Bridgid: Planting the Seeds of Intention

Bridgid, or Imbolc, is a time of light. The sun's light is visibly growing stronger, enduring longer.

At Bridgid, candles are lit in honour of the growing Sun Child. We consider that we are adding our light to His, strengthening His power. It is this ancient tradition that inspired the Sabbat's Christianized name, Candlemas.

We light these candles not simply as a superstitious plea for necessary illumination and life-giving warmth.

It is a symbolic act. We are reminded how important it is to see clearly. And we remember that the purpose of action is to serve life.

From the Inner Journey to Outer Action

After Yule, when we collectively breathe a subconscious sigh of relief that, yes, life will go on, the sun will return. . . . We come to Bridgid's day — February 2nd.

Bridgid is a time of preparation. A time to make decisions. A time to choose what it is you really want to do, this year. Bridgid is the pregnant pause, when the Goddess is still carrying the potential that is not yet born.

Before you get drawn irrevocably into the whirlwind of activity waiting around the season's corner, you have this opportunity to contemplate the bigger picture.

What is the meaning of what you do, day by day?
What is the purpose of your life? Is it just to get from day to day, year to year, with as little effort or thought as possible?
If there is more to life than that, what will you choose that purpose to be?
To what will you dedicate your actions?
To what will you dedicate the coming year of your life?

By dedicating your actions to the Most High, or we might say the Most Refined, you consecrate - you make sacred - all that you do.

Whether it is speaking your truth, or cooking with love rather than resentment, or making a million dollars . . . every action that is taken with devotion to Something Greater is a holy act.

A New Beginning

At Yule we have been reborn with the Sun. Now, Bridgid represents the flush of youth, where all potentialities exist. You can create any future you desire.

What do you want to be, when you "grow up"? What would you choose to be "re-born" as?

Way back at Samhain, you may have set an intention for going into the dark. The introspective journey from Samhain through Yule has likely clarified what is important to you. You may have gained insight into who you really are.

At Brigid we begin to act on the insights the Sacred Dark has given us. And the beginning of any action is thought. More specifically, intention.

All Action Begins With Intention

As the Wheel of the Year turns toward a time of action, we set our intentions for this year's journey. Choosing goals, now, for the season of light . . . for action in the world.

Refining and rededicating your intentions keep them fresh and alive in you.

This keeps you moving the direction that you really want to go, rather than blindly meandering like a sheep, from one blade of grass to the next to the next and on into a meaningless death.

We each have limited time in the body. As Witches, ideally in tune with the natural world, this is well-understood.

The turning Wheel reminds us that every day is precious. It reminds us to act on what we choose, because the time will come all too soon when the opportunities are gone.

The Wheel reminds us that it's not enough just to keep busy. Action without intention is only motion. It does not accomplish. It has no purpose.

Only chosen, purposeful action serves our deep desires.

You Reap What You Sow

Bridgid is about planting seeds for the future. What do you want to grow? Those are the seeds you must sow.

Thought is the first seed. Whatever you wish to harvest, it begins with a thought.

In the fields, if you want to harvest oats, the very first thing that happens is you think about oats, you think about wanting oats. Then you think that you will plant some oat seeds this year.

We've come through the dark winter months. We've harvested the final fruits and cleared our inner ground, at Samhain. We've examined what we have in store, in the Velvet Dark, and what we might like in the future. We've rekindled ourselves for new life, at Yule.

Now at Bridgid, we choose our intentions for the coming year. And we plant them with conscious care.

What do you want in your life, this Cycle?

Bridgid Ritual Idea

After preparing the Circle and invoking the Goddess Bridgid, set an intention for the coming year.

When you raise energy, bless some seeds as symbols of your intentions, and plant them in good fresh earth.

(Your "seeds" could also be any creative endeavour —like making something out of clay, or weaving, or drawing a mandala, etc. — since Bridgid is the Goddess of Creativity.)

Let your magickal energy and the blessings of the Goddess Bridgid, the elements, and your allies feed the seeds.

Remember to care for them afterward. They hold the power for your intentions.

In Honour of Bridgid

Bridgid is also the matron goddess of poetry. And just in time, She sent me this poem, which I offer as a gift to Her.

The Promise Held

The promise held
in a child's clear face
caressed with infinite adoration . . .

I am the Mother
holding my dear cherished one,
whose future tumbles before us
like star-lit jewels on velvet carpet

I am the Child
forward-looking from the
comforting lap — that I will never leave
no matter how far I play

Eyes like secret seeds shine —
The promise held
in a secret well-played

Take these seeds and bless them
with water, with earth-salt
Bathe them in passion's fire
and attend

Anything you choose
might grow

The promise held
is infinite
and recurring

In each set of eyes

In each unnoticed caress
of shadow over vision