The Green Parent

Raising kids with conscience

You are logged out

Blog - Tag: celebration

Feb 02 2009

Celebrating Imbolc

I just wanted to post a short note on Imbolc, the feast of the Goddess Brigid, which takes place tomorrow. It’s a time to celebrate the rebirth of the sun, an opportunity for new beginnings and purification using fire. Today’s snowfall has created a beautiful setting for this ancient celebration.

We have celebrated in various ways over the years from dressing all in white and going for a woodland walk to taking it in turns to wear a crown of candles. We tend to have a celebration meal with lots of candles and circular food like pancakes to represent the sun and lengthening days. When everyone else is in bed I will pull my cards and do a spiral spread for Imbolc and the coming months for a greater insight on what I have to work on in my life.

No matter how you celebrate Imbolc, the focus for this time of year is new beginnings (both literal and metaphorical), the blessing of hearth, home and crops and purification (by means of fire). As well as a chance to honour the rebirth of the sun, it is a favourable time to celebrate creativity, ignite passions, and to harness the power that is created in the turn of the season.

Hope and anticipation abound and and encourage us to gather our thoughts and prepare for new creative projects and activities. If you haven’t started a journal this year or created goals for the months ahead now is the time to focus upon your hopes and dreams for the coming year. They may be physical, spiritual or emotional, but you can be assured that now is the time to lay the foundation stones of your dreams. This needn’t be a new dream, it may be something that has been a longheld desire. Be safe in the knowledge that in beginning this process you will be communing with, and at one with the universal force, limitless potential and bounty of nature. As the earth is awakening, so can we harness this period of aspiration, fulfilment and creativity that lies ahead.

A candle ritual is particularly appropriate as Imbolc is a fire festival. Take a white candle and carve into it a picture or word symbolising your goal for the year ahead. Place the candle in a heatproof dish and light it. Allow the candle to burn right down. You can do this in three or four sittings so as not to leave it unattended.

Happy creating!

NOTE: This beautiful painting was created by Wendy Andrews – you can view more of her inspirational art at Painting Dreams

Posted by Melissa Corkhill at 04:27 | 0 comments
Tagged as: candle ritual, celebration, dreams, food, wheel of the year
Bookmark:

Page 1 of 1

Welcome to the new blog from the Green Parent office. Here we'll talk about what's going on in the small and quite leafy headquarters of the UK's leading green lifestyle magazine. We'll share news that interests us and talk about green issues and natural parenting. We'll share advice and information from our own experiences of living a green lifestyle. And we'll even tell you what we are reading, eating, drinking and thinking. Hope you get plenty of food for thought here.