Imbolc
“Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”
Brene Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
My husband gifted me a beautiful daily moon journal in support of my journey to connect more fully with the universe and my body. One of the aspects I love about the journal is the full-page spread at the beginning of each month describing a celebration in connection with the earth. For February, there is a snowy landscape in honor of Imbolc.
Imbolc is a Gaelic traditional festival celebrated on February 1, the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The word “Imbolc” (or Imbolg) means “in the belly of the Mother” because the seeds of spring are beginning to stir in the belly of Mother Earth.
In the Northern Hemisphere, we are still in the throws of winter; the ground is frozen, the beasts are hibernating, and the trees are naked – shivering in the icy wind. However, hidden in the womb of the Earth are sleeping roots and bright-colored petals and juicy fruits and billions of possibilities just waiting.
You see, Imbolc is a celebration of hope – hope for change, hope that the darkness will fade, and even when nothing in this freezing, gray world tells us this is so, the belly of the Mother remembers.
In honor of Imbolc, my journal asks me to reflect on aspects of my life or myself that have undergone a period of dormancy or hibernation. What has been sleeping inside me, waiting for the right season and conditions to sprout?
Perhaps my creativity. Perhaps the stories and poems I’ve been too busy and too scared to imagine are lying dormant inside of me, waiting to sprout like the stirring seeds in the belly of Mother Earth. Perhaps my fear has been a frozen winter that, if examined, can begin to melt.
Imbolc is a reminder that winter holds spring just beneath the soil – we are like the earth with billions of possibilities waiting within us.
What aspects of your life or self are in a period of hibernation? How can you embrace the energy of Imbolc to awaken and nurture these areas?
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Photo by Evgeni Tcherkasski on Unsplash
