W E A R E T H E W E A V E R S W E A R E T H E W E B
The Wheel
of the Year
Imbolc
NEWSLETTER ~ VOLUME 3 ISSUE 2 ~ February 2009
It is traditional upon Imbolc, at sunset or just after ritual, to light every lamp in the house - if only for a few moments. Or, light candles in each room in honor of the Sun's rebirth. Alternately, light a kerosene lamp with a red chimney and place this in a prominent part of the home or in a window.
If snow lies on the ground outside, walk in it for a moment, recalling the warmth of summer. With your projective hand, trace an image of the Sun on the snow.
Foods appropriate to eat on this day include those from the dairy, since Imbolc marks the festival of calving. Sour cream dishes are fine. Spicy and full-bodied foods in honor of the Sun are equally attuned. Curries and all dishes made with peppers, onions, leeks, shallots, garlic or chives are appropriate.
Spiced wines and dishes containing raisins - all foods symbolic of the Sun - are also traditional.
It is not our intent to provide information from other resources and claim them as our own. If sources of information are not provided, and you know where it has come from, please email the newsletter editor and it will be promptly added to the article.
THE FEAST OF LIGHT
(By: Titania Morgay)
If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight.
If Candlemas day clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.
- E. Holden
The time has come to call and welcome the forces of light!
Candlemas or Imbolc is the mid point of the dark half of the year. We welcome the rebirth and awakening of the Earth, the earliest beginnings of Spring.
Through Pagan lore, we learn that the Sun God, who is now a young boy, is beginning to feel his growing powers through the renewing energies of the Sun, represented in the lengthening in the daylight hours. The Goddess is awakening from her slumber and rest after giving birth to the God/Child at Yule. She is represented in the Maiden aspect of the triple Goddess. The awakening of the Goddess/Earth, causes germination of seeds and development of buds on the trees, as the powers of the Sun begin to warm and renew the earth. A celebration of fertility.
Traditionally, Imbolc is a time to prepare for the goals one wishes to accomplish in the coming months, and to clarify and redefine our personal projects which were begun at Yule. the fires of Imbolc represent our personal illumination and inspiration, a celebration of ideas yet to be born. Imbolc has also become a time for new initiations into covens, self-dedication, and renewal of our bows. It is also a time for purification of oneself.
The colors for Imbolc are lavender, white and pink. Herbs includeHeliotrope, Carnation, Poppy, Basil and Violet. Stones used for this celebration may include Amethyst for peace of mind or jet forheightened intuition and inner sight.
Offerings of cakes and wine may be presented to the Lord and Lady, to seek their assistance in helping to ignite your creative fires and energy.
May the fires of Imbolc burn brightly within all of you throughout the coming year!
by Raven Grimassi
In ancient Rome, February was a period of passage signaling the end of the old year and the prelude of the birth of the new year. February was sacred to the Roman goddess Februa and her consort Februus, who were dieties of purification and death. February focused upon the expiation of the souls of the dead, as well as personal, spiritual, and physical purification. The latter were incorporated into a curious festival known as Lupercalia, overseen by a class of priests know as the Luperci. Here rites of purification and symbolic fertility were interwoven. The Luperci took strips of goat skin and raced in the nude from the legendary grotto where Romulus and Remus were suckled by a wolf and along the Via Sacra, laying the lash across the backs or buttocks of any women they encountered in passing, thus assuring them fertility.
There are two legends explaining the origins of this rite. The first recounts that Romulus and Remus, after the victory over Amulio, removed their encumbering clothing and raced each other exultant to the site where the she-wolf had suckled them as children. The second legend states that after the rape of the Sabine women, the raped wives were left sterile. The men and women then went to pray for the cure in a forest consecrated to Juno. Her voice sounded in the rustling leaves, replying that the Sabine wives must be joined with a sacred goat.
Everyone was dismayed at the thought of such a joining. An Etruscan soothsayer solved the dilemma by sacrificing a goat to Juno and making leather straps from its skin. He ordered the young wives to offer themselves to the penetrating blows of the straps. The women complied with the dictates of the goddess and thereby overcame the infertility curse.
