Hello and welcome to this Imbolc visualization.
Imbolc in the Celtic calendar marks the beginning of the lambing season and signals the beginning of spring and the stirrings of new life.
It is the quickening of the year.
So it's a time where everything is pregnant,
Expectant.
Imbolc is a time where there is a promise of renewal.
It's all about hidden potential,
Awakening,
A stirring of the life force.
It's all about hope and also of course in the Western Hemisphere the returning light.
And rebirth.
Making space for new beginnings.
So this is a good time to clean your home,
Spring clean,
To clear the mind.
And it's a good time for making wishes as well.
Imbolc is the festival that honors Brigid,
The goddess of healing,
Poetry,
Smithcraft.
Goddess of fire and of the sun and the hearth.
This visualization is my offering to you for this time of year.
You can do this visualization sitting or lying down as long as you're comfortable.
You can light a candle,
Make the moment a little bit special.
Let your eyes close.
And just give yourself a moment to arrive in your body first.
You can use the breath to do this.
Taking three deeper breaths than you normally would.
Deep inhale,
Filling the lungs,
Feeling the life force come in.
And long slow breath out,
Letting go anything that needs let go of.
Tension,
Thoughts.
Another deep inhale,
Breathing in that life force.
And breathing out,
Letting go,
Letting things soften,
Releasing.
One last time,
Deep full inhale,
Holding the breath at the top a little bit,
Feeling that fullness,
That richness.
And slowly exhale,
Letting go,
Releasing.
Now we have made a bit more space in our inner world.
I invite you to imagine yourself standing at the edge of a forest.
It is morning.
And it's still a winter forest.
It's a bit cold.
But you're dressed warm enough to face it.
You feel the air on your face.
Quite a vivifying kind of cold.
And you enter the forest on a path that winds its way towards its heart.
And as you walk on this path,
You notice clarity of the winter light.
Which has a softness to it,
A whiteness to it.
The forest is still quite quiet,
But you notice a few stirrings of life.
A few birds are singing,
Squirrels running up trees.
It's a beautiful winter's day.
There's pine trees in this forest,
So in the midst of the dark browns.
Little bits of green here and there.
And you even notice a few times along the path,
A few clusters of snowdrops starting to show.
Beautiful green shoots appearing through the soil.
Letting yourself breathe in those new stirrings of life in what is still wintertime.
The sounds of the forest,
The fresh clean smell of the winter morning.
And your path has taken you to a clearing in the forest.
And this clearing is imbued with a soft light.
As if the winter sun has sent some of its soft light right here,
Right at the heart of the forest.
And you notice in the middle of this clearing,
A patch of freshly turned earth surrounded by a circle of stones,
Small stones.
It looks like earth that is ripe for receiving seeds.
It's beautiful,
Lush chocolate brown colour.
Looks like it's been prepared especially for you to plant seeds in.
And as you approach this patch of freshly turned earth,
You notice a figure in the distance you had not quite seen in the light.
She is Brigid,
She is the maiden goddess,
The goddess of fire,
The sun,
The hearth.
She brings fertility to the land and its people.
You can visualise her as you wish.
She is a young woman,
She can look however you wish,
However she presents herself to you.
Most important is that you feel a quality of kindness,
Of hope,
Of welcome.
And she beckons you to come closer to this patch of earth.
And she is standing right in front of you now.
And she is holding three seeds in her palm.
And with an infinitely wise,
Kind smile,
She puts them in your hands and points to the freshly turned earth.
And you know that she is asking you to plant them.
So I ask you now,
What seeds would you like to plant this year?
Is there a quality you would like to invite in your life?
Is there a particular vision you might want to bring to life?
Do you wish to make new connections?
Now is the time to let your mind,
Heart,
Soul give you the answers around what you might like to plant this year.
Don't overthink this as you go to plant your first seed in this beautiful soil.
Let your body,
Mind,
Heart and soul speak to you.
Planting this first seed,
Deep in the soil.
Looking at the second seed,
Again letting your intuition take over.
Your mind might even speak in images rather than words and that's completely fine.
Or maybe things are a bit unformed yet and that's fine too.
Planting the second seed in the soil.
And you look at the last seed in your hand.
Again ask yourself,
What shall I plant this year?
Letting your intuition speak as you plant the third seed in the soil.
Now you have planted the last seed as you stand up you notice that Brigid is already gone,
That her presence lingers.
Her kindness.
Her warmth.
Her encouragement is still with you.
And a light rain has begun to fall.
And you watch for a while the drops of rain on this beautiful soil and you know that your seeds are going to be well tended.
Take a moment to take a deep breath as if to seal this ritual.
You are ready now to leave the clearing,
Thread another path out the forest.
And as you leave you feel a renewed sense of hope,
Of energy,
Of life.
As the day has begun to get a little bit warmer,
A little bit clearer.
And you see even more snowdrops on the ground showing you the way to your next steps for this year.
You are very welcome to stay seated or lying down for as long as you wish to absorb the energy of this ritual.
And when you feel complete feel free to open your eyes,
Blow out your candle and go about the rest of your day or your evening.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
I wish you a wonderful emmuk and a beautiful year to come.
