Bride day Celebrate Wiccan ritual Imbolc

Happy, Imbolc, Candlemas, St. Brigid’s day

Saint_Brigid’s_cross Culnacreann, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Culnacreann, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

“I am older than Brighid of the Mantle*…

“I put songs and music on the wind before ever the bells of the chapels
were rung in the West or heard in the East. …

“And I have been a breath in your heart.

“And the day has its feet to it that will see me coming
into the hearts of men and women like a flame upon dry grass,
like a flame of wind in a great wood…”

~ Winged Destiny by Fiona MacLeod (William Sharp: 1855 –1905)

Feb 1 is the celebration of Celtic Goddess BRIDE or Brigit. She is a Triple Goddess a SUN GODDESS Goddess of midwives, smithcraft, poetry, agriculture, fertility and she has a sacred well. This is a very powerful cross-quarter day in the wheel of the Year. Celebrated since the dawn of time by our ancestors and still observed by Pagans, Wiccans and Catholics as The Feast of the Purification of Mary.

It is a holiday of the element of Fire celebration.  Clean out your old hearth or wood stove. LIGHT tons of candles. Think about your passions. What are you passionate about?  Light a new fire, signifying a new action, inspiration, passion.

She is like the Red Dakini in Tibetan Buddhism.

It is a day of Quickening and sexuality. Make love. call in a new lover.

PLANTING SEEDS, GERMINATING NEW INTENTIONS

It is good to plant real seeds, or a bulb, a spring flower perhaps, as a symbol of your new life emerging at the Spring Equinox. Really imagine your intent for whatever it is you wish into your seed, put it in potting soil and water it and put it in a dark place,keep an eye on it, keep it moist but dont let it rot, Keep praying, blessings and mediating with your seed. Watch it slowly sprout and emerge as Spring draws nearer and nearer.

BRIGID GODDESS OF CREATIVITY

Brigid is the Goddess of poetry smithcraft and healing. Do something creative, read poetry, write Sing, dance, appreciate fine art and crafts. Dedicate a future work to Her.

Make new commitments on this day.

As a Purification Day

Use water and salt to purify yourself. Wash your hands and face in salt water. Sprinkle salt water which you have blessed making it charged, sprinkle it in every corner of your home. 

SPRING CLEANING!

Time to clean up your act in all ways. A bit early to start an actual spring tonic cleanse for your liver. Clean and renew your mind, scrub out the old ideas that have gotten cobwebs. This is actually a better time to commit to a new exercise routine than Jan 1st.  Days are visibly longer, you will have more energy.

 WATER

Brigid governed wells, there is a holy well in Ireland where she is worshipped. Water is the most important element. Water transmutes all hardness, breaks down anything over time. The waters of the earth these days needs our help and intentions.  Send your intention to see the earth waters running clear pure, cleansed.

FOOD

Traditional grains were eaten to celebrate the growth of future grains. Serve crepes pancakes, cakes,breads. Put out a loaf of bread on your windowsill like they did in Ireland traditionally on Brigid’s day. An ear of corn was also set out. Wheat stalks are woven into X shaped crosses to serve as charms to protect the home from fires and lightning.

Traditionally a corn dolly or last sheaf of wheat or grain from Lammas or Autumn Equinox was dressed in a bridal gown is put in a basket made for her, called the Bride’s bed. A wand,candle or other phallic object was laid across her, and Bride or Birgitta was invited to come. It is a fertility time. Ewes are birthing their young and lactating. Milk would be flowing and the people had food to get them through before plants would appear.

This would be the day of the first plowing of the earth. What are you going to fertilize? What practical things will you nurture? Plant seeds.

CANDLES, as a festival of light

Light up your Life  as the days grow longer. Light candles everywhere or a bonfire. Traditionally candles are brought to a church to be blessed, which is then brought home to be used as talismans for protection.

In HUNGARY

this day is called the Blessing of the candle of the Happy Woman. In Poland Feb 2 is called the Mother of God who saves us from thunder.

The lesson of the brilliant movie Groundhog Day was not to be stuck in a karmic rut of repeating the same patterns over and over and over and nauseum. Character traits and old habits like being stubborn callous, cranky, selfish, blaming, addictions, stuckness, giving up,  lower self-routines over and over and over, but make of your life something amazing help others, grow and learn as much as you can. Give love and find love.

Blessings, TARA

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more about Bridgid  https://www.druidry.org/library/gods-goddesses/brigid-survival-goddess

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Saturnalia, Winter Solstice-hot-spots from Tara Greene

WINTER SOLSTICE is the shortest day of the year, the longest night. Called YULE in the Pagan circle of the year.

