Introduction & Upcoming Shamanic Ceremony
Before we dive into it, I just want to share with you my upcoming shamanic ceremony on the 9th of February that will be in Foxrock, County Dublin: Burn Away Stagnancy. We will be working with our guardians, Goddess Bridget, the beautiful Snowdrap, and the divine Blue Lotus. Through these energies, the ceremony is going to be an opportunity to create space within ourselves.
Often, we have something that is looking to emerge from us, and that can be a project, a way of being, a way of thinking, or just doing something differently. But we can be held back by self-doubt, overthinking, the fear of getting it wrong, or even waiting for the perfect moment to act—and then we end up feeling drained, unsure, and even less clear about everything, or we end up conforming to how it’s been done before.
So come along—have a little look at my website or come over to Instagram; there’s details there. It would be a joy to share with you, and in other episodes, I will go deeper into more of the shamanic path and shamanic ceremonies as well. Many people who’ve experienced them have said that it’s right up their street when they finally come to experience it. So you’d be more than welcome.
Imbolc – A Time of New Beginnings
Imbolc: An Cailleach passes the torch to Goddess Brigid
And now, on to Imbolc, which is traditionally celebrated on the 1st of February. Often for Goddess Bridget, we’re leaving stuff out on the 31st of January, and Imbolc is celebrated on the 1st, though the true date is the 3rd of February. We have the span of period from, say, the 1st of February up to the Spring Equinox, which is the 22nd of March if I’m not mistaken for this year—the correct date.
So, Imbolc to me is this time when there’s often a story where the Cailleach brings you to the threshold of Imbolc, and to me it’s like this handover where you are at the threshold with the Cailleach now coming at the turning point of Imbolc. You reach your hands across to be greeted by Goddess Bridget, and you carry within you the wisdom, the dreaming, the visioning gifted to you through winter, and you allow these tender seedlings to enter your creative heart as we stand on this point where the first green shoots are emerging from their winter slumber—their winter slumber, even. Goddess Bridget helps you to clear the remains of the deep winter that maybe is clinging to you; she invites you to step your feet onto the dewy earth and begin to feel a life force awakening in the earth beneath you and all within you.
A Gentle Transition Toward the Light
So you can, at this time, begin to turn your head gently, slowly, towards the light. Imbolc isn’t a time of that frenetic, busy, “let’s get going, run out the doors” forward energy. Imbolc is still a little bit in and out because there’s a part of us maybe saying, “But I’d like just a little bit more sleep, please. A little bit more rest, a little bit more dreaming,” and there’s another part saying, “Yeah, but oh god, there’s life force coming—let’s make something of this.” There’s kind of a little bit of a push-pull sometimes, or we can be, “I’m done, I’m done with the winter. I can’t wait to get my feet right into the earth now.” And it’s just to acknowledge that there, and you know, we don’t need to hit the ground rolling at Imbolc or at any time of the year. So allow yourself to emerge slowly and to begin to explore within you what the invitation that Imbolc is revealing to you is showing you. Because within you, there will be tiny scenes of beginnings—a soft budding of a spring—and it’s only by listening to that, by slowing down a little bit, that we truly get to hear it.
Apprenticing with Goddess Brigid
Listening to the dream within you
We’ll often associate this time with Goddess Bridget—she’s the soul smith, the healer, the poet, so many things to list about her—but to consider what she wishes to share with you at this point in the spiral, I always like to associate it with the forge: forging your own path, having the courage to do that. There, you know, is the apprenticeship to something. What does she desire you to apprentice to within your heart? And maybe what does she wish to ignite within you with her perpetual flame—the flame that never goes out? Maybe within you there is something that never goes out, and obviously yes, there’s your life force, your… well, the life force can dim and go out very easily sometimes with burnout, but your soul light is always within you. Your life force is always within you.
For a lot of people, there’s a dream—a way of living, a way of expressing themselves, a way of sharing, a way of thinking—whatever it might be—within them, but it’s something that’s nearly always been within them or has been there a long time, and it knocks at the door: “Hello, will you listen? Hello, are you listening? Hello, let me in, let me out.” And to me, at Imbolc there’s this opportunity to listen to that which was within you that has always been there, looking to be revealed, to be lived—and that we could go, “Oh, that’s my true self.” But that might seem like an overwhelming thing to focus on all at once, because there will be many parts of your true self that are hidden and suppressed.
