17, January 2025

If I told you Imbolc was coming up, there’s a good chance you’d have no idea what I was talking about. And that would be no fault of your own! Last year, I made a video about Imbolc for social media. When I turned on the auto-generated subtitles, they correctly captured every word I spoke…except for Imbolc (which it computed as ‘in bulk.’) Computers don’t even recognize the existence of this holiday, so how would you know about it?

Our modern world has forgotten a great many traditional holidays and seasonal events, and Imbolc is one of them. So if the rest of the world has let Imbolc fall by the wayside, why should you care about it? Keep reading, and I’ll tell you.

What is Imbolc all About, Anyway?

A Celestial Midpoint

Like all Wheel of the Year sabbats, Imbolc corresponds to an important point on the astrological calendar. Imbolc marks the point midway between Yule (the winter solstice - the shortest day and longest night of the year) and Ostara (the spring equinox - when daylight and nighttime last for the same length of time).

What does all that mean?

It means that Imbolc is celebrated at the halfway point of winter. Anyone who gets seasonal depression can tell you just how big a relief it is to know that we’ve made it halfway through the cold, dark time of year. Imbolc serves to mark that important point in time with a healthy serving of optimism.

An Uplifting Celebration

In the ancient civilizations in which Imbolc as we know it was born, winter was an extremely dangerous (and often deadly) time of year. If a village didn’t have a strong harvest, winter could be a time of severe scarcity, and the cold temperatures made it much harder to do even the most basic tasks. This is why Yule is such a riotous celebration of community and light. The only way to survive was to band together, support one another, and hang in there one day at a time.

While our modern-day circumstances aren’t quite as dire, we still see an increased reliance on community during winter, and a certain slowness that settles over us all as we wait for the sun to return its light and warmth to us again. So while it may seem obvious to imagine our ancestors celebrating the halfway point of winter, we still have reason to celebrate too.

Sure, most of us are fortunate enough to live in homes with central heating. And yes, most of us can get food of all kinds from the grocery store (or even on demand from a restaurant or delivery app). But we are still humans, and winter is still a desolate time of year, no matter the modern comforts we’ve developed for ourselves. It’s always worth celebrating a halfway-point during anything that’s taxing.

A Fresh Start

With winter halfway behind us, Imbolc marks a great time to turn our attention toward the future. Imbolc is a holiday of resilience and persistence - a reminder that this, too, shall pass. In fact, it already is. So what would you like your future to look like? Imbolc is a perfect time to start laying the groundwork.

As life slowly returns to the natural world in the form of birds returning from their migrations, animals slowly venturing out of their dens, and early spring plants pushing through the frozen earth, it stands to reason that we can start bringing vibrance back to our own lives as well. Imbolc invites us to reflect on what we’d like to keep in our lives, what we’d like to get rid of, and what we’d like to manifest. We grow as nature grows, so take this opportunity to till the frozen soil of your own life and get ready for the upcoming planting season.

I’m Sold - How do I Celebrate Imbolc?

Appreciate Nature

The easiest way to celebrate Imbolc is to simply open your senses. It’s so easy in our fast-paced world to forget to take in our surroundings. Let this be a reminder to pay attention when you’re outside during this time of year. Keep your eyes open for signs of life, like animal tracks in the snow or the first shoots of greenery poking through the ground. Listen to the sound of the birds. Feel the chilly bite of the air on your face, and remember that you’re halfway through. Spring is coming. If nature can make it through the winter, so can you.

Cleanse Your Space

Winter can be a time of stagnation for all of us, even if we try not to let it get stale. It’s naturally a time for rest and contemplation, so as we look toward spring, now is a great time to cleanse away any stale, stagnant, or negative energy from your space.

There are a variety of ways to do this. You can burn a smoke cleansing bundle, incense, or loose herbs. You can use sound, such as a singing bowl or bells. One of my favorite ways to cleanse a space at Imbolc is to use Florida water. I like to diffuse it into the air, as well as shaking a couple drops into the corners of my home and anointing the window sills and door frames.

If you can, try to pair your energetic cleanse with a physical spring cleaning of your home. Where dust tends to gather in your space is also where the energy is the stalest, so concentrate your attention there.

Reflect and Plan

As we approach the cusp of spring, it’s the perfect time to consider what in your life has served you well, and what you’d like to let go. What would you like to nurture in the coming season of growth? Is there anything that’s holding you back? Now is a wonderful time to come up with things you’d like to manifest, things you’d like to banish, things to hold onto, and things to let go.

There are many ways to reflect on these aspects of life, but I like meditation and journaling. Some people prefer vision boards, or tarot spreads, or even certain types of spellwork. Do whatever works best for you, but take the time to do it. You’ll be glad you did.

Want to Learn More?

If you’d like to dive deeper into this unknown (but important) winter holiday, you won’t want to miss our Imbolc workshops. During these hour-long applied classes, you’ll learn some of the history surrounding Imbolc, as well as the correspondences for the holiday (which crystals, herbs, flowers, and more pair well with Imbolc’s energy), and practical ways to celebrate in a modern world.

