Witchcraft 101 - Lesson 13- Part 2
February 2nd - Transition from Winter to Spring
Origins:In Ireland, where green first appears after the long winter, Imbolc (or Oimelc) was a pastoralist's holiday celebrating the first new lambs, their nourishment and growth--with a thorough spring cleaning and rekindling of the hearth fires. Imbolc is especially sacred to Bridgid, the Goddess of healing, poetry, smithcraft, warmth, fire and the sun! Today, Imbolc, Candlemas or Groundhog Day is a welcome chance to call back the green of springtime in the darkest stretch of winter.
All alone in the far paddock, near the pig pen
where I can hear the excited feeding of a sow, the countryside is absolutely
bleak and gray in the cold early light. The brown mud underfoot sparkles
with frost, and crusts of snow cling onto every desolate surface. I could’nt
imagine what I might be expected to see in the garden now! All of a sudden
I could feel a little hand in mine, and looked down to see a pink cheeked,
red headed toddler in a pale green
snowsuit smiling up at me. He pulled on my arm,
so I followed. He was new at walking, so we slowly, slowly made our way
toward a lonely plateau ringed by granite rocks. Someone had deliberately
placed them into a circle. The baby went on, and I wondered whether I should
take him back to the homestead, when he stooped down and called to
me...”See?” He said, and pointed with his little
fat hands to a slender, supple, bright green stalk that had pushed up toward
the sun on the warm side of a stone. Amazing.
INDEX
Late Winter Nature
For Euro-Americans such as myself, stone circles,
along with Merlin and the Druids, hold a major franchise in the collective
unconscious. We can’t help it or deny it. There is a quality about stones
in sacred arrangement that speaks particularly--though by no means exclusively--to
the European soul. Circles, dolmens, cromlechs, and mysterious stone passageways
into the earth are among the oldest signatures of our culture. For centuries
our ancestors entered the
dark, stone linteled passageways much as Hopi
elders enter their kivas: to fast, to commune with ancestral spirits, and
to awaken to the fire deep within Mother Earth. And on other ritual occasions
they went to the stone circles. The circles are the ancient “medicine wheels”
for Europeans: they mark carefully the cardinal directions and lunar and
solar alignments for ceremonies we can now only imagine.
The standing stones speak to me of the union between Earth and Sky my ancestors knew, long before the cathedrals came. These stones are deeply rooted in the earth as they mark the turning of the seasons and the patterns in the stars above. And their very alignment with one another generates a powerful dynamism. Their oldest names attest to this: Stonehenge is “the Giant’s Dance,” and the little circle near Killarney is “the dance of the seven maidens.
Island by Jim Mullin-Norgaard in
Orion Magazine, Spring 1996.
Oh, long, long
The snow has possessed the mountains.
The deer have come down and the big-horn,
They have followed the sun to the south
To feed on the mesquite pods and the bunch grass.
Loud are the thunderdrums in the tents of the
mountains.
Oh, long, long
Have we eaten chia seeds
and dried deer's flesh of the summer killing.
We are tired of our huts
and the smoky smell of our clothing.
We are sick with the desire for the sun
And the grass on the mountain.
~Paiute Late Winter Song
The purest essence of the energy of the heaven-earth
world coalesce into rock. It emerges, bearing the soil. Its' formations
are wonderful and fantastic. Some with cavernous cliffs, revealing their
interior; some with peaks and summits in sharp-edged layers...The images
of all things appearing in appropriate likenesses. Within the size of a
fist
can be assembled the beauty of a thousand cliffs...Confucius
once said, "The humane man loves mountains," and the love of stones has
the same meaning. Thus longevity through quietude is achieved through this
love.
Kong Chuan, from The Book of Sacred Stones, by Barbara G. Walker.
Schweinsuppe, by Michael Sowa
Fudge Topped Brownies
Brownies taste warm and nourishing and reflects
the damp, sweet earth. In fact, according to Martha Stewart, the healthiest
soil looks very much like chocolate cake.
Scalloped Potatoes with Sausages
2 Tablespoons butter
4 T. flour...melt butter and add flour, stirring
and cooking tomake a paste(roux). If chunky, add a little milk to loosen.
