Celebrate The Festival of Imbolc

Celebrate Imbolc with the Druid forest School worldwide course on the Eight Great Festivals of the Ancient Irish Druids.

http://www.druidforestschool.com/courses.html

Imbolc is the festival of the time when the energy of the new year’s ascent to Summer is shooting through strongly due to the rise in the power of the Sun.

So there is a key theme of fire, and how fire manifests as it flares in different parts of creation, in different realms of existence.

But there is also a sense of the beauty of the earth at this fragile time of Spring, and so we see the beauty of snowdrops and fragile shoots against the outcrops of the limestone.

And there is also a sense of pregnancy, of cows and sheep being pregnant and giving birth and feeding their young.

In terms of presiding deity, Imbolc is the Festival of Brigid, Goddess of the Tuatha de Danaan, who cares for the fire of forge in smithcraft, the fire of inspiration that leads to poetry, the fire of the hearth and the fire of Healing. Brigid is thus patron of smiths, poets, healing, and of the hearth and home. And Brigid is not only associated with the element of fire, but the element of water as well. And because her festival is celebrated at the time of animals growing in the womb and the start of lactation in ewes, she is also patron of childbirth – and of women: women’s’ mysteries.

A first step before starting ritual is to attune the place where the ritual is being held.
A second step is often to build an altar. I have beautiful memories of Imbolc altars: bulbs, snowdrops in the earth, bowls of clear water and limestone ricks and pure white candles. Maybe a white cloth and essential oils,

And what might the ritual include? You could consider the following:
Attunement to the land and the trees.
Recognition and reverence at the Death of Winter.
Worship of the flare of fire and all that it can create.
Reverence for the giving of birth and the feeding of the newborn.
Meditation on how we can bring in the fire of the new in all its beauty.
Opening ourselves to Healing.
Use of the flame of inspiration for Channelling and divination and prophecy, and asking for insight into principles of healing and care for our home and family.
Reverence to Brigid, and developing our sense of her ‘clear appearance so that we may call on her more easily and quickly and powerfully on future occasions.
Meditation on the fire of the Smith who makes sacred weapons, the fire of the Hearth which preserves life and home.
Reverence for the Fire in the Head: the fire of inspiration that creates poetry, a poem can be recited.
Asking for blessing for our selves and others.
insights from yoru western and Vedic Astrology, both natal and predictive are shared as part of the course.
Maggie and I run a Healing Centre in the far west of Ireland with linked airbnb:
http://www.foxfordairbnb.com/
http://www.maggiepashley.com/
To find out more about the beauty of Imbolc and all the Festivals and Gods of the ancient Irish, contact Michael Conneely of The Druid Forest School.

Видео Celebrate The Festival of Imbolc канала Michael Conneely