Imbolc is coming up

[Astara Seague]

Imbolc {Feb 2} this is one of my favorite holidays..probaly because I hate Winter so much to me Imbolic means Hope
As you know the Goddess recovers from giving birth to the God. The lengthening periods of light awaken her. The God's strength is increasing and He is now a young, lusty boy. The warmth of the Sun fertilizes the earth (the Goddess), causes seeds to germinate and sprout. And so Imbolc celebrates the earliest stirrings of Spring. It is a time of purification, creativity, and inspiration, a welcoming of change from the old to the new. This is a traditional time for Wiccan initiations and dedications
So any big plans you would like to share

[Teresa]

:) This is a typical time when people perform love divinations of all types.

This is a day that I would do major spring cleaning(mentally,spiritually and physically) and I normally do some type of ritual honoring all the elements. Getting rid of the old in order to make room for the new is a general thought around this time of year as well. Most look forward to the signs of spring coming, Crocuses sprouting up, birds begining to build nests etc.

It falls on a full moon this year.

One can perform purification or banishing rituals if needed or desired.

[Astara Seague]

our coven has two new initiates that are becoming full fledged members I'd like to plan something new and nice to mark the day
So Im working on it.. the full moon will be a great accent for anything we do

[SailleSeeker]

Brighid is one of my patron goddesses, and I'd like to honor her with all the attention I can give her on her holiday this year, particularly because I wrote a 20-page paper about her as a goddess and as a saint for my Goddess Traditions class last semester. The process of writing the paper helped me come to know her better and in ways that I hadn't known her before, and I'd like to take Imbolg as a time to thank her for the opportunity to write that paper and for the help and inspiration that she gave me with it. I've never made a Brighid's Cross before, but I'm going to hunt down some reeds or straw ahead of time this year, and I'd like to do some cooking in her honor - maybe hold a potluck in my dorm suite, if I feel up to it.

[cheddarsox]

This day begins six weeks of fasting for me. Fasting can be from food or giving up something else that I would reach for several times a day. Fasting keeps me aware of my focus, because when I think about or reach for the item I am fasting from, I remember, I'm not doing that today, and replace it with whatever it is I am focusing on.

It is a time for me to reevaluate what is essential in my life. A time for coming to clarity about things. Time to clean house both literally and metaphorically.

I try to let myself feel things very deeply during the six weeks between Feb 2 and March 21, not to insulate myself from my feelings and reactions to things.

There is a sense of starkness about it for me, a simplicity that feels welcome.

cheddar

[skilly-nilly]

We have a party on the Sunday closest to Imbolc (it's a 15+ year tradition with our house).

I invite family, Pagans, and non-Pagans, have buffet dinner, Irish music in the background, pots of Spring flowers for decoration, and at one point I give everyone a little chocolate cup (or hollowed-out strawberries for the non-chocolate folk) with mead or Bailey's Irish Cream (milk for the non-drinking folk) and we have a toast to the Return of the Sun and to absent friends.

And then eat the cups.

[Eleisawolf]

Imbolc (I like the name of Candlemas) is when I start planning my garden--both literally and figuratively. Hubby and I are patiently looking for plants to make our outdoors as much our comfortable space as our indoors is. But for myself, I take the new goals I have set at Yule and start planning how to help them grow. And the planting itself is between Candlemas and the Spring Equinox.

As for celebration, I light my vigil lamp and all the candles in the place I can possibly find. A toast for a fruitful season to come is offered to Grandmother Spring, but Grandfather Frost also gets a drink to encourage him to continue sending the snow that will help Grandmother Spring to do her best work... ;). We're not snow-haters, and every blessed foot that has fallen in Colorado this year will be gratefully celebrated with a vodka toast with Grandfather, because it means our gardens will burst and, with any luck, our water table will be better off than it has been in years...

Peace...

[Teresa]

We have a party on the Sunday closest to Imbolc (it's a 15+ year tradition with our house).

I invite family, Pagans, and non-Pagans, have buffet dinner, Irish music in the background, pots of Spring flowers for decoration, and at one point I give everyone a little chocolate cup (or hollowed-out strawberries for the non-chocolate folk) with mead or Bailey's Irish Cream (milk for the non-drinking folk) and we have a toast to the Return of the Sun and to absent friends.

And then eat the cups.

