Imbolc

[Sylvan]

What do you all do for Imbolc? It's one of my most important holidays. In the last few years I have had a private and public component. And this year will be the most elaborate, with an experimental music show thrown at the house of one of my witchy sisters punctuated (as parties often are at her place) with a tongue-mostly-in-cheek ritual the day after our private business in the woods. Due to some inspiration I will be making a cat-o-seven-tails tipped with colored bags of seven planetary alchemical herbs to cleanse those brave enough with a light beating before the fire pit, along with suffumigations and so forth. An "alchemical fire cleansing" of sorts.

We are trying to figure out how to make a crown that can have candles lit on it so my witchsister can be possessed by Brigid in the traditional fashion. Any suggestions?

 

[Breathe]

That sounds pretty awesome.
I've been meaning to start following the Wheel of the Year, but I don't really know how to do it.

Does Imbolc have to hail the Goddess/Brigid?

 

[Sylvan]

That's a good question. Historically the day has been pretty closely linked to her. But if you look at wheel of the year* generally you have the solstices and equinoxes, and then the four cross-quarter days. In more "witchy" craft traditions, and certainly among celtic reconstructionists of all stripes, the focus is on the cross-quarter or "High Holy" days. These are really festivals that have to do with agriculture. A more hermeticly focused group may focus on the primal shifts indicated by the Solstices and Equinoxes. A more roman/greek type pagan (or one into kink lol) might celebrate Lupercalia instead. Candlemass was actually intended to supplant a lot more pre-Christian traditions than just Celtic ones.

In Armenia, celebrations at the Presentation have been influenced by pre-Christian customs, such as: the spreading of ashes by farmers in their fields each year to ensure a better harvest, keeping ashes on the roof of a house to keep evil spirits away, and the belief that newlywed women needed to jump over fire to purify themselves before getting pregnant. Young men will also leap over a bonfire.

But because Bridgid in all her guises and spellings is I and my witchsisters main lady, we go all out for her.

It's also the feast day of Oya, which is interesting.

*A dubious concept to begin with IMO.

 

[Quintessence]

Odion, I think it's important to understand that the "wheel of the year" used in generic Neopaganism is just that: very generic (and also very Wiccan-derivative). There are those of us who don't stick to that when we plan our celebrations of the Solar Cycle. My celebrations are inspired more directly from the land/nature spirits around me. I do have eight Solar Festivals, yes, and one of them corresponds roughly to Imbolc, but I don't use that name for it for a variety of reasons. Some elements of what I do and generic Neopagan Imbolc are similar, but others not so much. Most notably, generic Neopagan wheel of the year honors the rebirth of the light at Winter Solstice. I do not; I honor Darkness at Winter Solstice and the rebirth of the light at MidWinter (Imbolc).

 

[Iti oj]

I try to do something different every year... many times i forget but find myself " celebrating" anyways.

 

[Breathe]

Odion, I think it's important to understand that the "wheel of the year" used in generic Neopaganism is just that: very generic (and also very Wiccan-derivative). There are those of us who don't stick to that when we plan our celebrations of the Solar Cycle.

I understand that. It just seems like fun to me to celebrate all of them, even though they're a bit generic.

The only ones I do know are ones pretty much everyone knows because they celebrate the Christianized/Secular versions, even then I don't know how to celebrate most of them. :cover:

How did you celebrate Imbolc, if you don't mind me asking?
And would it help if I say my Pagan-y-ness is mainly around Germanic Neopaganism, like Fyrnsidu or Ásatrú (universal kinds), but I'm open to different ways people celebrate?

 

[Tom Terrific]

I think the Wheel is a mythic representation of the life-death-life cycle, of which the God (in Wicca and other, similar duotheistic belief systems) is the supreme expression. He represents (I believe) life within time, while the Goddess represents life outside of time. The Wheel is the story of his eternal quest, in which he seeks her, joins with her, separates from her, and seeks her again.

The agricultural cycle is but one manifestation of this myth.

 

[Sylvan]

Neither I or my training coven ever held to this god dies once a year thing but as Tom mentions it is popular.

He represents (I believe) life within time, while the Goddess represents life outside of time.

I like this. I see polarity play like a deck of cards, periodically reshuffled. But this is an inspiring notion.

 

[Tom Terrific]

I like this. I see polarity play like a deck of cards, periodically reshuffled. But this is an inspiring notion.

