Happy Imbolc and Candlemas!

Imbolc falls on February 2nd this year. It’s the cross quarter between the winter solstice and spring equinox – the halfway point between them. The light is growing and this is when I actually always begin to notice the days becoming slightly longer. So it makes sense to celebrate with candles as the tiny light from Christmas grows stronger and we nurture this light within ourselves as well.

Decorating the NE stone of the circle is a water pitcher, Brigid’s cross, a dove, and two candles.

We may be getting impatient at this time when it seems we are still in the throes of winter. We ask the groundhog, “How much longer will the winter last”? We call out for some sign that the warmth will return.

The goddess (or saint) Brighid answers us with all the tiny signs we begin to see around us. On February 2nd in the night sky we see just as the sun is setting, the dove of Columba (which in the Christian tradition represents the fire of the Holy Spirit) rising in the east on the cross of the solstices and equinoxes. In the zodiac we are now in the sign of Aquarius represented by the Water Bearer. So Brighid is associated with the elements of fire, poetry and smithcraft, as well as water and the healing powers of the coming spring.

A Brighid’s cross that I made from phragmites reeds. (I soaked them first to make them more pliable.)

In the same way that this is happening in the heavens and all around us, it can also be happening within ourselves as this pattern of renewal is shown to us to be a constant reminder of our own possibility of rebirth. Every 40 days we reach a new cross quarter, just as the gestation period for a new baby is 40 weeks. God speaks to us through numbers and geometry, along with nature, and his order is ever speaking to us of The Way.

The stones in the circle were mostly all buried in snow before being uncovered.

And now I’m going to post something that I feel very vulnerable posting, but I’m going to anyway. This is a song I wrote and sang to the the Old English tune of Rose Rose Red. The words are:

Welcome Brighid to the land

The Sacred well touched by your hand

Healing, Craft, and Fire you bring

Your joyous praises we do sing

I didn’t hold an Imbolc ceremony this year because the weather has been frightfully frigid lately. But as I was out today having this little time of honoring the coming season it was actually so beautiful with the warmth of the son that I felt we could have been just fine. It felt as though there was a faint stirring of spring.

Sending you warm wishes and love,

Jean