Community workings
Altar Set-Up
Cleanse the Area
Smudge/Anoint Participants
Light Candles
Light 1st candle: Although it is now dark, I come seeking light. In the chill
of winter, I come seeking life.
Light 2nd candle; I call upon fire, that melts the snow and warms the hearth. I call upon fire that brings the light and
makes new life. I call upon fire to purify me with your flames.
Light the 3rd candle; This light is a boundary between positive and negative. That which
is outside, shall stay without that which is inside, shall stay within.
Light 4th candle; I call upon fire, that melts the snow and warms the hearth. I
call upon fire that brings the light and makes new life. I call upon fire to
purity me with your flames.”
Light the 5th candle; Like fire, light and love will always grow. Like fire, wisdom and
inspiration will always grow.
Light the 6th candle; I call upon fire, that melts the snow and warms the hearth. I call
upon fire that brings the light and makes new life. I call upon fire to purity
me with your flames.
HPS - Light the 7th candle
(Visualize all the flames coming together as one.
As the light builds, see the energy in a purifying glow) Fire of the hearth, blaze of the sun - cover me in your shining
light. I am awash in your glow, and tonight. I am made pure.
Call Quarters, E/S/W/N
EAST: Air from the East! We
call into the wind our message of welcome. Join us in our celebration of Spring
and Rebirth. Bring with you the whispers of hope, excitement, and the words of
our Ancestors to comfort and guide us.
SOUTH: Fire from the South We
look through the flame, seeking your entrance. Come… Gather amongst us as we
welcome the return of the Sun and share in the rewards of the faithful.
WEST: Water from the West! We
dive into the pools, cleansing our bodies. Take your place in this Circle,
bring forth the power of the mighty oceans, the calmness of a still pond, and
the enduring strength they show.
NORTH: Earth from the North! We
plunge our tools into the rich soil, opening the portal. Emerge from your time
of dormancy, give your protection to the new life which springs upward towards
the light.
Cast Circle
Welcome/History
HP/HPS: Welcome and thank you for joining
us tonight. Why do we celebrate Imbolc? What is the meaning of this season?
What are we going to gain from this season/ritual?
This is about awakening of New Life – Naturally,
following the previous seasonal initiation in the quiet depths of Winter life
which takes root in the great cosmic womb space at Winter Solstice. We
celebrate the return of the light and the promise of life’s renewal.
Imbolc is a threshold crossing that initiates us
into a process of awakening and beginning anew. Awakening is not for the faint
of heart – it takes great bravery of the heart to meet life at the edge of our
comfort zone, which is how we as individuals, grow into new horizons.
Imbolc reminds us of our ecological belonging in
an interconnected world – where what we dream and the many seeds in life will
be planted, tended to, and toiled for the benefit of all kin and kind. New
beginnings strong vision and focus – inevitably will bring an element of
challenge and surprise – our faith and preservation will be tested. Let us show
up with a refreshed and renewed commitment – faith in ourselves and our paths
that lie ahead. Trust that our desires and dreams embodied will carry us into new
tomorrows with light, warmth, and love.
Unite Energies
Meditation/Chant/Story
1 Imbolc
is a time when we begin to see the first stirrings of Spring around us.
Although our world is still plunged in the chill and darkness that Winter
ushers in: with each passing day, we are moving closer towards the light and
warmth that the other half of the year brings. Our ground is slowly warming. Water
from melting snow in our Northern lands nourishes the ground and replenishes
us. Imbolc is a time of purification and starting anew. Can you feel the
energy? Thickening with anticipation for what is to come while the lands are
ready to birth forth new life. This is a time for reflection while allowing
anticipation and intent built within so that you too, may birth new life within
yourself. This is the time we seek healing for our lands and self in
preparation for all that is to come.
2 So,
the skies trembled, rumbled, and brought with it the cold. Everywhere down
through the centuries of this dark frigid night; came women and men gathering
to offer up their prayers to the Universe. While digging deep into the hard
earth loosening the soil and thanking the rich, dark, cool nourished earth for
what it soon will bring forth. Seeds were gathered and prepared for their
journey of growth soon to come. The people would then gather, just as we do
this Imbolc night. They meditated. They celebrated. The lambing of the first
Ewe was done to hasten Springs arrival.
