Spring in the Belly
Happy Imbolc. May the seeds you've gathered be strong and wise. May you enjoy the return of the light and the jewels from the darkness. May your gardens bloom in beauty.
The above image is the sunrise view at a syntropic farm on the north shore of Oahu. I was blessed to stay there over the holidays with family. The farm has beautiful Indonesian temples, an extensive orchard, and crops of vegetables, flowers, and herbs. It was an oasis of beauty as we began to transition our oldest daughter to move to Oahu to attend Univeristy of Hawaii at Manoa. I was able to practice asana and meditation many mornings on the yoga deck, then watch the island light rise, contemplating my bird (my daughter's name is Heron), leaving the nest, again.
Life is so many experiences of birth and death. Rising up, and dying away. Breathing in and breathing out.
Imbolc finds us halfway between the winter solstice (death and dying away) and the spring equinox (renewal and rebirth).
Many of us, even in climates that remain cold, can feel the quickening, the turning of the energy towards the light, and towards the viriditas, the greening power, of spring.
In Ireland, the land of my ancestors, Imbolc (meaning ‘in the belly') is the feast day of the goddess Brighid, goddess of smithcraft (sacred fire), holy wells, poetry, and healing. It is also the feast day of the Christian saint, St. Brighid, keeper of the sacred well and flame at Kildare and compassionate to all animal and human kin, also known as a great healer and purveyor of miracles.
In the Irish christian tradition, Imbolc is known as Candlemas, a time when people would gather to make candles together for the remainder of the winter and circle up around fires, celebrateing the gestation and quickening of spring in the belly of the earth and preparing the land and the seeds for the rain and returning light.
We have birth and death each day, as in the beautiful image from Hawaii above, the new light and fresh morning after the darkness and dissolution of night. We have death and rebirth throughout the cycle of the year, with fall/winter and spring/summer. And we have the birth and death of this body in this life stream, and many believe, a rebirth into a new life after a season of renewal and metabolization of the previous life.
It helps me to watch the rhythms of the seasons, the beauty of seed pods (like me in midlife, drying out and refining my wisdom, taking on a new form). It helps me to learn from the wheel of the year and the wisdom of nature and her cycles.
Life just makes so much more sense to me when I am touch with the great turning.
I hope you are watching the unfolding harbingers of spring's immanent arrival wherever you are.
Here, I look forward to red winged black birds in the tule reeds again, willow catkins along the creeks and river, fresh new growth on the medicine plants after the early rains and the warm sunny days.
Life is shifting for me, stay tuned to hear about the evolution of my practice and work for the next season of my life.
Thank you to each and every one of you who have been a part of my ministry over the years so far. Let's continue to learn and grow together in beauty!
Much Love,
~Liz
