Celebrating Imbolc - February 1st
- mathewrhyswalker
- Jan 29
- 3 min read
Celebrating Imbolc - February 1st
Imbolc is a Pagan holiday on the modern Pagan wheel of the year, a wheel featuring 8 turning points in the seasons of nature across the year. Imbolc is a Gaelic word which means "Ewe's Milk", which is a theme for this time of year. The modern calendar is an amalgamation of different European Pagan traditions, featuring Celtic holidays but also the solstices and equinoxes. Traditionally the Goddess Brigid is honoured this time of year.
Brigid's name means "Exhaulted One", She is known as the Goddess of healers, poets, smiths, childbirth, inspiration, fire, the hearth and of warfare. Quite versatile to say the least.
Imbolc is traditionally the time of renewal, purification and planning for the (farming) year ahead. The stirring fires of the coming Spring that awakens life is associated with Goddess Brigid and so igniting candles and fires, leaving offerings at healing wells and crafting Brigid's crosses are all ways to honour this Goddess.
A Pagan who focuses more on a Wiccan interpretation would celebrate the "Goddess" as a maiden awakening from a winter slumber which begins to set the seeds of spring abalaze, if both the Lord and Lady are honoured it would feature around the God too as a Child of Light growing in power.
Below is a ritual I offer - copied from my book "Witchcraft The Wild Path for Beginners" - to help you celebrate this lovely time of year. I hope you enjoy honouring the returning Spring and your chosen deity. Blessed Be XxX
Ritual to Celebrate Imbolc
Holiday name and date: Imbolc – February 1st
Food and drink: Cheese, bread, milk, eggs, buns
Decorations: Brigit’s cross, candles
Magick: Protecting the hearth, home blessing
Supplies:
1 red taper candle and a possible candle holder
A small handful of Snowdrop flowers, fresh which were harvested with permission
A flame proof vessel with a charcoal disc
A sprinkling of your solar incense
A glass of Milk, Buttered bread, cheese, an egg or two
A red-coloured altar cloth
A symbol of Brigit’s cross if you are more Celtic-inclined
1. Set up your altar, which celebrates Imbolc, present on a small plate your food offerings to the God and Goddess, and also to yourself. If you are Vegan or lactose intolerant you may use an alternative to symbolise the flowing life waters of the coming Spring.
2. When you are ready, perform your psychic hygiene and open your psychic awareness up to the warming energies of Imbolc. Ignite your chosen candle and incense to represent the fires of spirit and say:
“This candle now lit,
In honour of the Earth’s tilt,
The Child of light grows,
And the Mother of life awakens,
Rising from the Earth,
Melting the frost,
And wetting the soil,
Fertile and ripe,
For all plants in sight,
Awakening the animals,
From their long winter night,
Blessed Be”
3. When you have said your prayer, sit back and feel the pleasant warming energies of Imbolc, give thanks and appreciation for the Ewe’s milk flowing after the long winter knowing that this shows us the returning Spring. Think about what seeds you will plant for the times to come – New plants? A new job? A lover? And appreciate the fertile land and ether.
4. When you feel that you are fully revitalised and ready, make up your offering of dairy or alternatives – to the God and Goddess, take a small piece for yourself and give thanks to them both for the holiday. You may also thank the Celtic Goddess Brigit if you have chosen to honour her, too. Proceed with your usual closing down, leave the candle burn out and then dispose of your offerings the following day, be mindful that not all wild animals should consume dairy products or fruits.
Blessed Be, Mat. XxX
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