3 When
through the earth a Stirring Could be felt, our ancestors would Sing songs and
drums were beaten. much like the beating rhythm of a heart. The vibrations
vibrating across the lands awakening the tiny seeds to soon sprout fourth life
and abundance that they will bring. In the darkness of this night, you can
still smell the freshness of the dark, chilled soil that our ancestors worked.
They are still with us, next to us, helping us prepare for the new life to
come. Listen closely... You'll hear their workings.
4 The
North winds still alive with their songs sung, dancing the soft melody along
with it as it moves across the land caressing the ground with its tenderness
this Imbolc night. As the Earth prepares for Spring and life that it will birth
for us, we gather. We gather in Circles like we are this night to await Earth’s
promise of new life and show our gratitude for all the earth does for us. We
gather to heal ourselves and all that is around us. So, we do here, now, this
year, and every year. Welcome Imbolc!
Guided Meditation
Take a moment now to center yourself. Close your
eyes and let your body relax. Breathe deeply and ground your energy down into
your chair and through the floor, down further still through the empty space
under you, down, down, down into the deepness of the earth still and slumbering
beneath you. (SHORT SILENCE)
The Wheel of the Earth has turned, as ever it has
and as ever it shall turn. Visualize yourself traveling along a path of
hard-packed snow on a windless, wintry night. You are moving through a forest
frosted with snow and icicles, blanketed in darkness and darker shadows beneath
the trees, but above you there is a full moon lighting your way. A snowflake
falls in front of you, drifting down ever so slowly. Soon another drifts down,
and another. As you continue onward, the snow begins to fall heavily.
A blanket of pure white snow covers the forest
floor, and everything is quiet, and still. There is a sense of magic in the air
– a feeling of being in some other, special place. The real world has vanished
with the sun, and all that remains now is you, and the darkness of winter. The
snow glistens in the moonlight, and the night is cold. You can see your breath
before you in the moonlit air. (SHORT SILENCE)
As you continue through the forest, you begin to
see a faint glimmer of light ahead. Unlike the silvery chilled light of the
moon, the glow is red and bright. There is something special about this
flickering, far-off light, something that hints of relief and change and
warmth.
You keep ploughing through the snow; the path
quickly steepens into a hill, and the snow is now quite deep. It is becoming
more difficult to travel, and you’re so cold. All you want, more than anything,
is a warm fire, and some hot food, and the companionship of your loved ones.
But it seems that there is nothing but you and the snow and the night. It
appears that fascinating, promising bright red light has grown closer, and yet
is still so far away. Eventually, you give up — there’s no reaching it, and you
just keep moving through the snow.
At last, you reach the crest of the hill, and
stop. Something is different. The forest no longer surrounds you—in fact,
you’ve reached the forest edge. Off in the distance, to the east, the sun is
rising. You continue on the path, and the snow fades away. No longer are you
traveling through great drifts—instead, you are on a muddy track, crossing an
open field. In the meadow are tiny buds. Grass is peeking up from the dead,
brown earth. Here and there, a cluster of bright flowers appears beside a
stone, or beside the path. As you make your way forward, the sun rises higher
and higher, bright, and orange in its glory. Its liquid warmth embraces you.
You find a comfortable place to linger, perhaps near a rocky outcropping, and
open yourself to the life-giving heat of the sun. (SHORT SILENCE)
How we each long for transformation. Would that
the process of transformation, of becoming, of evolving into our highest selves
were as simple as flipping a switch, with no time or effort on our parts. But
it’s not. Change is hard. It takes work and patience, and then more work and
patience. And we are so easily distracted from the long, hard work of
self-transformation. Those distractions—those “faeries of the knolls”—can pull
us far from the Path we have decided to journey, be it a path toward self-improvement
or a path leading us toward a new way of being in the world. Those faeries
(negative habits, dead-end relationships, old fears) can be so beautiful, so
alluring that we forget that more often than not, they’re not very good for us.
It’s for a good reason we’re warned to Beware the Faery Folk. (SHORT SILENCE)
Thou Brigid of the kine. Thou Brigid of the
mantles - Shield me from the bane of the faeries of the knolls.
Think of the daunting time-consuming task of
making butter… the transformation of the rich, heavy cream being worked and
worked and worked until ever so slowly it begins to change. It didn’t just
change at the flip of a switch; there was work involved. Agitation. The cream
was “all shook up” and kept getting all shook up; you had to commit to the
process. Every once in a while, you had to check and see how much progress you
had made. You probably thought to yourself, “By the old Gods and the new! This
stuff is never going to turn into butter!”
