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The Sabbats

Sabbats in History and Mythology /  Samhain (October 31st)  /  Yule (December 21st)  /  Imbolc (February 2nd)  /  Ostara (March 21st)  /  Beltane (April 30th)  /  Litha (June 21st)  /  Lughnasadh (August 1st)  /  Mabon (September 21st)

Written and compiled by George Knowles

Imbolc - Candlemas

Imbolc is one of the four Greater Sabbats of the witch’s calendar.  A cross-quarter fire festival, Imbolc falls between “Yule” - the Winter Solstice, and “Ostara” - the Spring Equinox.  Celebrated in the Northern Hemisphere on the 2^nd February, in the Southern Hemisphere the equivalent Sabbat is Lammas.  The main purpose of Imbolc is a celebration of the returning Sun, which daily grows stronger lengthening the days and reducing the night.  As such, the main feature of this festival is the lighting of fires and candles in sympathetic imitation of the Sun’s growing light. 

Imbolc of old was traditionally a time of purification, both physically and mentally.  After the enforced indoor living of the winter months, when the home was shutdown to guard against the cold, it was a welcome relief for many people to re-open the shutters and welcome in the sunlight.  While still in the grip of the last ravages of winter, plant life is beginning to revive and shoot new buds, and farm animals, in particular sheep, are producing new lambs to add to the livestock.  As the Sun grows in strength, a new cycle of life returns to the earth.

In pagan mythology Imbolc marks the recovery of the Goddess as she sleeps on after the birth of the Sun God, and acknowledges his growing maturity as he gains strength to become the new light of the year.  After his rest and recuperation during winter’s annual hibernation, the Sun god’s light begins to purify the earth.  Although he is still young, he is lusty and his growing power can be felt in the lengthening of the days.  As his power grows and warms the earth, so too do the early beginnings of spring appear as nature rebirths itself again. 

The name Imbolc is derived from the Gaelic word “Oimelc” (which means “ewes milk”), and appropriately so, for this is the lambing season, a time when many of our herd animals have either given birth or their wombs are expectantly swollen.  Imbolc is also known by various other names, including:  Bridget’s Day (Pagan), Imbolgc Brigantia (Caledonni), Disting (Teutonic), Lupercalia (Roman – 15^th Feb), Groundhog Day (America), Candlelaria (Mexican), the Snowdrop Festival, the Feast of Torches, the Feast of Lights, the Feast of Pan and Feast of the Waxing Light.  However, when Christianity arrived, as they did with many of the old pagan rituals, Imbolc was re-invented and renamed “Candlemas” for when candles are lit as a symbolic reminder of the purification of the Virgin Mary.  In Scotland it is known as:  Là Fhèill Brìghde, in Ireland as:  Lá Fhéile Bríde, and in Wales as:  Gwyl Ffraed.

Fire is the most important aspect of this celebration, for it was also a day dedicated to the pagan Goddess Bridget (also known as Brighid, Bríde, Brigit or Brìd).  Bridget is a triple aspect Goddess (revered as Maiden, Mother and Crone), who as a Maiden ruled over - Poetry, Writing, Inspiration and Music, as a Mother over - Healing, Midwifery and Herbalism, and as a Crone over - Fire and the working arts of the Smithy.  Again here Christianity intervenes, but instead of doing away with her as a pagan Goddess, they canonized her as “St. Bridget” the patron Saint of Ireland who founded a church and monastery at Kildare.  It was here according to legend that the Priestesses of the Goddess constantly tended a sacred flame in her honour. 

“All thoughts, all passions, all delights

Whatever stirs this mortal frame

All are but ministers of Love

And feed his sacred flame” 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)

In Western Europe, Imbolc was time to start preparing the fields for the first planting, and to bless the crop seeds saved and stored from the last harvest.  It was also a time to consecrate and bless all their agricultural tools ready for the planting season.  Of old, the success of the new farming season was of greatest importance, and as the winter stores of food were beginning to run out, rituals were performed at Imbolc to ensure a steady supply of food until the first harvest was brought in later at Lammas (August 1st).  One old tradition was to drag a decorated plough around the fields followed by the villagers dropping pieces of cheese and bread into the newly turned furrows as offerings to the nature spirits.  As well as the seeds, Corn dollies saved from the last harvest would also be planted in the fields in a fertility rite to encourage new growth.

