Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Schwartz Projects is a new initiative created by Patrick Michalopoulos, the director of Schwartz Gallery, to investigate and seek out dynamic and more flexible models of exhibition-making. Schwartz Projects introduces IMPROMPTU, its first such investigation, a summary of which will appear on this blog over the next month until the exhibition opening on March 5th 2009.
The Imbolc window lasts for around a week, and is a good time for inner work. This year this process is helped by the conjunction of the Sun with Chiron and Neptune, giving us a powerful time for healing and cleansing physically, emotionally, and spiritually. On the mundane level, we’ll see more bloated, inefficient parts of the economy get the chop. This is all emphasized by the Full Moon on Feb 9th, which brings us another eclipse, at 21 Leo/Aquarius, exactly conjunct Chiron and very close to Neptune.
ReplyDeleteIMBOLC: RITUALS AND SIGNIFICANCE
The Celts celebrated the beginning of February with bonfires and feasts, believing that the year begins when the Sun reaches the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, marking the return of warmth and light and fertility in the Northern Hemisphere. Although often cited as occurring on February 2, the exact time of Imbolc is a day or two later, and in 2009 Imbolc falls on February 3.
In Scotland the festival is also known as Là Fhèill Brìghde, in Ireland as Lá Fhéile Bríde, and in Wales as Gŵyl Fair.
ReplyDeleteImbolc is traditionally a time of weather prognostication, and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens. A Scottish Gaelic proverb about the day is:
Thig an nathair as an toll
La donn Bride,
Ged robh tri traighean dh’ an t-sneachd
Air leachd an lair.
"The serpent will come from the hole
On the brown Day of Bride,
Though there should be three feet of snow
On the flat surface of the ground."
Fire and purification are an important aspect of this festival. Brigid is the Gaelic goddess of poetry, healing and smithcraft. As both goddess and saint she is also associated with holy wells, sacred flames, and healing. The lighting of candles and fires represents the return of warmth and the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months.