Imbolc! Break’s Over!

Imbolc (2/2)is the Celtic holiday that celebrates the creative fire. And I feel it. This time of year I’m on fire, writing like a madwoman, feeding from a bottomless well of creativity. It’s the festival of Brighid, Goddess of the Forge and of Poetry, a Fire Goddess who inspired artists and creators of all sorts.

The Quickening

Imbolc is said to be the first quickening of all those plants and roots and creatures deep beneath the ground. They begin to stir awake, to yawn and stretch from their long winter’s nap.

As with anything we desire, there’s a lot that happens beneath the surface before we see the new reality. Just because we can’t see them yet, doesn’t mean our dreams aren’t in the process of becoming. In fact, there are always things in the process of becoming in our lives. Nothing just appears fully grown. Babies aren’t born six feet tall. Seeds take time to germinate, and unfurl, and grow. When they break through the soil in spring, they’ve already been on a long journey. They didn’t just begin.

But you can feel them. If you are sensitive, and more aligned than not, more happy than sad, more relaxed than stressed, more praising than complaining. If you meditate most days. If you spend most of your time happy and eager for more, content and eager for more, or even satisfied and eager for more, then you should be able to feel the Quickening for yourself.

Can you feel it?

For me, I feel it in the pit of my stomach, a ball of energy that seems to be spinning or pulsing or tingling. I experience more frequent bouts of of this pesky little arrhythmia I have. I feel excited and restless and unable to sit still, as if I’ve had too much caffeine.

I find myself compelled to hoe out, to make room, to get ready. We tend to do spring cleaning for a reason. We match the energy of nature, whether we know it or not.

Inspiration comes when I call it. It’s like no other time of year for me, really. Most of the year, I wait around to feel inspired, but right now, during the opening months of every newborn year, all I need to do is think about a subject or a series, and a story will start writing itself in my mind.

This is Brighid, and her whispers in my ear are the bellows to my creative fire. Whoosh!

Not a time for planning...

We’ve had the dark months of winter for mulling, for reviewing and processing and planning. Now the breath of the Goddess is fanning our flames, and it’s time to start doing. Those projects we mulled on this winter–it’s time to get them underway. Begin now, use this energy while it’s flowing so beautifully. And if your creative project is an outdoor one that needs to wait for warmer weather, then begin the prep work, order the supplies, create the blueprint, book the helpers, do whatever parts can be done now.

I know it's winter!

But that’s just on the surface. Spring is already calling her underground children awake. Deep in the earth, inside the seeds, life is stirring. Tiny shoots begin the long process of splitting their seed open, so they can uncoil and grow. It’s time to begin! There’s much to be done.

The very next holiday on the ancient Wheel of the Year, a mere 7 weeks away, is the Vernal Equinox. The “Spring” Equinox. And the energy of that, the very energy of life itself is cranking up to its highest setting between now and then.

Right now, today, we are at the halfway mark between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, a time of heightened power, empowered magic and uncannily accurate divinations. (My readings for clients have been amazingly accurate to the point of unbelievable this week!)

Break's over!

We’ve had our winter’s rest. Now it’s time to shift our entire focus forward. That what’s Imbolc is about. No more waiting. Let’s get this show on the road!

Below is the Imbolc song by Lisa Thiel. It’s a tradition of mine to listen to her work on all 8 holidays on the Wheel of the Year. She’s recorded a song for each of them. Enjoy the music, and then pick a project, and get underway!

May your creative fires burn hot and long!

Blessed Imbolc!

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