Oimelc
If today be sunny and bright, Winter again will show its might.
If today be cloudy and gray, Winter soon will pass away.
In northern climates, the first days of February look nothing like Spring, but if you look closely you can see the small but sturdy signs of changing seasons begin to appear. Maybe it rains more often then it snows, or the days are noticeably longer, maybe the winds bite is a little less harsh, or the sun a little warmer. Whatever the sign is, it hints that Spring is just around the corner.
Oimelc falls on February 1st, approximately half way between Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. It literally means “ewe’s milk”, and refers to the ewes are nursing their newly born lambs, another indication of the coming of Spring. It is sometimes called Imbolc, Brighid, Lupercalia (not celebrated until the 13th) or Candlemas (though this refers to a Catholic holiday.)
As with many of the Pagan sabbats, Oimelc’s history is firmly rooted in Celtic tradition, though it also borrows some Roman and Christian ideas. Lupercalia was an ancient, possibly pre-Roman, festival where all evil spirits were driven out of the city and spirits of health and fertility were invited in. Old hearth fire were extinguished and new ones lit, old candles were also replaced and blessed. Many of Lupercalia’s customs were integrated into Catholicism when the Roman Empire converted, minus the orgies of course.
In Celtic culture, this was a time of weather divination, usually done by observing the hibernation patterns of snakes, many believe that this custom evolved into the secular Groundhog Day. The snake was a creature revered for its sacred wisdom. The snake was one of the many animals associated with the goddess Brighid, to whom this day is also given to, Là Fhéill Bhrìghde. She was such a powerful deeply ingrained symbol to the Celtic tribes, the Christian missionaries chose to make her a saint rather then try to remove her from importance.
Brighid was the keeper of the sacred flame and guardian of home and hearth, though she is said to have had two sisters, Brighid the Physician and Brighid the Smith. Most people see these three women as aspects of the same goddess, one of poetry, healing, and smithcraft.
In Scottish legend is the said that one the eve of Oimelc, the Cailleach (Old Woman Winter) takes a journey to a sacred well on a magical island. As dawn breaks , she drinks from it and is transformed into Bride (another spelling of Brighid), the beautiful maiden whose white wand turns the bare earth green again. Again, many people see the Cailleach and Bride and Brighid as one and the same, often referring to her as a triple goddess, at once maiden, mother and crone.
All these celebrations have led to very diverse Oimelc celebration among modern Pagans. This is a time many will reevaluate personal relationships and habits to decide what needs to be discarded in their lives. Renewal of old pledges or commitments to new ones are done at this time as well.
This emotional purging is often accompanied by physical purging, either by beginning Spring cleaning or decluttering altars and other spiritual supplies. Many Pagans make or purchase their candles for the year around this time and consecrate them on Oimelc as they are an important symbol of this sabbat.
On a personal level, I rarely do much on Oimelc. It has taken me a long time to be able to connect with this sabbat as most other Pagans I know connect it more with a goddess then a seasonal transformation. As I have become acclimated to life in the Inland Northwest though I have started to see the unique beauty in this time of year.
To me, Oimelc represents a hidden transformation. I feel the coming of Spring in my heart more then see it in the land. The increasing daylight lightens my mood and renews my energy so that I can work on projects that have probably taken a back burner during the drearier days Winter. I take time on Oimelc to meditate on what I would like to see grow in my life and in my community. If we listen closely we can hear the land whispering of the changing seasons. The Vernal Equinox is only seven weeks away and Oimelc celebrates the anticipation of Spring.
Oimelc: in our home
(Collecting reeds with our friend Sal to make Brighid’s Crosses.)
Activities:
- Burning Winter Solstice greens
- Candle making and consecrating
- Candlelit purification procession
- Ritual: initiations, dedications
- Spring cleaning
- Visiting a spring or well
- Writing poetry
Crafts:
- Bread Making
- Brighid’s Wheel
- Candle Making
- Knitting and Weaving
Decorations:
- Candles
- Cauldron
- Colors: red, white
- Hibernating animals
- Seasonal plants and foods
- Suns
- Woolen items
Oimelc: feast
We went over to some friends this year for Imbolc, so I just made bread and dip to share. Otherwise I would have made red (tomato) and white raviolis with cheese filling, roasted herbed potatoes and granitas from pluots I froze this summer. Maybe next year!
–
BREAD: focaccia
This year I added 1/4 cup chopped dried tomatoes that I packed in oil this summer. I also infused some of the oil with basil and oregano and used that as well.