I wanna visit skilly-nilly :) Yum

[Windsmith]

Imbolc is the art holiday in our household. In Solstices and Equinoxes, we celebrate things that would happen whether or not humans were around to appreciate them: the lengths of daylight and darkness. The 4 remaining Sabbats are about the way we as humans interact with the world we live in: new life at Beltaine; harvest at Lughnassadh; death at Samhain; creation at Imbolc. And so our ritual will center around the creation of sacred art.

We'll also eat some cheese. 'Cause Brigid was all about the cheese. :)

[Dio]

Here's a cool thing that folks in my tradition do. You know all those half burned candles that were used at one point for a specific magical purpose, but never quite finished? Most of the time, they are tucked away somewhere because you don't know the proper way to dispose of it, or you wanted to finish burning it and never got around to it. We finish burning them all on Imbolc. Being a time of promise and hope, I can't think of a better time to release what's left of all of your previous hopes and dreams to make room for all new ones.

[Autumn-Forest]

Dio, what a great Imbolc activity!

For Imbolc, I will probably fast at the end of this month, to purify the body before Spring. Then on Imbolc day I will hold a small ritual with myself alone or with my significant other. During the ritual we will talk about ways to purify ourselves before spring, neutralizing all of the negativity we have thus far. Probably do a spell for hope and dreams also, in pretty Spring colors and burn it to release the energies. As a personal ritual, I will give a libation of milk to the Earth and Fae.

These are most definitly not permenate, just some ideas floating around. :)

blessed Imbolc,
Autumn-Forest

[SailleSeeker]

I wanna visit skilly-nilly :) Yum

Seriously :boing: Chocolate... Bailey's...... *drools and melts*

[Eleisawolf]

Hmm... vodka curdles Bailey's.

However, vodka with Irish mist and a splash of milk, on the rocks, makes a drink I like to call "cultural bonding."

:viking:

And I bet it would taste great with chocolate.

_cookie_

[SailleSeeker]

Hmm... vodka curdles Bailey's.

However, vodka with Irish mist and a splash of milk, on the rocks, makes a drink I like to call "cultural bonding."

:viking:

And I bet it would taste great with chocolate.

_cookie_

Heheee.... that sounds awesome! :)

[Zephyrstorm]

Dio, that sounds lovely.

I always feel called to do my spring cleaning at the end of January.
Then I often bless my home and plants and pets.

But not this year. Because of an incident between my hot water heater and my closet, we got the spring cleaning done early. So instead I'm focusing on a more internal cleaning.

I will likely fast a bit, then feast on blackberries, bread, and irish creme. I'm not sure exactly just yet.

Interestingly, I noticed last night that Feb. 1st is the Full Moon in Leo, which seems strikingly appropriate for Brighid.

[~Owl~]

I too enjoy this Sabbat. It is also one of my favorites, as is Beltane.
And yes, I tend to call it Candlemas too, although since I was initiated in a Pictish tradition, we call it Oimelc. But for some reason, the name brings to mind a jewish pig. LOL...now there's an oxymoron for you.

I was taught to turn on all the lights/lanterns in your home, to welcome in the Light.

As well as the usual tradional ones, (Dedications, initiations), etc.

I have called it many names though over the years: Brigid's Day, Brigid, Bride's Day, Lupercalia, (though this is technically incorrect),etc.

In Mike Nichol's "The Witches' Sabbats" (great book-highly recommended), it also has more info on the deeper meaning of it, that I found thought provoking. The Sabbats in general, that is, really.

[Élistariel]

I doubt I'll do anything. Never have. I was raised Baptist, so aside from Samhain aka Halloween and Yule aka Christmas, I have NO clue what to do. I'm good to know what I'm supposed to be celebrating.
I don't think fasting is something I could do. Especially not food-wise. I am incredibly pissy when I'm hungry. I can't turn on every light in the house, I'm paying bills now. That'd be a waste of energy.

[cheddarsox]

I doubt I'll do anything. Never have. I was raised Baptist, so aside from Samhain aka Halloween and Yule aka Christmas, I have NO clue what to do. I'm good to know what I'm supposed to be celebrating.
I don't think fasting is something I could do. Especially not food-wise. I am incredibly pissy when I'm hungry. I can't turn on every light in the house, I'm paying bills now. That'd be a waste of energy.