But it did. Eventually. With enough perseverance
and attention, you turned cream into butter. You did that with your energy. And
you will be able to create the same transformation for yourself. Eventually.
With enough perseverance and attention. With your energy.
Even now, inside you, seeds of change are
beginning to unfurl and push their way upward until you notice them, just as
the seeds of early Spring flowers are beginning to push their shoots up through
the resistance of the earth around them. And soon, sooner than seems possible
now, soon you will be transformed. (SHORT SILENCE)
I invite you now to return from your journey, to
draw up your energy from the deepness of the earth still and slumbering beneath
you, up, up through the empty space under you, up through the floor and into
your chair and back into your body. BREATHE IN. (PAUSE) BREATHE OUT. (PAUSE)
Open your eyes and be here, now.
Invocation God/Goddess
Welcome St Brigid
HP/HPS: Blessed are the faithful. Blessed are those
who honor the old ways. As we gather to celebrate Imbolc, we invoke the Goddess
Brigid, to join us in a ritual of self-purification and blessing for this new
Season of growth within ourselves. Although the cold still lingers on the
ground nipping at our flesh, the indications of Springs arrival is already
showing us light.
The sky’s alive with birds; buds beginning to
swell on that once barren branches ready to burst forth new life. Our days are
growing and the deepest chills from winter are being banished for yet another
year. Humankinds’ hibernation is coming to a close across the land. People can
be seen making preparations to come forth new life from their soils, much as we
are doing tonight for ourselves. On this night, we take time to offer our
appreciation to the Goddess for safeguarding us through the long winter and ask
for continued protection as we venture on into Spring.
Community Working Instructions
Perform the Work
Raise Power
GODDESS
BRIGID CHANT
(Green
Witch Living)
Goddess
of Fire, Keeper of Flame, Bless us as we call your name
Brigid,
Brigid, Goddess of light, Goddess of power, illuminate the dark this hour
Brigid,
Brigid, protect our home, protect our heart, create within us sparks of art
Brigid,
Brigid, Wishing you all a beautiful Imbolc!
Sacred Space, WishBox
The WishBox is a tradition started in 1995 by
Circle of One. We invite you tonight to join us as we continue the tradition.
Write down a wish, fold it up tight, and place it into the WishBox. Your wishes
and dreams will stay in the box, gathering energy, until the next time we do
Circle. Then they’ll be burned and released to the Universe. The only thing we
do ask is that you don’t specifically name another person in your wish.
Cakes & Ale
And
now, I offer you Cakes and Ale. You have traveled far through forest and field
tonight. Take the sustenance you need, now that you have returned from your
journey. From forest and stream; from mountain and field; from fertile Earth’s
nourishing yield; We now partake of the fruit and the grain. All that we do is
in honor of the God and Goddess. May we never hunger, may we never thirst. So,
Mote it Be.
Thank God/Goddess
Goddess Brigid Farewell
HP/HPS: Great Goddess Brigid… In order to truly
understand your wisdom, we must first understand ourselves. As we celebrate the
coming of Spring and new life, we also celebrate a wellspring of new Spiritual
growth within. Protect us as we take the steps to become better versions of
ourselves and we shall honor you as we progress. Our gratitude is endless. Our
thanks are infinite. As you depart, our thoughts are never far from the many
blessings you provide. Blessed Be.
Release Quarters, N/W/S/E
HP/HPS: As we bring this ritual to
a close, we leave ready to receive. The elements have provided us with a
complete purification in all aspects. Now is the time for growth.
NORTH: What’s given freely
will be rewarded in the future. Shared energy is a reward for both the giver
and receiver. The Spirits of the Earth do not pick winners and losers, they
serve those who honor them. Hail and farewell.
WEST: The truth of our inner
being can be disguised, but never actually changes. No obstacle is forever.
Spirits of Water are not light or dark, they carry the things we ask them to.
Hail and farewell.
SOUTH: All things eventually
are reduced to their simple form. The Spirits of Fire can be harnessed but
never truly controlled by anyone. choose what you burn wisely, for ash is
permanent. Hail and farewell.
EAST: Not all power can be seen by the naked eye. Listen more than you speak,
and hear more than you say. The spirits of air can carry you higher of highs but
also drive you to lowest of lows. The decision is in your hands.
Open Circle
Feast
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