Good Morning witches!
Midwinter. You would hardly know that we are still in winter at the moment if it wasn’t for the cold crispy mornings and having to scrap the ice off your windscreen in the mornings. Yesterday morning, here in the south of the UK it was warm enough to leave my front door open for a while and let some air in. I’ve noticed on my daily walks that in the gardens of the village, daffodils and snow drops and even some early primrose’s have start to poke up through the wet and soggy ground.
Imbolc is all about new starts and new begins. As we head out of the depths of winter and enjoy the lengthening of the days and look forward to the warm to come, we start to look out for the new growth in the garden and in nature.
I have had a particular bad winter. This year I have really suffered with SAD (seasonal adjustment disorder) and have been down in the depths of a really bad depression. But as the days get longer and I’m now only going got work in the dark and not coming home in the dark as well I can feel my mood starting to lift and things starting to rise up! Now that I feel I’m on the upward curve this is a good time to start cleaning out the caravan and start marking way for all the nice things coming my way in 2022.
Yes folks between now and Ostara its spring cleaning time. Time to turf out your cupboards and draws, go through your supplies and dump what you no longer need.
Just a little tip – when your going through your spell ingredients store remember that dried herbs last for about a years, may be two. So if you’ve got a stash of Mandrake root in the bottom of the box that’s been there since you can’t remember then it’s properly time to get rid of it. You can either burn it or bury it to realise any energies left in it back to nature. And if it has been in the bottom of the box for a long time then you don’t need to replace it right now. You will know your go to herbs for the spells you cast so why waste money replacing something you’ve not used in a while. Thanks to Ebay or your preferred supplier then it should’t be that hard to get some more when you need it. Stock management!
If I’m in the mood and remember I some times make up my own cleaning products as well. It’s simple and a nice way to clean rather than using heavy duty bleaches and tons of chemicals.
General purpose clean
- 125ml white vinegar
- tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda
- 2lts of water – about a pint and a half of water
- few drops of tea tree or lemon essential oil
Mix up the ingredients and decant in to spray bottles and use as you would any spray cleaner. usually best to make it up as you go but it will keep for a couple of months with no problems.
On the spiritual side of Imbolc, as your cleaning out your cupboards it’s a good time to reflect on the journal work and mental sorting out you’ve done during yule. I’ve put on quiet a bit of weight in the last couple of years and it’s time to break that mental habit of when I’m feeling down of reaching for something that is going to make me feel good right now! One thing I have noticed over the years when it comes to my self medicating with food is that if I don’t buy it then I don’t crave it. I’ll only eat what I have in. Sounds like a simple enough thing, right? So first thing I need to do is to be more mindful when I’m shopping. Do I really need that pack of Mr Kipling Blackberry and Apple pies? And as much as I love them those honey nut cornflakes, a box of plain old weetabix are properly going to be better for me.
As we already know Meditation is something that I want to add back in to my practice so I need to set a side a bit of time to do that, so do I really need to sit and binge watch all the old queer eyes on Netflix right now? Or would it be better to do one at a time and use the other half an hour to sit and be?
Simple easy choices to make the changes to bring about what you want to happen.
Imbolc
I am the dream of awakening.
I am the returning of the light.
I am the tough green shoot pushing up through the pavestones, I am the first kiss of sunlight on the unfurling petals of the snowdrop. I am the wind which whispers the gentle pull of home to the migratory bird.
I am the drop of ice melting on the mountainside with its great dream of the ocean.
I am the sap rising in the blossom tree just before it reveals its sticky buds to the sky; I am the riotous celebration humming away beneath the earth’s mantle of frozen sleep.
I am the rousing of the bee from its winter slumber, and the soft pad of the mother-wolf’s paw on the snow as she prepares to birth her pups.
I am hope, potential, rebirth and promise. I am the kindling breath which transforms the flicker of inspiration in your creative core into a blazing torch.
Give me the silent crescent moon rising over the sea and I will build you a bridge of silver light so you can walk up and lie in it.
Give me the frost-hardened wilderness and I will breathe radiant green life over it.
Give me the healer, the writer, the craftsperson and the storyteller, and I will replenish her essence and make her new again.
I am Brigid, Bast, Inanna and Hestia. I am the fierce protectress of the sacred fire.
Tonight I bestow my gifts of power and courage at the hearth of your soul: power to step out of the shadows of self-doubt and negativity which have held you in darkness for too long, power to shed all that which no longer serves you, and courage to clear your heart and mind for the dawn that awaits you.
I am the time to honor your unique gifts for their true worth and to protect and nurture your creative self as you would a child. I am the deep longing of the spirit which refuses to be consumed by a narrative of fear and chooses instead to place itself vivaciously on the side of love.
I am the stirring in your belly which knows exactly what you are capable of — and that it’s time the world found out.
I am the fire within which will not be contained any longer.
I am the quickening, I am the serpent uncoiling, I am Imbolc.
I am the dream of awakening.
Originally published on Rebelle Society at http://www.rebellesociety.com/2015/01/30/i-am-imbolc-the-dream-of-awakening/
What ever your plans are for Imbolc, have a blessed time. Laters witches!