Considerations for Imbolc, Candlemas
Feb 2nd
Halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, there is a Gaelic celebration called Imbolc, one of the octant sabbats of the year.
It is a festival celebrating the fertility goddess Brigid and the coming of Spring, and is celebrated with feasts and merriment. This traditionally falls on Feb 1st, followed by Candlemas on Feb 2nd.
Candlemas is a Christian holiday when candles are brought to the church to be blessed for the rest of the year. Both of these days of celebration herald good fortune for the months ahead.
It is a worthwhile practice as a magical practitioner to acknowledge this mid-quarter of the zodiacal calendar. In a celebration of coming Spring, consider creating an altar with fruit and offerings, the image of the Empress and Venus, and Green and Gold candles. Take time to give thanks for the food which you eat, and the water which you drink. In the meantime, it is not a bad idea to collect snow or rainwater for your altar.
For Candlemas, take candles for blessing to any place which you consider special or sacred.
That might be a church or a temple, or a shrine or some other important monument.
You might simply take them into nature and place them under a tree to charge and be blessed by Mother Earth.
You may consider taking them to a cemetery where loved-ones are interred, or any place which has special meaning to you.
Call upon the energies of that space, whether ancestors or guides or elementals, and ask that they bless your candles with purity, and make your magical workings more powerfully aligned with the Divine Will.
Ask to have clarity, strength and endurance as you stand in service to The Great Work, knowledge of and union with the Divine.
“SO IT IS!”