Imbolc Blessings!
Are you someone who gets excited about the midway point of the Winter Solstice to the Spring Equinox? I honestly have a few mixed feelings about it. I make a (terrible) joke about always being a procrastinator since before birth, being that I was two weeks late...but perhaps it’s more of a hesitation to embrace spring? Cynically, maybe I just have always been comforted by the cocoon of darkness(???) Symbolism of the light shedding the shadows that I feel my spirit hides in (???) Maybe it’s just the awareness of agoraphobia aspects being culturally aligned with other people who go in hibernation mode in the winter, versus the added pressure of being out and about when society shifts to outdoor activities(???) Ehhh...who knows.
What I did read about recently was the history of Imbolc and how it may have influenced a mainstream tradition of Groundhog Day. To streamline the history, prediction of spring used to be seen by checking the activity of reptiles or borrowing mammals (like badgers) on the first of February. To reflect on its transatlantic cross over, I wonder where the need to check a groundhog’s shadow came from.
Also...maybe I shouldn’t question a Groundhog’s need for shadow work when I should be focused on my own. #mindyourownbusiness
This year, I tried to lean into Imbolc and the following times it brings. I lite a green candle in each room in use...I made some green jasmine tea...and I got lost in the creativity of music and plants.
I thought to myself how after two years of getting new plants in the ground, in the last year of focusing on flowers and flowering trees, this will be the first upcoming season where those blooms will come into our line of sight. With a season of rest for the plants, this year should see some momentum for root growth, nutritional uptake, and branching leads up and outwards from the central line...ideally for more than just the plants.
This is how I found my thoughts during Imbolc this year...focused on botanical growth and applying how that may be an extension of me. Current Earworm: