With the coming holidays, there are many fun activities you can do by yourself, with a coven, and with your kids if you have any! Get creative and enjoy this fire festival welcoming in the light! Celebrate the lengthening of days and the warming of the earth at Imbolc, with rituals of purification, fertility, and renewal. Focus on new growth, the end of winter, and rituals of purification.
A Purifying Bath: The Romans named the month February after a word signifying purification, as this was the time when ritual cleansing would prepare a person for a fresh start. Take a ritual bath at Imbolc in your own homemade ‘healing well.’
First collect some snowdrops and then set the scene in your bathroom with lit candles around the bath tub to signify burning away of old ideas as well as the coming of the light. Choose white candles for purity and green to recall and welcome the spring. Burn juniper oil in a burner and put a drop or two in the bath water. This oil is chosen because it is a very powerful auric cleanser. Summon Brigid with the snowdrops, scattering them in the bath. Relax in the water, using an apple green soap and a white towel to dry off.
Brigid’s Cross: At Imbolc, it is traditional to make a Brigid’s cross to welcome the goddess into the home. A Brigid’s cross is the single most recognizable sign of the rite of Imbolc. Making a St. Brigid’s cross is an Irish custom many centuries old which is still practiced in a number of parts of Ireland today. The cross was made from rushes or straw originally and placed in houses to keep them safe from fire or evil. These Brigid’s Crosses fashioned from wheat stalks are exchanged as symbols of protection and prosperity in the coming year. These were hung over doors or windows for the year, then burned and replaced at next Imbolc. It was usually seen over the doors of cowsheds as it was a protective symbol of animals. St. Brigid’s cross symbolizes peace, good will, and friendship. Placing the cross over the doors and windows and indicates protection of homes from any kind of harm.
Bind two sticks of equal length to form a cross. Tie a silver ribbon close to the center of stick one of the cross, then take it to the right of the next stick and wrap it around the back. From the left of this stick, take the ribbon around to the right of stick three and wrap it around the back. So on and so forth you will continue weaving this way. When it is complete, adorn your cross with other decorative items.
Planting Seeds: If you garden and you haven’t started your seeds yet, it may be time, even if they’re indoors in a pot. If you don’t garden, consider getting a simple plant such as basil or rosemary and starting it on a window sill or ledge. Just as the seeds are germinating in the earth, Imbolc is the time when you should imagine your thoughts and ideas starting to warm up after leaving them to hibernate through the winter. Combine the correspondences of new life and light to perform this simple ritual for Imbolc.
Choose a quiet spot outdoors, in your garden or local park, perhaps beneath your favorite type of tree or bush. Plant a seed or bulb in the ground. To make this place more special to you, choose the seed of your preferred plant or perhaps one associated with you Zodiac sign. Now light a small white candle to represent the Virgin Goddess’ purity. Sit and watch it burn down. As you do so, imagine that the seed you have planted represents the thoughts and ideas you have sown in hope for the year ahead.
Straw Brideo’gas Corn Dollie or Fertility Doll: Imbolc is the opposite of Lammas when the Corn Mother is made and this festival also sees another form of fertility doll but this time it is for Brigid or Bride. These were traditionally created from oat or wheat straw. You can either fashion a full doll or just tie up a few pieces of corn into a representative style and shape.
Once you have made the fertility doll, dress it with lace and ribbons, and lay it in a basket with white flower bedding to create the Virgin Goddess’ bridal bed. Light white candles for purity on either side of the basket and then go to the front door and quietly call “Bride’s bed is ready. Let Bride come in. Bride is welcome.” In Celtic beliefs, you are inviting in the virgin’s potential fertility and nurturing qualities. Young girls can then carry the Brideo’gas door to door, and gifts are bestowed upon the image from each household. Afterwards, at the traditional feast, the older women make special acorn wands for the dollies to hold and in the morning the ashes in the hearth are examined to see if the magic wands left marks as good omens.
Hearth Fires: Hearth fires were put out and relit. Banish the winter by burning paper snowflakes in the newly lit hearth fire.
Besom: The besom is used to sweep the home and front porch. It is then placed by the front door to symbolize sweeping out the old and welcoming the new. Cleanse your home by scattering salt across the floors and then sweeping out the negativity.
Candles: This rite is sometimes called Candlemas, a reference to the flames that brighten the rite. Instead of turning on the lights, when the sun goes down, use a candle to light your way and do your work by its light. Candles are lit and placed in each room of the house to honor the rebirth of the sun. A candle wheel is also lit. Add a circle of white candles to the altar, each representing a goal you want to achieve this year. You can write that goal on the candle either one word on each candle or on the bottom of the candle.
Candle wreaths are also made. Yellow and white flowers are woven into a green wreath and a white candle is placed in the center. On Imbolc Eve, light this candle and shift your awareness to the place between the worlds where Brigid awaits you.
On Imbolc eve, light a candle and shift your awareness to the place between the worlds where Brigid awaits you.
Blessings: Bless your pets and give them a safe amulet for their collar. Switch to a new amulet each year or recharge the amulet you are already using and reuse it.
Purify the house with a house blessing ritual incorporated into the sabbat or do one separately. Light a candle and burn sandalwood incense. Cleanse the area where you do card readings or scrying with a censor burning rosemary, or vervain.
Meditation: Do a visionquest or meditation on the wolf totem.
Offerings: In ritual, offer milk to the gods, then pour outdoors onto the ground, or leave in a bowl for animals. On Imbolc Eve, leave buttered bread in a bowl indoors for the faeries who travel with the Lady of Greenwood. Next day, dispose of it as the essence will have been removed.
Spring Cleaning: This one will always be a favorite of mine! Leading up to Imbolc, I get my crazy cleaning lady on! I have completely cleaned out my garage again, scrubbed my kitchen from top to bottom, and purged more items from my home that do not add anything special to it. Clean your living space! As you prepare to come out of the winter, start by cleaning the space you inhabit. Free it up from clutter and grime, and make it ready for the rites you will celebrate all year. If you have a fireplace, don’t forget that! A clean home is imperative to a clean and focused mind so that you can achieve your goals. Clutter drives away your focus and distracts you from being able to accomplish your goals.
From our altar to yours, with love from the sea,
