Wheel of the Year: Imbolc
February 2 is the date when Pagans celebrate Imbolc, a cross-quarter festival (i.e., midway between a solstice and an equinox), based on the Irish Celtic holiday marking the transition between Winter and Spring. It is also associated with the goddess Brigid, who is associated with smith-craft (in modern terms, any craft), healing, and poetry. She had a sanctuary at Kildare, Ireland, with a sacred pool said to heal and a flame that was always lit. The sanctuary later became a Christian convent when the goddess became St. Brigid. As far as is known, the significance of Imbolc for the Celts was the start of the lambing season and the renewal, reawakening of life, and of fertility as well as cleansing and purification through the association with Brigid. Often, Imbolc is mistakenly tied to Candlemas, but that Christian holiday originated in Greece in the fourth century and was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church in the seventh century.
The contemporary celebration is tied to cleansing and purification, physically and spiritually, and hope as nature, in the Northern Hemisphere, moves toward Spring and the renewed fertility of the Earth. We may not see plants budding out yet, but plants have begun to react to the increased daylight, as those who harvest sap from maple trees count on. Human celebrations also treat Imbolc as a festival of light, with good reason. We can see that the days are longer. For those who want details: daylight at Yule was 9 hours 8 minutes, and at Imbolc was 10 hours 5 minutes.
Last year at Imbolc, there was reason to wonder how one could celebrate a festival of hope and cleansing, of the metaphoric as well as physical return of light. We are still in a difficult place socially and politically, and dealing with the emotional and mental side effects of that turmoil, but we are visibly closer to the goal of restoring our political and social fabric as we can see daylight increasing, slowly but surely.
This doesn’t mean that we can rest, but we can hold on to hope and use that as a foundation for the courage and resolve we need to continue.
On the other hand, we are in this for the long haul. As we will have more cold weather and snow, there will be continued assaults on our political life and social fabric. Keep in mind that whatever the weather, daylight is increasing; the Wheel is turning. The flame in Brigid’s sanctuary in Ireland remained lit because it was always tended. We must tend our inner flame. Even the smallest action matters, as even a small flame counters darkness and can grow.
Transformation is the whole of the Wheel of the Year. Imbolc is a reminder that transformation is possible through persistence and that small changes, such as a few more minutes of daylight, can lead to larger actions. Take time to reflect. What can you do, who can you work with to make the changes you want to see take root and grow?
~ Leslie Peet