happy imbolc, groundhog day, candlemas

[meridian_rose]

image by Magickal Graphics

With best wishes to you all. I hope you find something to be thankful for and to be hopeful about today.

February the second is the pagan festival of Imbolc [Imbolg]. This festival of candles and light marks the halfway point between Yule and the Spring Equinox and we start to see the first signs of Spring; In America the day is Groundhog Day, when the groundhog predicts if warm weather will prevail or if winter will persist for six more weeks. For our ancestors, Imbolc meant they had made it through the worst of the winter and thoughts could turn to planting crops and looking forward to a more plentiful food supply.

The Goddess Brighid [Brigid, Bride, etc] is celebrated. She is known for healing, smith craft, and poetry. Imbolc was incorporated into the Church calendar as Candelmas and Brighid became Saint Brigid, renowned for her healing gifts; many wells and springs are named after her.

It is also a festival of milk, since Imbolc derives from the Gaelic word "oimelc" which means "ewes milk". Herd animals have either given birth, or are about to birth, the first offspring of the year and hence have milk to give.

With its focus on renewal Imbolc is a good time to spring clean, or begin new projects.

Correspondences: Brighid's cross, candles, poetry, agricultural tools, smith craft, milk, renewal, purification,fertility, yellow, pink, green, Basil, Rosemary, Bay, Oak, Strawberry.

Those in the Southern Hemisphere observe not Imbolc at this time but Lammas/Lughnasadh, which is the first of the harvest holidays.

About.com has more information about Imbolc