3 cups milk...very gradually add the milk, and
continue stirring and cooking.
2 1/2 cups and 1 cup shredded cheese
stir in the 2 1/2 cups cheese, and continue to
cook this white sauce until cheese is combined and sauce is thick and creamy.
Season very well with salt and fresh ground pepper, and for a spicier taste,
stir in 2 Tablespoons mild
European-style mustard.(optional).
3/4 cup feta cheese, pre-seasoned, or adding
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh herbs, or 2 teaspoons dried herbs of your choice
(rosemary, basil, thyme, savory, etc)
4 very large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8"X
1 1/2 " slices
2 cups sliced cooked good quality sausage or
whole, smoked mini-links...toss together feta, sliced potatoes and sausage
with the white sauce, and put into 9X13" pan, sprinkling top with rest
of shredded cheese, and baking, covered with foil, for 1 hour at 400 degrees.
During the last ten minutes of baking, remove foil to allow cheese to toast.
Irish Coffee
Dearly Loved Children
Is it not a sin
When you peel potatoes,
To throw away the skin?
For the skin feeds pigs
And pigs feed you.
Dearly loved children,
Is this not true?
Anon
Ten potatoes in a pot, take two out and eight
stay hot.
Eight potatoes in the pan, take two out, there's
six to plan.
Six potatoes on the stove, take two off and four's
the trove.
Four potatoes in the kettle, take two out leave
two to settle.
Two potatoes still aboil, take them out before
they spoil.
traditional counting rhyme
Pigs are wonderful creatures. They exhibit the
intelligence and affection of dogs with the independence and individuality
of cats. Perhaps because they are so intelligent, many cultures tell stories
of people being turned into pigs. Likewise, their skin is similar to humans',
and unlike grazing animals, they may only digest
what humans eat. Sows are extremely giving and
patient with their piglets, and will fiercely protect them from danger.
Their sensitive noses can burrow around in the deep dark soil to detect
the rarest of fungi: truffles, buried from up to a foot deep and twenty
feet away.
Pigs are an ancient symbol of all-giving, plenty
and fertility. In her Amulets of the Goddess(1993), Nancy Blair writes,
"The Sow Goddess was a seed and vegetation protectress very early on...Her
ability to fatten quickly and produce many offspring made for obvious fertility
and harvest associations." Baltic Pagans formerly honored and cared
for a snow white sow in the early spring as an
emblem of abundance, while in late summer, the tribe sacrificed a black
pig in order to manifest a plentiful harvest and a healthy winter. Norse
Frey, God of plentiful harvest, peace and light rides a boar with a bristly
coat of gold. The Tantric Buddhist Goddess, Marici, known as the Diamond
Sow, rides a
lotus drawn by nine pigs. Cerridwen, a
British Goddess, can represent the goddess in her crone aspect as a milk
white sow which consumes the dead, able to transport them under the soil
to the underworld.
Southern French legend tells that Carcassonne
castle was once laid seige by barbarians. Months passed and the folk within
the castle walls began to run out of supplies, still the enemy waited for
surrender. Just as the people faced certain starvation, Carcassonne's Warrior
Queen came up with an idea: she fed the very last pig all the rest of the
food, stuffing it full. To the amazement of all, she threw the poor pig
over the wall. When it burst, their enemies fled: fearful of such magic,
seeing that the months of embargo had seemingly no effect.
Likely, the original Mexican pinata was a pig, reflecting the Spanish relation to the legend of Carcassonne. In Germany, pigs represent financial wealth and good luck...thus, the piggy bank. At the New Year, marzipan pigs with clover collars abound as good luck charms. Victorians once ceremonially smashed open a peppermint candy pig with a hammer at the New Year. Sharing the broken pieces symbolically spread around the wish for abundance.
In this century, pigs are both adored and disparaged.
To be called a pig is to be called sloppy, disgusting and greedy. Yet pigs
in literature and the media are often seen as innocent, good-natured and
sweet. Babe, of the 1994 movie of the same name, is thoughtful and highly
evolved. Wilbur of Charlotte's Web by E.B. White is curious and nonviolent.
Owners of pigs as pets are extremely enthusiastic about pig personality.
