Merry Meet
Imbolc, which is also known as Candlemas, is the second greater Sabbat of the year that celebrates the end of the Winter season and the first beginnings of Spring. It is considered the time when the Earth awakens. The word Imbolc is Gaelic and means "in milk" and is also seen as meaning "in belly". This represents the coming of the milk to the herd animals for their young.
One of the most popular Goddesses that represents Imbolc is the Celtic Goddess Brigid. It is believed that Brigid will bring fertility to the Earth at Imbolc. People light candles in honor of her and they mark the growth in the light of day and the change of seasons. The celebrants would put Brigid's crosses in their animal pins and leave food offerings to the fairies in order to have good crops and animal fertility for the next year. Also, some made corn dollies and placed them in Brigid's Bed with a phallic symbol to represent fertility and the union of the God and the Goddess and the bringing of fertility to the Earth.
During Imbolc, there are lots of things that you can do for awakening, purification, and cleansing. Imbolc marks what is known as spring cleaning and is a good time to cleanse and consecrate tools and to start new projects. This is not only a time to clean your house, it is also a time to clean and awaken yourself. You can do a meditation on what you would like to do for yourself this year and you can take a ritual lavender bath to cleanse your aura. This is also a time to get rid of old protection and prosperity charms and make new ones and a time to burn your corn dollies from the last harvest season in the Imbolc fire. Burning the corn dolly represents the end of the winter season and the beginning of spring. In order to clean your house, you can light a smudge stick and walk around in every room of the house, letting the smoke carry away all negativity built up in your house. You should open your windows while you do this and wave the stick out of them to make sure the negativity leaves with the smoke. This is also a time to cleanse all of your ritual objects.
There are several correspondences for Imbolc. The colors for Imbolc are white, red, and black, but you can use pink and silver as accents as well. The incenses and herbs for Imbolc are dragon's blood, frankincense, red sandalwood, lavender, heather and lemon. The woods for Imbolc are birch, brambles, willow and blackberries.
Here is a recipe for phallic bread. You could make two loaves, one to eat for the Imbolc feast and one to place in Brigid's Bed. If you didn't want to place the bread there, you could also make a phallic candle, carve a phallus out of wood, or even draw it on paper and leave it in the bed.
Imbolc Phallic Bread
taken from Dancing with the Sun by Yasmine Galenorn
You Need:
2 tbspoons active 1/4 cup oil
dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tbspoons sugar
1 cup corn meal
2 cups warm water
5-6 cups flour
2 eggs
3 tbsp cinnamon
- Stir yeast and sugar together. Add 1/2 cup warm water and stir. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Beat eggs and add to yeast mixture along with oil. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups warm water. Beat.
- Stir in salt and corn meal. Beat. Begin adding flour, 1 cup at a time, until the dough is stiff and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl (you may not need all 5-6 cups).
- Turn onto floured board and sprinkle cinnamon on top of the bread dough. Knead for 10 minutes. As you knead, think about the fertility of the grain, about the God coming to His Lady's side. Think sexy thoughts!
- When the dough is smooth and elastic, place in a buttered bowl and cover. Set in warm spot until the dough doubles in bulk.
- Punch down and let rise once more.
- Form a portion of the dough into a phallic-shaped loaf (get creative here-don't be shy!). Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-35 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick inserted will come out clean. Time will depend on size of loaf. Form the rest of the dough into rolls and bake for 15-20 minutes. Keep these for the Imbolc dinner.
Imbolc Meditation: Seeds of Potential
taken from Wicca: A Year and a Day by Timothy Roderick
When one considers early agrarian life in Old Europe, it becomes an easy matter to understand how the cyclical patterns of the plant world took on an important mystical focus for our ancestors. The changing seasons and their effect on the growth of food crops became a powerful metaphor for the ancients. The passage of the seasons, which affected the birth, growth, and propagation of crops, also represented the basic pattern for human life.
Seeds usually scatter after a plant dies, but seeds are points of potential. They are unformed life. Rituals that involve the planting of seeds at Imbolc represent setting potential into motion. The seed rituals of Imbolc symbolize the principle that death is really an illusion; life always continues, sometimes hidden in unseen form.
In today's mystical working, you will identify your own inner (possibly hidden) seeds of potential.
Meditation
If possible, have a friend read this to you. If you can't do this, tape record you reading the meditation, just like you would if you were leading someone else. Play this tape when you do this so that you can be guided.
Reader:
Find a comfortable sitting or lying position and close your eyes. After several deep, slow breaths, imagine that you stand before a great stretch of freshly ploughed farm land. The soil is rich and dark. Reach down and feel the cool, sticky, dampness of the soil. Inhale the dark, earthy scent. Now cast your gaze into the center of the field. There you will notice a golden glow that you had not noticed before. Walk through the field to the golden glow.
(Reader: pause for a moment)
When you reach the glow, you notice that it is a golden sack, lying in the soil. It is a seed sack. These are the seeds of your greatest potential. Pick up the sack and you will find a word written on it that represents your potential. Imagine now that you plant these seeds all over the field. As you plant each seed, the earth takes on a golden glow.
(Reader: pause for a moment)
When you are finished, slowly return to the place where your body rests comfortably. Open your eyes and take time to contemplate your visions. Write down the word that represents your potential.
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