Ox-drawn Plough

Another old custom was to make “Bridget’s Crosses” woven from leftover wheat stalks.  These would be hung in barns and over doorways, in the home and over beds to encourage the blessings of the Goddess.  Similar charm crosses were also made and exchanged as symbols of protection and prosperity for the coming year.  The making of “Bridget Dollies” was another old tradition.  Fashioned from leftover wheat stalks, dollies were made and dressed in women’s clothing, then placed in baskets of white flowers with a wand, candle or other phallic object to encourage fertility.  Placed near the front door of the home, or sometimes near the hearth, a white candle would be lit nearby and left to burn as an invitation for Bridget to visit through the night and favour them with her blessings.

A Bridget’s Cross Charm Pendant

Imbolc is all about new beginnings.  On the eve of Imbolc all the home fires would have been put out, cleaned out, and re-lit symbolic of the returning light of the Sun, and in keeping with this symbolism, a broom made from three sacred woods, the handle from Ash, the brush from Birch twigs and the binding cord from Willow, symbolic of the three-fold aspects of the Goddess, was placed by the front door to symbolize sweeping out the old and welcoming in the new.  During the evening, an especially large candle would have been lit and the family gathered around it for a feast, during which plans and promises to be kept through the new season would be discussed and debated until it burned out.  It was also customary at Sunset to ritually light a candle in each room of the home in honour of the Sun’s return. 

After the rise of Christianity in Britain, the old pagan custom of lighting candles at Imbolc was incorporated into the Roman Catholic Church and renamed Candlemas.  On the eve of Candlemas, candles were distributed to church congregations and paraded around the church in a Festival of Light.  After a service to honour the purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, candles to be used in the church during the following year would be blessed and consecrated by the priest.  The church practice of celebrating Candlemas continued in England until the 16^th century, at which time during the Reformation it was discontinued, being too closely allied to pagan practices and the veneration of magical accessories. 

The use of candles in a Festival of Light never died out however, for in 1951 after the repeal of the old antiquated witchcraft laws still being enforced in England, there was a resurgence of interest in old pagan practices.  This was spearheaded by Gerald B. Gardner, who founded the contemporary form of Witchcraft known as the Gardnerian Tradition, which was quickly followed by numerous other traditions.  Common among all such traditions are the initiation rituals, many of which take place at Imbolc - it being a traditional time of new beginnings.  Today one of the main features of many coven initiations is a procession of candlelight leading the initiate into the circle, from which their new beginnings as a Witch will take place. 

Imbolc then is a time to spring clean both your mental and physical abilities, to take stock of your life and make a fresh start.  By planning ahead and planting new seeds (ideas) now for the future, who knows what new opportunities will grow from them.  As the Sun grows stronger in the sky, so too should you look forward with optimism; and as your seeds (ideas) mature, so may you realise your hopes and dreams. 

“I feel again a spark of that ancient flame”.

Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) 70–19 BC  -Aeneid  bk. 4, l. 23

End.

Written and compiled on the 7^th January 2009 © George Knowles

Best wishes and Blessed Be

Gods and Goddesses (Greek Mythology) /  Esbats & Full Moons /  Links to Personal Friends & Resources /  Wicca/Witchcraft Resources /  What's a spell? /  Circle Casting and Sacred Space /  Pentagram - Pentacle /  Marks of a Witch /  The Witches Power /  The Witches Hat /  An esoteric guide to visiting London /  Satanism /  Pow-wow /  The Unitarian Universalist Association /  Numerology:  Part 1  /  Part 2  /  Part 3 /  A history of the Malleus Maleficarum:  includes:  Pope Innocent VIII  /  The papal Bull  /   The Malleus Maleficarum  /  An extract from the Malleus Maleficarum  /  The letter of approbation  /  Johann Nider’s Formicarius  /  Jacob Sprenger  /  Heinrich Kramer  /  Stefano Infessura  /  Montague Summers  /  The Waldenses  /  The Albigenses  /  The Hussites /  The Sun Dance /  Shielding (Occult and Psychic Protection) /  The History of Thanksgiving /

