02/01/2026
“Old woman winter, it’s time to go!
Take with you these piles of snow!
Melt, snow, melt! Spring will soon return!
A flame, a fire, all the warmth it brings,
melt the snow, cold be gone,
welcome back the spring!”
We stand at the cusp. midway point between winter and spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Between summer and autumn in the Southern. On the Wheel of the Year, Imbolc and Lughnasadh are polarity sisters - opposite points, facing different directions in the cycle.
Take some time to notice the quality of the light, for it is the same now as that golden glow of late summer’s first harvest, though in an opposite direction. But instead of the season of fullness and waning before us, in the Northern Hemisphere, the season of light and growth lies ahead. And so we prepare ourselves with rites of renewal, cleansing, and commitment. We celebrate the first stirrings of Spring.
This is the gateway where Cailleach transforms into Brigid. Winter Crone yields to Spring Maiden. Dark sister meets Light sister at the threshold. Power shifts. The hag becomes the bride. The nightmare becomes the sacred dream. Either which way -we are in the holy wild threshold of her belly.
Imbolc - from the Old Irish i mbolc, meaning “in the belly” - refers to the pregnancy of ewes at this time of year. The earth mother’s belly is full of seeds. The lamb mother prepares for birth. The soul mother stirs with new possibility.
This is one of the four great Gaelic seasonal festivals - along with Bealtaine, Lughnasadh, and Samhain. Originally a pagan festival honoring the goddess Brigid, it was later Christianized as Saint Brigid’s Day. Some scholars link the name to the Old Irish folcaim - “to wash, to cleanse” - connecting it to ritual purification, similar to the ancient Roman festival Februa.
February = the month of purification.
Brigid is White Goddess. Purity, Purification, Renewal. All things Light. She is poet, healer, smith - keeper of sacred flame, holy well, forge’s fire.
The light in February changes. It is noticeable. In the north, it is a distinct lengthening.
https://thewildremembering.substack.com
Artist: Annette Pirso
![Traditionally, Imbolc [an ancient Celtic festival to honor the mid point between winter solstice and the spring eqinox] ...](https://img4.findhealthclinics.com/844/860/1501068238448604.jpg)
