Imbolc

The end of January, beginning of February in the Northern Hemisphere seems too early in the year to turn towards renewal. It’s been cold and rainy here, and the gray seems to drown out much of the signs of spring. During this time, nature maybe turning towards spring, but the signs are subtle, and we must attune with great awareness to witness them. 

Nature, while extreme at times (hello climate change), also speaks in more nuanced and quiet ways. This time of year, a cross quarter time, whispers are the main inflection of the moment for the natural world. Quarter times are like quarter moons to me, very potent moments that are often overlooked because they aren’t considered sexy enough in a culture that equates spirituality with what it can consume. But as we know, life infused and embodied with spirit  isn’t about glamour and big moments, but about whispers, nuance, and almost imperceptible signs.  
 
The quarter days of the wheel of the year are days that follow between the solstices and equinoxes. They are the places that if you give enough attention, you can see the ratio of day to night shifting, the plants changing, and the energetics of the season rewiring. This late winter/early spring festival is traditionally known as Imbolc, The Celtic pagan holiday. Snow drops, fires to St. Brigid, healing herbs, and clearing out the old is often how one marks this “quickening of the year.” It is the fertile darkness that is rich with possibility and knowing. 
 
My invitation to mark this turn of the wheel is to reflect on what is stirring for you? What is striving to breakthrough? Even if it doesn’t make it, the honoring of what was reaching for renewal is so important. 

The honoring that something inside was stirring, is the smallest action needed. Turning towards what was even if it never comes to light is a powerful act to honor what grows within you. A spiritual life isn’t about what was accomplished and beholden by everyone. That’s our dominant cultural overlay. 

In the spiritual life it is enough to whisper the inner knowing and let it land in your heart. The honoring and the witnessing is the sacred ritual. We need to retrain ourselves to honor our inner whispering without the push towards continuous action. 

Sometimes this honoring brings up grief and sadness for what we long for but aren’t able to bring into creation. You aren’t doing your spiritual life wrong if that happens. We live with practical constraints and real societal structures that are limiting. But those structures can’t take away the knowing and the honoring. 

Just to witness parts of ourselves that we have pushed away because “it’s not possible” is a deep source of healing. Until we turn our gaze to something and acknowledge it we can’t possibly know what opportunities it holds. If we continually turn away from ourselves we will not be able to truly turn towards another. 
 
With so much of our world in turmoil and chaos, it is hard to find the steadiness and the consistent. For many it is the world outside, our relations that reside in the natural world - the trees, plants, oceans, rivers, animals, the sky, the planets, the stars.  These quarter wheel days are a wonderful way to honor and say thank you to this constant and steady source of inspiration, regulation, and connection. 

Whisper to the leaves that are energetically forming on the trees, whisper to the plants making their way to the surface, and whisper to the wind your prayers and burdens. These small acts of connecting and consecration are how you LIVE a spiritual life in a modern world. One small act at a time – a perfect honoring for Imbolc – the day that honors the hidden that will soon be seen. 

Warmly,

Valerie ​