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No one loves Imbolc as much as me. Well, okay, that’s probably not true but this point on the wheel of the year is one of my favorites. As an avid gardener, I may in fact savor it even more than Ostara. By the time spring equinox rolls around, new life is everywhere--birds back from southern points, baby bunnies peeking out of shrubs, early spring flowers blooming. At Imbolc, it’s still at least part dream, and a beautiful dream at that! When we walk into the woods, the kids notice that in some spots the ground is no longer crunchy and frozen under foot.There are little patches of green, likely the hairy bittercress and henbit that will soon make neighboring lawn fanatics crazy. The cold world is gradually warming and stirring, ready to come back to life before long.

In Sweden, she comes on Old Solstice Day

But elsewhere in Witchdom, she comes in early February.

The Bride of Light.

Singing she comes. Crowned with candles and greenery she comes. Gowned and veiled in white she comes.

Before the Sun, she wakes us.

We rise, dress, and follow to where she leads us.

To breakfast.

And to sunrise.

     The name, Imbolc, comes from “i mbolg,” Old Gaelic for “in the belly.” What fertile seed is beginning to grow down in the belly of your deepest being? What’s shaking and quaking under the rich earth of You? This is the Holy Day for claiming the Light, the Life, the New that longs to grow from you and through you—claiming it, saying yes to it, honoring it with intention and blessing. We’ve been a thought thrumming in the hush of infinity, unnamed desire nestled in the dark swell of winter. It’s delicious riding the wave of infinite potentials, and then there comes a moment to shift out of the void, grab hold of your dream and leap with it into the Real. It’s time to Initiate. Time to place your bet on your own creative power. Time to let the Goddess of Light shine through you. Remember we are layered beings—animal, plant, crystal sleep in the secret strata of bone, blood, brain, aura. Draw on their dreams at this Imbolc Visioning Initiation time.
Miriam Dyak © Mother Tongue Ink 2015