So while the dirty stereotypes persist for pigs, we are also waking up
to their fine qualities, and finding that we are
not a little guilty about consuming them.
"Let's go to the wood," said this little pig.
"What to do there?" asked this little pig.
"Find our mother!" said this little pig.
"What to do with her?" asked this little pig.
"Kiss her all over!" said this little pig.
Traditional English-baby tickling
rhyme
Potato
Mysterious murky
face of earth
He speaks with midnight fingers
The language of eternal noon.
He sprouts
With unexpected dawns
In his larder of memories
All because
In his heart
The sun sleeps
Vasko Popa
Learn Your Fortune From the Number of Eyes in a Potato
Irish, 10th Century
The Potatoes' Dance
"Down Cellar," said the cricket,
"I saw a ball last night, in honor of a lady,
Whose wings were pearly white.
The breath of bitter weather had smashed the
cellar pane.
We entertained a drift of leaves, and then of
snow and rain.
But we were dressed for winter, and loved to
hear it blow
In honor of the lady, who makes potatoes grow.
Our guest the Irish lady, the tiny Irish lady,
the airy Irish lady,
who makes potatoes grow.
"Potatoes were the waiters,
Potatoes were the band.
Potatoes were the dancers kicking up the sand.
Their legs were old burnt matches, their arms
were just the same.
They jigged and whirled and scrambled in honor
of the dame.
The noble Irish lady who makes potatoes dance,
The witty Irish lady, the saucy Irish lady, the
laughing Irish lady
who makes potatoes prance.
"There was just one sweet potato.
He was golden brown and slim.
The lady loved his dancing, she danced all night
with him.
Alas, he was'nt Irish, so when she flew away,
They threw him in the coal bin, and there he
is today,
Where they could not hear his sighs and his weeping
for the lady,
The glorious Irish lady, the beauteous Irish
lady,
Who gives potatoes eyes."
Vachel Lindsay, 1913
Elemental Homeschooling
Late winter, and the sparkling festivity of Yule
is over. Winter seems to stretch on forever: the earth remains frozen,
no green in sight. We are tired of the barren cold. It is time to call
spring back to us! Deep in the dark soil, the baby seeds are stretching
and yawning, starting to feel the pulse of the Mother again quicken them.
Soon we'll see signs of renewed life, if we can just wait a few weeks more!
life the return of the green. Especially if you have a connection
to
Ireland, this is a good time of year to honor
our ancestral Emerald Isle: eating traditional Irish foods, listening to
music and poetry of Ireland, remembering the British deities that peak
in strength at this time of year. The all-giving, fertile pig is the creature
of the moment, and she teaches us to have patience, sacrifice, and the
coming Spring will mirror her abundance.
Earth is the element of Winter; so stones, caves,
salt are all integral to Imbolc. See how water will wear down boulders
over hundreds of years: though yielding to the water, the rocks are patient,
immovable. Waiting and not yielding, staying still. This is the time
of our greatest patience before the season of movement and renewal. Rock
circles are fun to make at this time of year. If you live with children,
perhaps you've seen little rock circles they have made outdoors, with offerings
of flowers and weeds inside. Place eight large stones equally paced in
a circle to reflect the Wheel of the Year. Consult sundials or information
on medicine wheels/circles in order to make it
accurate.
geology, rocks and minerals
germination, gestation
Britain, Ireland, Celtic culture
domestic animals, animal husbandry
multiplication
iron work, smithing, mining
cleaning, purifying
verse, poetry
crafts: bulb and seed planting, creating protective
talismans,
candlemaking, metal working and soldering, rock
tumbling to make
jewelry.
Olivia and I made a rainstick and we planted paperwhite bulbs, and set cress, clover, mustard and lettuce seeds to sprout. After a few days of nothing, they came to gloriously well, stretching their tiny leaves toward the sun. We decorated the altar with lots of pigs, a chartreuse cloth and pale green and lemon yellow candles. We shared a Celtic family meal of baked ham, green onion, potatoes, mushrooms with green beans, buttermilk bread pudding and dark chocolate--like the earth--brownies planted with green m&ms. Is it any wonder they are supposed to enhance desire and fertility? We played much Irish music: The Chieftains, The Pogues, Sineád O' Connor, Enya and various ambiantmixtures. We drank lager, laughed much and planted seed wishes in a deep pan of rich soil!
