Imbolc 2005 arranged by ---Shining Spider- 2005 Date of holiday: February 2 Date of ritual: February 5 Astrology of Day: Waning moon in Sagittarius ; I. Creating A Sacred Space A. Smudge Space 1. Priestess and participant smudges space counter clockwise B. Introductions 1. Names and truths 2. Explanation of the Holiday: Imbolc (also called: Oimealg ("IM-mol'g), Candlemas, Imbolg, Brigit's Day, St. Lucy's Day, Feast of Brighid, Oimealg, Imbolgc Brigantia, Imbolic, Disting (Teutonic, Feb 14th), Lupercus, Candlelaria, The Festival of Lights, or the Feast of the Virgin ) is a cross-quarter holiday (between Winter Solstice, and the Spring Equinox) in which the earth is preparing to give birth to life. This mid-Winter feast traditionally commenced as the ewes begin to lactate, which was the start of the new agricultural cycle. Although in most mythos the sun god has already been reborn (Winter Solstice) the earth through most of Northern Hemisphere is cold and barren. The energies of this holiday are subtle, yet rejunative. D. Ground and Center Group meditation E. Call Elements 1. East to North deosil F. Create Space 1. Group meditation II. Calling And Honoring the Divine a. Goddess Invocation We ask you Hera to look down from the sky to see your children in the cold reality of winter. Mother Goddess harsh creatrix see us to night for all that we are and all that we are not give us context to our lives and the strength to live them. b. God Invocation Great God Hephaestus we call out to you the sad cast off son to join us here. Man of sea and metalsmithing teach us how to turn pain into art, and challenge into success. Light your fires, churn the sea to share your wisdom. C. To call Spirit *group meditation/calling* D. Honor those who came before *group meditation/calling* E. Myth: Area: Greece Peoples: Grecians Time Period: Minoan (3000-1500 BC) to Geometric and Archaic Period (850-480 BC) The author Hesiod, tells that the Goddess Hera (great mother/queen goddess) gave birth to Hephaestus parthenogetically. The goddess was angry at her husband Zeuss (great father/king god ) for, birthing Athena from his own head, and believed that by birthing Hephaestus she might gain power over her husband. But Hera without union with Zeus -- for she was very angry and quarreled with her mate -- bore famous Hephaestus, who was skilled in crafts more than all the sons of Heaven." Hera hoped that her son would be more glorious than Zeus, and outshine him, but instead gave birth (from her thigh) to a child with clubfeet facing backwards. Hera was so angered by her imperfect creation that she threw him out of Olympus (a story recounted in both Homeric Hymn to Apollo and the Iliad). After a long fall he crashed into the sea near Lemnos breaking both of his legs. Myth reads that Hephaestus washed up on the shore until he was rescued by the Nereids (sea nymphs), Thetis (sea nymph/minor goddess) and Eurynome (One of the Three Graces/Personified Joy). These women kept him hidden from his mother, knowing that in her shame she would continue to hurt him should she know that he survived his fall. Hephaestus continued to live with them in their underwater caves (their "mukos", a Greek word meaning both innermost place implying that his hibernation there was a second womblike incubation, and an awakening his own creative energy) for nine years in secret. Underwater he began to create beautiful jewelry from the minerals, metals, and corals of the sea. Being partially paralyzed Hephaestus used his ingenuity to build two golden robots to help him move. Hephaestus, not forgetting his mother’s cruelty took revenge on her by building her a golden throne and once Hera sat on the throne, she was bound to the chair by a golden fetter. The other gods tried in vain to persuade Hephaestus to release his mother. The conclusion has different endings, either Hephaestus released her because Dionysus got him drunk or in return for being promised Aphrodite in marriage. Still a third telling asserts that To reclaim her freedom from the throne Hera had to extract a promise from all the gods that Hephaestus would be accepted into the Olympian Pantheon. Notes on this myth: Was Hephaestus birth story perhaps commentary on women’s autonomy, ‘deformed children’, or search for parental approval? How do you view Hephaestus’ time in retreat/seclusion. Have you ever taken time apart to learn a new craft? How do you view Hephaestus’ revenge on his mother. Can you relate his feelings to anyone in your life? Do you see any patterns in this myth? What do you make of the three tellings of the Hera throne myth, what meanings can you find behind each one? III. Pathwork A. Meditation**** Close your eyes. Breath in... and out... in...and out... Do not try to stop all your thoughts. Just allow them to be. Accept each thought, then see it evaporate and blow away. Imagine yourself in a meadow. It is a chilly February day. You are sitting on grass that is yellow, dormant and waiting to come back to life. Dotting your meadow are trees, gray and linear, their buds waiting just below the surface. The meadow gains sustenance from the stream that meanders slowly by you. The Sun is rising behind you. In front of you is the full moon; bright and luminous. It is a brand new day. Uncertain what the day might bring, you decide to get up and walk out of your meadow across the hills that surround it. As you come to the top of the first hill, you see a small village in the valley below. You turn your attention to a cottage that has a large plume of smoke coming out of the chimney. You walk toward the cottage. As you approach, you begin to hear a dull roar and the distinct sound of metal striking metal. When you open the door to the cottage, a wave of heat engulfs you. Through the haze, you see a figure hammering steel on an anvil. The figure turns toward you; it is a woman. She is tall, thick bodied and strong. Her long, curly red hair is piled on top of her head. Her face and clothes are stained with the efforts of her labor. "Hello," she says. "I was wondering when you'd come. You have much to learn. Come and join me - together, we will make something beautiful and precious." Feeling uncertain, you approach the glowing hot forge and tentatively pick up a hammer. The smith-woman shows you how to heat steel in the forge and how to use hammer and anvil to shape and mold it. She teaches you how to make a sword. It is difficult, challenging work to shape the sword so it is just right. Frustrated, you hammer away bit by bit, little by little. You become dizzy with the heat and the effort. Sweat runs down your forehead and into your eyes - your vision blurs... ...and suddenly it clears. You look down at the sword and realize that it is not a sword. It is Today. You stop hammering and stare at your work. Today is a beautiful, rich, glowing treasure. In awe, you realize that it is yours to shape as you will. With renewed vigor, you begin hammering again. Each time your hammer impacts, the shape of Today changes and grows. When you are finished, you admire your effort with pride. You turn to find the smith-woman who showed you this craft. She smiles radiantly at you. Her warmth and confidence fill you. You know that if you ever need her again, she will be waiting for you, here in this cottage, to show you the craft of making Today your own. You leave the smith-woman's cottage. The crisp February air cools your body and you walk back to your meadow with confidence. You kneel on the banks of the stream that babbles through your meadow and drink deeply of its cool water. You feel the water flowing down through your body...slowing bringing your awareness back to this room. IV. Spell-work - A. Raising Energy- Culling the Fire within. 1. pair off to together to work on Visualization exercise focused around the voice. 2. all hold hands, and do the exercise for a 3rd time Contemplate where this energy will go, and what we should gain from it. V. Thanking/Recuperation A.. Share in snack, and discuss the ritual B. Thank the god/dess, spirit, ancestors C. Thank the elements D. Break the space Credits: God/dess Invoking Poetry ** by Shining Spider Myth: Researched and compiled by Shining Spider Meditation **** by Kate P. Spellwork: conceptualized and written by Shining Spider |