Imbolc

Imbolc is a holiday recognizing Spring and the return of light and growth to the land.  It's celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere on February 1st or 2nd.  Back in the day it was a holiday about pregnant ewes and newborn lambs.  Contemporary celebrations hold that same rejoicing and relief in spring but urban types are less about livestock and more about growth and change in our lives.

One of the first things I learned about the contemporary form of this holiday was that it calls us to remember our resolutions for the year and really dig into them.  Along with this was an invitation to a diet of early greens and other vitalizing foods.

This year, in honor of Imbolc, I'm returning to my adaptation of Goddess Leonie's Radiant Goddess course.  The average day incorporates: meditation, yoga, a commitment to 3 priority tasks for the day, an affirmation, and a healthy food plan.  (The original program is vegan/raw but that's too intense for me right now.)  The program is not about how much weight one can lose in 21 days.  It's a complete set of activties that support lighter and brighter living.  For me, that means helping me to eat healthfully and mindfully as well as reinforcing my yoga practice, and generally fostering a positive disposition.  

In the last week I've said good-bye to the cookies, pizza, margaritas & nachos and my long list of guilty pleasures.  I've composed a handy list of non-food, encouraging treats, like a hot bath or a mommy-date with a girlfriend, or just a new magazine.  I gave L a grocery list for healthy meals and snacks.  I'm even stepping up my yoga practice to a more intense routine, starting today, and I'm feeling it!

This year Imbolc for me is about recognizing the next steps out of my long depression and into the light of self-care and vitality.  I wonder if the depression will ever really go away and be healed.  But I'm grateful for these holidays that call me back to myself, call me back to the life I want to be living, and call me back to the best parts of being human in this particular place and time.  I so easily slide away from all these things.  It's good for me to have a calendar of special days, and group of people to with whom to note them, to call me out of the dark creases of my own mind and into the engagement, work, and gifts of living.

light & life in our kitchen window