Imbolc

Welcome to the third of eight solar festivals in Ireland.

Greeting Spring and the Returning Light

From Well of the Saints by John Millington Synge: There's the sound of one of them twittering yellow birds do be coming in the spring-time from beyond the sea, and there'll be a fine warmth now in the sun, and a sweetness in the air, the way it'll be a grand thing to be sitting here quiet and easy smelling the things growing up, and budding from the earth.

Imbolc is a cross quarter day, midway, between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. At this time we celebrate St. Brigid’s day, Candlemas – the Presentation of Christ, the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin. St. Blaise’s Day–Patron of sore throats, and in North America, Groundhog day. It is also the Feast of the Poets.

Brigit patron of Fire in the Hearth (candles), the brave and bold leader of Spring (Snowdrops), Fertility (polished egg), mysticism (Crystals) and Healing (Bhrat Bríde).

Left: Guardian in the centre of Bakewell town can feel a melting sensation Above: Rivers are in full spate with heavy rains. In this photo, glimpsed as white clumps, overwintering whooper swans find a piece of swampy land in the middle of a flooded Boyne.

Imbolc, aka Imbolg or Oimelc (Ewes milk) on the modern calendar is 1st February, and the ancient calendar around 4th February, depending on the moon. The sun arrives in the mid point of Aquarius (15°).

Imbolc is truly a transformational time of the year. It is the doorway we pass from the old Winter to new Spring. It is a birthing time in nature when the first of the flowers and buds come into bloom. It is a time associated with the goddess of the land expressing herself in pure form.

Everyone is enjoying the slowly lengthening days, and especially the beautiful full moon of the season. New born lambs are out in the fields. We will not dwell on the snow or lack of it as we still have cold February to get through.

It is a transformational time of the year and Brigid represents this beautifully by being born at sunrise in Faughart around 450AD, in a door way, her mother positioned so that one leg was inside the house and the other leg on the outside, on the threshold of two worlds. Two bishops and two druids prophesied that she would be a child like no other and during her life she was associated with many signs and miracles.

During her ordination as a nun Brigid, out of humility, stayed to the back of the group of women taking the veil. However, a column of fire arose from her head and reached the ridgepole of the church. Upon witnessing such a miracle Bishop Mél asked who she was and invited Brigid to come forward before all the other novitiates. During the consecration Bishop Mél ,moved by the holy spirit, read out the consecration of a Bishop, rather than that of a nun. When challenged he said he could not undo what the Holy Spirit had ordained, and so Brigid and her successors had the power of Bishops.

Brigid then went to Kildare (Cill Dara – Church of the Oak) ~ 490AD looking to set up a nunnery. She approached the King of Leinster and told him that where he stood was an appropriate place. The King refused her permission so Brigid prayed to God to soften the King's heart. Brigid then asked the King permission to

build a convent that would fit on her cloak. The King amused at this “joke” agreed. Brigid took off her cloak and laid it on the ground while praying to God. Then she got four friends to each take a corner and walk in the directions North, South, East and West. The cloak magically expanded and quickly started to envelope the Curragh of Kildare. The King realizing he was in danger of loosing his entire kingdom pleaded with Brigid to halt and in return not only granted her the site but the materials with which to build it. Her cell was built under a mighty oak.

The pagan aspects of Brigid (a Tuath de Dannann deity) are strongly linked to the triple goddess (or sisters).

One aspect or influence is of wisdom, in the arts, poetry and protections, a second of fire, as metal working smithcraft and of the hearth (one of her names is breo-saigit, or 'fire-arrow') and the third healing. She was certainly a samhilldánach and coincidentally, in the wheel of the year, positioned directly opposite Lugh, semidivine samilldanach, master of all the arts. Lugh is celebrated at Lughnasadh six months later in August. Her legendary father was Dagda, the Good God, who lived at Bru na Boinne / Newgrange. Her goddess mother was the Morrigan. Like the Paps of Anu in Kerry this goddess has two paps in the landscape near Newgrange.

The human parents of Saint Brigid are, according to legend, Dubhthach, an Irish chieftain, and her mother, Brocca, a slave at his court. Nowadays it is usually accepted that the original biographers and monks took aspects of the pagan and Christian and connected these qualities and stories to create a combined history.

At Imbolc we celebrate Brigid in her many guises. Three aspects of the Lady Brigid are as a healer, with the gift of her healing cloth, the Bhrat Bhride; as a protector, represented by the red eared cow that provided her milk as a babe, and her cross. Hers is an energy of renewal, spreading her cloak over the land, invigorating new growth in springtime.

