Imbolc (Candlemas)
February 1 (beginning at sundown)
Theme: Quickening, Purification; Preparation; Initiation
Type: Seasonal Holiday ~ 1st Spring Festival
Imbolc is a time of quickening. The Earth begins to stir from her long winter slumber. We sense the rising of sap in the trees, the awakening of seeds deep in the soil and the promise of the coming Spring. The seeds of personal growth, which slept within us at Yule, begin to germinate.
Imbolc is a time of preparation and purification when we clear out old clutter and make way for new growth. This purification process is both external and internal ... spring cleaning time for our souls as well as our homes. Homes are cleaned both physically and energetically to create an environment for optimal creativity, balance and joy in the coming growing season. Fire ceremonies and other spiritual clearing rituals are performed for spiritual cleansing and blessing.
This holiday is a traditional time for initiations and dedicating oneself to new levels of spiritual exploration & commitment. Initiations and dedications are transformational ceremonies, which quicken new growth and invite our spirit allies to support us in in the next phase of our evolutionary journey.
Imbolc is a sacred feast of the great Celtic Goddess Brighid. In honor of the growing light (and of the Brighid’s perpetual flame) it is customary to burn candles to celebrate this feast. This is a traditional time for candlemaking; an ideal time to make &/or bless candles to be used for sacred work throughout the year. On Imbolc night, people divine for insight about the direction of spiritual exploration and work for the coming year.
http://www.healinghappens.com/wheel.htm
Some Suggestions to celebrate Imbolc
Set a fabulous dinner table with your candles, evergreen boughs spring flowers, dragons, sun symbols, or whatever says Imbolc to you
Decorate candles with stickers, metallic markers, paint and anything else you can think of! Light your candles and give thanks to Brigid for her inspiration
drink milk or spiced apple cider
Collect canned goods from family and friends to give to a food bank. Yule isn't the only time people are in need.
Go for a walk! Search for signs of spring. Take off your shoes and socks and squish your toes in the mud.
Open all the doors and windows and turn on every light in the house for a few minutes. Let the kids sweep all the old energies out the doors.
Lead the family on a parade around the outside of your home, banging on pots and pans or playing musical instruments to awaken the spirits of the land.
Make corn dollies and a cradle for them to sleep in.
Create a sun wheel out of stalks of grain and hang it on your front door.
Imbolc is one of the 8 druidical holidays that was later adopted into the wiccan and christian faiths. Although now most people spell it Imbolic for the case of proper pronunciation (SP). My personal favorite holiday is Samhuinn.
you would think that it would be spelled Imbolg since that's the celtic way to pronounce the name of the holiday, but nope. Samhain (Sow-in or Sah-vin(in irish) ) is one of my favorite holidays second to Beltane, and the third holiday on my list is Yule, lol.
Actually there is no historical evidence that the ancient Druids celebrated eight holidays. There is some evidence that they celebrated the cross-quarters of Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas, and Samhain.
Early modern Druids in the 18th and 19th centuries celebrated only the two Solstices. However, when Ross Nichols started what was to become the first specifically Pagan group of modern Druids (OBOD) he and many subsequent Druid groups chose to use the 8-fold model. Interestingly Ross Nichols and Gerald Gardner were good friends and both Wicca and modern Druidry seem to have adopted the e Sabbats at about the same time. (Note that in the earliest rendition of Gardner's writings The Wica only celebrated the four cross-quarters or Greater Sabbats.)
Actually, I am talking about druids back in the 14-1500's. Druids predate wicca by a long shot. Its just with this Neo-Druid crap going on, barely anyone still believes in the old ways.
To the best of my knowledge from my research on the subject, there is no evidence for the continuance of Druidry much beyond about 100 AD once the Romans had wiped out the majority of the Druids in Gaul and Britain. And no evidence of the continuance of Druidry in Ireland after the time of St. Patrick. And an interest in Druidry did not appear again in Britain until the early 1700's when it was thought that the Druids were closely linked to the Old Testament prophets.
What historical evidence do you have for the existence of Druids as an ongoing religion in the 1400-1500's? Historians who have written extensively on the history of ancient and modern Druidry would be thrilled if you can offer something concrete.
guys this is rather counter productive to the whole topic of Imbolc, how about making another thread debating this. I'm here to teach what I've been taught, and I'm not going to censor you guys because both of you are making very awesome points, however, the topic you've started has inadvertently switched to something unrelated to the holiday Imbolc. Thank you. ^_^
