The brilliant Caroline Mellow of Tales from the Seed has honored us by allowing me to share her Imbolc poem in its entirety here on The Alchemist’s Heart!

If you aren’t familiar with the magic of Imbolc, get ready for a treat!  This is a fire festival on February 2nd marking the mid point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.

This is a time of spring awakening!

In Celtic traditions is is known as Brigid’s Day, honoring the Celtic goddess of fire, fertility, midwifery and the young. ‘Imbolc’ comes from Old Irish and means “in the belly,” or alternately “ewe’s milk,” relating this beautiful holiday to a celebration of fertility, reproduction and the young, overseen by the goddess Brigid.

May you allow this poem to wash over you and awaken the power and

regeneration of the new shoots of spring manifesting in your life!

Imbolc

I am the dream of awakening.

I am the returning of the light.

I am the tough green shoot pushing up through the pavestones, I am the first kiss of sunlight on the unfurling petals of the

snowdrop. I am the wind which whispers the gentle pull of home to the migratory bird.

I am the drop of ice melting on the mountainside with its great dream of the ocean.

I am the sap rising in the blossom tree just before it reveals its sticky buds to the sky; I am the riotous celebration humming away beneath the earth’s mantle of frozen sleep.

I am the rousing of the bee from its winter slumber, and the soft pad of the mother-wolf’s paw on the snow as she prepares to birth her pups.

I am hope, potential, rebirth and promise. I am the kindling breath which transforms the flicker of inspiration in your creative core into a blazing torch.

Give me the silent crescent moon rising over the sea and I will build you a bridge of silver light so you can walk up and lie in it.

Give me the frost-hardened wilderness and I will breathe radiant green life over it.

Give me the healer, the writer, the craftsperson and the storyteller, and I will replenish her essence and make her new again.

I am Brigid, Bast, Inanna and Hestia. I am the fierce protectress of the sacred fire.

Tonight I bestow my gifts of power and courage at the hearth of your soul: power to step out of the shadows of self-doubt and negativity which have held you in darkness for too long, power to shed all that which no longer serves you, and courage to clear your heart and mind for the dawn that awaits you.

I am the time to honor your unique gifts for their true worth and to protect and nurture your creative self as you would a child. I am the deep longing of the spirit which refuses to be consumed by a narrative of fear and chooses instead to place itself vivaciously on the side of love.

I am the stirring in your belly which knows exactly what you are capable of — and that it’s time the world found out.

I am the fire within which will not be contained any longer.

I am the quickening, I am the serpent uncoiling, I am Imbolc.

I am the dream of awakening.

Originally published on one of my favorite websites, Rebelle Society.