Imbolc!

Imbolc has arrived! In the Goddess' turn of the wheel, we now move to the counterquarter of Imbolc that falls between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. That fresh energy of waking up as we notice the days staying lighter a little longer, lambs in the fields frolicking and the first of the snowdrops emerging their pearly heads through the frost to gladden the heart. How glorious to see flowers again! It seems so long since we were blessed with stem and petal growing randomly in their clumps amongst the bare trees. Mother Earth begins to hear the heart song of the sun like a lover kissing the beloved so she may join him and languidly uncurl from winter's sleep.

The Festival of Imbolc or Imbolg - pronounced without the 'b' sound - is sometimes known as Oimelc, means 'ewe's milk' - named due to the birth of the first lambs at this time, and celebrates the return of fresh milk. It is the celebration of the gradual dawning of increasing light, bringing nature to life again. For Imbolc we celebrate the Waking Light of the soul. Our spirits begin to quicken as we anticipate the rebirth of Nature. This celebration commemorates the changing of the Goddess from the Crone to the Maiden.

The Goddess is seen in Her three aspects at Imbolc, as the new-born Flower Maiden; the Mother, or bride of fertility, awaiting the fertilizing Sun God, and the Dark Crone of the dark half of the year. The sun is growing in strength, the Child of Promise, re-born at Yule, is now the growing Child. All is pregnant and expectant. It is the promise of renewal, of hidden potential, of earth awakening and life-force stirring.

Imbolc is a 'fire festival'. Particular attention was paid to the hearth fire and keeping it alight. Imbolc marks the transition and transformation from death to rebirth, as the light of day grows significantly longer and you can be assured that Spring is right around the corner. At this time the animal world comes out of hibernation, the birds fly north again. This is a very holy day for initiations of the priests and priestesses and a day to devote yourself to the God/dess and your own spiritual path. This is also a very powerful time for intuitive and visionary work and to seek inspiration, especially for healers, poets, and artists. At this time if you really tune in, you can just begin to feel and sense the "inner stirrings", the seeds beginning to stir, and the inner light growing stronger.

It is time to let go of the past and to look to the future, clearing out the old. Imbolc is a gateway indicating work to be done inside and outside ourselves before action is undertaken!

This is the time of Bridie, Maiden Goddess in her seasonal aspect of the land awakening. She strikes the land with her fiery staff, creating a shout in nature…'wake up, wake up!' The promise of spring is still a distant echo clinging to winter's chill, but we are feeling the awakening even so... This is the time of Imbolc, a fire season on the great wheel, when the year is as young as a maiden and awakening. Imbolc means 'ewes' milk' and in ancient times our ancestors would bless the land with the first of the ewes' milk, asking the Mother Goddess for a fertile crop for the coming year. It is a time for all things beginning anew. Growth, manifestations and projects begin to take on the energy of form. All things can begin again.

~ Ariel Spilsbury and Holographic Goddess