Imbolc: The Quickening

Something is stirring in the depths of all worlds

Feb 01, 2026

*THE VIDEO EDITIO OF THIS POST IS HERE

IMBOLC

The holy day of Imbolc or Imbolg Brigantia among the Celts of old is known as the quickening, and also the threshold. I’m told its literal translation is “in milk” and that it refers to the breasts of pregnant ewes swelling with milk in preparation for the birth of the spring lambs.

It’s traditionally observed on February 2nd.

But it’s actual astrological date is the moment the sun enters 15º in the sign of Aquarius, my birth sign, and it’s also the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. This year THAT date is February 3rd

Imbolc is the first sign of life in my part of the world, since winter set in. It’s much like the first time the pregnant mother feels the baby move in her womb. It’s equally like the roots of plants stirring deep in the earth in response to the most subtle shifts in the soil temperature, which are due, in turn, to the lengthening of our days.

We have entered the period when spring is growing stronger to prepare for its birth while winter is weakening and preparing for its death.

And because as above, so below; as within, so without there’s something stirring in the depths of humanity too. It’s being felt and expressed in people-powered movements like those in Iran and everywhere in the USA.

Do you feel it? The energy swelling, growing, expanding? There is a reason why uprisings and revolutions often begin in the spring. It’s because the energy matches that energy of nature. It’s subtle at first, but growing, and its eventual expansion and takeover are inevitable.

The coldest month of the year (where I live) is said to be February, the very month when spring is quickening below the surface, about to be born. Something has shifted both in nature and in humanity. People are claiming their power, or reclaiming it. Governments are becoming fearful of the gathering revolutionary storm. The light is already growing brighter, even now at this soft, beginning point. So take heart. Nature is on the side of light. Always has been.

Imbolc Rituals

In the old times, Imbolc was a powerful date for predicting the rest of the year, especially when it came to the weather, the crops, the harvest. This is where we get Groundhog’s Day—the Celts’ habit of predicting the arrival of spring and the planting season by observing the behavior of animals.

More personal predictions were made too, particularly romantic ones. Young girls would clip a lock of their own hair and toss it into the fire, seeking the first letter of their future husband’s name in its shape as it burned. They might also try to peel a potato without breaking the skin, so it’s one long curl, and then toss that onto the floor to see what shape it takes and interpret it as a letter or sign of love to come.

The grounds left in teacups were inspected, as were, sadly, the intestines of birds for symbols and signs to predict the coming year.

At the time and place of these traditions, a successful growing season was the difference between life and death, between thriving and suffering, and not just for one family but for the entire community. So these predictions were taken seriously.

I think the rise of authoritarianism in the US is also a matter of life and death, between thriving and suffering for all who live here. Some divinations as to the future of our nation through this coming year would be a very good practice over this powerful weekend and the week ahead.

The Date and its Power

Imbolc is an in-between time, one of the “greater” holy days. It’s exactly halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring (Vernal) Equinox, and as we pass this date, the lengthening days become more and more noticeable, and the sun gains strength.

Everything we plan to plant during the spring is actually being born long before we plant the seed, or take the first step in our plan, whatever it might be. It begins with the idea. The quickening. The creative spark.

So too, does effective peaceful resistance. The more creative, the more effective because unique actions get media coverage and media coverage puts more eyes on the action, and awareness is the key to effectiveness. It’s all a domino chain. Everything is connected.

When we work in tune with the ebb and flow of natural energies, we are many times more powerful in our positive efforts, whatever they are.

It’s a quiet holiday—but powerful

We are on the precipice between one thing and another. We are crossing the threshold into winter’s end. If this were a yin yang we’d be in the that white spot in the dark side.

To the Celts the holiday was sometimes called Imbolg Brigantia, in honor of the goddess whose name is pronounced (pronounced “Breed” but also commonly “Bride,” “Bree,” or to US Americans, “Brigit.” It’s typically spelled Brighid. She was known as the mistress of the forge, keeper of the creative fire, guardian of poets, smiths, of doctors, of the hearth, and of priests. She inspires artists of all kinds.

She’s also a goddess of childbirth, healing, inspiration, and craftsmanship. The goddess of the makers, you might say. Also goddess of healers and metal workers, swordmakers and the like.

This makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Creative fire begins with a spark, the initial notion, that first stirring of inspiration. Brighid is the goddess who pumps the bellows, feeding each spark into a roaring flame and she keeps that fire blazing until the creation is complete.

