Welcome to Alison’s Alembic! You may have arrived here as a stop on the
Tarot Blog Hop from either New Moon Tarot's or Inner Whisper's blog. Or
you may have found this through TABI’s Facebook page, or though one of the many
wonderful tarot bloggers in the ether... It doesn’t matter – what does matter is that you’re here!
Imbolc (pronounced i-molk
or i-molg), also called Brigid’s
Day or St Brighid’s Day), is a Celtic/Gaelic festival marking the end of winter
and beginning of spring. As the Celtic year was based on both lunar and solar
cycles, the festival would probably have been celebrated on the full moon
nearest the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox (so if
you’re living in the southern hemisphere, you would have celebrated this on the
1st-2nd August!).
The name ‘Imbolc’ comes from the old Irish “i mbolg”,
meaning “in the belly”, referring to the time of year when sheep and goats are
pregnant, carrying their young. Other etymology
includes “oimelc”, meaning “ewe’s milk”, a reference to the onset of lactation
in ewes about to give birth. Fire and purification have played important roles
in this festival throughout the ages, with celebrations involving hearth fires,
bonfires and the lighting of candles to represent the return of light and
warmth to the land. It’s also traditionally a time of weather divination, with
people watching for serpents or badgers (or groundhogs!) emerging from their
winter dens.
Our wrangler for this Imbolc blog, Aisling, asked us “What
is in your belly? What do you wish
to give birth to, to nurture, during this new season? What is the poet, healer,
maker, within you longing to do or become?”
Such good questions...
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| Wildwood Tarot (Connections) |
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| Wildwood Tarot (Connections) |
Over the past year I’ve been working more and more with the
Wildwood Tarot (Mark Ryan-John Matthews-Will Worthington, published by
Connections), which connects strongly to the Wheel of the Year. As the deck’s
creators start the Journey at Imbolc, it feels appropriate to look at the cards
they assign to this festival – the Ancestor (5) and the Pole Star (17). Both cards,
then, are linked to beginnings and to the “guidance systems” we have available
to us – the Ancestor representing our inner ones, the Pole Star the outer. In some ways, the
Wildwood’s accompanying book’s description of the Pole Star (a symbol of “universal
law, spiritual knowledge and power”) is not unlike the way I think about the
traditional Hierophant. What brings it back to the traditional meaning of the
Star, for me, is the idea of universal knowledge being a web – a very Aquarian
concept!
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| Haindl Tarot (US Games Systems Inc) |
I’ve also been working with the
Haindl Tarot recently. One card that keeps coming up for me is the Daughter of
Cups, which just so happens to be represented by Brigid. Talk about being hit
over the head by the cards! This really
speaks to what it is within me, in my belly, that longs to be born - greater freedom to work creatively and
intuitively ... I have the wisdom I’ve gained from past experience (the
Ancestor) and the guiding light with which I can navigate into the future (the Pole
Star) to help me with this birth - the birth of hope and optimism, and the
reminder not to be so cynical and jaded about the state of the world!
Thank you for stopping off here on your own journey through
this Imbolc Tarot Blog Hop! Please do
come back and read some of my other posts.
The next stops on the Tarot Blog Hop are - depending on
whether you’re moving backwards or forwards through the list – New Moon Tarot and Inner Whispers. The Master List can be found here.