Since an important tenet of any pagan sabbat is community, we will also be doing a small craft that will help you draw on some of the holiday energy right then and there! You’ll leave with a guidebook and a goodie bag full of sabbat celebration items to help you get started with your Imbolc celebrations at home. So come join us and tell your friends! We can’t wait to celebrate this charming little holiday with you! 

11, September 2024

It’s fall, y’all

There’s just something about fall. Fall has some of the best colors. It’s got some really great clothes. Somehow, it has almost all of the best flavors and smells. Blankets make a reappearance, as do boots. Everywhere you go, the air smells amazing. With each step, leaves swish under your feet. Fall is a collection of sensory experiences that feels like nature’s masterpiece, and if you get a little bit giddy when that first crunchy leaf hits the ground, you certainly aren’t alone!

Along with the giddiness, there’s a certain manic energy that comes with early fall. It’s hard to describe the feeling, but the instant the air starts cooling, it feels like a clock somewhere has begun ticking. All the lackadaisical energy of summer vanishes immediately, and in its place is this innate, universal countdown. There is so much happening this time of year. All the short-lived fall festivals and markets popping up everywhere. Some of the best holidays. Not to mention back to school. It can feel overwhelming. There are only so many beautiful autumn days! You have to take advantage of them because, if you blink, you’ll miss them.

Why the urgency?

We’re coming up on Mabon - the first day of fall, otherwise known as the Autumnal Equinox. This is a transitional time of year, where the daylight hours equal the nighttime hours like the handing over of a baton. There are two equinoxes per year: The Vernal (spring) Equinox, and the Autumnal (fall) equinox. After the Vernal Equinox, the daylight hours increase slowly until we reach the Summer Solstice - the day of the year with the most time in sunlight. With the Autumnal Equinox, however, it’s the other way around. The sunlight hours grow shorter and shorter, until we reach the Winter Solstice and its longest night. As such, Mabon is a point where the days officially start becoming shorter than the nights.

This brings with it two very strong energies: energy of harvest, and energy of preparation.

At the end of the summer, crops are coming to fruition. Historically, a bountiful harvest was what got a community through the scarcity of winter. While in modern times we don’t have quite the same pressures as our ancestors did, all of our food still comes from the earth at some stage, and our ability to buy food from a grocery store is dependent on a strong harvest at the farm level. And we may not need to stock up for winter the way we once did, but the energy of preparation is still in the air.

This doesn’t have to be literal, either. As with many things in witchcraft and paganism, there is a lot of symbolism at play, here. A harvest can look like many things, including manifestations and goals coming to fruition. Preparation can come in the form of readying yourself mentally and emotionally for what is to come. Perhaps you’re laying the groundwork for how you’ll spend the next season of your life. Whether your harvest is a harvest of food, or whether it’s a more metaphorical harvest of intention, winter is coming. Mabon is its first whisper, and we need to be ready.

Dueling Energies?

It may seem like these two energies are at odds with each other. How can we take the time to stop and be thankful, to harvest our crops (literal or metaphorical) while actively preparing for what’s ahead? Is it possible to take time to reflect while also looking and planning ahead?

The answer is yes. Because one of Mabon’s biggest themes is balance.

Both equinoxes reflect a time when the day and night occupy equal hours in a day, which means both annual equinoxes celebrate finding a sense of balance. The Vernal Equinox is the start of a growing season. As such, the type of balance it calls us to find is about opening that time. What can we do to invite more balance into our lives? What have we learned during our reflective winter season that helps us bring more harmony during the coming days?

The Autumnal Equinox, however, occurs at the closing of the growing season. This equinox invites us to look back at all we’ve accomplished during the summer. All that we’ve made real. It invites us to give thanks for that - which is why Mabon is sometimes called Pagan Thanksgiving. But, in the spirit of balance, the energy of Mabon also calls us to look forward and make plans for winter. Where can we make changes during the quiet season upcoming? How can we prepare ourselves for this shift in energy? Mabon asks that we look both back and ahead, and that we take the time now to give thanks, before the urgency of winter really is upon us.

So why do we all love fall so much?

The answer to that is simple: It’s a new beginning. We as humans love when something that has lasted for a while comes to an end. It’s only natural. We’re not meant to be stagnant creatures, which is why fresh starts are just that - fresh!

Mabon brings with it some wild energy that has us all feeling anticipatory. There’s just something about it that has us all excited for all the beauty of the upcoming season. Our obsession with sweater weather, PSLs, apple orchards, pumpkin patches, and all things autumnal is just our natural, human way of celebrating! Our souls know the turning of the seasons. They understand how the universe flows and how energy shifts. So honor that excitement! This is a time of harvest, revelry and reflection. Celebrate and prepare for the upcoming season in whatever way you’d like, but don’t forget to balance it with some gratitude for the days past!

If you’d like to learn more about Mabon, including ways to celebrate, sign up for our Mabon workshop! Our Wheel of the Year educator, V, will take you through a more in-depth look at the holiday, and you’ll even get a goodie bag of sabbat celebration items! Space is limited, so grab your seat soon!