St Blaise of Armenia: Blessing of the Throat - 3 February Two white candles blessed on Candlemas (2 February) are held, by the priest, crossed over the heads of the congregation or individuals are touched on the throat with them. The legend is that St. Blaise, on his way to prison for refusing to worship the King's gods, saved a child who was choking on a fish bone and afterwards two candles were lit in his cell by a grateful woman. Blaise is also patron saint of vets and wild animals.

St: Gobnait in Cork - 11 February Born in Clare in the 5th or 6th Century, she fled a family feud, going to Inisheer in the Aran Islands. Here an angel told her that this was "not the place of her resurrection" and that she should search for a place where nine white deer were grazing. She found the deer at the place now known as St. Gobnet's Wood. Gobnait is usually symbolised with bees having links to them in her legends.

This corn dolly wears a ribbon given by the Ballyvourney priest who keeps the wooden statue relic of Gobnait.

The ribbon has been 'measured' against the statue and having touched it carries the relic's healing vibrations.

Gobnait is usually symbolised with bees having links to them in her legends.

Uncertainty: Are you dancing? Are you asking? Oh, the uncertainty of the dance! Our dance of life is familiar in the turning seasons as the year does its own circle dance. But we feel that the energies of the year seem to be stirring with an air of the unknown, a certain amount of uncertainty, a belief we see reflected in the massive challenges courting our country and our world. We now enter the season of Imbolc, Spring. Leaving behind the Samhain period of death, mourning and conception, we are at the threshold of promised things to come.

And yet... when will winter end? It has been a hard, ice-cold time, maybe it is not finished yet? Maybe we should not go into the garden and sow just yet, maybe we should keep those packets of seed unopened a little longer? Maybe the earth is not quite ready? And in our own lives it is time to put plans into action, to catch the fresh energy of Spring or should we wait a little longer? As the sun climbs higher in the sky and the days lengthen we long to get going, to change job, move house, our thoughts and desires are stirring, and yet we are not sure whether to cross the threshold into our futures... Life seems to be changing and yet there are delays, uncertainty and confusions.

Preparation: Brigid, nature personified at this time, is the Goddess of Smithcraft. She shows us that, in the warmth of Spring, as we melt down to our component parts, we can be reshaped and redefined into new patterns. We have choices. We now have to decide how we want to shape the base metal of our lives and personalities for the coming year. Stirring the fire in our hearts and minds we have set our intentions in the hibernation time of winter and now we can start designing and ordering supplies, quantifying the amounts and quality of what we would like to bring into our lives, emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually.

Assessing what we have brought through the winter, just as the fishermen will now bring out their boats and assure their seaworthiness. Farmers are deciding the extra hands to be hired for the coming season and we can review our personal relationships; who we wish to be with and who is most suitable to help us achieve our ambitions and hopes.

Ferility: Imbolc is often referred to in Irish as the stirring in the belly. It is a way of describing the fertility process of pregnancy. Imbolc is a fire festival that recognises that after the darkness and void that is Samhain comes the dynamism of Yin and Yang, female and male. The polarisation of these two opposites creates a third dynamic, that of the child.

The Irish deity associated with this is the Shela na gig. The one pictured is in the graveyard on the Hill of Tara. The Shela na gig emphasises the dark opening of the womb from which all life comes.

This has been sanitised somewhat and St. Brigid is our modern day Christian counterpart of the yin energy of Imbolc, whilst St. Patrick represents the Yang at the other end of the season of Imbolc at Spring Equinox. These two forces come together to give us the overt fertility of Bealtaine. At Imbolc we are preparing for Spring and Summer abundance.

Imbolc is thus associated within the human as the first invisible trimester of pregnancy or in the greater world as fecundity in general.

On a personal or spiritual level it reminds us to link in with our inspiration and ideas as these have the potential to grow to maturity and change our world forever.

It is a time of the year which, in Ireland, is oppressively cold and damp. Nature seems barren and almost lifeless. Livestock are still housed indoors and the fields are unproductive. But this is an important doorway into the more comfortable fertile part of the year, through which we must pass on the yearly cycle. The name Imbolc refers to the belly/womb and hints at pregnancy reminding us that there is a lot of invisible work happening under the surface. Up until now the Goddess of the Land is personified by the Cailleach who holds close association with the fierce Morrigan – phantom queen, goddess of war, and Macha goddess of death.

However it is at this time that the natural world is reborn out of darkness and death. Winter is over.

While it is still cold the days are beginning to noticeably lengthen and with the lengthening days will come the higher temperatures and mild weather encouraging growth in the fields. Attention is drawn towards the plants and animals which are active at this time of the year.

