Imbolc

image from llewellyn witch's calendar

If Candlemas be bright and fair

Winter will have another year

but if it be dark with clouds & rain

winter is gone & will not come again

Traditional Edwardian Saying

Watch the show from 1:34-3:00

Imbolc,
Information from Celtic Folklore Cooking pg 13,& Llewellyn's Sabbats Almanac.

Imbolc sometimes called, Imbolg, Oimelc, Brigantia, Lupercus, Disting Groundhog day, Candlemas or even St. Brigids’ Day.

Today is good day for cleansing and celebrating new beginnings.  It's also a good day for coven work.  
Today on the farms, new lambs are being born and ewes are in milk. 

It's the beginning of Spring cleaning, today is a good day to start as well as opening the windows to air out the home. 

Gods & Goddess associated with Imbolc:
Bridgit
Danu
Epona
Aphrodite
Juno
mars
any sun Goddesses, virgin Goddesses
or young male Gods


Customs of Imbolc:
candle burning
relighting the hearth


Sacred Foods
Milk, cheese, dairy products

Threshold time: midnight

Element: Fire

Symbols:
candles, candle flame, hearth, grain dollies, milk producing creatures, burrowing animals: lambs, sheep, cows, goats, and any winter birds such as blue jays, cardinals, and chickadees.

Imbolc Moon:
Quickening Moon or 
sometimes called the Alder Moon, which is masculine, it is can be used for protection, self guidance and teaching, self-improvement, and self-reliance.


Herbs:
basil, myrrh, wisteria,hyssop, sage

How You can Celebrate:
Dress yourself and your altar in white, while serving white beverage to honor the calving season.  Today is a good day to bless and anoint any candles that you will be using in your rituals for the rest of the year.  
Imbolc has always been celebrated as a fire festival, in some celebrations the festivals are celebrated from sundown to sundown. the bonfires were believed to aide in bringing back the sun, and encourage the summer to return.

Imbolc Correspondences:
Colors: white, red, yellow
Stones: 

• rose quartz,
•  snow quartsz, 
• amertirne, 
• jasper,
•  fire agate, 
• sunstone, 
• goldstone, 
• moss agate, 
• amethyst, 
• connemara marble

Plants: snowdrop, birch tree and rowan tree.