Imbolc 1997 Newsletter Imbolc Meditation

(Adapted from an Imbolc Meditation by Jaguar 2/94)

Settle yourself. Close your eyes. Feel your body relax as the tensions drain away from your face, your neck, your shoulders, your arms, your torso, your legs and your feet. Sense the whole of your body, calm and heavy in its relaxation.

Centre yourself. Feel for that calm, comfortable centre in which you are whole. Ground yourself. Extend yourself into the earth. Feel as your roots grow into the ground, as you find connectedness with her again.

This is the time of Imbolc, the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The sun has begun his journey back to full strength. He was born anew at Yule, and progresses through his transformation from infant to young man. He is potential, waiting to be realised. The days are lengthening as the nights shorten. Each day the sun brings a little more warmth. For now, however, the Earth remains in slumber, Spring is still only a quiet whisper.

Extend your senses beyond the walls to the world outside. Smell the crisp air, feel the cold and biting winds that blow across the land. See the dark grey clouds that bring the fresh rains of renewal. Feel the crisp grass beneath your feet and hear the crackle of the frozen leaves. Rebirth seems remote - even the call of the cuckoo is a distant memory.

But look in to the barns and the fields. Old loin fires of the bulls and rams will soon burst forth as the new calves and lambs of Spring. They will struggle on unsteady limbs, symbols of the green waiting impatiently to explode from the as yet quiet soil.

This is the time of metamorphosis, of the promise of fruition of seeds sown in seasons past. Brigid stokes these fires, inspiring the bard, the smith, the healer. Fertility and creativity begin to flow in this dormant season, as small things born at the Solstice begin to manifest, heralding the full flowering to arrive when the sun reconquers his throne.

See the fires in our hearths. feel the warmth, smell the food cooking. See the fires in our smithies, hear the clang of hammer striking anvil, shaping raw metal into tools. Feel the fire of desire, the climax which joins cell with cell in the creation of life. Listen for the fires of creativity. Music rings and voices flow as living beauty is sculpted from idle words and actions. Feel the fire of transformation. The season of transformation from the depths of Winter in to the rebirth of Spring.

Now, slowly, calmly, gradually come back inside. Come back to yourself. Begin to sense the world inside. Prepare yourself to celebrate this season. Rouse yourself. Be ready to grab the spoke and turn the wheel past the numbing cold of winter to the seductive promise of Spring.