Blessed Imbolc!

Blessed Imbolc!

One of the traditions of Candlemas is to make candles.

So I got things set up and Kevin and I made beeswax candles. First we dipped. I used a clothes drying rack to hang the tapers between dips. That worked very well.  Kevin enjoyed doing it but I ended up doing most of the dipping, as it's a long repetitive process. But not as long as you'd think... the wax builds up quickly.

Once we were done making tapers, we poured some pillar candles into empty juice tubes. You need to make sure to buy the juice tubes that are cardboard so that you can rip off the cardboard when the candles are set.

We ended up with some lovely candles when we were done!  We use the tapers for meals at the table, to make eating together a little fancier. The pillars are used mostly for magic. :)

Imbolc Love!

The wonderful sabbat Imbolc is returning, and we are preparing for it!

Yesterday I dug out my wheat and set it to soak. Of course Kevin was excited, as this is the first time he and I have done this together. His idea was to tease a cat with the wheat of course, so now my weavings have to be on the wall or hidden from the cats or they will play with it!

I made two Brigid's crosses. The first one is primitive and rough looking, as the wheat wasn't quite soaked enough, but I still like it and plan to hang it on the front door. The second one I made is pictured above, and Kevin loves it. It too is a little rough... it's possible my wheat was too old? I have no idea when I got it, but it was surely well before the kid was born, lol.

Kevin did his own thing with scraps. I tried to interest him in attempting one of the crosses, but lately when I pull out some sort of crafting, he just wants to do his own stuff, and I'm ok with that! His imagination is fun to watch, I like to see what he comes up with. Today was also good practice at dealing with frustration - for both of us!

Kevin insisted I take a picture of his creations along with mine! So I did. Sorry about the flash reflection on the table. I have much to learn about photography as well as wheat working. :)



Here are my creations from yesterday. The only traditional weaving I did were the Brigid crosses and that little star, which I found on a website in the beginner weaving section. hahaha! The little wheat goddess and god were me just experimenting for the fun of it!

Not sure what we'll do next but we do need to make some candles still. We have until next thursday! :)
Do you have any plans for the coming Sabbat, or if you don't celebrate it, have you done anything to bring some cheerfulness to your home in these dreary winter days?

Imbolc 2011

This post was moved from an old blog, and is from Imbolc (Feb 2) 2011.

Welcome Brigid! Brigid is Welcome!

And soon, we will welcome Spring!
A friend shared a little snippet on facebook: 

"Imbolc is the day the Cailleach — the hag of Gaelic tradition — gathers her 

firewood for the rest of the winter. If she intends to make the winter last a 

good while longer, she will make sure the weather on Imbolc is sunny, so she 

can gather firewood. People are relieved if Imbolc is a day of foul weather, 

as it means the Cailleach is asleep and winter is almost over."

I love this!  Very evocative. We americans are used to the weather-divining with the groundhog but I really love the older traditions. By the way, the groundhogs in my backyard did NOT see their shadows today! haha!

I just recently parted ways with the coven I had been with for the past 16 years, so I found myself unexpectedly in a position to celebrate Imbolc on my own! My husband is not really pagan/witchy like me so I didn't want to spring any huge celebration on him or Kevin at such short notice, so I decided this year we would keep Imbolc low-key until we get into the swing of my new spiritual situation. I was inspired by one of my all-time favorite pagan families and a recent post on their blog. I thought the whole Irish Stew and soda bread idea to be an excellent one!

I started at my friend's blog with her recipe, but we are omnivores so I knew it would not please my hubby if there was not meat in the stew. So off I went researching other recipes for Irish Stew. I ended up not following any one recipe... I just threw stuff in a pot that I had seen in other recipes until I was satisfied with it. That ended up being onions, beef stew meat, sausage, potatoes, stock, Guinness and herbs and spices. I thought the stew turned out fabulous... I may have been a little heavy handed with the Guinness though, haha! I put one bottle in, then thought it would sure be nice to sip some so I opened another bottle and poured some more in the pot so I could drink the leftovers. haha!  I have to say though, that the Guinness gave the stew a nice rich flavor and thickness.

I love bread in all forms and soda bread seems to be the bread of the day! However, it had to be allergen-free for the kid! So I stopped at my favorite gluten-free recipe source and found her Gluten Free Irish Soda Bread recipe. The nice thing about most of her recipes is that they are also egg and dairy-free. However, I always have to up the baking time... not sure why but instead of 30 minutes to bake, this bread probably had to be more like 40-45... at least in my oven. It was good but not as well-received as the yeast bread version. But we still ate it up!

Kevin and I headed outside for a little snow fun. We weren't out long... the wind was sharp and cold! Kevin got stuck in snow too deep and his boot came off, so his little toes got super cold. He held out as long as he could to play out there, but had to give it up after about 25 minutes. 

I told Kevin a few stories for the season before bed and the day caught up to him quickly and off to sleep he went!

As for me, I have my own little observance of the holy-day. Mostly giving thanks! For my hubby's safe drives to and from work today! and that we were able to fix our furnace that broke down yesterday! 

Bright Imbolc Blessings to all!