– Art: Tijana Lukovic
Today is Imbolc, the ancient Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the return to spring. To this day, people continue to celebrate Imbolc and its emphasis on the seasonal changes in the northern hemisphere at this time of year; a time of growing light and emerging new life. People also recognize and celebrate how Imbolc's promise of new beginnings is experienced in their lives.
Following are Brigit Anna McNeill’s wise and beautiful words on Imbolc. I especially resonate with her contention that Imbolc calls us “out from our inner worlds and into the light bringing the medicine of who we are.”
Imbolc is here, I love this beautiful time of year! The word imbolc means “in the belly” or womb.
This is the time where we feel the our energy shift direction a little, where the stirrings of life force and wild will are wanting to pull our energy up and out a little, where we may feel the want to stretch out of our dark fertile soil and just like the earth grow.
We are transitioning from winter and towards spring, and a whole new feeling begins to grow in the air.
The Celtic figure Brigit is always part of the story and representation of this day, as she was said to have come from the underworld today, stepping out from the dark inner places, carrying dandelions as the medicine she found there.
Dandelion helps people, by shifting inner stagnancy, to remember and feel again that wild life force that wants to live through us, it is the force and will that helps the medicine we are to flourish into our days, just as it does within the earth.
And Brigit herself, was a goddess of that life force and all it manifests; rebellion, rewilding, music, poetry, herbalism, plants, growth and recovery, and so dandelions are indeed her perfect beautiful flower.
This is the time bird song changes, tender shoots arise, our energy shifts direction a little and slowly slowly we too, just like Brigit, just like dandelions, snowdrops, nettles and bright garlic, are called out from our inner worlds and into the light bringing the medicine of who we are.
The snowdrops I see, the young nettles, the three cornered leek and the beginnings of wild garlic, are there not there as a sign of recovery, nor are they there because they have got over winter; they are there because of the tender way in which the land comes together, they are there because of these vital processes the wild moves through so life and medicine can thrive.
– Brigit Anna McNeill
via Facebook
February 1, 2024
via Facebook
February 1, 2024
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Imbolc: Celebrating the Freshness of New Beginnings
• Imbolc: Festival of Light
• Taking the High Road in Imbolc’s Time of Growing Light and Emerging New Life
• Farewell Winter
• Welcoming the Return of Spring
• Spring: “Truly the Season for Joy and Hope”
• In the Footsteps of Spring: Introduction | Part I | II | III | IV | V
• The Path Ahead
• Ed Simon on Why We Need a Pagan Theology
Related Off-site Links:
Leaning Into Imbolc: A Focus on Hearth and Home – Sheri Barker (The Wild Hunt, January 26, 2024).
February Is a Season of Purification and Rededication – Clio Ajana (The Wild Hunt, February 3, 2024).
Blessed Imbolc and Lughnassadh – The Wild Hunt (February 2, 2023).
Imbolc: The Gaelic Festival Explained – OghamArt.com (January 31, 2020).
How to Celebrate and Enjoy Imbolc, the Pagan Festival Marking Winter’s End – Kerry King (Metro, January 31, 2023).
The Magical Energy of the Great Celtic Festival of Imbolc – Colette O’Neill (Bealtaine Cottage, January 24, 2021).
Imbolc in the United Kingdom and Ireland – Liz Williams (The Wild Hunt, February 5, 2023).
Brigid and Darlughdach: Celtic Saint Loved Her Female Soulmate – Kittredge Cherry (QSpirit, February 1, 2023).
Opening image:Tijana Lukovic.
Image 2: Michael J. Bayly.
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