When is Imbolc?

I often see people asking about when, exactly, Imbolc is celebrated. The truth is the answer is a bit complicated. People see Imbolc listed in books as either the first of second of February, and figure maybe it moves around like the solstices and equinoxes do, and that's not always the case. For many, Imbolc is a fixed-date festival and does not move (although it does for some, more on that later).

I think part of the problem comes from the fact that the ancient Celts considered sunset to be the start of the new day, as several ancient cultures did. So, matching that to how we view our days, a holiday might start on the sunset of the 1st, and last until the sunset of the 2nd. (Or the 31st to the 1st.)

Another source of confusion comes from Imbolc versus Candlemas, and how the name is sometimes seen as interchangeable within neo-paganism. Imbolc is an old Celtic festival, and has strong ties to the goddess Brigid. Brigid became a saint in the Catholic church, and her feast day is still the 1st of February. On the other hand, Candlemas is a Christian holiday, which has ties to quite a few old pagan customs, and is still celebrated on the 2nd of February. Groundhog Day is another date that can be considered in all this, as weather divination would be popular around the time of Imbolc, and of course that is what Groundhog's Day is all about - which, again, falls on the 2nd.

To make matters more complicated, remember how I said the festival moves for some? Some choose to celebrate on the exact date between the winter solstice and spring equinox. Since the solstice and equinox shift from year to year, this means the date of Imbolc also moves when using this method. For those curious, this year that date is he 3rd of February.

Let's make things more complicated... some instead choose to celebrate on the full moon nearest the 1st, or when the first signs of spring actually show up, or traditionally with the blooming of blackthorn, or the beginning of the lambing season, which of course can all vary from year to year.

All this is a long way of saying that Imbolc is celebrated... well, whenever you or your tradition says it should be celebrated. Do you want to celebrate from the 31st of Jan to the 1st of Feb? From the First to the second? Just the first? Just the second? Or how about on the third, or the full moon, or...? It really comes down to the individual practitioner, and what makes sense for their tradition.

Hekate's Night?

So, apparently yesterday was the festival of Hekate's night. I've read about this a bit before, but it's something I chose not to incorporate into my practice. Since my personal practice has a mix of modern and ancient holidays, I thought I'd write a little about how I do choose to bring in festivals, using this as an example.

First, I like to look at the details and history of the festival (be it ancient history, or more modern). In this case, Hekate's night does not seem to be an ancient festival, either Greek or Roman. Perhaps it comes from some other culture, but I have found no evidence for that.

I have sometimes seen this festival called Hecatesia, with an alternate date of August 13th or 16th, but again, there doesn't seem to be any real information on this festival. Sometimes the August 13th festival is presented as something different. Since I have seen Artemis mentioned with this one, I wonder if it stems from the Kourotrophos festival? There are also possible Roman origins there, but again, in those cases it would be something other than what is presented on November 16th.

All of this kind of hits on a personal pet peeve of mine, which is modern 'made-up' information being passed of as something with legitimate history behind it... but of course, the history is rarely really there.

So, looking to the modern practices, information is kind of scarce there, as well! Hekate is described as wandering that night with her hounds and other spirits, and suppers are left out for her, which sounds no different from the Deipnon - which is a monthly festival I already celebrate. (Actually, a theory I have seen is that the date comes from a misunderstanding. Someone wrote about celebrating the Deipnon on that night, but did not note that it was a moveable lunar festival, and copy and paste, copy and paste... and so Hekate's night was born.) The only additional tidbit I can find is it's apparently a night that witches are initiated into her cult, but again, there never seem to be sources to dig into this deeper. Also, this wouldn't fit in with my particular practice anyway.

Another aspect to celebrating holidays in general is fellowship, knowing you're celebrating something other devotees are, but... well, again, I get that with Hekate's Deipnon each month. Aside from that, I feel more called to the modern Rite of Her Sacred Fires when dealing with that aspect - that's the real fellowship night of the year for me, since a large part of the festival often involves sharing your altar and experiences with others. I did consider that a celebration in November might be an interesting counterpoint to Sacred Fires, which is held in May, but that's basically what Samhain is acting as these days.

One last thing to consider is that the more parties, the better, right? Well... my personal calendar isn't exactly empty, you know? (I should blog the whole list, some day...) That's why I consider which festivals to celebrate a bit more carefully. If it's not adding something different or particular for me, there are other things I could be putting my energy towards. That's how I feel in this case. There's nothing particularly special about this night, it is too similar to other aspects of my practice, and I don't feel I'd get much from it. It doesn't mean that no one should celebrate it, of course, but for me it's a no go.

