Morrigan:

Annie, what did you decide the topic would be tonight?

ANNWYN:

hehe...it is Imbolc...BUT...I wanted to bring up some other sides to it...not sure will me able to do so tonight because of baby...OK We start?

ANNWYN:

The subject of the class tonight is...How to prepare children for sacrifice...You take them at birth., nurture them...and fill them with hope and high ideals...and light and then.......deliver them to the American education system

Red Deer:

lol Annie

ANNWYN:

{EG}Just checking for attention

BJFJR:

Whoa...annie...had me going there for a minute {G}

ANNWYN:

That was just for you BJ...{G}

Imbolc is sorta the topic tonight

I have about 80 pages of notes for this class and that after condensing them...With all the notes...you will behapy to know I don't intend to use them all tonight although as many of you know I could well be tempted to include all 80...But I can't type that fast. The decision to be less verbose...is a product of my own focus for Imbolc a dedication to simplicity and economy in my work a kind of back to basics attitude in my magic... I have literally dismantled my altar...and kept as a working tool only my cauldron. I will regather tools over this year.

Interestingly...my cauldron was my first original magical tool...all my learning and my growth spiraled out from this center.....and now has spiraled back...only to begin again. This is yet the time of the little sun...this celebration of Imbolc is the beginning of spring...but not spring all turns of the wheel all seasons have a waxing, full and waning...just like the moon. We don't have at this time of the year blatant/overt signs of growth, but the signs are there in a deeper place protected from the harsh elements of winter...available to us in a more delicate fashion requiring 2: a slower pace... signs of growth are more intrinsic...not at a place of manifestation...somewhere deep in the belly/womb

Imbolc

I must qualify this energy shift with "Depending on what part of the country you are in" because some of you may not face snow and ice and indeed your seasonal differences may be even more subtle

Red Deer:

thanks Annie... we be with blooming camellias...but it's like you said...not full bloom, just a few here and there

ANNWYN:

OH...I wanna sniff

regardless of where you are there is SOME flow of change to which YOU can attune. Part of your job as a witch IMO is to learn this pattern to be connected to this pattern. To be this pattern.

Imbolc, Candlemas, Oimelc, St. Brigit's day, is one of the four Celtic Fire festivals...One of the Great Sabbats; Equinoxes and Solstices being lesser Sabbats...and later additions to the year wheel.....with prob a Norse influence...this the obligatory explanation for those not knowing. The Celts as many of you know divided the year into 2 halves - the light and the dark half...time of the Greater and Lesser sun. The lesser sun of course WINTER. The research I did on Imbolc spanned Irish...welsh...scottish...etc...and I'm not going to specify which...just throwing it all into the pot/cauldron. The winter months were considered a period of indwelling both in the very real sense as the weather prohibited outside activity...all the work of summer being complete and also in a emotional/psychic sense as well...our work turns inward. Winter painted her landscape absolute

Distinct lines of beauty enchanted the eye

Clear boundaries of challenge beckoned the bold

And bridled the tenuous to the homefire

The sweeping ocean of white that supplanted the meadow of summer lay still against endless blue

Soft drifts embraced the black trunks of the birch that guarded the Eastern horizon

Bare branches upraised awaiting without question

The blessings of Spring

Black...white...blue...

These were the colors of the little Sun.

Only when the golden rays of daylight swam the white waves of winter did the palette change.

For in night's dark,

The purity of winter was complete.

Imbolc could be looked at as predawn...the time just before the light actually appears. It is a time of faith and inspiration - could not imagine the hardships...the cold reality...the lack of light...lack of warmth...waning food supplies...etc of winters of old. We can find these winters within ourselves...We can also perhaps envision this energy shift as we would lie awake early before dawn...when the light has not yet come but there is promise...and we begin to filter in the information necessary to begin our day...at Imbolc...we begin to know inside...the year ahead...

Primarily Imbolc is considered a festival of light but also a time of lambing...also prob time when many little human babies as product of Beltaine appear. The name Oimelc...means ewes milk...this would be important as added an added food source and a "sign" that spring is on its way although today a calendar day is assigned to this Sabbat...quite possible those of old waited for this coming in of the milk as a sign that spring was on it's way...that winter was loosening her grip. This Sabbat occurs in Aquarius...between the Storm Moon and Chaste Moon. :

The Goddess Brighid presides over the Sabbat

excellent woman

sudden flame

Early on Brides morn

The serpent shall come from its hole

I will not molest the serpent

Nor will the serpent molest me...

That is Brighid...Brigid...Brigit...Bhride...St. Brigit...

Pronounced Breed...or Bri-hit.....One source suggests that the Brighid spelling is actually a more modern Irish version that the Brigit...but...Brighid is a Triple Goddess.....

Imbolc is the "time of the maiden who bridges the gap from Dark queen of the Underworld to the Red Mother of Life and Plenty". The serpent...shall come from it's hole. I will not molest the serpent, : Nor will the serpent molest me... I repeat this not because I am brain dead...teehee.

But - looking at Brighid as primal mother...several associations started looking back at me...If I may sway from the Light and love...Mary of the Gaels version of Brighid for a moment...we see this Goddess...as the serpent.....we look not at just the LIGHT Fiery arrow aspect.....but the deeper inspiration of this goddess. On the day of Bride...of the white hills. The noble queen will come from the knoll. I will not molest the noble queen...Nor will the noble queen molest me.....queen......serpent.....both emerging from the hole/ knoll.....

Do any of you guys see a correlation to this and other emergences from holes????

Well Water:

It's Ground Hog Day!

ANNWYN:

he...he...yes...and the Ground hog is in essence a symbol of the serpent, but I was referring more to the Sidhe

Well Water:

Shucks, I thought it had to do with how long winter would last, or something.

ANNWYN:

Re: however...the serpent relationship / what I'd like to get to is the fertility aspect of Imbolc and also correlation then to the great Primal Mother... Another holiday that is associated with Imbolc is Lupercalia. It is a Roman festival of fertility... It is of such antiquity that even the Romans were ignorant of its precise meaning

Red Deer:

wabbits!

ANNWYN:

BANG RD... it perhaps calls on Pan the all father.....let me switch gears here... "Ancient myths of dragon/serpent guarding a mysterious and symbolic treasure perhaps refer to lost secret of crop fertility a hidden power running in fertility currents thruout the country side"...LOL...

DUE TO A SICK CHILD... ANNWYN'S CLASS WAS CUT SHORT, BUT IS COMPLETED IN NEXT WEEK'S (02/07/07) CLASS.