Imbolc 2017

[Silvana]

Merry meet!

Actually this will be my 1st Imbolc celebration, and I'm not sure yet how it's usually celebrated.

I guess I will prepare myself for the Holiday, reading more about it, listening to pagan songs, maybe I can even find some dedicated to this Holiday. And of course I will light a candle on my Altar and mediate / pray.

This year I will celebrate all my 1st Pagan Holidays. I'm so excited! I started with Samhain, which I learned is the beginning of the new year for Pagans (please correct me if I'm mistaken) and then Yule.
To me honest I really didn't actually do something special for my 1st Holiday, but I did realize this was the path I am meant to follow. Which is something important for me.
And at Yule I made my 1st Altar, and dedicated to The Mother Goddess along with decorating my plastic pine tree. I love Nature, and I would never cut a tree just to throw it away 2 weeks later. Turns out decorating trees is a Pagan tradition as well! Next year I plan to make my Yule log too.

Now I might start my 1 year and a day, you guys gave me the idea, I read what you talked about.
I know this means initiation, but seems a bit difficult to make without a coven. And I'm pretty sure I won't find any where I am from.

And advice for a solitary new witch starting her 1 year and a day?

Thank you!

[SpiritTalker]

Wed have to start a new topic

If you haven't already checked out WItchcraft and Wicca 101-table of contents, I recommend it.

[Silvana]

Maybe I'll make a thread myself, asking for advice, that's a good idea.

I admit, I haven't. But I will now.

[Siona]

For me, Imbolc is a time of purification, and getting ready for the coming warmer months (which are still a ways off where I live). On Imbolc itself I'll wash down all my shrines, give everything a complete clean, and reassemble and bless them. I will also take a purification bath, and then make special offerings to Hestia and Artemis. In the following days I'll spend some time cleaning out my witchy cabinet and craft supplies. Usually I like to do this before, but no time this year.

I'm so excited! I started with Samhain, which I learned is the beginning of the new year for Pagans (please correct me if I'm mistaken)

This is a really common misconception. Not all pagans actually have the same set of holidays - for example, Greek reconstructionsts have a totally different set of holidays, and their new year falls around the summer solstice (and, actually, isn't much of a holiday). Egyptian reconstructionists are similar, different holidays, their new year is often in August.

Even for those of us who celebrate the wheel, Samhain might not always be the new year. Samhain was new year for the Celts, so that's where that influence comes from, but Yule was new year for the Germanic people, so some place it there instead. Others follow the new year in spring idea. There's a ton of room for individual interpretation of the wheel, especially since it's such a mash up of lots of different ideas from old cultures.

[Firebird]

Here you go Silvanna, I moved your posts over here.
Nice intro into the topic, no need to start over
Who else is just starting or how will you approach this Holiday?
Bb, Firebird

[SnowCat]

I tend to view the Samhein to Yule time period as a long New Year event. Maybe it's my Catholic upbringing and remembering Advent.

Snow

[Firebird]

I feel as though from Yule to Imbolc to be like the Epiphany, we are in our own becoming. So many ahha moments and determinations to make change.
I'm feeling espically refreshed this year. The dread I had going into Yule has been completely turned around. Sometimes it really feels like a major energy shift, sometimes I barely notice. This year was major, and somehow I sense this year is going to be different.
The idea of shifting from the earth into the air is like the Judgement card, and the judgements that have been made of the self and others can be released into the air, free to be cast off and made new.
Bb, Firebird

[RyukaAscendant]

I'm also new to the celebrations and I'm planning to dedicate myself to several gods this year with an offering of red wine into the fire. Its been interesting trying to figure out a good offering since I follow several pantheon, but red wine seems to be safe for the Norse, Greek, and Egyptian.

[Nova13]

I would love to celebrate with a circle and family but my husband and I are the only pagans in the lot so we don't really have a lot of community opportunity.

Instead I like to run my little house with the wheel of the year. For me, Imbolc is spring cleaning. I like to deep clean everything and set some donations aside. After that I open all the windows to get some fresh air and smudge the hell out of everything.

It's not a lot but it's enough.

[redriver]

This will be my first Imbolc too! I'm planning to finish my spring cleaning, charge up my crystals in the sunlight (the ones that I can), light a million candles, and call up my relatives and friends who I don't get to see or talk to much. As others have said, this will be a time of purification for me— meditating on the person I want to be as I am also turning 22 on February 5th.

[Firebird]

Going to go look for reeds today.
We made Brigid's crosses with typha latifolia, cat-tail.

http://everythingunderthemoon.net/forum ... 34720.html

It's tomorrow! Merry merry Imbolc all !!!

Bb, Firebird

[Deerstep]

Avalanche AND burn restrictions (Double whammy! Boo!) keep me from doing my usual thing, but this is my first Imbolc too.
I went outside and cut some tall dry grass that was growing on the road near my apartment. Used it to make a Brighid Cross and a Brighid Effigy. I put out my green wool blanket that I use for rituals in the summer and have it outside so Brighid can bless it (when my roomies asked, I said it needed to be aired out). I lit a bunch of candles on my desk and set out some incense. Before I go to sleep tonight, I'll be going to the river to sit and meditate for a while. Making a Bride's Bed for her, too.
This Saturday a magic shop in the next town over is hosting their own Imbolc, and I'm planning on going.
So far it's been a pretty good day.