Where I live, in London, the days are getting longer, snowdrops and a few early primroses are just beginning to peak through the earth in my garden and spring feels as though it is just around the corner. And indeed it is. Imbolc, the festival in the wheel of the year that marks the first stirrings of spring, is celebrated on Sunday, February 1.
I asked Moon Books’ community of pagan writers what they will be doing to celebrate Imbolc this year and this is what they said:
‘I celebrate spring when the buds start to appear on the plants and you get that fresh spring feel in the air. I like to make plans and set the seeds of ideas in motion.’Rachel Patterson, author of A Kitchen Witch’s World of Magical Plants and Herbs, Grimoire of a Kitchen Witch and Pagan Portals: Kitchen Witchcraft.
‘I celebrate with my children. We make a brideog and a bed for Her and welcome Her in, and make Brighid’s crosses.’
Morgan Aislíng Daimler, author of Where the Hawthorn Grows,
Pagan Portals: The Morrigan and Pagan Portals - Fairy Witchcraft.
‘I’ll be walking amongst the snowdrops. My personal practice has become very unstructured in the last few years, more about being than any organised doing.’
Nimue Brown, author of Druidry and Meditation,
Druidry and the Ancestors and When a Pagan Prays.‘Imbolc is such special time for me and I like to make sure I spend some time with family and some time with my friends and magical colleagues. We normally have a short informal rite celebrating the coming warmth and Brigid, and then there is the tradition of a chilli cook off that has somehow sprung up over the years! I haven’t won yet...’
Mabh Savage, author of A Modern Celt.
‘I have just been accepted to train at Ovate level with the OBOD so this year Imbolc feels like a real time of preparation, of clearing and tidying and sowing seeds, both on a personal level and in the garden, which is where weather permitting I will be, reflecting and connecting as I work.’
Yvonne Ryves, author of Shaman Pathways: Web of Life.
‘I will be celebrating ritual on 31 January with my spiritual community The Web PATH Center at our storefront pagan church in Lyons NY [USA]. We will bless the seeds and garden plans for the celebrants even though New York is still in deep winter. We will also bless our manuscript of Sacred Sex and Magic, a Pagan Portals book scheduled for release later this year written by our whole group.’
Dorothy L. Abrams, author of Identity and the Quartered Circle.
‘I love Imbolc. The snowdrops are out – so beautiful. And it’s so amazing to think what that delicate green stem with the flower bud at its tip has done. Have you tried pushing your finger down into the cold, hard, frozen earth? It’s difficult and often impossible, and your finger has a good strong bone in it to help it keep its structure – imagine how that is for the flower stem pushing up the other way! We often ignore the everyday magic of the earth in our hurried, busy, self-absorbed modern society and the birthing of the snowdrops is just one of these wonderful magical things. I’ll be with a group of students to celebrate Imbolc this Sunday and we will definitely be sharing a little piece of the everyday magic all around us.’Elen Sentier, author of Shaman Pathways: Elen of the Ways, Shaman Pathways: Following the Deer Trods,
and Shaman Pathways: Trees of the Goddess.
‘My coven celebrates Imbolc as the ‘Feast of Frost and Fire.’ Snow is taken indoors, blessed, then melted ritually with hot water that's been charged with fresh intentions. The resulting water is poured over us as a blessing.’
David Salisbury, author of The Deep Heart of Witchcraft.
‘Imbolc is often a time of shift and new projects for me, and this year is no different. At Imbolc I will be moving house, so aside from the practical aspects of creating a new home, I will also be spending my time spiritually cleansing and protecting, setting up new home altars, creating a sense of sanctuary, and practicing gratitude with offerings and food. I traditionally cook a White Feast for my friends and family in honour of Brigid and the season of snow and thaw. It is usually a busy time of year for me, but a wonderful one too.’
Romany Rivers, author of The Woven Word.
‘I will be reflecting on what I’ve taken on during the wintertime that hasn’t served me well and then letting it go as though I was sweeping my hearth clean of heavy ash that stops the warmth of a new springtime fire from being lit.’
Jessica Rzeszewski, author of Carry the Rock: An Apprentice Journey.
‘I’ll be honouring a Goddess close to my heart.’Fiona Tinker, author of Pagan Portals: Pathworking through Poetry.
‘I will be celebrating with my coven, and also starting a new PHD programme. For me this year it is a time of waiting to see what seeds will turn into spring flowers, as I am publishing one book with Moon Books and starting to write a new novel.’
Rebecca Beattie, author of the forthcoming book Nature Mystics.
‘As well as the usual turning of the wheel celebrations with my coven and planting magical seeds with the Tarot, I will be mostly going candle mad and feeling snowdrop happy. Writing some spring chants at the mo which will probably turn into songs ~ I can't help it... Apart from that, it’s (domestic) business as usual on the muddy Hearth Fire path... )O(‘
Sheena Cundy, creator of The Magic of Nature Oracle and author of a forthcoming book The Madness and the Magic.
And finally, from Australia where summer is now ending, Jane Meredith, author of Aphrodite’s Magic and Journey to the Dark Goddess, will be celebrating Lammas with an open ritual and picnic. She said: ‘Just for something from the other side of the world, follow this Facebook link for details of a Lammas ritual in Australia: https://www.facebook.com/events/698531133578876/’
For more information about Moon Books and the pagan authors above, visit http://www.moon-books.net/
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