Maybe there’s something that’s been knocking at your door for a long time.
I will sit with people in sessions, and it’s, “Oh, I’ve always wanted to write a book. I’ve always been called to write a book, but I’ve never begun. Oh, I’ve always sort of wanted to run my own business, but I’ve never even considered it or looked into it. I’ve always wanted to get rid of this pattern, but I’ve always been too afraid to look at it.”
You know, Imbolc is this time of beginning. So can I meet these in a different way and let them begin in essence?
Often, we’ll see that Imbolc means “in the belly”—there’s something stirring in the belly, the seeds of potential—and it’s to consider:
What is the beginning that is calling you?
The beginning may be a continuation of something that you’ve sort of dropped a thread a few times, and now you’re going, “Okay, I actually really do want to pick that up again.” And that, too, is a beginning, and whatever it is that you’re wanting to put your energy into—because that’s what I see—we’ve been in the dream time of winter.
We’ve sat in our winter cave, which has been soft and slow, and there’s been no rush. And now we’ve got to shake off that winter.
I can take the medicine of my winter with me, but I have to shake off the parts of me that maybe are frozen, that are stagnant, so that life force can move through me. And if you think of our winter, everything’s happening under the surface. So our dreaming at this stage maybe isn’t fully formed just yet—we’re still maybe in that place of, “Where do I want to place my energy, my precious energy?”
Harnessing the Energy for Growth
I shared about this in the 12 Days of Reiki. Sometimes, we will overload ourselves with, “My god, maybe seven or eight areas—this is where I’m going to focus my energy this year.” And for the majority of people, that is not going to happen. The needle won’t move in any of them. So the way I sort of look at things will be: one or two things—where do I really need to move the needle in my life that would make a difference to my quality of life—and then, what would moving the needle look like? To me, that’s what this space is for. I can only chat about Bridget and her fiery arrows, the exalted one, but if I’m firing an arrow, I don’t have 12 on my bow—I have one on my bow, and I’m aiming it, and I’m clear about where I want to go, knowing that there may come a little gust of wind and, just you know, I might not fully land exactly where I think, but I trust that little gust of wind.
We often chat about energy needing focus—our energy goes where intention goes—but we wander through life without any focus often because it’s pulled from us in so many different directions. So where do you want to focus? What do you want to focus on? This is the pairing back time now—from, “Oh yeah, I had like 12 ideas,” to “Okay, actually, which one maybe is most alive? Which one would make the most difference to me, my relationships, my family, my career, my health, my wealth, my hobbies—anything at all?” So, whatever is beginning within you, what does it need to grow?
There we’ll see what strength we have, and we use the word “strength”—what we have the strength for, what we already have within us, the resources that we have within us that will feed that. But we’ll also probably straight away get an idea of, “Okay, that which was within me that may be going to drown it, that is going to smother it before it even gets to begin.” If you look, I’m looking out my window here, and there’s still all the dark brown leaves sitting in certain parts of our garden, but I can also see the shoots that are moving up through them, like the daffodils. For some of us, or for a lot of people, those dark brown leaves suffocate that which we’re trying to bring through—to create birth.
Embracing Hope & Renewal
So Imbolc is this soft, slow emergence. I heard somebody chat about hope recently—I can’t remember where it was—but they basically said, “Hope’s stupid. People who hope are ridiculous.” I was like, “Wow, to me, hope is a beautiful energy—a beautiful quality.” Like the snowdrop is full of hope. Hope for what is yet to come, hope for renewal. To me, hope isn’t about giving up; hope is that I can be uplifted, sustained, and held through the wonder, through the challenge, in times of life, because I know it can be different.
During healing, hope is a huge part of it. People come to healing because they hope things can be different. Some will know things can be different; other people will hope it can be different because it’s been a hard challenge and time for them.
