Imbolc is celebrated on 1/2 February and  is the time of the year where the days grow longer and when spring starts to manifest. 

This day marks the festival of Brigid, a Celtic Triple Goddess: Goddess of Healing (healers, medicine, spiritual healing, fertility), of Inspiration and Poetry (poets, poetry, creativity, prophecy, arts) and of Smith Crafts (blacksmiths, goldsmiths, household crafts).
In this day celebrations are made to honour the Goddess, Woman and the coming Spring. 
Fire and purification are an important aspect of this celebration. The lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months.


To celebrate this day many activities can be performed such as: 
- planting seeds (herbs and flowers) and also psychic seeds (hopes and dreams),
- a 1-3 day of water fast for healing and renewal, 
- make up a bed for a visitor, 
- fix something broken, 
- cleaning up fields and home, 
- putting out food (glass of milk and a slice of bread with butter) as an offering to the Goddess, so we can be blessed by Her,
- Dancing as many hours as you can to cleanse and renew your body,
- ...


On Brigid’s Day, Selena Fox, (http://www.mhtc.net/~selena/index.html) recommends:
“Do a self purification rite with Elemental tools–
cleanse your body with salt (Earth)
your thoughts with incense (Air)
your will with a candle flame (Fire)
your emotions with water (Water)
and your spiritual body with a healing crystal (Spirit)
Bless candles that you will be using for rituals throughout the year.
Invoke Brigid for creative inspiration.
Take a Nature walk and look for the first signs of Spring.”

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Nineteen Candles Are Lit For Brigid
Note: Here are the 19 priestesses represented. In a dedication to Brigid, an invocation for healing, or prior to initiation where Brigid will be asked for blessing, or in celebration of Herself, spelled candles so imbued might be used. Packets of the 19 may be made for Bridgit dedicants, also, and so blessed.

Your first candle lit is your sunrise birth: the flame of your house reaching Ceugant's brow.
Second is the spark of your union with Bress, son of Elathan.
Third is the pillar of fire, as you took the veil, rising high and clear.
Fourth are brothers, Dagda the father, Broadb the Red, Medar, Ogma, and Aenghus.
Fifth is eternal life's spring: that sings your name, in crystal gaze.
Sixth is the flame on your Altar, that never dies.
Seventh is the grove at LLandwynwn, on Mora's shore, where lovers tryst.
Eight is the strength of your oxen of Dil - Fea and Fernea, the red and the black.
Ninth is the sigh of your breath, as new life grows from old, your bridge of truth.
Tenth is a milk white cow, of redden ears, the Earth Mother's nectar, sweet.
Eleventh is a girdle, that spans night and day, yet heals all and remains.
Twelfth is a veil of truth, in flowering thorn, your weary path.
Thirteen is your son Ruardan, to be reborn.
Fourteenth is the white light of the flowering word, born at sunrise - the molten sky.
Fifteenth is the grove at Kildare, with solid oak and crystal spring.
Sixteenth are the shrines throughout Aibion, in Church, Well, and Wall.
Seventeenth is your will, of black iron, forged in the determination of one thousand eyes.
Eighteenth is a healing - the white dog at the protal, the chalice of your smile.
Nineteenth is a clarach which spells - hours, days, and signs, all in a silver bough.
Your last is your first, the begining of the turning sea, the ending of the three. The dancing sun in the hearts of all! The candle that never dies!

by Colin Murray, found in Philip Carr-Gomm's The Druid Way

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Imbolc Blessings to All!!! 

This photo was taken in September 2009 by Mafalda Seguro
Walking around and spinning around
The wheel turns and transforms
The years pass by... life remains
While the beauty of the earth endure in time

Memories and history prevail in the old man
Full of stories... legends... and memories.. to tell

Bright colours fill the air
While a little child waits in the grove
Joy and excitement fill her eyes
Looking to the man of the white robe to pass by

The man walks and lies one hand
A blessing is given... a journey to start
A new beggining in the wheel of time...

his video was taken from: http://www.weareallone-support.org/

Film contents
Speaker: Indigenous Native American Prophecy, 0:00 - 1:22 Red Crow Westerman. 1:33 - 9:53 Oren Lyons.
Photo: (Planet Earth) Award-winning BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Alastair Fothergill
Soundtrack: From the movie Patch Adams. Contains Music by Various Artists, Marc Shaiman
Edited, synced and cut by: Anders Fredblad 4 december 2008 Sweden

Guaranteed to touch the heart and inspire the mind,
this incredible short film shares an Indigenous Native American Prophecy that links all of life and the future of our planet.