Fasting can also take the form of abstaining from a certain type of food, as opposed to missing meals. I'm hypoglycemic, no meals makes me dangerous company, so I know what you mean.

cheddar

[RavenStars]

I'm starting to get excited about this holyday! I do know I'll be filling my ritual space with every candle I can get into a proper holder. It'll be as hot as hell but there's nothing like that much candle light! I'm thinking of turning all the lights on in the house with my sister before I go in to ritual. We'd turn them off, of course, but just long enough to remind the sun to keep the daylight getting longer each day. I'm not sure I'm going to be working with Brigid this year, She's sort of distant for me since I've never researched Her all that well. While I cast bronze once in my life, I don't have much connection to the forge, anvil, and metal work. But I do know that she's associated with sacred flame (hence the candles and house lighting) and holy wells (which I guess is the ritual baths). Maybe I'll find some other associations for the holyday. I do have a project leftover from last year. I lost my nerve. It's a wooden plate with 8 metal candle cups that need to be screwed together. It's for the Wheel of the Year, I'll be lighting it as a meditation during ritual.

I'd better stop now. I'm really rambling!

[skilly-nilly]

Maybe I'll find some other associations for the holyday.

One word---CHOCOLATE--it's a dairy product!

[_Banbha_]

I say Chocolate is a potato in the Reconstructionist sense! :smash:/jk/8O I insist consistantly reconstructing the year Bailey's was invented whenever I imibe. :rotfl:

Srsly, Chocolate. Baileys. *drools*

I have the huge task before Imbolc this year of re-organzing my library: Books, music, magazines, files...Oy...in addition to the regular full pre-Spring cleaning and the ritual of 'getting rid of superfluous "stuff"' :awilly:

I go to the local Irish store to pick up some fresh Brighid's crosses every year (<-----not a wheat weaver) and burn the last years cross in a small ceremony in my home along with a list of intentions that are personal and creative. I use a wick from a candle lit from Brighids sacred fire in Kildare.


To honor Brighid I go to a local spring, a rare thing where I live: essentially a sand spit of an Island's peninsula off of the coast Long Island. I leave offerings of healing herbs and burn them when possible on shells. I only bring organic, degradable (usually edible for animals) offerings when outdoors in wilder places. It's just my way.

I deal with a lot of spiritual and personal cleansing in my life. I re-evaluate how I'm doing things and what needs to be done to clear my way in order to connect more fully and truely. There is much meditation. I'm not a ritualist in the formal sense, I work/experience from more of a Pantheist sense as far as "magick" is concerned.


Here's a some nice links about Imbolc in Ireland and Scotland: http://www.clannada.org/bof_imbolg.php
http://www.clannada.org/gods_bride.php
http://www.obrien.ie/files/extracts/FestiveCooking-StBrigid.pdf

[Seren_]

Here's a some nice links about Imbolc in Ireland and Scotland: http://www.clannada.org/bof_imbolg.php
http://www.clannada.org/gods_bride.php
http://www.obrien.ie/files/extracts/FestiveCooking-StBrigid.pdf

That last link doesn't work for me :(

I don't have any firm plans as yet, it depends on how organised I get and how much energy I have. I'm planning on devoting the day to Brigid as much as I can - seeing as Imbolc is about six weeks before my due date, it seems appropriate to focus on those aspects.

Seeing as I tend to focus on practices of the hearth anyway, I've always enjoyed this festival, and I like welcoming the spring and looking forward to some brighter weather. I'll be decorating the house with lots of flowers and rowan, and I might burn some juniper as part of a cleansing ritual. If I have the time and energy, I'll give the house a proper clean, but I'll probably have to pace myself over a few days to fit everything in.

I usually make festival bannocks for breakfast on the Cross Quarter Days, which can be used for divination. I usually eat them with a lot of butter and sheeps cheese and leave some as an offering at my pond, which I use as an altar.

I'll be cooking up a feast for the evening meal and given the associations with milk for Imbolc, a big pile of buttery mash will be featuring in the main course, with either lamb or beef.

If I'm feeling brave enough, I've been thinking about trying to make a brideog (a little straw doll that represents Brigid). I may have a few practise runs before the day, though, just so I can concentrate properly on the intent - to invite Brigid into my home. I'm not really all that crafty, so it will probably be a very 'bespoke' effort.

In the evening I'll put out some ribbons or bits of cloth, which Brigid is said to bless as she passes by. They're supposed to be good for healing, protection and childbirth, so I can use them for when I go into labour. And I'll tend a flame for Brigid, and use it as a focus for meditation.

[_Banbha_]

I just tried the link and it worked for me, I'll post it again...Sometimes PDF's do strange things like freeze up my laptop if they're large. I'd cut and paste it for you if I knew how to on one of these... http://www.obrien.ie/files/extracts/FestiveCooking-StBrigid.pdf

[Birdy]

I will put some milk and rosewater (as a signifier of the coming warmth, spring/summer) into a chalice and pour it into my garden as an offering to the Earth, light a whole bunch of white candles and tea lights and meditate, go to the park and take photographs of all the blooming snowdrops and spend some time among them and the rest I haven't figured out just yet...