It’s CAPRICORN time. Ruled by Saturn, the planet/God of Time, testing, maturity, old age. The ancient Romans celebrated this tradition as the Saturnalia. A time of revelry, when slaves were free and became the masters, everyone was celebrating the Return of the  Light, the King, in infant form. The Christians overlaid the story of Jesus onto the ancient worship. Everything we associate with Christmas are ancient pagan symbols -the holly, the mistletoe, the Yule log, the tree. Paganism is the fastest growing “religion” in the U.K. and the U.S. Actually it is not an organized religion at all per se, it is a practice of spiritual immanence with Nature, the Goddess and the God, with All That Is. Paganism is  more of a group spirituality that can be practiced alone. It has nothing to do with devil worship. The popularity of Harry Potter has also certainly brought back its popularity. Pagans worship nature, Druids worshipped trees.

So it’s Capricorn time. The sun is on the Tropic of Capricorn 23.26 degrees South of the Equator.  The Tropic Of Capricorn has many countries world-wide which it runs through. Five in Africa, North of Alice Springs, Queensland, Australia,and four countries in Brasil.

All Capricorn’s, especially those Old Bill Goat Gruff’s and Goatees born December 23- January 5 this is a huge  year for you. Or anyone with Capricorn planets at 9-14 degrees. You know PLUTO is forcing the old you to die and be reborn, unless you are truly following your soul’s path. Then Pluto can bring power, rewards, riches. An entirely new you is being forged deep in the bowels of the earth. And if that’s not enough to change your soul totally. Then Uranus Mars and Jupiter get in on the act to revolutionize, ignite and expand your horizons respectively.

Where the PLanetary Lines fall on the Winter Solstice chart map in Astro Cartography is where the greatest tension will be for the next 3 months to a year. Especially where  Mars Uranus Jupiter and Pluto lines fall are the areas to watch.

PLUTO runs right through Maputo South Africa,North through Zambia, Zaire,Chad, Western Libya,France,South West England, Ireland. PLUTO MARS and URANUS CONJUNCT exactly in the middle of CHAD AFRICA. TRIPLE HOT SPOT with Jupiter crossing north of the others in LIBYA.

Pluto conjuncts the Moon over ICELAND, right over the Northern most part of   Canada, including that north Pole passage and down through, North West Alberta and bisects British Columbia and goes out to the middle of the Pacific Ocean and South of New Zealand.

PLUTO is on the Mid Heaven and runs through Argentina, BOLIVIA, Venezuela, Western Puerto Rico, North to Boston and into Quebec and Labrador.

PLUTO conjuncts URANUS right on Tiera Del Fuego Argentina and again in Northern Russian down through Ulan Bator MONGOLIA.. Those are HOT SPOTS.

On the other side of the World Pluto is on the I.C. of Indonesia,BEIJING , into Mongolia and Russia.  If you are a Capricorn and living on these lines you will be transformed even more. Or got to these places if you are seeking Plutonic transformation.

URANUS and MARs actually cross paths directly over New York, near Washington , through the Caribbean, right over HAITI, Venezuela and Columbia. Also through Western Alaska, near Hawaii. They cross Pluto right at the Society Islands. On the Western side, Uranus and Mars cross paths  right through Stockholm, Sweden,Warsaw, Poland, Budapest Hungary, down through Belgrade Yugoslavia, South through Libya, Chad, directly South through Botswana, Africa. Mars and Uranus Ascend through JAVA and Indonesia. Uranus and Pluto cross over each other in Mongolia.

JUPITER is on the Mid Heaven through TAIWAN, MANILLA Philipines, Indonesia and Western Australia. Jupiter on the I.C. through Nova Scotia, South through Guyana, Paraguay, Argentina and the FALKLAND ISLANDS.

JUPITER ASCENDS through TASMANIA, SUDAN, crosses MARS & URANUS in LIBYA!!!!! VERY HOTTTT,

Jupiter Ascends through France, Britain, Ireland, Jupiter Descends through NOrthern CANADA, NOrth of HUDSON”S BAY,Northern Saskatchewan, right through the ALBERTA TAR SANDS, right through Mt. ST. HELEN’s And WASHINGTON STATE and Descends through the Pacific near the Society Islands and South of New Zealand.

The Winter Solstice is a very GALACTIC SOLSTICE or SOULSTITCH

“A stitch in time saves nine.” Francis Bailey, English Astronomer 1797

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