<\/p>\n
Imbolc or Brigit is fast approaching. <\/span>My Wicca 101 group will soon learn <\/p>\n While most of the country is still deep in snow, the days Imbolc is one of the less intensely celebrated Sabbats, I But Imbolc?<\/p>\n I think its invisibility may be fitting. <\/span>The first sprouts of new growth are <\/span>I prefer the name So far we’ve not had serious flooding, but the past two It seems crazy that a fire Goddess be the alternative name Fire in California really fits NeoPagan symbolism. <\/span>Left to its own devices, or employed <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Imbolc or Brigit is fast approaching. My Wicca 101 group will soon learn about candle consecration as we prepare new quarter candles. This year we’ll do the altar candles as well, for there isn’t much left of them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pagan-holidays-and-sabbats","category-pagan-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nabout candle consecration as we prepare new quarter candles. <\/span>This year we’ll do the altar candles as
\nwell, for there isn’t much left of them. <\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nhave grown noticeably longer since the depth of Winter’s darkness. <\/span>In California the first flowers of the
\nyear are already blooming. <\/span>Up
\nhere, north of San Francisco it’s mostly not natives. <\/span>But the ubiquitous wild mustard that has naturalized so
\nspectacularly out here is already covering fields in yellow. <\/span>A few eager natives are <\/span>adding spots of bright orange, just a hint
\nof what’s to come. <\/span>But the
\nwildflower spectaculars of Spring are still many weeks away. <\/span>That fits Imbolc, but it’s subtle.<\/p>\n
\nthink because it has fewer real world connections in our lives. <\/span>In most places the coming Spring
\nEquinox, Ostara, is well suited to its symbolism of the triumph of the sun and
\npowers of growth and regeneration. Yule, our previous cross-quarter Sabba,
\ncelebrated the Winter Solstice, and the wealth of meaning it carries
\nsymbolically and experientially.
\n<\/span>Both are Solar, and the sun ‘s cycles are the same everywhere in this
\nhemisphere. <\/span>Beltane to follow is,
\nwell, it’s Beltane.<\/p>\n
\ninvisible to those who do not look carefully, and sometimes even to those who
\ndo. <\/span>One of its major early meanings,
\ncelebrating ewes beginning to lactate for the new year, is far removed from most of
\nour experience. Perhaps the slow emergence of the first buds are California’s equivalent, and there are sheep out on hills near the coast. But we rarely see them.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nBrigid (or some alternative spelling- there are many). Brigid is a fire Goddess. <\/span>She has
\nalso given us Her name, and for this time of year in California, it’s
\nperfect. <\/span><\/p>\n
\nweeks have been of almost constant rain.
\n<\/span>I had to take some geraniums, succulents, and cactus inside as they
\nstarted showing signs of drowning and rotting. <\/span>This year’s rains would quickly drown any fire that dared show its
\nface, and back east of the Sierra the snows of winter promise to last for quite
\na while yet. <\/span>Not much sense of
\nfire there, either.<\/p>\n
\nfor Imbolc. <\/span>But at least for
\ncoastal Caifornia, She might be the perfect patron for what this season
\nsignifies. <\/span>Looking around at the
\nrushing streams, moss growing everywhere, and leaden skies, one could scarcely
\nguess that much of California’s landscape is dominated by fire, by the fact it
\nburns regularly, and that dousing the burns simply guarantees they will be all
\nthe worse when they come again. <\/span>As
\nthey will. <\/span><\/p>\n
\ncarefully as the Indians used to, fire is a force for life and renewal. <\/span>In its destruction the seeds of future
\ngrowth are planted, and here, when it seems farthest away, the growth that will
\nfeed future blazes is stirring.<\/p>\n