Imbolc

Energetic Protection Oil

My first Imbolc celebration was on February 1st, 2021. I had just gotten off of work and called one of my friends at like one or two in the morning to go to the local park with me to get some clippings from a Willow tree. After a few google searches on how to celebrate Imbolc and what it even was, I found an article that explained a few different ways to celebrate it.

The way I chose to incorporate Imbolc into my practice was to make a Brigid cross. I looked up where I could find a willow tree in the middle of the night in Nashville and found images of Centennial Park. My friend and I walked around the park for a bit, found a willow tree, cut about two or three branches, and I returned home to create my Brigid cross with some green ribbon I had. The green ribbon was meant to represent the season change from Winter to Spring. I set my cross on my altar and burned white and green candles to honor Brigid.

Imbolc is the halfway point between the Winter solstice and Spring equinox, celebrated as Yule and Ostara. With Spring right around the corner, this is the time of year that many animals will be pregnant or giving birth, therefore producing milk, which is why milk is one of the offerings made to Brigid.

Here are some things you can do to celebrate the holiday:

• Spring cleaning! If you don’t have an entire day to clean, start with something small! If you have an altar, tidy it up to the best of your abilities and light a candle. If not, tidy an area of your bathroom, kitchen or bedroom. Basically tidy a small area that is your safe place or somewhere that feels sacred to you. If you have the energy, you can deep clean or organize something that you’ve been putting off for a while! That’s not always practical for people that work full time or are burnt out. Just start small and do what you can!

• You can carve a white or green candle with protective sigils or runes that remove negative energy. I always like to carve my name into the candle with my date of birth and use essential oils like patchouli, lavender, orange, or honeysuckle and I roll my candles in herbs like lavender, rosemary and cinnamon. **A word of caution, any time you are anointing and dressing candles, make sure to burn on a fire safe surface and make sure to keep the candle within sight to prevent accidental fires. Candles should always be supervised.**

• Smoke cleanse your home! I love to light a charcoal in my mini cauldron and burn things like cinnamon, lavender or a resin. I always open all of my windows and personally, I gently blow on my herbs instead of using a feather while being careful as to not blow any embers out of the container. You can also use herb bundles such as cedar, rosemary, blue sage, black sage or lavender. Make your practice your own by personalizing it with whatever cleansing herbs you are intuitively drawn to. **Any time you’re smoke cleansing, be sure to carry a fire safe container, like a bowl or cauldron so that you aren’t getting ash or embers everywhere**

• Take a spiritual bath! Epsom salt is really good for drawing out negative energy. I recommend lighting some candles, sprinkling in some fresh or dried herbs with your intention, flower petals, a few drops of essential oil and burning some incense. Whenever I’m preparing a spiritual bath, I clean my bathtub and typically the entire bathroom to remove any lingering stagnant or negative energy from the space before starting. I have a meditation ready and I play some gentle music to get into the head space of relaxing. When I’m adding things to my bath, I say my intention out loud or in my head such as “I am removing any negative energy from my body.” or “I love myself.” any kind of affirmation or intention will work. Recently I learned that you can put your herbs in a sachet or a fresh, empty tea bag to contain any herbs for an easier clean up afterwards. I also like to set crystals around the bathtub such as clear quartz, rose quartz, amethyst, and black tourmaline.

• Place a bowl of milk on your altar as an offering to Brigid or create your own Brigid cross. You can make it from reed (cat tails), straw or willow branches.

• Spend some time in nature to observe the first signs of spring. You can either go on a hike or walk at a local trail, go for a short walk around your neighborhood or just spend some time outside. I like to ask my guides for signs such as birds, small animals or flowers. Just recently I was with a friend and she pointed out some daffodils growing on the side of the road on our drive. There are early signs of spring all around us, we just have to pay attention and bring them into our awareness.

• Depending on the weather, you can have a bonfire outside or light a fire in your fireplace as a way of bringing the warmth to us while we’re waiting for warmer days to come. If you don’t have the means to do so, lighting a candle is a good way to honor this tradition.

• Brigid is said to walk the earth on the Eve of Imbolc. Many people will leave a linen, a ribbon, or a cloth of any kind outside their door to be blessed by her. The cloth is known to bring protection and healing.

• You can leave an offering of food such as cakes, butter or milk.

This is a time for healing and protection. I will be performing spells with those intentions in mind and practicing different forms of self care. Whatever you have the ability, energy and means to do during this time, every little thing that you can do, matters. Listen to your body, listen to your intuition, and do what you feel guided to do.