Imbolc

Hello!

I'm baaack!  Thank you for putting a positive spin on my writer's block.  I do appreciate you being here every day, too.  It has become an important part of my day.

There is another thing to consider about Ground Hog's Day.  In pre-Christian times, the holy days were the solstices, the equinoxes and the cross quarter days - the days that fell exactly between the solstic and equinox.  Ground Hog's Day is one of those days.  It was traditionally Imbolc or St. Brigid's Day.  Do you remember the big doll I had that wore the long, ruffled, blue dress?  I named her Brigid, and I used to talk to her/St. Brigid every night when I was young...I was such a good little Catholic girl!

Sorry for the tangent - when my kids were young, we knew a woman who was a Celtic priestess.  She shared some of her beliefs with us.  One that has stayed with me all these years is that, traditionally, solstices and equinoxes are the high point of each season.  The cross quarter days are the first day of each season.  I had to think about it for awhile, but it started to make sense - especially when I started seeing the first of the bird migrations on August 2, the first day of autumn.  And so the first day of summer is May Day. The first day of winter is Halloween.

So for many people, February 2 is the first day of spring.  It is for me - it makes the winter easier to bear.

Thinking about the logic of the light and the groundhog...When we have a bright, sunny winter day it means a period of very cold weather.  When the weather is overcast, it is warming up.  Maybe that was what people noticed.  Maybe?

You wondered if we are frightened by the Light into longer periods of darkness.  I remember a wise old Quaker saying once that the opposite of Light is not dark, but absence of Light.  I think we are afraid of standing in the Light.  We are exposed, vulnerable.  Maybe it is easier to hide.  But I really think we simply turn our backs on the Light.  We are still exposed, but we don't notice it, we can pretend our butts aren't there for the world to see.

Maybe?

I liked the movie Groundhog's Day.  There have been so many times that I wish I could have do overs.  I think we all have something inside that wishes we could just get it right - to say the right thing, to do the gracious thing...Or maybe I'm the only one that beats myself up over screwing up.  Maybe that's part of reincarnation - becoming the moist loving, Light, gracious self possible...(Thinking of Pete Seeger here!)

So glad to hear you have heat!!

It is time for me to make dinner.

Love to you all!!

Clare