Too many calendars.

On a side note to my last post, having been following the Greek festival calendar these last few months, which again, runs on lunar based months. So, while this current moon cycle is the blue moon (running with the seasonal method), the same cycle is also the month of Thargelion. This leaves me with some overlap, each 'month' essentially having two names, which leads me to several questions... 

Do I want to continue thinking of the moons in that way, is there a point to continuing to do so, especially when I find myself not really focusing rituals around them so much anymore? Is there a way to incorporate these cycles into the monthly Greek cycles of the new crescent moon's Noumenia, Artemis' sixth night, the rites I preform for Selene on the full moon, Hekate's supper at the end of the month? Could there be an overlap, or is it just taking on too much, and not letting something go just because it's what I've done in the past?

Truth is, I'm not really sure at all yet! I do think it's important to honor my local cultural cycles, which I'm not sure the Greek calendar really lines up with. I do plan on continuing to celebrate the solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarters. Perhaps those meshed with the Greek months would be the best? No idea yet. I'm excited to see how the next few years end up playing out, though.

Side note to my side note, I sort of love being on an evolving path. I know I've said that before, and I'm sure I'll say it again. Some things stay the same, some things change, and that works well for me. Even if it's not always easy to figure out how some things fit together, or when something is no longer working for me, in the end it's worth it.

Oh, the blue moon, and those crazy luni-solar calendars.

The blue moon is something I've written about before, way back in 2011, and again in 2012. But just to re-cap, there are two ways of marking a blue moon. Many are familiar with the second full moon in a calendar month as being a blue moon. However, the older definition of a blue moon was the third full moon in a season with four, where most seasons only have three.

The two in a month definition actually came from a mistake printed in Sky and Telescope magazine, and it's stuck ever since. This makes sense, as most people are probably much more familiar with the every-day calendar than they are with astronomical seasonal cycles. (Here's an article from 2006, which explains in depth about the history of both terms.)

Now, the recent full moon was actually a seasonal blue moon. This lead to some confusion because, again, most folks know and go by the twice in a month definition, and that's fine. But I did run into one very special lady who was very... well, pissed off about the whole thing. She kept saying that she was sticking to the "old way" and that this was new internet hype and nothing more!

So, again. No. The twice in a month method is less than a century old. The seasonal method dates back to at least 1819, and is likely older than that. This isn't internet hype by any means, and a lot of us have been using this method for quite a while.

Now she did ask an interesting question of why the third full moon is blue, and not the fourth. Unfortunately, she later said this was a totally rhetorical question to show how little sense this method made, and I really should stop imposing information on her! Yeah, really.

The thing is... it actually does make sense. The third moon is given the blue name to keep the other lunar names matching up with their seasonal events as best as possible. The third moon instead of the fourth keeps the whole season from being "moved up" too far. That's really all there is to it. It's often why old luni-solar calendars stuck their occasional "leap month" into the middle-ish of their year, and not just at the end, so that seasonal festivals would still be around the same time as they should be.

Speaking of luni-solar calendars, this same woman also insisted that lunar and solar calendars have always been separate and it's only recently that Christians and neo-pagans have tried to mash the two together to try to fit in with the Gregorian calendar! Which shows an amazing lack of understanding about history. Luni-solar calendars are pretty darn ancient. They predate Christianity by a long shot. This is a calendar that is based on lunar months, fixed around a solstice or equinox. For example, the ancient Greeks fixed their lunar months around the summer solstice. This lady kept going on about the Celtic calendar, too, which is funny because the oldest known Celtic calendar we can reliably assemble is, you guessed it, a luni-solar calendar. 

Really, let's be honest, the twice in a calendar month method only makes sense with the modern Gregorian calendar. If you go back to lunar based months, of course you couldn't have two full moons in a month, because one moon cycle is one month. Not that all these old calendars actually had something called a blue moon, or cared so much about the moons in their seasons, but again, it's not like this is some crazy new idea. Entwining lunar and solar calendars is really darn old school.

And I'm not trying to talk anyone out of using the twice a month method! It obviously makes sense to a lot of people, since again, the Gregorian calendar is one most of us use in our day to day lives! But it's always good to know the origins of what you're using in your personal practice. Especially if you're going to hang out in a public forum and try to call out people for being dumb internet-hype loving neo-pagans...

