Imbolc

As an apprentice witch, this is my first year going through and celebrating all the sabbats or holidays on the wheel of the year. I was familiar with some of them already. For example, Yule, which happens around Christmas was a pretty easy one to recognize. The word Yule is literally found in modern Christmas songs. Samhain, which is around Halloween, I was aware of as well because of Halloween and all the spooky associations with that holiday. However, Imbolc stumped me. I hadn't even heard of the holidays around it. The only thing that came to mind was Groundhog's Day, so I did my research and found out about this holiday. If you're a newbie witch like me, let me give you the low down on Imbolc.

Like the other sabbats, it has many names, because it is recognized in different parts of the world in some form or another. It's been called Brigantia, Oimelc, Feast of Torches, Feast of Pan, Brigid's Day, and many more, but for our sanity's sake, let's just stick with Imbolc. Imbolc means, "In the belly". This is the quickening of the year. The Mother has recovered from giving birth to the God at Yule and The Crone, who has been minding the newborn God, gives him back to The Mother. Basically it means the sun is coming back, the days are getting longer, and the Earth is becoming warm and habitable again. It's the light at the end of the tunnel after a long winter. Who wouldn't want to throw a little party?

Imbolc is a sabbat of purification and renewal after being shut in all winter and there are lots of ways to celebrate this time. You can do some spring cleaning. You can throw a big party while you burn your Christmas tree in your backyard. You can do a ritual of self-dedication or reaffirmation. You can even burn some white and pale blue candles on your altar. It's all up to you. I would highly suggest reading more about Imbolc or the various holidays associated with it to see what resonates with you. The two reference books I used for this blog post can be found in the shop: "Grimoire For The Green Witch" by Ann Moura and "Wicca: A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner" by Scott Cunningham. In the Grimoire, she has listed the various herbs, ritual items, altar decorations and food you can use for a ceremony. She also details a ceremony you can do, along with little activities associated with it. In Cunnigham's book, he describes more about what the holiday is about and he includes references to the type of rituals you can do at that time. Both books definitely give a lot of insight into the Wheel of the Year and its importance to the craft.

For those of you who don't wish to celebrate the holiday alone, please come and see us at ATL Craft on February 2nd. It is a donation based event and it is a potluck, so please feel free to bring something to share with the community. We'll have a ceremonial feet washing, and a small demonstration on making Brigid's Cross. Doors will be closed and locked by 7:30pm. Hope to see you there!

I Put A Spell On You

A grimoire is a book of spells. Plain and simple. However, this community grimoire offers a lot more than that. It gives you the chance to tap in to the communal energy of the people who have come before you, whether it was someone adding their own spell or copying down a spell to take home with them. And in a very physical and real sense, you literally have a witch at your fingertips who can help answer any questions. You aren't just reading from a book at home or googling it on your phone. You are in a witchcraft store studying a spell. You literally have everything you need right in front of you.

Our grimoire sits on a podium in the middle of the shop, with a fountain pen and ink well right next to it, waiting for me to add my contribution to it…. And it's a little intimidating. So permanent and so powerful. Spells from seasoned witches (more seasoned than I am, for sure) and something that others would see. I definitely didn't want to be the one to mess it up. However, Witch Mama insisted that I needed to add a spell, so I began the process of finding my spell. I browsed quickly through a couple of the books in the shop, but nothing was hitting it for me. I kept feeling my eyes glaze over, or my attention would start to pull and I take that as a sign from my intuition to move on. Then I found it. It was in a book we sell in the shop called, "Moon Phases" by Diane Ahlquist. 

Writing that spell down was fun…at first. Then I found myself looking for ways to shorten each sentence, somehow, just to make it a little shorter, so I wouldn't have to write so Goddamn much. Then I even tried to concentrate and write a little faster. I thought about switching to cursive instead of print. I thought about suggesting to Witch Mama that we allow printed computer pages to be in here. You know, like, type it up, print it out and then glue it on a page in the book. It would be cute! Kind of all mismatched!

But I knew that wouldn't fly. I had to resign myself to the fact that this would take time, because sometimes….that's what is needed. I mean, isn't that a huge lesson I have learned in the past year? Now matter how quickly you get all the ingredients together, you can't shorten the process of time. If the cake has to bake for 45 minutes, it has to bake for 45 minutes. Just leave it be! Only thing you can do in the mean time is try to learn from the experience and make the waiting productive. So instead of focusing on all the different ways I could make writing quicker, I focused on the task at hand. I copied the spell neatly and efficiently. I focused on each letter and each word and let my mind go blank. Then I started to see myself doing the spell and reciting the words I was writing over and over again. Then I had another small realization; This, right here, was the power of a community grimoire. In this very moment, I was pouring my concentration and power into this book and into the spell I was writing in it. So I wasn't just helping myself memorize and learn a spell. I was also giving back to the grimoire by putting my energy and effort into it. And that’s what every other witch writing in this grimoire would do too.  Along with every witch that would come by and copy a spell out of this grimoire and into their own.