I got the idea from Anne Baring & Jules Cashford's book, The Myth of the Goddess. It is their view of the meaning of the Goddess and God across many Western cultures throughout recorded history. It has certainly been very helpful to me.

 

[Quintessence]

How did you celebrate Imbolc, if you don't mind me asking?
And would it help if I say my Pagan-y-ness is mainly around Germanic Neopaganism, like Fyrnsidu or Ásatrú (universal kinds), but I'm open to different ways people celebrate?

That's cool. I don't adhere to any specific cultural tradition. A lot of Neopagans seem to do this thing where they feel the need to connect with their European ancestors (in the case of Americans, anyway) but my orientation is more on the land right here and right now. My celebrations evolve over time and relate to what's going on in the landscape around me. I'm not usually that ritualistic, and I honor the essence of a holiday during an entire 7-ish week period, or "tide" as I tend to call them. MidWinter's Tide themes around:

• The waxing period of Light in the Solar Cycle and Light's rebirth
• The transitional period of Elemental Water to Elemental Air
• Purification and cleansing
• Renewal and rebirth
• Openness and potential with a nod to the influence of legacies
• "New year's" resolutions and goal-setting
• Blessing of the seeds

Activities I do vary and I build up some traditions over time. One tradition I've built up in particular revolves around that last one. As a gardener and botanist, I do a lot of things with plants. I enjoy growing plants from seed, especially seed that I harvest myself. I harvest them whenever they are ripe during the fall, and then I ritually bless the seeds some time during MidWinter's Tide before I begin planting them indoors during Vernal Equinox Tide. Sometimes I do other formal rituals, but even my formal rituals tend to be freestyle/intuitive. My own tradition is coherent enough that I can do things on the fly and naturally adopt a relatively consistent structure that works well for me. It becomes fun, and I don't have to think about it too much. It is bad when your religion becomes a chore or you're doing things just by rote. I like to keep things evolving.

 

[Storm]

The Wiccan Sabbats/ Wheel of the Year never really resonated with me... more of a Solstice & Equinox girl, m'self.

 

[Breathe]

Sounds awesome.

Maybe we could plant some seeds every Imbolc, or something like that?
Or should that be left for Spring Equinox?

 

[Sylvan]

I like the idea of blessing seeds. Another thing I do is bless candles, particularly the small tapers that I will use to light other sacred fires during the rest of the year.

 

[Quintessence]

When you plant seeds would depend on what the growing season is like in your area. Where I live in the Upper Midwest, I do my seedlings beginning at Spring Equinox. That way, in about a month many of them are ready to go outside when the danger of frost has mostly passed. There is more light for plants that require full sun as well. MidWinter would be much too early for many things, but it depends on the plant as well as your local growing conditions.

 

[Sylvan]

You are better than I to have the patience to grow from seed. I love gardening but other than sections of wildflowers I am more than happy to pay my local nursery for starts.

 

[Breathe]

When you plant seeds would depend on what the growing season is like in your area. Where I live in the Upper Midwest, I do my seedlings beginning at Spring Equinox. That way, in about a month many of them are ready to go outside when the danger of frost has mostly passed. There is more light for plants that require full sun as well. MidWinter would be much too early for many things, but it depends on the plant as well as your local growing conditions.

I live in Britain. At the moment, the weather's still cold. I have no idea what it will be like for Imbolc, though.

If it's not warm enough for digging and burying seeds, I was thinking of either blessing them in preparation for planting them, or something like blessing a candle I will use for lighting the other ceremonial fires throughout the year or something, at a last resort; does that sound good?

Any other things anyone does?

 

[Gentoo]

The Wiccan Sabbats/ Wheel of the Year never really resonated with me... more of a Solstice & Equinox girl, m'self.

It's the same with me..

 

[Sylvan]

I was thinking of either blessing them in preparation for planting them, or something like blessing a candle I will use for lighting the other ceremonial fires throughout the year or something, at a last resort; does that sound good?

Both of those things sound lovely. We've decided we're also going to weave a bunch of Bridgid's crosses out of reeds. You're supposed to keep them in your attic to protect from fire. Probably more a concern back in the backs of thatched roofs, given that a dry reed cross would probably be the most flammable object in many modern attics.

 

[Breathe]

Awesome, then I'll do that -- here's to hoping I don't forget.