Articles and Stories about Witchcraft:

Murder by Witchcraft /  The Fairy Witch of Clonmel /  A Battleship, U-boat, and a Witch /  The Troll-Tear (A story for Children) /  Goody Hawkins - The Wise Goodwife /  The Story of Jack-O-Lantern /  The Murder of the Hammersmith Ghost /  Josephine Gray (The Infamous Black Widow) /  The Two Brothers - Light and Dark

Abramelin the Mage /  Agrippa /  Aidan A. Kelly /  Albertus Magnus “Albert the Great” /  Aleister Crowley “The Great Beast” /  Alex Sanders "the King of the Witches” /  Alison Harlow /  Amber K /  Anna Franklin /  Anodea Judith /  Anton Szandor LaVey  / Arnold Crowther /  Arthur Edward Waite /  Austin Osman Spare /  Biddy Early /  Bridget Cleary /  Carl Llewellyn Weschcke /  Cecil Hugh Williamson /  Charles Godfrey Leland /  Charles Walton /  Christina Oakley Harrington /  Damh the Bard (Dave Smith) /   Dion Fortune /  Dolores Aschroft-Nowicki /  Dorothy Morrison /  Doreen Valiente /  Edward Fitch /  Eleanor Ray Bone “Matriarch of British Witchcraft” /  Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelly /  Dr. Leo Louis Martello /  Eliphas Levi /  Ernest Thompson Seton /  Ernest Westlake and the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry /  Fiona Horne /  Friedrich von Spee /  Francis Barrett /  Gerald B. Gardner /  Gavin and Yvonne Frost and the School and Church of Wicca /  Gwydion Pendderwen /  Hans Holzer /  Helen Duncan /  Herman Slater "Horrible Herman" /  Israel Regardie /  James "Cunning" Murrell /  Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone /  Jessie Wicker Bell “Lady Sheba” / John Belham-Payne /  John George Hohman /  John Gerard / John Gordon Hargrave (the White Fox) /  John Michael Greer /  John Score /  Johannes Junius the Burgomaster of Bamberg /  Karl von Eckartshausen /  Laurie Cabot "the Official Witch of Salem" /  Lewis Spence /  Margaret Alice Murray /  Margot Adler /  Marie Laveau the " Voodoo Queen of New Orleans" /  Marion Weinstein /  Matthew Hopkins “The Witch-Finder General” /  Max Ehrmann and the Desiderata /  Monique Wilson the “Queen of the Witches” /  Montague Summers /  Nicholas Culpeper /  Nicholas Remy /  M. R. Sellers /  Mrs. Grieve "A Modern Herbal" /  Oberon and Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart /  Old Dorothy Clutterbuck /  Old George Pickingill /   Paddy Slade /  Pamela Colman-Smith /  Paracelsus /  Patricia Crowther /  Patricia Monaghan /  Patricia “Trish” Telesco /  Philip Emmons Isaac Bonewits /  Philip Heselton /  Raymond Buckland /  Reginald Scot /  Robert Cochrane /  Robert ‘von Ranke’ Graves and "The White Goddess" /  Rudolf Steiner /  Rosaleen Norton “The Witch of Kings Cross” /  Ross Nichols and The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids /  Sabrina - The Ink Witch /  Scott Cunningham /  Selena Fox /  Silver Ravenwolf /  Sir Francis Dashwood /  Sir James George Frazer /  S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn” /  Starhawk /  Stewart Farrar /  Sybil Leek /  Ted Andrews /  The Mather Family - includes: Richard Mather, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather /  Thomas Ady /  Vera Chapman /  Victor Henry Anderson /  Vivianne Crowley /  Walter Brown Gibson /  William Butler Yeats /  Zsuzsanna Budapest

Many of the above biographies are brief and far from complete.  If you know about any of these individuals and can help with aditional information, please cantact me privately at my email address below.  Many thanks for reading  :-)

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