The snowdrop has been associated with the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary and in Ireland it is generally considered the first flower to appear after the winter has passed. Appearing around St. Brigit’s day and often referred to as Brigid's flower, it has close association with hope, strength and fortitude. This timid little flower is the first to poke it's head above the ground and proclaim the important news that winter has passed. It shoots forth in defiance of the harsh conditions and is a landmark victory over the end of winter. Although sometimes considered unlucky to bring inside, as it typically is found in graveyards, it is not out of place on a Brigid's altar.

We have been protected in the chambers of our warm homes, but as the season turns we know that it is time to venture outside again, like a bulb pushing its shoots above ground. We have to come out of the shadows and into the light! Like the snowdrop it is a time for casting off the dark Samhain shell and standing naked (metaphorically, before anyone gets any ideas) in the world. The bulb is growing skyward with the shoots and earthward with the roots, and we emerge into the light, securing the foundations laid in winter. Physically going to a high location at mid-day we may draw down the greatest potential energy of the sun at this time of year.

Frog: A powerful symbol for this time of year. They suddenly emerge from their sleeping darkness, croaking loudly, laying spawn and jumping into new life. They are at home equally on land and in water suggestive of mediumship and they jump from one state of consciousness to another easily. That reminds us to wake up and jump from one level of consciousness to another and to adapt to our constantly changing surroundings. Their spawn is a very obvious sign of Spring and its appearance reminds us to be preparing for new growth in the future.

There is lore which states frogs can predict the summer weather by the position of their spawning clumps. If the clumps are found in deep water the frogs are expecting a dry summer so move to deeper water to ensure supplies for the tadpoles. If they expect wet weather they will spawn close to the edge of the pool.

Flame: Traditionally it is believed an everlasting fire burnt in Kildare in pre-Christian times and Brigid, when establishing her nunnery there, decided to maintain the sacred flame. 19 nuns tended the flame whilst on the 20th day Brigid tended it. Surrounded by a hedge no man could cross into the space. It probably burnt from her time in the 5th century until extinguished in 1220 by Henry de Londres, the Anglo-Norman archbishop of Dublin or possibly until the suppression of the monasteries in the 16th century. The fire was relit in Kildare in 1993 by the Brigidine Sisters who sustain it to the current day. A new Flame monument was unveiled by President Mary McAleese on St. Brigid’s Day, 1st February 2006, in the Market Square Kildare. This lantern stayed lit on Tara during our celebrations.

Mound of the Hostages (Dumha na nGiall), Tara: Firstly, at the Hill of Tara, the Mound of the Hostages, a Neolithic passage grave dating back to 3000BC, has an entrance directed towards sunrise on 8 November and 4 February, the start and end of the winter season.

As the sun rises it squarely illuminates the back stone of the chamber for about a week.

Our Neolithic ancestors were obviously acutely aware of this time of the year, as were the Celts and the later settlers on the Island, each seeming to adopt some of the traditions and beliefs of the previous culture. In county Meath there are two important Neolithic solar alignments to Imbolc.

The stone engravings are illuminated, not by the sun beam directly, but it's diffuse reflection from the back stone.

Loughcrew: The other monuments in Meath are at Carnbane (Loughcrew) where stones within the cairn chambers are illuminated in orientation to the same sunrise as the Mound of the Hostages on Tara.

Simultaneously in Cairn L on Cairnbane West, Loughcrew, the sun is shining into the monument to perform what can only be described as a carefully choreographed ballet.

At the instant of sunrise the first rays of light are focused on a free standing white pillar stone and nothing else. The light is seen to visibly move from top to bottom in a matter of seconds and then swing from left to right where it is then focused onto a “mirror� stone which throws the diffuse sunlight into a dark recess illuminating one of the most accomplished pieces of Neolithic art in the world. This is the only time when the carvings can be seen without the aid of a torch.

All the fine detail being revealed in a very dramatic and stunning way. The sunlight then falls on an angled stone and again within a matter of seconds is seen to shrink and disappear as the sun moves higher in the sky outside the chamber. Curiously the central motif on the Mound of the Hostages stone and the Cairn L stone are remarkably similar, sharing nested concentric circles.

St Brigid's well, Raffony, Virginia, Co. Cavan: Wells associated with St. Brigid are found throughout Ireland.

Within this well house is a circular metal candle holder.

Bhride's Well, Calgath, Kilcock

St Brigid's Well, Culleenmore, Mullingar: A stone path symbolic of the Stations of the Cross leads to a stone beehive mound. Imbolc devotions sometimes open with this prayer: God our Father, give us a share in the gentleness and strength of St Brigid, patroness of our country. May we imitate her, who was known as Mary of the Gael, by our care for the poor, our generosity of life and our love of Jesus, your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever, Amen.

Brigid's Well & Shrine, Kildare

Brigid's Well beside National Stud car park,Kildare

Faughart: Brigid was born at Faughart (Fochard Muirtheimne) near Dundalk, Louth, about 450AD. There are claims that her birthplace was Umeras, about 5 miles north west of Kildare. A definitive answer is impossible on this or even her parentage and where they lived. This fits in rather well with the season's theme, uncertainty.