In keeping, this holiday is all about fire. Brighid is often depicted wearing a crown of lit candles upon her head, and she’s usually dressed in the colors of fire.

Here’s a beautiful song to Brighid from Lisa Thiel, and it’s educational as well as perfect for today.

How to observe

The colors are the colors of fire, reds and oranges and bright vivid yellows and hot blue-white flames. Dress in these colors, and decorate the altar or home in them. Candles are the order of the day. Light them everywhere.

Plants and Herbs of fire are alder, allspice, amaranth, angelica, basil, bay, bloodroot, cactus, chili pepper, cinnamon, clove, cumin, damiana, dill, dragon’s blood, flax, frankincense, garlic, ginger, ginseng, hawthorn, high John, holly, juniper, leek, liquid amber, lovage, mandrake, marigold, mullein, mustard, nutmeg, oak, onion, orange, pennyroyal, peppermint, rosemary, rowan, rue, St. John’s wort, sassafras, sesame, sunflower, tangerine, thistle, walnut, wormwood (artemisia absinthium, poison).

For a more complete list: Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott Cunningham

So candles and flames are the order of the day. Instead of incense, burn dried herbs in the cauldron. Decorate with flowers of red and orange and yellow. You might want a flaming bowl and a bowl of ice on the table or altar to symbolize the shift happening in nature, and the fire holiday of this fiery goddess in the midst of snow and ice season.

Below are the individual parts you can do by themselves or incorporate into your own rites. I give them all separately, and then a ritual incorporating them all at the bottom.

To create the flaming bowl:

First: pour two or three tablespoons of epsom salts into the center of a completely flameproof bowl. I use a brass bowl or an iron cauldron. The bowl will get VERY HOT so you must place it on a heatproof surface. Have a lid that fits the bowl/cauldron nearby to smother the flame if needed.

Second: Pour a shot glass or so of 90% isopropyl alcohol over and around it.

Third: Add 3 drops of peppermint oil or any other oil with fire properties. Dragon’s blood oil—from date palms, not dragons 😬—would also work really well.

Candle-Charging 101

Smart witches will surround their circle in candles that they’ve first charged with all their bright and shining creative ideas and goals.

Engrave the candle or candles

First: Reduce your desire to a single word.

Second: Then make two sigils of that word by combining all the consonants to create one symbol and all the vowels to create the other. Be artistic, be clever, reuse lines, make designs by overlaying or connecting the letters on a piece of paper until you have a sigil that feels right. The feels are everything in this business, after all.

Third: Carve those sigils into the candle.

Do this for as many new ideas as you have germinating at this time.

Dress the candle or candles in an oil that matches the energy of the goal and the energy of fire. This is where a book like Cunningham’s Encyclopedia can come in handy. I like peppermint for its abundance, cleansing, healing, longevity, and fire connotations, for example. Try to find a fire herb that also matches your goal.

First: Hold the candle with its base at your chest, wick pointing away from you, and rub the oil from the wick end, to the middle, so the motion is toward your body.

Second: Flip the candle and repeat, this time from the bottom end which is now aimed away from you, to the middle, again, moving always toward your body.

Third: Place the candle in a holder, and rub the remaining oil from your fingertips onto the wick. Wash your hands.

Give an offering of blackberries, said to be sacred to Brighid. Leave the offering for the period of the ritual, but afterward, take it outside, and offer it again to the goddess, leaving it in a spot that makes sense to you, maybe in the snow but also in direct sunlight.

Dress in fiery colors, paint your fingernails and toenails that way too.

Play fiery music, however you define that.

Dance with the flames of the candles that surround you, mimicking their movements to unite yourself with the element of fire and the goddess Brighid. Always keep your movements clockwise in the northern hemisphere, the direction of increase. (I think you reverse the directions of increase and decrease in the southern hemisphere. Correct me if I have that wrong, witches Down Under.) Have your engraved and charged candles burning along with the rest that surround you. Candles not charged with your desires should be charged all the same. You can engrave into each a symbol of Brigit, such as the “Brigit’s Cross.” While this was originally a Christian symbol of a stylized cross for their St. Brigit (one of a long line of attempts to Christianize Pagan deities to more easily convert the masses) I find this three-armed version much more Brighid-like. She had three aspects, maid, mother, and crone, and the triangle is a distinctly female symbol.