British Celtic
Brigid and Cerridwen
The Charge of the Goddess
She says, whenever ye have need of anything, once
in the month, and
better to be when the moon is full,
Then shall ye assemble in some secret place:
To these I shall teach things that are yet unknown
And ye shall be free from all slavery.
Keep pure your honest ideal, strive ever toward
it,
let nothing stop you nor turn you aside.
Mine is the cup of the wine of life, and the Cauldron
of Cerridwen. I
am the mother of all living and my love is poured
out on earth. I am
the beauty of the green earth, the white moon
among stars, and the
mystery of the waters, and the desire in the
heart of woman.
Before my face let thine innermost divine self
be enfolded in the
raptures of the infinite.
Know the mystery, that if that which thou seekest
thou findest not
within thee, thou wilt never find it without
thee, For behold, I have
been with thee from the beginning and I await
thee now.
Blessed Be.
By Shan from the House of the Goddess, adapted
from a recreated charge by Doreen Valiente
From Sinead O'Connor's Universal Mother album.
Cerridwen
Cerridwen is the all-giving sow goddess. From her cauldron bubbles forth knowledge.
I sing of the cauldron of knowledge, whence the law of each art is dispensed, which gives boundless treasure, which magnifies each artist in general, which gives each person its gift.
Amairgin's Song of the Three Cauldrons, translated by Caitlin Matthews
Brigit is the central Irish Goddess. She is known
as Brigantia in England and Bride in Scotland. She rules metal work and
smithy, fire, poetry, midwifery and martial arts--but is primarily known
as a major Mother Goddess. Brigit is a face of the Triple Goddess, and
able to see all--often represented by an ever watchful eye. The three heart-shaped
leaves of the shamrock recall the magical Celtic number of three, as well
as the number of Brigit's faces. From nine to Nineteen priestesses once
tended an undying fire in her name at Kildare. Brigid is so central to
Ireland that the newly converted
people would not give her up, so her name metamorphosed
into St. Bridgid, who in Irish Christian myth acts as tender and supportive
friend of Mary and as the midwife at Christ's birth. Barbara G. Walker
writes that to the Irish people, however, she continued to be a Queen of
Heaven and the mother of all the deities of the new religion. As the Saint,
she also matched wits with St. Patrick, who is as mythical as she. At times
they seem to be consorts, at others, adversaries. It cannot have helped
their relationship that Patrick is known for ridding Ireland of snakes,
and since Bridgid the saint descended from a pagan goddess and priestess
persona, whose sacred healing totem is
the snake. So when St. Patrick says he is ridding
the isle of snakes, what he means is he is ridding it of pagans. Nevertheless,
Patricius and Bridgid were often considered the primal Mother and Father,
and were supposedly buried together at Derry Down.
Wake up early in the morning, take up all the noisemakers you can: pots and pans and whistles, go outside and joyfully make noise to wake up the sleeping Mother Earth. Bang away, wake her up! Little kids love a reason to let loose. Even if she hits the snooze button for several more weeks, you can work up some energy to awaken springtime inside.
Plant paper white bulbs in a clay pot. They take but three or four weeks to grow into fragrant, delicate harbingers of Spring. Bulbs cost about $1.00 each, and three will fit snugly (1/4 inch apart) into a 5 inch wide pot, filled with potting soil, and loosely covered with soil up to where the stem will sprout. Place them in a well-lit but cool window and water occasionally. To keep them going all winter, plant a new one every ten days.
Grown-ups, carve a potato into the shape of an
abundant Earth Mother. Let her reflect the plentiful body that
Springtime will manifest. Pauline Campanelli's
indispensible book, The Wheel of the Year (Llewellyn Publications, 1995),
illustrates such a carving for harvest time. Children might like to make
an Earth Goddess out of clay.
© 1996, 1997, Jill Pederson Meyer
All rights reserved. May be distributed freely, but not sold, with acknowledgment of source and author/designer.
HOMEWORK
1/what does IMBOlG mean to you?
2/if you follow a non-British/Irish tradition/deity, what are the traditions associated with that trad/deity?