Musings on Imbolc: Opening the Door, Standing on the Threshold

Imbolc is one of my favorite Sabbats. It has been for many years, and I think it's because of the focus we tend to have at Imbolc of sweeping out the old to make room for the new. To me, Imbolc is the real beginning of the new year. The image of the threshold gives me a very clear symbol of transition. Not just change, but of a wholesale turning over of the proverbial new leaf.

I don't wait for Spring to do my “spring cleaning,” but instead start with the new calendar year. Already, my boyfriend and I have started going through the house, room by room, area by area, and cleaning things out and rearranging. Already, our home feels different. This year feels different. My life is starting to feel different, and I intend to carry this theme of “new and different” through February.

This year is a very important one for me. Back in the Fall, I set a very specific, potentially life-changing intention. For me, Imbolc this year will be about making room for this intention to manifest in my life. There is truly something I must sweep out of my life before the new situation can occur. I will start today by cleaning my physical space and cleaning up and changing my altar for the new season. I will hold my ritual tomorrow night.

Over the years, I have come to associate the cold with cleansing, just as many of us associate fire with cleansing. This was a marked change for me, and the only thing I can think of as a reason is that in recent years I have become very attuned to winter and to the cold. My favorite times of the year are late Autumn, when the frost first sets in and January/February, when we typically get most of our winter weather here in the DC area. It's just the snow and ice, though: Ironically, I hate being cold. Go figure!

This year at Imbolc, I open my heart to the changes I know are coming. I open my mind to the guidance of the Gods as I navigate this bend in the road that is my life. I have full faith that, whatever may happen, I will be OK. To me, this is Imbolc!

Blessed be!