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Imbolc by Yvonne Rathbone |
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Wheel
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Imbolc The Goddess nurtures the growing God. Tree - California
Laurel At Yule, the God was reborn and the Goddess was the Crone. At Imbolc the Goddess is mother to the God, feeding him from her own body. The energy of Spring is starting to build. There are buds everywhere. But nothing looks like it will later. On fruit trees there are buds, round and small and green, that will later be beautiful white flowers. The land still sleeps in winter chill, perhaps covered in snow, or around the Bay Area, green with the winter rains. One alternate name for Imbolc is Brigid's Day. Brigid was a patron goddess of Ireland so well loved that the Christian Church found it easier to canonize her as a Saint rather than demonize her. Brigid governed smithcrafting, especially in gold, fire, poetry and healing. She also governed whistling. A common symbol for Imbolc is milk. Around the time of Imbolc, lambs would be born and sheep's' milk was an available food during this lean time. This milk is the milk of the Mother Goddess breast-feeding her son, the newly born God. Milk is a symbol of immortality and life, among the Celts as well as many other peoples. It is one of the vehicles for attaining Knowledge and Life and so is linked to the moon and springtime.3 Rituals at this time focus on light and renewal. These themes are more inward directed than at Oestre. Imbolc means "in the womb" or "in the belly" and so we understand that the renewal of life at this time is still very much an internal process. The days are still dark, but the Sun is gaining power. The plants are waking up, but as yet this means seeds underground are beginning to stir and the sap deep within the trees is starting to flow again. One ritual is to make and bless all the candles you will use in the next year. It's hard to say if this ritual was created by the church to replace an older custom or if the neo-pagan community appropriated it more recently. I chose the California Laurel for Imbolc because it is an evergreen tree and so is symbolic of immortality just as milk is. It is sacred to Apollo, lord of light, and so reminds us of the importance of this turning of the wheel. The California Laurel has an even more potent flavor than the European Bay and can be used in cooking as a substitute. It is a prolific tree that can be seen all over the Bay Area. |
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