–
BREAD DIP: Sun-dried Tomato and Basil
- 8 sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tsp dried basil (2 tbsp fresh if you have it)
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
Put everything into a blender and pulse till smooth. Let sit for 6 hours or overnight.
I hope you all have a most blessed and joyful Oimelc, Winter is drawing to a close and the wheel turns to the warmth of Spring.
Fighting the Blues
These are the socks my friends Ileen and Caswallon gave me for my birthday. I really love thick comfy colorful socks. I have never seen a pair in my favorite colors, but Ileen found them! (She also gave me green nubbly socks for Solstice.) This past Friday my friends surprised me with a few birthday things. Andrea made me a chocolate cake with orange frosting, it was soooo good - and had star candles! Peter and her also gave me orange yarn (shot of it in my photoblog) and homemade orange soda and rootbeer. Do you know how you know you are always welcome at a friend’s home? When they have a basket in their living room stocked with toys for your child. Shannon is so awesome! All my friends are made of pure love.
So my birthday definitely lifted my spirits, now comes the fight to keep them up. Shannon gave me a vitamin D supplement I have been trying out. 
My Aunt Ruth talked about comfort foods on her blog today, an important topic for me. On one hand, if I eat cookies, my mood improves, but on the other hand, as soon as that sugar wears off, I feel even worse then before. So I try to avoid it right now. For the most part, I eat comfort foods when I am bored, so I am trying to avoid that too. When I am stressed I tend to skip meals because I feel queasy, but the moment I run out of things to do, out comes the cookie sheet. (I don’t keep junkfood around so I have to make my own.) Recognizing that trigger is important for me, I actually have a sticky note inside my recipe folder that says “Are you hungry or BORED?” I still make junkfood of course, I just won’t let myself binge on it when I am bored. Maybe that is why I have taken up knitting, it is a defense mechanism for the munchies! Eating a decent breakfast every morning helps too.
My one other change to fight the Winter blues is that I have also seriously started indoor exercise last week, which I read can help alleviate seasonal depression. I thought it would be so hard so I set a goal to do it three times a week. I start with tai chi and then do some simply exercises (crunches, push ups etc) and stretching, and some dancing. I found that my spirits are so lifted afterwards that I have not had a problem keeping it up. In fact I find myself doing tai chi every morning now.
Anyhow Damian is waking so it is potty time. He is in underwear about 80% of the time (not as night or later in the evening) for a couple days. We have had a couple accidents but it is going much better then I expected! If we need to go back to diapers that is okay, this is more of a trial then anything else. I’m so proud of him though.
Dream: Snake Moon
Last night I had a dream that Raveness (I read her blog over on livejournal) was giving me a tattoo in Greg’s (my father-in-law) office, he has a CPA business. For some reason Greg’s landlord had rented out half of the building to a tattoo parlor. There was a glass wall down the middle. Though Raveness was present through most of the dream, I don’t think we talk about anything substantial. We were talking though.
The tattoo was bizarre to say the least. The central design of the tattoo was encircled by one of my sun designs but it seemed to be shifting around, as if the rays were real. Raveness was just finishing the centeral design when I came into the dream. It was a snake in the form of a waxing crescent moon. It’s tail was the top point of the crescent, the body coiled back and forth to make up the main middle section and the head was the bottom point. It was holding a lantern in its mouth. The tattoo was on my back, behind my manipura chakra (solar plexus.) I mention this chakra because I remember thinking specifically about that in the dream. The snake was a part of that chakra, that thought made more sense in the dream.
At one point I got distracted and when I looked back at the mirror the “moon” was full. The snake was coiled in a circle, head in the middle, it’s eyes made of stars. The eyes were more more then eyes though, they seemed to be holes in me and the stars were inside me, shining through. At the same time, the eyes seemed to be looking at me too. Not sure where the lantern was at this point, maybe outside the sun disk…
Though the dream was black and white, the tattoo seemed to shine like tarnished silver, but it hinted at gold tones too, the same hues as Mexican gold. The whole tattoo seemed to have a life of its own, but it was definitely drawn on my skin.
Michael came by to pick me up. We were living with my mother, or she was living with us, I think the latter. I was trying to figure out how to hide it from her because I was concerned the moving tattoo would freak her out. I also didn’t think she would approve and didn’t want to make any waves. Then in the middle of those thoughts, the roof suddenly collapsed, snow came pouring in (we have had over 60 roof collapsed from snow load around Spokane in the past week, so this isn’t as random as it seems, as it has been on my mind recently.) My brother was standing at the edge of the hole in the roof for some reason and saw my tattoo.
