Raymond
|
ImbolcIMBOLC (pro: IM-BULK or IM-BOLG)
2nd February
By the time the festival of Imbolc arrives the days are noticably longer and the signs that Winter is losing it's grip can be seen.
The first shoots are pushing through the soil and Snowdrops, the 'Maids Of February' are gracing gardens and woodlands.
Imbolc marks the start of the lambing season when ewes begin to lactate; hence the connections of the festival with milk.
In the christian calender Imbolc was replaced with Candlemas or St. Bridget's Day.
St. Bridget is a christianised version of the fire Goddess Brighid (pro: BRIDE-EE), whose immense popularity could not be completely eradicated by the new religion.
In paganism today Brighid is a much loved goddess and homes and altars are decorated in her honour and Imbolc is celebrated as her festival.
Brighid's role as fierce protector of women, children and newborn animals in reflected in christian mythology where St. Bridget is the reputed midwife to Mary.
In paganism she is the midwife to the spring. The divine woman who breathes life onto the earth to awaken it from it's winter slumber.
Her role extends to enabling new projects - many pagans plant seeds and bulbs at Imbolc to represent the areas in their lives they wish to nurture and grow.
Imbolc is very much a woman's festival. In many groups and covens the women take the lead in any seasonal ceremony to be performed and for the first part of the rituals it's usually a 'women only' affair.
Men are invited into the celebrations only when the women permit.
The men bring with them gifts to place at the feet of the bridiog - (an effigy of Brighid) which the women earlier made and dressed.
Throughout the proceedings both the men and women individually approach the bridiog alone to ask her favours and wishes for the coming year.
More often than not a bridiog takes the form of a corn dolly.
Brighid is a goddess of healing, inspiration to poets and patron of blacksmiths and metalworkers.
She is the spark of inspiration, the fire in the belly of those who act upon their ideas.
As goddess of metalworkers, she is the key to turning raw material into useful and beautiful things - a goddess of transformation.
At Imbolc, a time of renewal, we celebrate the changes around and within us, and renew our commitments to making our lives and the world around us a better place.
We honour the spark of divine creativity within us.
BRIGHT BLESSINGS AT IMBOLC
|
