'Imbolc Musings'

Imbolc has many different meanings and associations - depending on who you talk to and what tradition they're referring to... It has almost has many differing views as the goddess to whom it is held to be sacred - Brighid... And while there are certain references to Imbolc that I understand... there were others I never felt entirely comfortable with... and I was plagued with the ongoing sense that I was missing something... (well, with Imbolc as well as with other aspects of the light/dark half of the year split...)

Oimelc is said to mean "ewe's milk" and Imbolc is said to mean "in the belly" - tho I've seen an alternate etymology for Imbolc meaning more of a "cleansing waters" motif... Either way, one of the most prominent associations is the fact that it is held to have been the Celtic marker for the start of spring...

"Ewe's milk" because the animals are said to start lactating... "in the belly" is said to refer to either pregnant animals, or to the idea that plant life and other underground creatures are beginning to stir within the belly/womb of the Earth...

Even "cleansing waters" goes with the idea of Spring as a time for cleansing (Spring cleaning), purification, new beginnings and dedications... and I can certainly appreciate all of these things because of experiences I've had in the past on or around Imbolc...

But, at the same time, it's hard for some of us - presently blanketed in snow - to remember that Spring is meant to be in the air...
And, to be quite honest, I never really felt comfortable with the whole animal husbandry thing. Not saying that it's not a valid association - but it never felt right to me... nor does just a Spring "earth" kind of association sit entirely easily with me - because Brighid is not an earth goddess... she's a fire goddess (one of prime importance, considering the Celts didn't think of fire as just one of the elements, but as the living spark of the divine)... so I started thinking...

Brighid... the three sisters... fire of the head, hearth and forge... Breo-Saighit... fiery arrow... exalted one... and the idea that, some see Imbolc as a festival of lights... and that Brighid is originally said to have had solar connections... tho not the sun, per se...

Sun... Spring... Fire... Light...

"That's it!" I thought - connecting both of my conundrums with Imbolc and with the light/dark half of the year (at least for the present and for my own satisfaction)...

It is on and around Imbolc that we first start noticing the increasing daylight... the return of the sun...
And the fiery arrow comes shooting across the sky as the sun breaks on the horizon for dawn...

New beginnings... purifications... dawn... spring... fire... life...

This isn't to deny the other associations of either Imbolc or Brighid - as I have met her at one of her wells, and know she's more than "just" a fire goddess... (even if the "fire in the head" holds special meaning for me - sometime poet and mystic... ) But the agrarian aspects of the festivals are, well - not entirely relevant for this city girl... but the light... the arrows of fire heralding the coming of a (seemingly) far off Spring (weather-wise, at least)... that I can appreciate and celebrate with the three sisters...