In the seventh century, the Roman Church adopted an older celebration known as the Festival of St. Simon, renaming it the Presentation of the Lord. The date was changed to February 2nd in hopes of putting an end to the rival Pagan celebrations.
The Church festivals then coincided with the month dedicated to purification in Roman Paganism, to Ionio Februata and the ritual of the Lupercalia. By removing all of these Pagan presences, and above all, the worship of Juno, February 2nd became the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. This time was then known as Candelora or Candlemas because people were blessed by candles distributed to the faithful by the Church. These candles were believed to possess protective virtues against calamities, storms, and the agony of death.
The Goddess Februa was evidently Iunius Februata, also called Iunio Sospita, the Savior. At the Calends of February one celebrated the dedication of her temple on the Palatine Hill with a procession of torches. By the seventh century, Rome created a Christian festival of nighttime processions with canldes from every parish, intended as a penitential procession to exorcise a resurgent licentious and carnal Pagan parade.
The blessing of the canldes took place just before the procession. Each candle was ceremonially lit from a main central candle. the ancient ceremony of the lighting of the candles had two meanings. First it was connected to the idea of a universal religion, a Catholicism, apparent in the liturgy of the Church. Secondly, the candle flames symbolized the vitality of the the evangelical teachings spreading out into the word, for such was the command of Jesus to his disciples.
According to the first connection, the specially lit candle symobolized the new living fire that reappears in nature by divine grace. the modern rite of Candlemas (or Imbolc) with its flickering flames is linked to the leather straps brandished by the Luperci. The central candle from which all others are lit is the life spirit of nature herself, the fertile essence.
Fire was a symbol of the divine energy of the cosmos according to ancient conceptions. On March 1st the perpetual fire of Vesta was extinguished and then re-lit. When the fire was extinguished for whatever reason, the new flame could not be lit from another hearth. The fire had to be new, obtained by the friction of boring/drilling a peice of wood taken from a fruit-bearing tree. In this we see the connection of the old wood of the last seaons replaced by the wood of the new season, a metaphor of death and rebirth.
The connection of the dead and themes of death within the Roman celebration of February never disappeared, even in the distant conquered territories of the Roman Empire. The Full Moon following the month begins the time of self-purification know as Lent. This is a remnant of the old rites of February.
For a modern ritual, candles can be anointed with a scented oil. Sit in front of the candle and meditate on what is both desireable and undesireable in your life and in your heart. Affirm that you will nurture the good and dissuade the bad.
February 15th is the festival of Lupercalia, the ancient Roman observance of fertility and the coming spring. Not to be confused with the commercialized martyr's (Valentines) celebration held yesterday, Lupercalia is a holiday sacred to the god Faunus, and the mythical she-wolf who reared Romulus and Remus the semi-mythical founders of Rome. It was considered an important holiday of religious observance and purification.
Lupercalia by Domenico Beccafumi
There are many lurid accounts of what goes on during Lupercalia, some make it seem like an excuse for copulation and frivolity. One of the best descriptions I have found on the web comes from W. J. Kowalski's excellent Roman Calendar page.
The rites of this day included the sacrifice of a goat or a dog at the cave-grotto known as the Lupercal. With the sacrificial blood wiped across their foreheads, the youth partaking in this ceremony would then run the circumference of the Palatine hill, perhaps about 5K, tracing the traditional route of the city boundary traced by Romulus the day he founded Rome. In the process, girls who approached the runners would be brushed or splattered with the februa, thongs of sacrificial goatskin, presumably bloody, symbolically blessing them with fertility. Red is the color of the day as it is with Valentine's Day, the day invented to replace the Lupercalia. Fertility and sexuality were likewise replaced with the puritanical pipedream of sexless Love.
Most (non-Pagan) people wouldn't even know about Lupercalia if it were not for the constant stream of Valentine's Day articles in the press. The favorite trend amongst bored newswriters and editorial columnists seems to be talking about the ancient pagan influences of a particular holiday. This has done more to further an awareness of ancient (and modern) paganism than any Pagan advocacy group could hope to attain. So as more people grow sick and tired of the Valentine's Day expectations, perhaps I'll be hearing more "blessed Lupercalia" in the future.
