What? You’re not celebrating Imbolc today? Well get out there and light a candle and celebrate “the coming of the light.” Haven’t you noticed? The days are getting longer!
Need more enlightenment?
From Wikipedia: “Imbolc is one of the four principal festivals of the Celtic calendar, celebrated among Gaelic peoples and some other Celtic cultures, either at the beginning of February or at the first local signs of spring. (Editor's note: No signs of spring here yet, we got 3 more freaking inches of snow last night.)
“Most commonly it is celebrated on February 2 . . . which falls halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere . . . Imbolc is traditionally a time of weather prognostication, and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens is perhaps a precursor to the North American Groundhog Day.” (Editor's note: if there are serpents coming out of their dens I am never going outside again.)
From Witchvox.com: “As a time of the year associated with beginning growth, Imbolc is an initiatory period for many. Here we plant the “seeds” of our hopes and dreams for the coming summer months.”
Kind of nice to think about, huh?
It’s sunny here today, which means any groundhog who peeks outside his burrow will see his shadow, get scared and dive back in, indicating six more weeks of winter weather. Sigh. But I’ll take the sunshine anyway.
Today, I am definitely thankful for the daylight hours growing longer.
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