Her well is at the top of the Hill in the graveyard. Across the road is a large motte and there is said to be an entrance to a soutterrain nearby. There are good views over the Carlingford Hills and down to the Irish sea.

An Oratory, stream, Stations of the Cross and drinking water fountain are down the hill past Faughart mound.

A Brigid relic, a piece of skull, is held at Kilcurry Church, near Faughart. This is brought to the Oratory Shrine for Feast day celebrations and mass, bringing a blessing to the pilgrims.

The Shrine at Faughart has five healing stones. The knee stone is actually a double bullaun stone; the eye stone has a small depression in the top where water gathers and many also lie on this stone for relief of back pain; the hoof stone; the head stone with a white circle painted on it – you kneel and place the top of your head into the depression; and the waist stone rub it for relief of the stomach ache.

The acknowledgement of the directions; East, South, West, North and Centre: This can be led by one individual or by five different participants to orient sacred time and sacred space.

We look to the East and see the rising of the Sun, Moon and Stars. East, associated with the energy of inspiration, bright new beginnings and the element of air, youth. We recognise and tune into these energies in ourselves now.

We look to the South and the position of the warm noon day sun. All the celestial bodies reach their zenith here. The element of fire, the season of Summer and the energy of expansion and primacy of life. We recognise these qualities within our selves too.

We face to the West and see the setting of the Sun, Moon and Stars. This is the direction of Autumn harvest and fruitfulness. The direction of wisdom and maturity of spirit. It is associated with the element of water and fluidity.

We recognise these energies inside of us also.

We face the direction of North. The dark starry nights of Winter. Energy of contraction and death, meditation, introspection and sleep and stillness.

Direction of the ancestors and of the steadfastness of the element earth. We recognise these energies as part of ourselves.

We face the centre, the energy of the big bang of creation, the energy that permeates all time and space, omni present god and goddess. Wholeness and completeness contained in each of the other directions, energy of all that is.

Brídóg cloak: The Brídóg is a doll used to focus attention to Brigid. At an Imbolc gathering this veil-like cloak was created to replace the symbolic dark warm winter one of the Brídóg. Our Bridóg removes the black cape and skeletal face revealing her alter ego of the virgin; pure, inspirational and full of promise of rebirth and restoration.

The sheep's wool was gathered from Tara and Loughcrew Sliabh na Callaigh - and this is, of course, lambing time.

Woven in the veil fabric is birch bark. This came from a birch tree in RTE grounds in Dublin - RTE has Brigid's cross as a logo. Traditions suggest that birch bark represents new beginnings, poetry and inspiration. The red felt pieces symbolise Brigid in her smith aspect, representing the red hot hearth and the perpetual sacred flame at Kildare. The blue tie reminds us of St. Brigid's well, and the healing waters of purification. One small swan's feather represents the connections suggested between the Boyne Valley monuments and the constellation of the Swan, travelling on the Milky Way. Swan is said to be the dreamkeeper.

The Crone gives way to the Maiden: After the introduction a central fire is lit, and the circle and people smudged to remove misqualified energies and mark sacred space.

The Light (a candle in a lantern) is passed around to remind participants that we are “beings of the light in the light”. The Directions are marked to orient sacred space and sometimes the elements of earth, air, fire, water and ether are acknowledged.

Then we introduce the representational Cailleach (a doll, a stone), the winter goddess who rules over Samhain and all that is dark. One person walks around the circle carrying the symbol, metaphorically collecting the darkness from each individual so that they may be unburdened and move into growth without baggage. The Cailleach gathers all the darkness in her transformational fire and keens over it to acknowledge its passing. The baggage is then transformed by fire and turns into light.

With the shedding of the darkness use a wheel-like tai chi movement to draw down the sunlight and then symbolically draw nourishment from the earth into the roots to feed the plant stems which allows the plant to grow taller, which allows the plant to draw more nutrients and so on in a circular fashion.

Welcoming the Brídóg at the Threshold: Rushes used for making crosses can also be used to make this symbolic figure of the springtime goddess Brigid. Preferably wrapped / dressed in a white cloth, decorate this with appropriate meaningful items.

Traditionally, on the evening before St. Brigid’s Feast Day (1 February), the Brídóg was welcomed into the house with the petition that Brigid would give a blessing to the home ensuring good health and growing season.

In the community a Brídóg was carried around from house to house, in a procession. At each residence the crowd called out "The lady approaches, St. Brigid approaches", and the reply given "She is welcome, She is welcome". The Brídóg entered the house, songs were sung, then the procession moved to the next house.

