Brigid's day

  

February 2 is a cross-quarter day in the earth-based spiritual calendar.  Imbolc, as it is known, is the half-way point between the Winter Solstice and the first day of Spring.  As you might expect, it’s energy is all about getting ready to welcome the return of the light, of growing things, of life.  The day also honors Brigid, both goddess and saint, who had a soft heart for the poor.  One story says that she confronted the owner of a large parcel of land and obtained that property for the peasants by getting him to agree that the peasants could have whatever land Brigid’s cloak would cover.  Her cloak miraculously stretched to cover the whole area, and the landowner reluctantly agreed to keep his promise.  Brigid’s hand-fashioned cross (shown below) made of the rushes protects many an Irish home from fire and evil.

 I love the easy flow between Christian and Pagan calendars in the Celtic tradition, exemplified today by the celebration of Brigid who is accepted as both a sainted holy woman and a goddess.  Is it possible to let this openness to spill over into other aspects of our lives?  Can we stop holding labels in such high regard, and focus instead on the heart, the intention and what is common between us?

New Year - Clean Slate?

A New Year!  A clean slate ready for all kinds of possibilities!  

… So, now what?

It is so interesting that we look for these opportunities to start fresh.  Rather than continuing on as we have been doing, we emphasize the benefits of having the space to do something new, even if it is just a metaphorical space.  After all, tomorrow will dawn much the same as every other day dawns. The biggest change with a new year is learning to write 2011 on our checks, isn’t it?  Everything else goes on much as before.

Why do we get so excited about a new year?  Why does it stir our imagination so powerfully?  I think a large draw for us in contemplating a new year is the fact that we are not always satisfied with our lives, or with the choices we have made.  We wish we had done some things differently, and other things we wish we had not done at all.  As a child, my family moved when I was 11, and I remember thinking about changing my name and asking people to call me something totally different.  I was tired of being who I was, who I had come known to be, and thought that by changing my name I could shake things up a bit.  But it turned out that the hardest one to change was me.  As I thought about a name change, I realized I didn’t have an adequate idea for a new identity.  I might have been tired with who I was, but I didn’t know yet who else I might be.  It turned out that a name change was not what I really needed.  What really shifted things in that new place was a teacher who encouraged me to start writing, and who saw in me a talent that I had not realized.  Over the course of a year spent in her classroom, I came to see myself in new and wonderful ways.

I don’t think changes happen all of a sudden, with a family move or with the coming of a new year.  Changes happen slowly, over time.  They move in on us by increments, altering things in barely discernible fractions.  Looking back over a period of time, we might recognize that much has changed; however, we might not even have noticed the small changes as they took place along the way.

In this new year, maybe our best bet would be to target one small aspect of our lives or our way of being in the world that we would like to change.  It should be something do-able, perhaps something we don’t even think will be hard for us.  Chances are, this small, possible change is just what we need to start the new year fresh and ready for all that it might bring.

Happy New Year Everyone!

May it bring all you dream of and hope for.

Shirley

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” 

- Ralph Waldo Emerson