What Imbolc and Valentine's Day Might Have in Common

Happy February!  We are in the last month of Winter holidays, and already the signs of early Spring are emerging, here in the Bay Area.  Those first inklings of flowers and sunlight are the essential meaning of February’s holidays, even though one comes to us from the ancient Pagan wheel of the year, and the other is arguably a Hallmark invented occasion.  It seems wise, actually, to observe the subtle changes in the Winter months, and to create holidays that offer a sense of warmth and light, during a time that can be emotionally and energetically heavy, or stagnant.  During the darker months, when we are dreaming, resting, and looking within, it is important to maintain our connection to the larger cycles, and to one another, while we reinvent ourselves and our lives, in large or small ways that will blossom in Spring, and flourish in summer.

Imbolc is the Celtic Goddess Brigid’s rite, celebrated from the eve of February 1st through February 2nd.  Brigid rules both holy well and sacred flame, the place where we heal and renew, and the place where we move towards inspired action.  Her arts are healing, poetry, divination, and the forging of intention or pledge.  This moment in the year is about beginning to move towards the action of the coming seasons by preparing our minds and hearts.  During this time, our charge is to renew ourselves, cutting away what has died within us during the Winter darkness, what we have become ready to shed, just as we cut back the plants in our gardens so that they will be able to grow strong and healthy in the Spring.  It is a time to sweep out the cobwebs, dust, and stagnation from inside ourselves and our homes.  To purge what we don’t want to carry forward.  When we are empty, we have room to receive or clarify the vision of where we want to go.  Then with that openness, we can make a pledge to ourselves and to the Divine Feminine force of creation and creativity, for what we will work to weave in ourselves and in our worlds. 

It may not seem to have a lot to do with love, but I think it does.  We have to love ourselves within this space, because change at this level is hard work. One thing that I have learned from the tradition of Curanderismo is that people don’t release or heal unless they feel safe, which is why nurturing is crucial to the process of transformation.  We all have the ability to block healing and resist change.  It is far easier to embrace fear and inertia, though certainly not more comfortable in the long run.  Yet, discomfort with uncertainty often motivates us to skip the part of our inner work that involves deep pruning, and so we attempt to add what we want to manifest to a vessel that has very little space to hold our dreams.  It is hard to allow for clearing or loss, even of what doesn’t fit or serve us anymore.  But, we will need to make space in the garden in order to plant the new seeds of our intention, especially if we want to grow more fully into ourselves.  Old wounds, grief, and the stories that make our identity may inform who we are, but they don’t need to become an armor.  This time of year presents us with an opportunity to cut away the outdated and withered aspects of ourselves, and to clarify our vision, so we can begin planting seeds.

Wouldn’t it be beautiful if we approached Valentine’s Day with this spirit?  Instead of creating the pressure of romance versus loneliness, what if we built on what is sweet about this Hallmark holiday and then deepened it.  What if we said to ourselves: “I love you for all that you’ve been through, and all that you’ve become because of and in spite of it.”  What if we said those words to the people we love and want to make feel special?  How would it change things to add something like:  “Now, take my hand, and let’s promise to hold true, not to an image of perfection, but to loving ourselves and each other fiercely through the unfolding of our sacred work this year, both the work within and the work of contributing to beauty and depth in the world.  Let’s promise to see and honor who we were, and then let that person go, in order to become who we are more able to be now.”  Can you say these words to yourself first? 

Then, what if instead of just giving or receiving flowers once, we planted flowers, each one with an intention that we pledge to create in ourselves and in the world, remembering that a pledge is not a wish, but a promise?  What garden will you grow?  Sow the seeds, and bath yourself in the rains.  May they be abundant and nourishing for all of us.

Suggestion for this season: call on the Divine Feminine, whether Brigid, Aphrodite, or any aspect of she who renews herself and carries the power of both destruction and creation.  Take a fragrant bath, charging the water with the intention to clear and heal.  Light a candle on which you have carved your pledge to yourself and to the Divine.  Allow Winter to dissolve and make way for Spring.  Draw a card, asking your Goddess to speak to you about what you need to leave behind, in order to grow into your larger dream.  Ometeotl.

-This blog was written by Melusina Gomez, originally for publication with the eleventh house