lambs and people alike.
Imbolc is the time after we of the Previous Methods dedicate to new research, renew and deepen our non secular devotions, bear initiation to a brand new stage of follow, or maybe merely set our magical intentions for the approaching 12 months.
The considerably interchangeable celebrations of Brighid and Imbolc are historical Fireplace Festivals, when the powers belonging to the Winter of the 12 months are clearly waning, about to be overcome by the primary glimmers of Spring’s return. That is when the Goddess as historical Crone is reborn because the younger Maiden.
Now’s the time after we uncover, as if for the primary time, that the artistic vitality of the life drive is powerful inside us.
What is this life drive, precisely? By what identify do you perceive it?
It has many names, together with Qi (or “chi) that I mentioned some years in the past in my posts in regards to the historical artwork of feng shui and the kundalini that spirals by means of our physique’s chakras.
We may additionally expertise it as movement, artistic vitality, and our life-line to God, Goddess, Soul, Supply, or Larger Energy, or as writer Julia Cameron’s names the unnameable – Good Orderly Course.
She describes it as a type of non secular electrical energy that animates us and, much more, drives us to be creators. Thus, on this magical day, our artistic desires stir, just like the tiny inexperienced shoots of crocus and snowdrops which might be rising now from the frozen floor.
Celebratory Rites
One among my favourite methods to watch this holy time is to bless some seeds that I can be planting as soon as the bottom is heat and the hazard of frost has handed. They could signify a artistic dream I’ve for the approaching rising season, or fondest needs and hopes about my cherished relationships.
Different rites you may contemplate can be to have fun the return of the Solar’s mild. In lots of Pagan houses at sundown, it’s a custom to mild each lamp within the residence, for no less than just a few moments. Otherwise you may wish to mild a particular candle in each room. Even simply lighting a crimson candle and putting it in a outstanding window is a beacon of pleasure and hope for this completely happy vacation.
John and I’ve lengthy made it a practice to sing and chant as we stroll from our cottage out to our nicely that provides the contemporary, clear water for our residence. There, with the assistance of pastel chalks, we beautify the concrete cap and sides the place the pump is. We additionally tie ribbons onto the bushes and durable shrubs that guard our nicely.
If in case you have snow on the bottom the place you reside, stroll in it for some time, and draw an emblem of the Solar, as your name to the slumbering Earth to awaken. Whether or not you’ve snow or not, skip, stroll, dance upon the earth at your house. I really like to do that within the model of Morris-dancers, sporting jingle bells on my ankles.
Recall how issues appeared and felt final Summer season, reminding your self and the spirit of the land that these days are coming once more, for Winter’s grip is already altering.
Awakening the Sacred Land
Strive singing or chanting a waking-up music, or make a music of gratitude. Let your self-made music align you with the awakening of the residing land.
Along with your songs and phrases, you might be partaking within the authentic sense of the phrase en-chantment: to chant or sing with intention, to realize a desired outcome. By doing so, you bless and produce to life all inside the sound of your voice.
You can even do that to invoke the protectors of the Land — the traditional Underworld beings who’re the guardians of Grandmother Gaia’s well-being. It’s clear that we’re in nice want of their help, as there was a devastating undoing of the previous progress on the environmental protections and mediation all of us labored so arduous for.
In order you have fun the strengthening of the Solar’s fireplace, take this chance to ascertain or deepen your cooperation with these historical, cthonic beings.
Magical Meals and Different Practices
As has been identified, the phrase Imbolc refers to “ewe’s milk” as that is the time when sheep start to lactate in preparation for birthing their lambs. So conventional dishes for Imbolc embrace any sort of dairy meals. That is bolstered by the truth that cows are sacred to Brighid, and plenty of of Her tales function them in magical methods.
The Celtic folks depended closely on milk merchandise, often called “white meats” throughout the Spring and Summer season months. Milk was typically soured and processed into completely different types of curds and tender cheeses, as arduous cheeses have been unusual.
So that you may need to put together one thing wealthy and comforting with bitter cream, ricotta, or cottage cheese. As well as, spicy, full-bodied meals in honor of the Solar are equally magical at the moment. Curries and all dishes made with peppers, onions, leeks, shallots, garlic, or chives would even be beautiful.
Brighid can be a Goddess of brewing, so spiced wines and mead are acceptable libations. It’s conventional to pour the primary sip or two out upon the Earth as an providing of gratitude.
Purification and Setting Intention
The six week interval from Imbolc to Ostara (Spring Equinox) can be the normal time of cleaning, purging and getting ready the bottom (literal and metaphoric) for planting. As most gardeners know, there’s knowledge in turning over the soil whereas it’s nonetheless too chilly to plant, thus exposing burrowed-in, non-beneficial bugs and weeds to the killing chilly.
Equally, that is the right time to clear away what not helps or delights you. Imbolc is the right vacation for cleaning and re-consecrating your altars and ritual instruments.
And as my pal, the late Waverly FitzGerald used to counsel, this may very well be thought-about Pagan Lent. However quite than the Christian Lenten practices of deprivation and mortification of the flesh, she recommended that we would embrace this time as an opportunity to welcome a thoughts/physique/spirit refresh. Waverly famous, “The very identify of Lent is synonymous with the season, for it comes from the Anglo-Saxon lenctene, which means the time when the times lengthen.”
So this may very well be a time you determine to scale back and even minimize out refined sugar or crimson meat, no less than for the six weeks between the sabbats. Once more, that is not in a spirit of denial or loss, however to enhance your vitality and well-being!
And Spring tonics will be taken to detox your Winter-weary system. Search for the primary tender inexperienced leaves of dandelion or ramps, or else dig by means of your dried herb assortment to make teas that assist your immune system.
For instance, combining equal components nettle leaf and rose hips right into a soothing tea may help with that persistent cough that’s going round (disclaimer: I’m not a professional herbalist or medical practitioner. That is only a light suggestion – please do your individual analysis).
Thus it’s that after Winter’s stasis, change is afoot. We’re coming into into a really perfect time for initiating auspicious modifications in our lives. As we contemplate what these adjustments may be, and the right way to start, I invite you to think about the ways in which you open, hear, dream, and take in your interior steering.
As the sunshine so clearly grows stronger now, could we loosen up our personal hearts, realizing we’re all the time enfolded within the safekeeping mantle of the Girl.
Might your rites be merry, for merry we meet, and merry we half, and merry we will meet once more.
(With due to my Coven sister, Alruna for sending me this video. I like to recommend you go to full display).
Blessed be.
