Thoughts on Imbolc: the doorway into spring
Imbolc is a Celtic festival that marks the first signs of spring and is celebrated on February 1st and into the 2nd. Even if it doesn’t quite look like it yet, a strengthening life force is emerging and the depths of the darkness of winter are slowly, ever so gently, receding. With a keen eye, you may notice the warm hues just forming on the tips of the tree branches, or look under the leaves covering the ground and see a fresh green shoot underneath.
As I live more consciously with the natural flow of the seasons, I’m increasingly aware of just how much my body, mind, and spirit are naturally in sync with the symbolism found in each cycle. Perhaps it’s always been there and I just hadn’t taken the time to slow down to realize the connection. But with knowledge and greater awareness I now see, feel and understand just how much influence it has on my life and being.
In this new way of living, I’ve been learning more about the cross-quarter festivals or midway points between the solstices and equinoxes, Imbolc being one of them. These thresholds correlate to the earth as opposed to the sun and I’ve been amazed to discover how much I feel these crossings in particular.
Over the last year, almost like clockwork, I noticed my energy begin to wane at Samhain on October 31. This energy leak accelerated, reaching a peak in early December. I went against the natural pull to slow down as “things needed to get done”, which they did. Luckily, through the help of a mentor and strategizing tasks in tandem with my needs, I managed my energy through the launch of the Winter Box, the holidays, and my daughters’ birthday until finally, I allowed myself to slow down into January.
And still, my mind questioned what it was to rest and I felt the familiar societal pull toward doing, feeling like I wasn’t doing enough, trying enough, needing to “start the new year off with a bang”.
I’m thankfully in community with other souls trying to live this conscious path and through conversations, support, and most importantly - permission and commitment from myself - I began to rest, to follow the inner callings of my being as to what rest looked like, to do the minimum and not my norm of ALL the things, and allowed it to unfold.
Amazingly, only a few days prior to Imbolc have I felt a subtle stirring of movement, a strengthening of life force beginning to emerge in my being. I will honor this transition gently, allowing it to bloom rather than taking it as a sign to burst forth. Those signs of spring are still yet to come.
Unlearning years of conditioning of endless striving, future-focus, producing, progress-centered living is hard! I know this new way of being has been a long time coming, and year after year I pull back another layer on how to live more consciously, of which attuning to the seasons is an enormous part, I’m realizing.
So on this Imbolc and Saint Brigid’s Day, may we honor the threshold of which we find ourselves upon - the first, very subtle signs of the awakening of spring both within and around us, even if it is not so obviously visible yet.
Happy Imbolc 💚