And if you think of the little snowdrop emerging from winter’s embrace, she shines her light of hope—you can’t look at the first bunch of snowdrops coming out of the earth and go, “Yeah, whatever, I don’t care.” There’s always an “Oh, sweet God, yay!”—a celebration, a relief; a relief of, “Oh yes, I forgot the light is coming.” And that happens in life too, where we look and move through our challenges, and we can become so tonal in our vision that we forget the light.
The snowdrop embodies that resilience and determination to come out through the soil, to emerge, to have the courage to move forward. And as you see her—her little flower, her little head sort of just moving back and forth in the gentle breezes—the joy is catching. She brings optimism, and she thaws the part of us that may have hardened through winter. She reminds us to soften—soften.
You’ve endured the winter; you’ve moved through it; you’ve come out the other end.
Innonence and New Beginnings
To me, Imbolc is associated in the medicine wheel I work with with the east. So we’re moving from earth to air; it’s associated with the color white. But if you think about it, you see that the snowdrop with her little white head—if you look inside you’ll see a beautiful little bit of green and a little pattern—but her little white head reminds you of the innocence that is needed, the innocence that is needed to take a fresh start, to begin anew, or to take a leap of faith. It’s needed. We need to really shed our wonder’s forgotten pain of moving through them, almost so that we can begin again.
So Snowdrop comes to remind us: if you’re feeling stuck, lost, unsure, hopeless, or frozen, turn your heart, your being, towards the light, and open up one step at a time to move through those places where you feel stuck and lost.
One step at a time, and we can—and we always will—grow. The little snowdrop reminds us that even in the darkest moment, there’s hope.
So, what do you hope for?
And like the snowdrop—which, as I mentioned earlier, is emerging through the earth, cracking through the seed to emerge—if you think of your dreams, that which you hold dearly in your heart, that which you want to breathe life into…
If we think of Imbolc as that time between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, we’re not fully in the earth; we’re beginning to move towards the light slowly, slowly, slowly. But it’s something to reach out to the world, to become more of who you are.
So what are you opening to, and maybe where have you closed yourself off?
Maybe you’ve closed yourself off from dreaming, from thinking it’s possible—but what are you opening to? Imagine you’re a little snowdrop coming up from the earth: what are you moving towards? And I think with the seeds that we carry within ourselves—how do we incubate them? How do we protect them? And protecting them isn’t out of fear but us protecting them from fear, from our perfectionism, from our procrastination, from our doubts, from our programming from others
beautiful, helpful advice—potentially maybe not helpful because it comes from their own wounding—but other times it is deeply helpful.
If these are our tender seeds, maybe contain them and hold on to them for a while. That’s what we do in a shamanic ceremony: it’s a containment of energy, and that’s why I don’t really share pictures, images, videos, etc., inside the ceremony—because we’re containing the energy to let it really grow after the ceremony as well, rather than leaking it everywhere.
Letting go to make space
So it’s the same with our seeds: how can I maybe hold these, not out of fear, not out of worry or any of that, but just… Oh, you know, if it’s in the belly—just like a pregnancy—it’s not really visible straight away.
So it’s the same with our dreams:
- How can I incubate them?
- What do they need in these tender moments?
More than likely, they will need cheerleading; they will need reinforcement, you know, positive reinforcement: “I can do this. We can do this. Wow, what would life look like feeling more self-love? What would life look like feeling more confident? What would life look like if I shared my work? What would life look like to feel secure, stable—whatever it might be?”
And maybe you’re envisioning it, plotting it out, playing with it, experimenting before even doing anything.
But these are all the invisible steps—often invisible steps—and then we have to create space, clear space for them.
So, what are you going to let go of to create space for your dream? Sometimes that is needed. Maybe I’m going to let go of, um, maybe I’m going to let go of control, and then I go, “What the hell does that even mean?” I’m going to let go of trying to get it right. Actually, yeah, I’ve been sitting on the first line of my poem—or my book—and I’ve rewritten that 15 billion times. You know, I’m going to let that go. I’m just going to start and write it, and then I’ll edit it later on. I’m just going to get it out of me.