[skilly-nilly]

I say Chocolate is a potato in the Reconstructionist sense! :smash:

I go to the local Irish store to pick up some fresh Brighid's crosses every year (<-----not a wheat weaver) and burn the last years cross in a small ceremony in my home along with a list of intentions that are personal and creative. I use a wick from a candle lit from Brighids sacred fire in Kildare.

Firstly, is the photo in your sig one of those Brighid's crosses?? It's lovely!

2ndly, I think that chocolate is in a related but different catagory than potatos.

Potatos are just....eh. The idea of a Potato Goddess, for example, is funny. Sort of a glorified Mrs Potato-Head---only really, really big.

Chocolate, though. If there isn't a Chocolate Goddess in the Irish Pantheon then there should be. I feel that chocolate is in the catagory that includes sparklers. Often, we have friends-only ritual in my back yard, where I have a small stone circle. The usual format is to have everyone stand at a point (I see the Wheel of the Year as a calendar as well as directions) with the speaker at the point of now. The speaker lights a sparkler from a candle (in a jar so it won't go out), passes the jar deosil to the next person who lights theirs, and on back to the speaker. If I'm by myself I stick a sparkler in at the points and walk around lighting them.

I have (of course) been called out on chocolate and sparklers, and my contention is that both come fron the Shining Timeless Land and so can be included in ritual freely.

My gnosis is that Mrs Potato Head is funny, but The Goddess of Chocolate and Her consort, Lord of Sparklers are inherantly serious. And carry a celebratory message, which potatos (however you mash them) don't.

I am turning over the idea of making a cow-skull puppet but it hasn't really jelled yet and time, really, is short. We eat local organic beef from a small farmer who butchers individual cows for orders, so we can personally thank the cow (Billie) whom we're eating (which we did). He (the farmer) had the cow skull processed for us (I like bones) and I have her in my living room. I was thinking of putting a short cross-piece in the skull with a long handle on it, and making a ribbon-skirt-thing coming from a ring around her neck (if she had one). Then a personifier could hold the handle with the cow looking down from above their head and peer through the ribbons. And maybe dance, eh?

[_Banbha_]

Firstly, is the photo in your sig one of those Brighid's crosses?? It's lovely!

Oh thanx! It's very much like the sig pic, but I didn't take that picture. I came across it on a Catholic site I no longer have.


2ndly, I think that chocolate is in a related but different catagory than potatos.

Potatos are just....eh. The idea of a Potato Goddess, for example, is funny. Sort of a glorified Mrs Potato-Head---only really, really big.

Chocolate, though. If there isn't a Chocolate Goddess in the Irish Pantheon then there should be.

:lol: I think Brighid is the closest. There should always be a chocolate Goddess. That is an archetype I can get behind and almost taste. I feel it in my gut.


I feel that chocolate is in the catagory that includes sparklers. Often, we have friends-only ritual in my back yard, where I have a small stone circle. The usual format is to have everyone stand at a point (I see the Wheel of the Year as a calendar as well as directions) with the speaker at the point of now. The speaker lights a sparkler from a candle (in a jar so it won't go out), passes the jar deosil to the next person who lights theirs, and on back to the speaker. If I'm by myself I stick a sparkler in at the points and walk around lighting them.

I have (of course) been called out on chocolate and sparklers, and my contention is that both come fron the Shining Timeless Land and so can be included in ritual freely.

:rotfl: Hey, they don't call it the shining land for nothing!


My gnosis is that Mrs Potato Head is funny, but The Goddess of Chocolate and Her consort, Lord of Sparklers are inherantly serious. And carry a celebratory message, which potatos (however you mash them) don't.

:lol: *falls off couch laughing* :lol:


I am turning over the idea of making a cow-skull puppet but it hasn't really jelled yet and time, really, is short. We eat local organic beef from a small farmer who butchers individual cows for orders, so we can personally thank the cow (Billie) whom we're eating (which we did). He (the farmer) had the cow skull processed for us (I like bones) and I have her in my living room. I was thinking of putting a short cross-piece in the skull with a long handle on it, and making a ribbon-skirt-thing coming from a ring around her neck (if she had one). Then a personifier could hold the handle with the cow looking down from above their head and peer through the ribbons. And maybe dance, eh?