Onion skin creativity and prosperity Imbolc spell

This spell incorporates most of the individual pieces described above and puts them all into one magical rite. Have the altar prepared with the ice and flaming bowl, but don’t light it just yet. Have your candles prepared and placed around the circle.

CAUTION: Don’t wear trailing sleeves or skirts or cloaks or cords and tie back your hair. This is a fiery ritual. I speak from experience and lots of singed hair and eyelashes.

Shout out to “Isles in a Dream” on Bluesky for the idea for this one!

Times are tight for everyone, and things are costing more. Why not use this potent in-between time energy to boost the flow of energy (money is just energy) into your life?

You’ll need the dry outer skin of an onion, because, as recently pointed out to me, onion skins can represent money in magic.
10 drops of a 3 essential oils with money and fire properties. I like clover, dragon’s blood, and mint for this, and I’d do 3 drops of the first two and 4 drops of the fourth. Of those, the mint and cinquefoil type of clover have both money and fire energy. The dragons’ blood is pure fire.
A flame-safe dish or cauldron
A lighter
Enough candles to line your entire working circle*
A marker for writing on the onion. Ink can be black, green, or gold.
Two sigils in mind, which you have created a head of time for the overall goal. One made of the vowels from the word, the other from the consonants.

*Don’t wear trailing sleeves, skirts or scarves. This is a good ritual to do in a catsuit, or leggings and a leotard, or nude. And for Goddess’ sake, tie up your hair.

So, within a circle of candles, put on your chosen music and dance with the flames to invoke the goddess as already described.

As you dance, give thanks everywhere you’ve felt her creative energy blazing within you, and tell her you seek the stoke that fire still higher. Leave your offering of blackberries and light the flaming bowl on the altar.

Pause in the dance to take the onion skin and marker. Write on it your desire, in the form of the sigils you have pre-chosen.

Now continue to dance, while cradling the delicate onion skin in your hands. Dance until you feel yourself thrumming with energy, then carry the onion skin to the cauldron and drop it inside.

Holding hands over it, recite the charm, lighting the onion skin on the indicated line. As you speak, the tempo, volume, and passion in your voice should rise and peak on the second to last line. (Read through it first, get familiar.)

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Breed, O Breed, keeper of the flame
Source of all the sparks, leaping in my brain
Fiery blazing light, of creativity
Illuminate my work, and illuminate me (light the onion skin on this line)
Inspiration blow, make my fires rise 
My ideas grow and materialize (Enunciate ma-teer-ee-uh-lize)
Lava flow of wealth, makes it way to me
Freedom, joy, thriving health, and prosperity! (Shouted as you release all your energy.)
So mote it be (whispered as the flame dies out.)

Sink to the floor amid the candles and remain there to meditate. You might receive inspiration. Be prepared to write it down if you do, so have a pen and paper handy.

You can also perform divinations at this point in the ritual, laying cards, throwing stones, or whatever you prefer, to predict the sorts of seasons you’ll have ahead of you in spring and summer and fall. The most potent readings will be for the coming spring, because what’s growing then is what is already germinating deep within you.

A suggestion

Add an extra onion skin to the spell, and upon it write the following:

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The weak grow stronger, the hungry are fed,
The captives gain freedom, the oppression is dead

A simple tarot spread

Place one card in the center with four cards around it at noon, three o’clock, six o’clock, and nine o’clock.

The center card represents you, and the things most active in your vibration at this time.

The card to the right, three o’clock is early spring, and also mental, creative, inspiration, travel, communication and all things related to the element of air.

The card below at six o’clock is mid-spring and represents activity, vitality, energy, passion, fertility, coupling, growth, expansion, consumption and all things related to fire.

The card to the left at nine o’clock is late-spring, and represents emotion, feelings, healing, transformation, evolution, journeys, psychic energy, magic, learning, understanding and all things related to water.

The card above at the noon position is for the overall theme of the season and anything related to the physical you and earth energy. These are health, money, home, body, property, job, career, etc. It can suggest what we will have created by the end of the season that didn’t yet exist at the time of the reading.

Make notes or take a photo of the spread so you can come back to mull on it later throughout the spring.

When you’ve finished, thank Breed and bid her go or stay as she desires. Release any energies you’ve invoked, and then take up the circle by extinguishing the candles beginning in the east, then continuing clockwise until you’ve got them all.

Ground yourself with a grain-based snack.