Sometimes a young girl represented Brigid, while in some townships the men dressed up. They were called Biddys and sometimes wore a tall wicker head-dress.

An Imbolc get together can share in these traditions. Create a circle with stones, rope, or other boundary marker. Someone, wearing a black scarf or shawl, representing the crone of winter / Caileach walks around the circle three times carrying a lit lantern. She then metaphorically knocks on the door by clapping three times.

Everyone says 'Welcome'. The Brigid enters with the light, to represent the return of the sun. She exchanges the black for a white scarf. The old dross of negativity and all that no longer serves is transformed by the Crone bringing it to the light. The assembled crowd chanted Ohm, the primordial sound of creation to invigorate the Imbolc energies, feeding into the landscape as an encouragement to the land to wake up from the cold death of winter.

If at a stone circle or monument with an entrance door, a participant embodying Brigid and carrying the Cailleach doll walks around the outside three times, each time passing the door and knocking to come in. The group inside are listening to stories about Brigit and when the knocking occurs call out: “Tar isteach a Bríd agus tabhair duinn do bheannachtaí” - Come in Brigid and give us your blessings.

On the third round Brigid answers, “Gabhaigí ar bhur nglúine, foscailigí bhur súile, agus ligigí isteach Bríd” Get down on your knees, open your eyes and let Brigid in.

The Brigid then enters removing the skeletal face and black cloak revealing the virgin Brigid. All say “Sédo bheatha, Sédo bheatha ,Sédo bheatha” - You are welcome, you are welcome, you are welcome.

St. Brigid's Bed: Once welcomed into the circle the Brídóg may be placed on her bed, which may also be woven from rushes. This is an adaptation of the tradition where householders placed a bed of rushes in the corner of the room, providing Brigid somewhere to rest on her travels over the countryside before her 1 February feast day. It was believed that if the rushes were found disturbed the saint had spent some of the night there.

Bhrat Bríde: The Goddess Brigid is brightening the earth realm. Her gift on the eve of St. Brigid and at dawn on 1 February is the dew that forms as she passes over the length and breadth of the country (with her cow), drawing in her season. We welcome her and collect the dew, with its wonderful energy and healing properties. We recommend mindfully putting a cloth/old towel/old sheet on the ground or draped over a bush, placing some weighty stones on top to keep it in place over night. You could recite a prayer or song to Brigid and then simply leave it be.

The following morning allow the cloth to dry naturally and store it in an area where it will be safe for the rest of the year. The cloth may be torn into strips and distributed to friends, family and people who may appreciate ancient customs! Traditionally it is used in healing, wrapping or tying the cloth around the affected area, whilst asking Brigid to work some healing. It is also kept as a good luck talisman or placed on any object or written intent when the Bhrat will increase your purpose and where you wish to bring a blessing. We use it during the year to enhance our lives, physical and spiritual. Any fabric can be used to carry this healing essence, but white or blue wool, cotton or linen are most used.

Weaving the Cros Bríde: The St. Brigit’s cross has become one of the better known symbols synonymous with Ireland. It is an equal armed swastika style crooked cross which has been found in Mesolithic remains in the Indo-European cultures, Native American cultures and pre Christian European cultures. Some have suggested that it is an ancient representation of the cardinal points of the sun, ie., two solstices and two equinoxes dividing the year into quarters or seasons. The traditional Irish cross woven out of rushes curiously display the phi ratio ( 1.618 ) or golden section at all the key elements in its design.

The legend goes that Brigid was able to convert a dying pagan chief to Christianity on his death bed as she sat there telling him about Jesus. As she talked she reached for some of the rushes strewn on the floor and out of them made a cross to illustrate what she was talking about. As she wove the pattern her calming voice, explaining the meaning of the cross, eased the man's soul. The pagan chief (in some versions of the story, her father) converted on seeing the cross and the symbol became highly popularised with this story. Whilst this may be true there is evidence to suggest that this particular type of swastika design is a symbol used throughout prehistory and would be familiar to basket weavers of most traditions. The cross has been associated with protection of property and people and is thought to protect the house from fire, placed over the house doorway it is a protection against evil entering the home, lightening or disease. Also considered to increase milk yield when placed in the cow barn.

'The room fell silent as we all concentrated on making our Brigid's crosses.'

The crosses are usually woven into a three or four armed cross but they can be more complicated.

There are plenty of instructions on the internet how to weave them.

Protection – after weaving Brighid's crosses, the arms can be tied with red ribbon or a strip of Bhrat Brid.

Triplicity - 3 gateways: As so often happens, on the day we had to change our plans. A good teaching in flexibility and adapting to changing situations. An energy that prevails at Imbolc! We shared our three gateways at the bridge, with three blessings - each participant passed onto their neighbour a blessing with Holy water from Brigid’s well (Faughart), a blessing with a piece of Bhrat Bhrid and a blessing with our Brigid’s cross.