Oh, that sounds fabulous. A sort of hobby cow. Perfect for Bride's day! The Norse would put horse heads on poles outside to protect their homes, i forget what they're called. I just saw a Dane film versionn of "Medea" (by Lars Vander Trier, I think is his last name, Highly recommend) and I noticed one on her house in the film.

I wish I knew that farmer yours who could process bones when my Rauri died. I wanted his scull to keep me company on my desk something fierce and could find no one to process his remains properly. Rauri was an airedale, btw, but still a person as much as anyone. That's lovely you could thank Billie and have her bones. :smile:

[Seren_]

I just tried the link and it worked for me, I'll post it again...Sometimes PDF's do strange things like freeze up my laptop if they're large. I'd cut and paste it for you if I knew how to on one of these... http://www.obrien.ie/files/extracts/FestiveCooking-StBrigid.pdf

Thanks WyldeDryad. It still doesn't work so obviously my laptop is having issues. I probably need to update Acrobat or something.



Oh, that sounds fabulous. A sort of hobby cow. Perfect for Bride's day! The Norse would put horse heads on poles outside to protect their homes, i forget what they're called. I just saw a Dane film versionn of "Medea" (by Lars Vander Trier, I think is his last name, Highly recommend) and I noticed one on her house in the film.

Nydstang? I think that's what they're called.

[_Banbha_]

Thanks WyldeDryad. It still doesn't work so obviously my laptop is having issues. I probably need to update Acrobat or something.

I have the Adobe 7 level and it works with some glitches on occasion. I've had to go to my files to reinstall it or fix it. I'm not sure what exactly happened when I pushed the button, but it did work.


Nydstang? I think that's what they're called.

Thanks. I think that might be an Anglo-saxon spelling, I found this:


Nidstang means, literally, "curse pole." The nidstang (sometimes called a "Nithing Pole," or "niding pole") is an ancient Scandinavian custom of formal cursing or hexing someone. A wooden pole or stake was inscribed with the intended consequence and erected with a ceremony. A horse's head or carcass was placed atop the pole in the facing in the direction one wished to send the curse. Today, the nidstang is more likely to be virtual- an internet curse accompanied by a virtual horse's head (I'm sure the horses are relieved).

http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsnidstang.htm

Interesting. The picture on that page is very like Medea's nidstang in the movie. Very appropo I think for the story. I do think curse/protection could be overlapping in meaning...here's an internet Nidstang from my Google:


A nidstang is a horse head pierced on a stick of hasle wood, with the purpose to in a magic way hurt enemies. The horse head is cursed in the direction where the enemies are.

This nidstang is cursed against all those who are misusing the old norse traditions and symbols and anything else this site stands for in nazi or racist propaganda. I curse this nid against all those persons until the misuse fully have been stopped and when the stolen goods are left back
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Oracle/5038/nidstang.html

It's the whole page really...

And an entirely different reasoning than Skilly's Billie for Bride. The link no longer works for this but there are interesting parallels to cattle, sacrifice and poetic inspiration:


Orpheus and the Bougonia in Georgic 4: Cow Slaughter as a Source of Poetic Inspiration

The epyllion of Georgic 4 culminates in Aristaeus’ execution of a bougonia, the ritual pulverization of abovine carcass which miraculously results in the generation of bees. Aristaeus performs the bougonia atOrpheus’ behest as a funerary rite for Euridike. The juxtaposition of the Orpheus myth with the bougoniais usually considered to be a Vergilian invention. However, comparative evidence from both elsewhere inGreek myth and other genetically related mythological traditions suggests that this combination, far from innovative, is rather native to Orpheus’ mythological dossier.

The probable etymological equivalence of Orpheus and the Rbhus, the three divine craftsmen of the Indic pantheon, has long been acknowledged. In addition, Orpheus’ and the Rbhus’ mythological profiles demonstrate correspondences. One overlooked parallel is that both Orpheus and the Rbhus areassociated with a nexus of a dead bovine and a miraculous revival. While Orpheus demands that Aristaeus execute a bougonia, the Rbhus perform a series of miracles involving the revivification of a cow, one of them being the extraction of a new bovine out of an old hide. The bougonia, in which beesemerge from the carcass, also consists of the extraction of new life out of a dead bovine. This correspondence suggests that both Orpheus’ bougonia and the Rbhus’ bovine miracles have a commonsource in a ritual inherited from the Indo-European mythological tradition. Thus, in juxtaposing the Orpheus myth with the bougonia, Vergil retains an inherited collocation.

