Light is Returning

 

A few minutes after 8 this morning and the sun had lifted itself to the top of the neighboring hill in order to shine on me through the leafless upper branches of trees near our home.

This was 20 minutes after the official sunrise time, which was (confusingly) a few minutes later than on the Solstice, when the sun hit its lowest point south. However, the sun set 16 minutes later today. I went out for my walk at a quarter to 5 today and still had daylight when I returned half an hour later. A couple of weeks earlier, it would have been dark. Light is indeed returning. 

In three weeks, on Imbolc, more popularly known as Groundhog Day, Feb. 2, the return of the sun will be even more evident -- rising 13 minutes earlier and setting 25 minutes later than today. We will have more than 10 hours of daylight that day, as opposed to just under nine and a half hours on the Solstice.

In ancient Celtic traditions, and most likely in current ones, Imbolc was considered the first day of spring. The worst of the winter was over, and it was obvious that daylight hours were growing. The ewes were pregnant (Imbolc is said to mean "in the belly") and their milk flowing (another name for the holy day is Oilmelg, "ewe's milk").

It also marks the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. In Christian traditions it's known as Candlemas, harking back to Pagan traditions of honoring Light and blessing candles that would be used throughout the year.

I have long celebrated the day by honoring the ancient Celtic goddess Brighid, the most powerful goddess of that tradition. She is a goddess of fire, especially the forge fire -- which makes her a goddess of creative works. She is a goddess of the heart fire, so a household goddess. Ironically, this goddess of fire also had many sacred wells dedicated to her, because she is a goddess of healing. She is the earth and blesses seed, and gardens and fields. The question is, what doesn't she do?

She rides in on the backs of geese, which begin to return to their summer homes at that time. Magic trails from the wings of geese calling in the night as they fly.

Spring will come. Light returns.

For the next three weeks I will prepare. Perhaps I'll make candles from scraps of wax saved from used up candles. I'll make a Bride's doll from grasses and such that I find. She will lie in a basket bed with a bottle of strong, dark beer, or whiskey, a symbol of fertility. Later I will hang her near the garden to bless and protect it. The drink, full of fertility from the symbolic coupling of god and goddess, will be poured on the garden as a blessing. Tools of my craft and garden, as well as seeds will be laid out for a blessing.

On that day I may feast on sheep's milk cheese and gluten-free, keto-friendly bread, then spend time meditating by the hearth fire, and in creative work.

I will welcome Spring, for Light is returning.