Blessed Imbolc

Here we are looking for signs that Spring will be arriving soon. The most notable sign is the longer days. It is good to have sunset later each evening. Every day there is a bit more brightness.

But alas, there will be no other physical signs around here. It has been snowing heavily most of the day and it is now snowing late into the night. I imagine most of February will be like this.

Still, candles are lit to celebrate the midpoint between winter and spring, the sabbat of Imbolc.

I think about this long strange winter with it's roller coaster weather. There does not appear to be a "normal" any longer concerning the seasons. Sitting by the window, watching the snow fall, and dreaming about spring flowers and summer gardens. Planning and preparing is a good way to spend the cold days.

"There is a privacy about winter which no other season gives you … Only in winter can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself." 
-  Ruth Stout

With my feet firmly planted in the present, I look to the Spring and all the many things I would like to do. Projects, ideas, goals, dreams as well as garden planning. And I think of the things I need to let go, get rid of; not just the physical, but mental and emotional "stuff". It is good, in these quiet February days to stop and look within, as well as without.

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The promise of Spring is one that Nature will keep. We wait, sometimes impatiently, for those days when the daffodils bloom and songbirds fill the air.

For now, we work quietly, steadily finding beauty in a fresh snow fall, comfort in hearth and home and the splendor of a winter's night sky.

February Twilight

by Sara Teasdale

I stood beside a hill
Smooth with new-laid snow,
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow.

There was no other creature
That saw what I could see --
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me.