Pagan Holy-Days and How to Honor Them
Holiday of Imbolc
February 1st
Imbolc is one of my favorites of the the holy-days. It marks the mid-point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox and carries the energy of the true essence of winter - a shining light in a deep and restful stillness
In the United States we've repurposed this holy-day as Groundhog Day - a day we ask Mother Nature - by way of a groundhog - to predict the quickness of the coming Spring.
As our planet is warming and climate is changing - this marker is less and less relevant.
The pagan holy-days mean more than just their description. Each one falls in the second week of the "fixed signs" in Astrology - Aquarius, Taurus, Leo and Scorpio. The second week of a sign is "the "fixed" week". "Fixed" energy in Astrology is stable, calming and true to itself and it is here that depth happens as the purest essence of a season's flavor and style reaches a culmination. In Winter - stillness and quietude, In Spring - fertility and aliveness, In Summer - glory, triumph and abundance fulfilled, and In Autumn, the portal to mystery.
Imbolc is also called "Candlemas" and is celebrated by lighting candles to represent the growing light and the promise of the Sun's full return in Spring. I have attached here the ritual I do every year on Imbolc.
Imbolc marks the time when I begin my planning for Spring, because despite the deepness of Winter celebrated, Spring time comes pretty darn quickly once Imbolc has been passed. I plan my gardens and order my seeds and set new goals for my business and personal life growth.
Ritual for celebrating Imbolc
All About Winter Solstice
Sunset at Winter Solstice 2021 in South Kingstown, Rhode Island
The Winter Solstice is the “New Moon” of the year.
The New Moon is the most “yin” time of the lunar cycle (“yin” meaning still, quiet, deep, and is sometimes translated as “feminine”). On the New Moon the best practice is to set aside time for meditative quietude, time to relax into your energetic diamond-grid to recharge and to create from the quantum field of possibility. We sow the seeds of our future growth, fruition and manifestation from this still place.
The Winter Solstice is the longest night, and so is the most “yin” day of the Solar Cycle. All of these holy-days, Solstices and Equinoxes, represent a turning of the Great Wheel of the Year and the beginning of a new season. Thus, they are filled with magick and potential. Of them all, the Winter Solstice is perhaps the most magickal, for this is our opportunity touch into our desires for the year ahead.
Personally, I have had very powerful experiences wishing for things on the Winter Solstice and having them arrive in my life the following Spring – like the Spring of 2010 when I packed up and moved to Upaya Zen Center at the base of Mt Pacacho on the outskirts of Santa Fe – the Winter Solstice before I’d wished to find a meditation community that grew its own food and had an expansive library. I had no idea what lay ahead, but I found exactly what I was looking for through an uncanny sequence of events.
Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico
~ Here’s a quick aside about “wishing things into being” aka “manifesting”. Sometimes, when we are very clear and articulate about what we want, we receive it in time. Yet what is always happening is that we are attracting into our life based on the vibration we are holding and we know the vibration we are holding by how we are feeling. This is not to shame anyone who is going through a hard time – I have battled depression for chunks of my life. We are designed to experience ups and downs, highs and lows, for emotions are a frequency and frequencies exist on a wave pattern. What is important is our baseline frequency – what is the median frequency between your highest highs and lowest lows? Your power to manifest better opportunities lies in your ability to calibrate your baseline frequency and we can do this by returning again and again to that meditative still-point.
Winter Solstice is an opportunity for a grand reset, a major re-calibration. The Veil between the Spiritual realm and the Material lifts on this sacred day. The “Yin” of the Universe is an open door. We can walk through it and activate our quantum creativity, simply by maintaining a “high vibe”.
Ancient Mound temple to the Winter Solstice in New Grange, Ireland.
Portal for the Sunset light on Winter Solstice to illuminate the altar of the ancient temple at New Grange in Ireland.
Here’s how to prepare:
(1) Start journaling on what you most desire for your life to become in the new year. Relationships? Wealth? Travel opportunities? Your career? Your health? Etc. Get clear now, because the more time you allow yourself to muse on your true dreams, wishes and goals, the more expansive and detailed you can get. Give yourself full permission to indulge your imagination even if your wishes feel unrealistic. The feelings of success in receiving your dreams is very important.
(2) Deep clean your home. Purge your clutter and align your grids (see my article on feng shui ). By all means get festive for the holidays as all those lights and decorations are great ways to get into a high-vibe frame of mind.
(3) Take care of your body. Eat cleanly. Do yoga. Take salt-baths.
All of these things will create a clearing in you – in your home, in your body and in your mind.
Set aside time for a meditative ritual on the Winter Solstice at sunset. Wherever you are in the World, Sunset is the best time for a Winter Solstice ritual (and sunrise on Summer Solstice).
When I set my altar space for rituals, I always include all the elements: a bowl of water, a candle, incense, a crystal or stone and for the element of aether I have a statue of a deity (I use Saraswati, Mercury, Venus and Ganesh), I also have a dish of Himalayan salt. This creates an alchemal space. I ring my chime to start the ritual. Then I take 3 tiny portions of the salt and put them into the water. I dip my wand into the salty water and flick droplets of water in a circle around the perimeter of my space to clear it and create a circle of protection. You can also do this with incense or smudge or bells. I meditate, write my final formal wish list, read it aloud to my altar and meditate some more….
Have you had your Solstice wishes come true before? Tell me in the comments! What manifesting techniques have worked for you?