The same if you’re creating a program or launching a business—oh my god, like, what do I need to let go of? I need to let go of having to do it all by myself and ask for help.
Let yourself prepare for the new beginnings; give yourself time to prepare for the new beginnings because this is something that you want to devote your energy to. So don’t choose a seed that you don’t really care about, or it’s because everybody else has it or it’s trending and it’s cool—sure, isn’t that what everybody else is doing? Choose a seed that really is you, for you.
Embracing the Divine Guidance: The Many Aspects of Goddess Brigid
We often chat at this time of year about Imbolc, about rekindling the fire, the spark, the life force, the fire in the belly, the passion of the heart, the inspiration in the third eye—the three cauldrons. She’s the fertile aspect of the divine family and energy.
And as you consider what are the aspects of Bridget that truly speak to you—is it Bridget of the hearth, Bridget the firekeeper, the eternal flame, the poet, the forge?
Maybe it’s the stories of her courage, of her tenacity, stories where she is the protector, stories where she walks her own path—she forges her own way; Bridget the peacemaker, the champion of the poor, the healer.
You’ll find there are many more aspects to her, but consider which one speaks to you and how can it support you at this time.
If Bridget is inviting an inspiration and transformation, where is she shining that light on you?
Where is she inviting you to boldly tend your inner flame, to let your creative life force grow and decide where to direct it?
Where is she inviting you to step into, as I often call the creator of your life—the author of your life—rather than being a spectator in your life.
You’re writing it, because that is what Bridget did. She understood what was important to her; she understood her destiny, and she walked that path without letting the little obstacles stay in her way for too long. She learned to outsmart them.
Practical Rituals
Over the coming weeks, as we walk the path of Imbolc, the invitation is to become aware of the new beginnings that are rising within you, to treat them with gentle hands, to incubate them, to give them space and time to take root before they stretch outwards.
And know that it is normal to feel doubtful of our ability to bring our dream seeds into maturity, to see them come to life, but that it’s possible to clear the path for the new growth—where you can compost, heal the past, as appointments, let go of old dreams, shed what hinders you so that you can let your heartfelt seed vision guide your way.
And a few little things to do—obviously, you have all the Bridget stuff to do: make your little Bridget’s cross, put it above your door, lay out your Bhrat Bride, your little Bridget’s cloth (usually red or white, but any color can do) on the 31st, and let it be blessed by Brigid with her healing powers; maybe create a fiery arrow to represent that which you are going to place your energy into and that which you will hold as you walk the wheel—the Celtic wheel—this year. Even if you just listen to this podcast for the wheel episodes, I think, over the coming weeks,
“Where do I want to focus my energy?”
And then use each episode to come back and ask, “Have I forgotten that? Oh, have I walked away from that? Has it changed?” So that you can, in essence, have a path to walk alongside.
As always, Bridget is associated with the fires and the water. Visit one of her sacred wells, visit Faughart or down in Kildare, or walk Brigid’s pilgrim path. Maybe just with water in your own house; cleanse yourself with it. Do a little personal fire ceremony; plant some physical seeds to represent your internal seeds. These are all simple yet powerful little rituals, and if you want to be held in ceremony within a medicine wheel to allow deeper transformation to happen, to feel supported in self and community, and to access your deep wisdom,.
Please do come join me on the 9th of February in Foxrock, County Dublin. It would be a pleasure to guide you alongside Bridget, Blue Lotus, and Snowdrop as we burn away the stagnancy to create space for creativity, courage, and our path forward.
Many Imbolc blessings to you—may you truly connect to the energies of Imbolc: the hope, the renewal, the awakening, the quickening. I haven’t talked about them all here because we’d be here for the next day, but most importantly, go outside on the 31st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd—hopefully you get outside every day, but particularly on those days—and see how nature is speaking to you through the tender beginnings of the energy of Imbolc, of the quiet stirrings, and be open to see what symbol or message appears to you.
Thank you, as always, for listening. I look forward to connecting with you on our next episode, and as always, if there’s anything you’d like to hear me chat about and do an episode on, please just email me or DM me on Instagram @TheThirstySoul. Thank you. Bye.