Orpheus’ original connection with the bougonia may also shed some light on the symbolism of this ritual. Just as Orpheus is a poet, the Rbhus are not only carpenters of material goods, but also crafters of poetry. Given that the cow is often a symbol for poetic inspiration in the densely layered polysemy of the Rig Veda, the new cow that the Rbhus generate from the dead one may allude to their poetic talent. Likewise, the generation of bees from the carcass in the bougonia may function as a symbol of poetic inspiration.

The mythological dossier of the Irish cow goddess Boand further points the bougonia’s poetic component. Boand is killed by a geyser of water. Her death results in the generation of numerous rivers,including the Boyne, named after the goddess responsible for its genesis. The production of rivers fromBoand’s slaughter demonstrates a sequence similar to the production of bees from the slaughtered bovine in the bougonia. The Boyne then becomes a source of inspiration for poets who come to its banks. Perhaps the bees produced by the bougonia also index the ritual’s poetic aspect. Bees and their honey are associated with poetry throughout Classical mythology. More to the point, while the bougonia involves a bovine and bees, cows and honey occur in conjunction in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. Here Apollogives Hermes his herd of cattle and the so-called Bee-Maidens, a triad of prophetic sisters who feed onhoney, in exchange for the lyre and tutelage in the composition of lyric poetry. The dyad of cows andhoney in the hymn occurs in an overt context of poetic inspiration, further suggesting that the bees in thebougonia reflect the same semiotic tradition.

Most references to the bougonia focus on the practical outcome of its execution. By conservingthe bougonia’s traditional association with Orpheus, however, Vergil reminds his audience that the beesgenerated by the ritual also reflect its poetic symbolism

I had posted it here:
Boand: Goddess of the Week (http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=142066)

[skilly-nilly]

A sort of hobby cow. Perfect for Bride's day! That's lovely you could thank Billie and have her bones. :smile:



And an entirely different reasoning than Skilly's Billie for Bride.

Yes, I definately had a 'hobby cow' in mind.

My friend also has a skull from her cow (don't know hir name, though) so I was thinking I could do 2 and then they could flank someone (like guards or retainers) and they could interact with each other as well.

The ritual/theatrical possibilities are virtually endless.

[Nitefalle]

This thread has given me soooo many great ideas for Imbolc this year, thanks everyone!!! In the same vein of doing bits of ribbon or cloth for Brighid to bless, I have heard of doing a whole blanket, a Brighid's Blanket, that can be used for healing work, so I think we might do that. This is a time that I always use to focus on renewal and healing. The earth is just waking up, so I like to pamper myself just a bit as I get ready for all the hustle and bustle of spring (and my garden!). Garden planning is a great idea for right now, I never thought to link the two. I think fasting is a great idea, and seasonally appropriate right now (what with Lent coming up - they got the idea from somewhere, I'm sure). I think I will fast from coffee and soda, and I also will focus on revamping my eating habits to something that is healthier for me (I need to lose weight!). This is probably also a good time to really look at New Years resolutions and focus energies on those.

[Metta]

The suggestions I've heard in this thread are so wonderful! I've been waiting for a perfect time to dedicate my altar, tools, and Book(s) of Shadows - since I read that dedications are appropriate at this time of the year, I'll probably do it that Friday. Full Moon that nigh, too! Perfect! :)

[Astara Seague]

The suggestions I've heard in this thread are so wonderful! I've been waiting for a perfect time to dedicate my altar, tools, and Book(s) of Shadows - since I read that dedications are appropriate at this time of the year, I'll probably do it that Friday. Full Moon that nigh, too! Perfect! :)
yes they are wonderful!! thank you everyone for your participation :hugz:

[Darbla]

This thread inspired me to purchase a bunch of white candles and actually plan on doing something meaningful for Imbolc. Thanks, and keep the ideas coming!

[moonmorgan]

I usually clean hous although I rarely get the whole house done :) I also usually make my own candles at this time. However things will probably be different this year as my daughter is 1 now and I want to incorporate her as much as possible in my celebrations. I want to start traditions that we can follow from now on.

[omar]

I read it is also called "Oimelc" & pronounced "ewemilk"? Anyway i'm just going to do a circle with a chalice of wine & feta cheese with crackers.

[iceskater12]

I think this is my second favorite holiday. I'm really excited. This year all of our relatives are coming over and we're doing some general rituals, a feast, some crafts and someone's invitation.

Plus my dad is a teacher at my school so he just let's me take a holiday with him. No school!