Rite of Her Sacred Fires

Last night I preformed the Rite of Her Sacred Fires, in honor of Hekate. It was very interesting to do a ritual exactly as many people all over the world were doing. I was surprised how many people, in how many places, actually participated in the ritual.

I used oil lamps for light during the ritual, but the actual 'sacred fire' used was fire I lit in a small cauldron. Part of the rite involves reciting the Ephesian letters, a sort of mantra for Hekate, so to speak. While reciting them, the fire went crazy! That's something I'll have to follow up on, for sure.

Another interesting thing was how alive the woods around me became. There was movement all around the clearing I was in, unlike anything I've ever experienced before. The night before I'd held a small ritual for Selene in the same spot, not much later in the evening, and the woods were quite still and tranquil.

I was also out there much longer than I realized. The whole rite only takes some five minutes to complete, without the meditation bit, and I stayed out there for almost an hour without really realizing it. It was a very nice night.

Home Again

Well, things have settled down a bit, and I'm back in my apartment, for a few days at least. My grandfather is finally up and about after his knee replacement, doing very well.

While at my grandparents' I was not only helping out with the household needs, but I was also swamped in work, and I came down with a head cold, so not too much time for other activities. But, I did manage to get the altar built!

It's not quite what I had in mind, but I figure I can always add to it as needed. It was quite the undertaking to haul the larger stones out to this spot. (It perhaps looks a bit taller than it is? It's meant to be knelt at.) There was a lot of sweat, some blood, and... well not tears, but germs, from coughing all over them. So, that's great.

I only finished assembling it last night, despite the stones sitting around for what, a week? But with it being the sixth of the lunar month, Artemis' day, and the Thargelia festival, I figured I must get it done.

Thargelia is a festival dedicated to Artemis and Apollon. In antiquity is was a festival to celebrate the new shoots of the spouting harvest, and a time to drive away all bad things, purify, and welcome in good things. The agricultural aspect of the festival doesn't fit in very well with life in New Hampshire, as farming wise, there's not going to be any planting for another week or two. But foraging, there are thing starting to come up, like fiddle-heads.

The purification aspect worked well with finally getting the altar built. I went out a bit after sunset, with the moon already high in the sky, and washed the altar down with blessed water. Next I took barley, and sprinkled it on the altar and the space around it. Finally, I burned a mixture of patchouli, mugwort, and rosemary and carried it around the ritual space, and fanned the smoke to the altar.

I dedicated the spot generally to all the Gods who bring good things, and then more specifically to Artemis, Hekate, and Selene, who will be seeing the majority of worship here. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, I'm only in my apartment for a short while, as I plan to go back to my grandparents' next weekend for the full moon, which brings the Rite of Her Sacred Fires for Hekate. (http://hekatecovenant.com/rite-of-her-sacred-fires/) I am not a member of the covenant, and have not done this rite in years past, but this year it seemed appropriate. There's just something about many people, from many traditions, coming together at the same time, to do the same ritual in honor of a deity they all feel called to.

Mounykhia

On Saturday evening I celebrated a festival called Mounykhia. It is held in honor of Artemis in her roles of Lady of the Beasts, and as a moon goddess. This festival is, to my knowledge, the only festival held specifically for Artemis at the full moon - her sacred day was the sixth day of the lunar cycle, and so most of her festivals would fall then.





The traditional offering made to Artemis at this time would be round cakes, called amphiphontes, which means something similar to shining all around, which were decorated with little torches. It would seem these cakes were offered before the sun set, but after the moon had risen. Unfortunately, this wasn't possible in my location, as the moon wouldn't rise until well after sunset.

So I offered a cake and flowers in the woods at sunset. A honey almond cake, topped with walnuts, lemon zest, and sweet goat cheese. (Goats were also a traditional sacrifice at this time, so I wanted to include some sort of goat product.) As well as a libation of mead mixed with honey and olive oil. I spent some time meditation on Artemis' Orphic hymn.

Later in the night I poured out another offering of warm milk, honey, and cinnamon, and meditated on Artemis as goddess of the moon, and as light bringer in the dark. I also spent some time praying for others who had requested it.       

During both events, something interesting happened. I have never in my some seventeen odd years of practice considered myself a priestess. Either because I belonged to a specific tradition where being a priest held a particular meaning, or because as a solitary practitioner it seemed like an unnecessary thing to do. And yet on that night, for the first time, for some reason, I felt somewhat like a priestess. I do not particularity know what to make of that. What that actually means. It's something I'm sure I'll be turning over in my medtations for a good while.