This photo was taken in December 2009, in Risskov by Mafalda Seguro
When the sun comes down a new life, a parallel life, happens.
Is not that this life does not happen in the day light, it does, but our senses are not so open... at night, we are alert, we are awake.
Is just like the animals, at night they are awake, aware of their surroundings and conscious of several dangers. They would rest but not a quiet rest.
And so we are all the same... but now we have houses, beds, the feeling of protection and so we sleep. An entire night of sleep… or not...  our spirit and soul (or unconscious if it is a better notion) are still aware, and we can see it by our dreams or when we wake up in the next day more tired than when we went to sleep.
We are visited by all the beings that we do not see or look during the day, so they come to us at night… giving us some awareness even if we do not remember it in the morning after… we dream with animals, with the elements, with trees and plants, with rocks and water…
There are some common dreams… we are flying… we are falling from a big rock or mountain… we are surrounded by fire… we are together with animals, they tell us something and give us signals that most of the time we do not recognize or understand… we meet people from our pass, present and future because we need answers, closure, acceptance or understanding… we are free… we also dream with what we do not have or we wish for... with the pass, present and future...
Why is that? A way to show us how it could be? The way we feel if we had it in our lives!
Or when we are outside in the night, and every sound and movement are bigger than we had imagined… The fear takes over... the courage resists to it... and we give steps in the darkness… to the unknown… Everything happens with the porpoise of making us awake to another reality… and not to fall in the waters of the forgetting and memories…
The gift of memories, remembering, dreams, ideas... 

The night… the moon… the stars… what would be of us without them and without their impact?
Today I would like to leave a message from others...  They are from this world and were here way before any of us were born... They live among us... They are everywhere...

I was thinking about my day, in people dynamics, and in how it seems that everyone knows where to go and to do... Sometimes I feel weird because I just go with the wind and the seasons... I have dreams... I have hopes... and plans... but when I look around, it seems different, as if everything was easier to others and not to me... Which is an ilusion...

So, there I was... just walking... and I was thinking about this, feeling sorry about how life is, insted of cherrish it... An emotion took over me... My heart warm up and raced... and then... the voices came...

Way to simple...
More simple than that...
Just because...
We are here
We feel
We grow
We give
We receive
We nurture
We share
We feed
We exist
We warm
We believe
We seed
We knowledge
We are wise
We know all the history
We love...
We suffer...
We love even more...
We are here... and we are the last ones to leave...


This voices... Strong and proud... from some of the Sons of the Earth...

This is a prayer... Thank you...
Life will start flourish as the time goes by... as hearts are beating together... as tears are shed with pride... as the sound of the Earth is heard and never forgotten again!

How can a person unlock her own mind, heart and spirit?
How can a person fight and defend against herself?

We are the product of our thoughts, beliefs, values and fears... But fears are locked in a shell with no easy access... fears are locked in the mist of our behaviours, actions and emotions! To face them, is to face our worst enemy... Ourselves... we tend to hide... we tend to lie... and we tend to pretend... but to the self not to others! There is a thin line between what we thing we are with what we really are... are we strong enought to cross it?  Have we the courage to it? Are we going to be the same after?

How many masks are in each one of us???


We take our lives for granted.... and we should not... We live our lives with the fear of tomorrow... and we should not... We are what we are, we have feelings, memories, knowledge, body, spirit, soul, family, friends... and most of the time we do not value that...we do not value ourselves...

"What do you wish for'" Most of the people ask
"Money..." Many answer... "A new house... A new car... A new job..." Others add...

And then... there is a earthquake... a tsunami... a loved one dies... something happens that we cannot control...

"What do you wish for now?"

You wonder... I wonder... life is priceless... such are family and friends... such are memories, knowledge and feelings... such is all the rest that we should have wished... when nothing else matters in the middle of a loss... We are what we wish for... and this has many meanings...

Our lives are not for granted... tomorrow is nothing to be feared... and today... Today is the most precious moment of our lives!
The pain is too much to be measure
the entire body is trembling with it
How can I be free of this?
That my head would go back to blank
that my life would again be in  my possession
that my wishes were simple
that my life would not be so overwhelming
that I could not feel the pain of others...
But then... I would not have it...
The feeling of solitude... and love...
The fresh breeze in the morning would not feel the same
The despair can take over but the light is there if I look
The all the time changes are been painfull and fast
In the end... it will never end...
The transformation is happening...
The time is short...
The body is in pain... but the heart and soul are hopeful...
I am not walking alone...

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This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
Lost in the idea of time...
What is it after all?
Past? Future? People keep living in one or another?
What they lost and what they aim for...
Why do we all ignore the present and the possibilities of the now?
Now is where we are... Now is what can change what happened and what can be...
As we say goodbye to a cicle we welcome another one... Another cicle as many others in our lives...

All I wish for this year to me and to everyone else is... LOVE! Let it grow in you and share it with others... It will make a difference in you and all around you!

Happy new year!!!
Creative Commons License
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.