First - bridge over flowing water representing the threshold of the past, inviting us to come into the present.

Second - the threshold formed between the uprights of the forest trees that invite us to be in the present moment.

Third - a gateway of stones into a stone circle, inviting us to consider where we want to focus our growth for the coming year.

Imagine you are sitting in the cosy whitewashed home where Brigid was born, warmed by gentle flames of a fire in the hearth, the heart of the house. On the wall hangs a modest picture of a graceful woman in long white muslin dress emerging out of the ripples of a woodland stream. On the bank beside her stands a man, upright, supportive, guardian while she steps lightly in the water. You rise from your chair and walk over the soft earthen floor strewn with dried lavender flowers, releasing their scent, lift the latch and open the small window.

A pleasing southerly breeze touches your face, ruffles the branches on a nearby bush, and a small bird sings.

Beside the house a tender stream gurgles over soft rounded stones. Leaning on the waist high cill of the window you inhale deep gentle breaths of fresh spring air. Here small white flowering snowdrops peek out of green grassy banks of the rill, white skirts nodding quietly in the playful air, and there the last of the brown autumn leaves blow hurriedly over the clear earth under tall trees. You can almost smell spicy resin in the bark of the trees. You will not leave the house, but continue to look out through the window, noticing every small change in the scene. What do you envision coming into sight? Maybe an animal, a bird, person, or blossoming plant. The whole world is out there. Enjoy standing at the window for as long as you want.

When ready close the window, walk back over the lavender, releasing its aroma, to your seat by the fire. You can feel the small smile of optimism on your face, knowing that the season is turning, fresh existence and growth active in all beings and in your own life.

Turn your thoughts inwards to the midriff of your being. Be aware of your own essence at your centre, your true self. It is as if you are looking through a window again, this opening into your own soul. And within is everything. Happiness, creativity, joy, grief and pain, you can see them all. Looking through the window you can see all this is known by your soul. Yet you are not concerned with what you see, feeling contentment and serenity.

Bring the meditation to a close by bringing your attention again to the painting on the wall of a woman in the stream and man beside her. They are an apparent duality. We perceive much of the world as split into fragments. Notice their freedom. The woman paddling in the stream as if a child. The man watching and waiting to take her hand when ready to step away from splashing amongst the water worn stones. In an instant of realisation you see they are the same person. The divine truth within your soul is there, always playing and waiting to be acknowledged. Thank them for their presence and inspiration.

Finish, have a drink and bite to eat.

Prayers and Blessings of Brigid: The theme of the earthly and angelic Brigid inspires Prayers and Blessings of Brigid (many are available on the internet), meditate focussing on our inheritance of Brigid's gift of light and enduring truth, with the intention of healing for ourselves, friends, relations and wider world issues. You may use a candle to bless each individual with light of Brigid, goddess of fire, to invoke the fire in our lives and in our land.

This is the season of Brigid, May the fire of Brigid light your way, She who protects our hearth and home.

May the fire of Brigid warm your heart, We honour her and thank her for keeping us warm.

May the light of Brigid inspire your mind.

Great Lady, bless us and protect us in your name.

Encouraging a healthy wakefulness after winter hibernation: All stand at the entrance to the circle or room. In order to enter the room or circle participants are challenged with a riddle to represent the uncertainty of moving forward and the difficulties facing new life and new projects. By mastering the riddle the participant becomes wise and overcomes the obstacle and can gain entry.

Sample riddle: What does man love more than life, fear more than death, what the poor have plenty of, what the rich require, what the contented man desires, what the miser spends and the spendthrift saves, is greater than god and is more evil than the devil and all men carry to their graves? Answer: Nothing. After the challenge of the riddle the participants may be blessed by water from three holy wells and enter the circle.

Active Listening:While waiting for all to enter the group stand in silence, actively listening to the earth. Starting with silence, with listening, we are responding to the quietness of this time of year. All in, participants walk clockwise around the gloomy interior of the chamber becoming familiar with the dark space, reflecting on the periods during Imbolc when nothing seems to be growing or active.

Relighting candles:Then one volunteer passes around an unlit candle and all participants breath in a vision of hope, blessings and light and inspiration. A volunteer then places the candle in the centre and lights it on behalf of the group. This candle light symbolically warming up the earth and ourselves. Then the group light their own candles from the central flame as a symbol of their own light shining into the world, arranging them on the floor as rays of the sun.

Heartbeat Drumbeat:A few minutes of silent contemplation follow when a drummer starts a heart beat. A heartbeat is the most physical indentifiable statement of intangible life. We have a heartbeat drum beat to help shift the energies from hibernation to wakefulness and listen with our whole bodies to the waking energy.

