pagans

(image source)

Providing we survive today (I mean, let’s not jinx it), we’ve made it through the darkest time and tomorrow we start inching our way back to more light.

From The Moon Studio newsletter, here’s an idea to mark the day–pick a bell, a candle, or all of it:

At the Winter Solstice, we voice our regrets, speak our losses out loud, and throw them to the wind.
We ring a bell for loved ones who have crossed over this year.
This includes aspects of ourselves.
We light candles to honor the treasures found and the lessons learned—we let the darkness envelop the wishes of this next season and this next year.

Or you could just watch this (lol).

(collage from Moon Studio)

Happy Samhain, everyone. Today marks the beginning of the darker half of the year, and–in Neopaganism, at least–the start of a new one.

In a dramatic example of a new beginning, the agency I just left ceased all operations yesterday and declared bankruptcy (!), and if that’s not a lesson from the universe to move on to new things then I don’t know what is.

So happy new year, witches, and happy dark times. Embrace the slowing down of this season, light a candle, and feast on the harvest of your efforts.

The beginning of February marks Imbolc, one of the cross-quarter days between the solstice and the equinox. That means we’re halfway through the winter and if you, like me, have been having a low-key tantrum about the cold and dark lately, there’s hope. We’ve also made it through the “Persephone days” and have more than 10 hours of daylight now.

We went to Red Butte Garden yesterday and sure enough, bulbs were starting to come up in the most sheltered areas. It’s almost over. We can do this.

Today is Imbolc, the Celtic cross quarter day halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. Light a candle and celebrate the days getting just a little longer. From the BBC:

Like many Celtic festivals, the Imbolc celebrations centred around the lighting of fires. Fire was perhaps more important for this festival than others as it was also the holy day of Brigid (also known as Bride, Brigit, Brid), the Goddess of fire, healing and fertility. The lighting of fires celebrated the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months. For the Christian calendar, this holiday was reformed and renamed ‘Candlemas’ when candles are lit to remember the purification of the Virgin Mary.

It is Imbolc today, the “cross-quarter” day between Solstice and Equinox. Granted, we’ve had a worryingly mild winter, but yesterday I saw bulbs coming up on the south side of a building downtown, and this morning–no joke–I heard a robin.

We’re nearly out of the darkness. We got this.