Imbolc and Brigid

I thought I would talk about the holiday that is today. Now you might be asking you’re self what is there to be celebrating here on February 2nd. Good question actually. Like most holidays, take a look outside and see what’s going on and you’ll have a general idea of what would be honored on that day. Thanksgiving is the harvest, Halloween we honor our ancestors. Christmas… well that’s a whole book’s worth of topics. Like all winter holidays, this one honors the returning of the sun.

For those that don’t know, Imbolc was celebrated by the ancient Celts as the time between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Imbolc can be translated from the Old Irish I mbolg meaning “in the belly”. This refers to the time when ewes were pregnant. It can also be translated from oimelc meaning “ewe’s milk”.  The combination of the fertility/gestation, nourishment, and the returning of light makes Imbolc a very special time.

Okay, so I’m going to assume you’re thinking that an ancient pagan holiday has nothing to do with me? Ah but that’s where we can thank Christianity for not completely eradicating all traces of early earth-based traditions.  When the Roman Catholics invaded the British Isles and Ireland the celebration of Candlemas is celebrated on February 2nd and there for the two was merged. Candlemas is also called the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. Seeing how I’m not Catholic, nor have I been, I’m not exactly sure what this purpose of this holiday is but if I might take a stab in the dark I think it might have to with Mary, Mother of Jesus, and honoring her in some way.

Now back to the Celts. The Goddess Brigid (pronounced BREED) was honored on this day. She was the goddess of healing, poetry, and smithcraft (metallurgy). Her name translated means “exhaled one”. She is also said to protect cattle (and other livestock) and bring the spring. Remind you of anything; groundhogs day perhaps? Of course there will be six more weeks of winter. Brigid carries the sacred flame. This is both the heat from the hearth fire and the fire of inspiration. It is the fire of divinity, the fire of the holy spirit in Christianity. This fire brings us hope and light to our cold and winter-weary bones. Six more weeks till the Spring Equinox and the warming of the earth.

So here we have Imbolc and Candlemas, Brigid and the Virgin Mary. These things correlate so well do they not? Brigid the goddess was made a saint. She served the same purposes as a saint as she did a pagan goddess. St. Brigid of Kildare is very controversial for the documentation of her birth and her death appear in several places but do not match up.  It is also very striking that the Celts would have a goddess who just happened to match up perfectly with the associations of this saint.

Where does this leave us? Here in the Midwest we are experiencing the coldest weather we’ve had since… well, last winter I would suppose. Last winter was very warm and that makes these temperatures that hover just above zero during the day and that dive well into the negative thirty’s at night all the more intense. We can light candles on this day, or a fire in the hearth if we are so privileged to have such things, and feel the fires heavenly warmth. We can look at the rising sun and see how far we’ve progressed with the intentions and goals we set at solstice or at New Year’s. Have we tended those goals? Have you given up on them? In reflection do you find the soil has gone fallow? What do you need to nourish to bring life back to your goals? Are you tending that inner fire? What are you feeding that fire and is it proving to be good fuel or do you need to dig deeper, find the better wood, make the hard choices and sacrifice something in order for your goals to be nourished?

In honor of Brigid, I will be posting a short story on the blog next week relating to this fire festival. 

Check back in the middle of next week for that. What creative endeavor do you do? What do you create? What does that fire feel like?

Mary Watches

I have a jar candle on my desk. Generally it is just plain yellow or green or blue. I buy them at dollar stores or grocery stores or the occasional occult shop; though the later tend to be spend-y and covered in glyphs or sigils that I don’t need. That’s not to say I couldn’t use some extra creatively or motivation around here. I light the candle whenever I’m at my desk, which is most the day when I’m not working at Jimmy John’s. This means I go through about one candle every two weeks; at roughly $2.50 each that’s not a bad deal to have a warm glow illuminate my workspace.

This time the candle is not plain but is decorated with the image of the Vigen de Guadalupe. I saw her at the grocery store next to Our Lady of San Juan (which looks like a woman’s head with wearing a really fancy crown atop a big blue bell with) and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I like Mary even though there is a ton of controversy over all her symbolism and what it means for women (in specific to their sexuality). All of that aside I feel a sort of affinity towards her. So I bought the candle not thinking much about it and she sat unlit on a shelf in my room for a few weeks till the candle on my desk ran out.

(I'm aware that The Vigen de Guadalupe is not The Virgin Mary but they are analogues. In my experiences they been used interchangeably but do have very distinct background, histories, come from different culture, stories are different, etc. If you know more about how they are alike and how they are different, leave a comment below or send me an e-mail.)

Mary has been watching me write my first novel, balance my check book, write these blog posts, surf the net, and play a little WoW. She has also seen me write out my student loan checks. Having only the part time job at Jimmy John’s I currently only have $45 at the end of the month after paying the student loan debt.

I came to this realization yesterday and I would be lying if it didn’t upset me quite a bit. I actually became angry at how we, as a society, tell our youths to go to college and how we have a system that makes our 20-somthings into indentured servants to the banks. I’ll save you the whole two hours internal diatribe and get to the point. By the time I had fumed over my lack of financial freedom I had tumbled into a really dark place. Sitting at the computer looking for answers and a way to bring myself out of a really scary, intense place, I saw Mary’s face illumined by the candle light.

I’m not going to say I felt better automatically but I felt as though she had some compassion she wanted to bring to the world (it wasn’t just me). It wasn’t some divine revelation. There was no exact moment when I felt magically all better about my situation and that the world loved me once again. There was no conversation to Catholicism or anything so extreme. I didn’t fall to my knees and cry or feel shriven. There was just a calmness that and I felt this figure’s message was only bring compassion into the world. I can’t say it was a tangible or tactile feeling. It was gentle and subtle. It was kind and soothed the pains I had inside and made my thoughts of doing terrible things seem like nonviable options.

I don’t want this to come off as an attempt at converting others cause let’s be honest; that’s not what I’m about. If you are Catholic I would love to hear about your experiences, knowledge, and relationship to Mary and what she means to you. If you are non-religious, what are your thoughts on Mary? If pagan/goddess centered what do you think of Mary? Leave your comments below or send me an e-mail.

I’m happy she sits on my desk, watching over me; over the world, and in some small way that is partly psychological, some part mystical, wants nothing more than to bring compassion into my life/into the world.