Weaving Dance:To raise the energies even further the participants were led in a simple circle dance. Societies the world over have encoded deep seated spiritual beliefs into dance and so we use rhythmic rattling and simple movements to help externalise the deeper rhythm of life. We dance with the earth and with each other. There are many possibilities with walking in a circle. One possibility is that the group stands in a circle and each alternate person takes one step forward. These now stand still whilst the others walk around them in front and behind each participant. When one or more turns are completed the two groups swop roles. Or half can walk clockwise while the other walks anti-clockwise, then reverse directions. Then we breath; inspiration, warmth and energy into the earth, through a candle, in order to 'breathe life' into Gaia. To wake her up from her winter hibernation.

Release winter with snowballs: There is a custom of throwing the last snowballs to say good bye to the winter.

Make snowballs with tissue paper if real snow is not available. Great fun in a group!

Renewal: Acknowledge the optimism and hope of the coming summer by walking anticlockwise sharing the base note essence of lemon and the top note of frankinsence, blessing the land. We also connect heaven and earth by acknowledging the Milky Way and land blessing by pouring the life juice of milk. Ask that the protection of Brigid be sent across the land, linking specific places, then spread out across the land, and out again across time and space.

The Dairy: In the old days milk represented purity and had acclaimed healing properties. Making a milk based dish will celebrate Brigid on her Feast Day as would a pleasant glass of Irish whiskey and cream based liqueur There are many legends connecting Brigid particularly with cows, referring to how she was fed on the milk of red eared cows (she could take nothing else), telling of her milking the cows, churning milk and making butter.

One tale relates that Brigid visited a very sick woman who could only be saved with a milk drink. Brigid instructed that a cup of water be brought to the bedside but to conceal it. She then blessed the cup. A miracle was then revealed as it now contained milk. The woman drank the milk and was instantly cured.

The Kildare convent had a herd of cows that were good milkers. However, one day they proved just how full of milk they really were. Seven Bishops arrived unexpectedly. Great consternation in the kitchens! How could they feed these dignitaries? Brigid started praying for guidance and help in this awkward situation. As she appealed to God she became aware of angels surrounding her. They told her to milk the cows. They had already been milked twice and it was unlikely they had milk available, but she did as she was bade. Well, the angelic realms knew best. Not only did they fill all the available pails as she milked them, the pails overflowed. The fresh creamy milk formed a white puddle, which grew into a large pond, and still the milk flowed. The pond grew into a lake, which became known as the Lake of New Milk, Loughminane or Loch Leamnachta.

Now some say it was not Brigid but the cook Blaithnait who received the message from the angels. And some say there were not seven Bishops but eight or even eighteen. And some say that the milk did not overflow but that the last drops were given to beggars, and only when they had their fill did the pail empty. And that it was beside the Lough that all this happened rather than the lough was created by the over abundance of milk..... But this is the way of myths and legends.

Butter: Churning butter should be completed by sunset on the eve of Imbolc. It is said that Brigid would divide the butter she churned into thirteen parts, one for each of the twelve apostles and one larger part for Our Lord, which she would distribute to the poor. A dish of butter is placed on a windowsill and a fresh fire kindled in the hearth or a candle lit in honour of Brigid.

Buttermilk: Originally, buttermilk was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream. This type of buttermilk is known as traditional buttermilk. Cultured buttermilk is produced from cow's milk and has a characteristic sour taste caused by lactic acid bacteria. Buttermilk is a main ingredient of soda bread.

Boxty: - bacstaí or arán bocht tí meaning "poor-house bread" This traditional griddle potato pancake dish, made with buttermilk, has its origins in Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim and Monaghan, and is sometimes called Stamp.

Boxty on the griddle, Boxty in the pan, If you can’t make Boxty, you’ll never get a man.

Boxty on the griddle, Boxty in the pan, The wee one in the middle, that’s the one for Mary Anne.

(Traditional Irish Rhyme)

Theme – Threshold At Imbolc we look back to the recent turning of the year at Winter Solstice and step forwards, the journey path bringing the increasing height and warmth of the sun, heading towards the longest day, Summer Solstice. This is a marker day, a quarter day, when we feel the stirring in the belly, when we have an awareness of being between two worlds, that of cold winter and hot summer.

Brigid's birth is said to have taken place at the threshold of her home, the liminal space between the inside and outside of the cottage. In many versions of the legend it was sunrise as her mother was crossing the threshold with one foot outside and one inside. The mother was carrying a container of milk in her hand. The milk was used to wash the newborn, and this brings in the many connections to milk in Brigid's life.