We all got outside safely and he came down from the roof and teasing me that he was going to tell mom. At that point I didn’t really care anymore though. Marko (my boyfriend before I was with Michael) was in the crowd outside, which I noticed only fleetingly then, but seems to be hanging on my mind now that I am awake. My thoughts were drifting at this point between being really pleased with my tattoo and being worried about Greg’s work. Everything felt so surreal.
At some point during these thoughts I woke up.
Just Stuff
In the past three weeks we have had nearly 60 inches of snow, that makes this the snowiest December on record for Spokane. Up until now it had all been dry snow but yesterday we had over five inches of heavy wet snow, we might have 5 more tonight. Three roofs around town collapsed today. Our roof was creaking on and off too, a little disconcerting, but I think it was just the wind since it has not made some much as a peep today. I called management about it though, not that they are going to do anything, I have been calling them daily about my busted dishwasher and still nothing. In February we are probably going to start to look for a house since our lease is up at the end of March I think. Hopefully all this snow will have given way to Spring by then.
I just realized that it is only 10 more days till my 23rd birthday (January 9th.) I don’t usually think about my birthday that much but for some reason it seems particularly exciting this year. Not that I have anything special planned. Maybe I will make myself a cake.
I have been under the weather for a few days, hopefully that will go away before my day. My back pain went away as mysteriously as it showed up, leaving behind general aches, pains and a scratchy throat. Can’t wait to feel better so I can get back to learning to bellydance. I still have to get out to the store to buy knitting needles so I can start working through my dvd about that. Learning to bellydance and knit are on my dreamboard for projects to accomplish this year.
Damian has been doing well, he decided he wanted solid food instead of one of his nursings today. My little guy is growing up! I have had two or three people ask me when I am going to wean him lately, or suggesting that I do so, which I don’t really get. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for at least one year and as long as mutually desired by mother and child beyond that and the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for at least two years. I think they have more weight in my decision then someone’s uninformed opinion. So no, I am not going to be weaning Damian any time some.
I bought Michael a songbook called Songs for Earthlings and it arrived yesterday. I am really pleased with it. It is 390 pages of Pagan songs and chants for all occasions, including sheet music. There is a section on music theory in it so I am trying to learn to read music with it. I got Michael a keyboard a couple years ago so now he has some stuff to actually play with it. If you are into Pagan music, I really recommend it, it is the only one like it out there I think.
Anyhow I’m going to go sit with Michael while he plays Deep and Fallow.
Winter Solstice
Brightly burns our fire tonight.
Magic dances with candlelight.
Hold my hand and join in song.
Raise the Sun King bright and strong!
Dark is giving way to light.
Brightly burns the fire tonight.
Winter Solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year. It falls around December 21st of each year. It is a festival day in many cultures often calling for bright lights and fires, freshly cut evergreens, feasting with loved ones and singing and dancing. These festivities serve to rekindle the human spirit in the heart of winter.
In many modern Pagan traditions, Winter Solstice, is a celebration of the rebirth of the sun. Many still hold vigils awaiting the dawn, heralding the sun as the God reborn from the sacred womb of the Goddess. In other traditions a great battle is waged between the Oak King and Holly King where the Oak King triumphs returning to the world to longer warmer days.
It is a near certainty that Winter Solstice was of significant importance to ancient people, especially Proto-Celtic tribes. The evidence of this is obvious in the layouts of the stone monuments of New Grange in Ireland and Stonehenge in Britain. Each of these sites was carefully built to line up with the solstice sunrise. It can be suggested that the marking of midwinter was important for ancient communities because the people needed an approximate idea of how long their stored provisions had to last.
The most common alternate name for Winter Solstice is Yule a term originating from ancient Norse and Germanic tribes. It began as a celebration marking a 60 day time beginning at the lunar midwinter, but by the late Viking Age, it had become a great solstitial midwinter festival that amalgamated the traditions of various midwinter celebrations across Europe. On the the eve of Yule a huge log was lit in honor Thor, god of thunder, and feasting would continue until it burned out, which could be up to twelve days! A portion of the log was saved to be used in the lighting of the next year’s log. (more…)
Winter Solstice
I could post about the weekend, or my usual sabbat write up, or link to my podcast but, my write up needs some final touches, as does the podcast… As for posting about my weekend, it was wonderful but I am tuckered out! So I will write more tomorrow, but I wanted to say