The first beams of the rising sun entering through a doorway, have been used as a symbolic moment for ceremony and ritual in many cultures. In the Rigveda, one of the inspiring sacred texts of Hindu, 'The dawn shone with brilliance and opened for us the doors that open high and wide with their frames.' Amongst the Mayan monuments of Central America, the alignment of the February sunrise is one of the most prolific.

Inside the doorway of the Mound of the Hostages, on the Hill of Tara, in County Meath, Ireland, is a stone, marked with unknown symbols of circles and lines. The passageway is short, the back wall of the chamber being covered in moss and lichen when this photo was taken.

Place – Doorway Find any doorway – your own front door might as good a place as any - it stands between the inner world of comfort and safety of home and outer world where we are exposed and perhaps vulnerable. It is a favourite place for children and adults to sit and watch the world. It is a particularly symbolic and meaningful crossing place in our lives; a place where any ritual performed will have a deep significance. When we close the door the boundary between the known and unknown is clear, an open door with the light inside spilling out onto the entrance path always a welcome when returning home.

Time – Sunrise The frosty winter dawn is often heralded by a bright yellow and orange glow on the south east horizon, breaking through the frozen mists blanketing the valleys.

Nature's vital forces are awakening to another day and there is a mystical quality to the air.

Centre Snowdrops – one the first flowers to welcome the arrival of Spring. They are symbols of hope, that the deprivations of winter, dark and cold, will soon pass and better days lie ahead, a positive message for a bright future. It is said that after being sent out of the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were in a place where the land was barren, cold and snow covered. However, an angel took pity as Eve sat weeping in her misfortune. This consoling angel caught a snowflake, breathed upon it, then released it to fall onto the earth. Where this magical snowflake landed the first snowdrop appeared.

Dandelions – Caiserarbhan in Irish, known as the knotted plant of Brigid, which is said to refer to the serrated leaves. The bright yellow colour, another of the first flowers of the springtime, remind people of the sun, and the milky sap is symbolic of the milky legends of Brigid.

Cardinal Directions

I acknowledge the east, the energies of spring, identifying and drawing on resourcefulness, initiating a new start, uncovering the potentials of birth and rebirth. I celebrate and welcome all ideas – the mental realms.

I acknowledge the south, the energies of summer, experimentation, expansion, development, enjoying the exuberant growth of youth. I celebrate and welcome health in mind and body – the physical realms.

I acknowledge the west, the energies of autumn, harvesting, recollecting all of life's experiences, sharing in the wisdom gained in maturity. I celebrate and welcome all dreams – the emotional realms.

I acknowledge the north, the energies of winter, thinking, ending, withdrawing, retreating, regrouping, resting in the deep inner reflection of an elder. I celebrate and welcome all mystical qualities – the spiritual realms.

Elements Blessed be the precious and preserving air, by which we are given life. May we be as a flying bird, rising high and viewing life from a high vantage place.

Blessed be the precious and preserving water, by which we are cleansed. May we be as a swimming fish, going in the flow of life.

Blessed be the precious and preserving fire, by which we are warmed. May we be as a basking cat, enjoying the heat of life.

Blessed be the precious and preserving earth, by which we are sustained. May we be as a walking animal, staying close to ground, secure on our path of life.

Blessed be our senses of perception by which we experience the elements. Blessings on our eyes and sense of sight.

Blessings on our ears and sense of hearing. Blessings on our nose and sense of smell. Blessings on our mouth and sense of touch and taste.

Activity Passing through a doorway Passing through a doorway in a mindful fashion is appropriate to reminding us of the Brigid legends, of her birth and as a guardian of our homes and, on the broader scale, this transitional time of year. We can sprinkle water from a holy well on the threshold to bless all that pass over the liminal space. Touching the door frame anchors our intents. If you have a Brigid's cross you may like to hang it on the framework, or attach a piece of Bhrat Bride to the wood.

Standing centrally in the doorway, touching the two sides you become aware of the enclosed world of the home behind you and the expansive open world in front of you. You become aware of your neighbours houses, and their doorways, and all the doorways and those living in your area. Expanding your intentions outwards you awaken to all doorways, all entrances and exits.

May Brigid bless the house wherein you dwell.

Bless every fireside, every wall and door.

Bless every heart that beats beneath it's roof.

Bless every hand that toils to bring it joy.

Bless every foot that walks it's portals through.

May Brigid bless the house that shelters you.

Open Heart This butterfly joined us on the Hill of Tara, bathing in a sunpuddle while we celebrated the return of the sun.

Here comes the sun: Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Ya. Ya who?

Wow! You sure are excited to see me!

Thanking, blessing and closing the connections We close the circle to the apparent world, thank and bless our connections to all guides, guardians, beings, times and realms made during this ceremonial. ‘Sin é’, that's it.