Imbalc

Last year's fire- a dry, warm evening.

Imbalc (pronounced Im-molc) is the Celtic Sabbat that falls between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. At this time we celebrate the beginning of the end of winter. 

Imbalc means surrounding belly- the Earth Mother’s womb; soon the seeds in the womb of the earth will begin to swell and creative forces will begin to come alive in the world.

Agenda for today: 
1. Altar:
Imbalc is sacred to Brigid, the European and Celtic goddess of healing, crops, poetry, and creativity. As a sun goddess her powers are light, fire, inspiration, and vital energy: Wow! She’s one of my favorite images of the Spirit.

Brigid is the maiden aspect of the Great Goddess and so her color is white, for purity; her symbols are a sun-wheel, snake, and cock (herald of the new day). 

Today I add to my altar:

• a white candle for Brigid
• a beaded snake- for healing and regeneration
• a small bowl- for openness and inspiration 
• and some of my garden seeds

2. Journal: 
At Imbalc, I write about my seeds of inspiration- those thoughts, dreams and ideas that are inside me waiting to grow into wise actions, sweet words, or beautiful things made by my hands.

What is waiting to bloom in me this year?

I write each germ of inspiration on a tiny slip of paper, and roll it into a seed, then put these in the bowl on my altar.

3. Seed blessing ceremony: 

Light the candles on the altar, and ask the Spirit to bless the garden seeds. 

May they all grow well when the time is right. 

Ask the Spirit to bless also my seeds of inspiration. 

May my seeds of inspiration grow well when the time is right.

4. Seed mobile:
In my art class last week, we made mobiles for Imbalc. We talked first about the seeds we hoped to have grow in our lives. (Some kids took that very litterally, and wrote "carrots" and "flowers".)

Supplies: Card stock, pencils, scissors, markers, hole punch, string

1) Draw a large seed shape and cut it out.

2) Write the seed you want to have grow in your life.

3) Decorate with markers.

4) Punch a hole and tie with string to hang.

5. Make a Brigid's Cross:

My cross has 40 pieces of straw. 

The Bridget’s cross is an ancient symbol of the sun and the seasons. It's hung by the door or in the rafters to protect the house from fire, which is always a threat in Irish houses with thatch roofs. 

Making a Brigid’s cross is one of the traditional rituals in Ireland to celebrate Imbalc and the beginning of early spring. At Imbalc or Imbalc Eve a new Brigid’s Cross is hung above the door, and the old one is burned in the hearth.

The crosses are usually made of rushes, which are abundant in Ireland. The one above was made of straw, and instructions are in my post last year. 

This year I re-invented the crosses using pipe cleaners, and it was easy enough even for the six-year-olds in the group!

Tutorial in 3 parts:

     

Supplies: Pipe cleaners- at least 12 each, scissors

1) Select the first 4 pipe cleaners of the same color, and fold 3 in half. Pick up the straight "straw". Hold it upright- this is the only straw you don’t fold.

2) Take a second straw, wrap it around straw #1 at the center (pointing to the right), and pinch it tight.

3) Holding the straws in the center, turn the cross counter-clockwise, so the first bent straw (straw #2) points up. Pick up the next straw, and slide it around straw #2 (pointing right and laying above the top of the first straw).

4) Turn the cross again; add the fourth straw in the same way. 

Keep adding straws until the cross is the size you want it to be. It took the kids a few turns to pick up on the pattern, but once they  got it, they wanted to make their crosses bigger and bigger. I think they look best if each set of 4 pipe cleaners are the same color.

5) To finish, you need to trim the ends even, and use a scrap of pipe cleaner to wrap around each arm of the cross.

Hang your Brigid's cross in the kitchen or over a door to protect from fire and evil.

6. Make Irish Seed Cake:

Celtic deities are not abstract but are a part of daily life; the fires of inspiration and the fires of the home and the forge are the same. This seems like a good day to turn the oven on, and seed cake just seems to go well with the theme of Imbalc!

This traditional Irish cake usually has caraway seeds, but I used poppy, sunflower, and flax. We served it at our Imbalc party last year- it was delicious!

Ingredients: 

• 2-3 tsp. seeds
• 1/8-c. milk 
• 1 c. butter 
• 4 eggs 
• 2 c. all purpose flour 
• 1 tsp. baking powder 
• 1/4 tsp. salt 
• 1 c. sugar 
• powdered sugar 

Yield: 1 loaf cake- 

1- Crush or partially grind the seeds and soak them in the milk. Bring butter and eggs to room temperature. Grease and flour a loaf pan. Preheat oven to 325ºF.

2- Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

3- Beat butter and sugar for a couple of minutes with a mixer. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each. Add seeds and milk.

4- Gradually add dry ingredients. Beat on low until well combined. Turn batter into pan. Bake 60 to 70 minutes. Cool ten minutes on rack. Remove from pan. Decorate with a sprinkling of powdered sugar just before serving.

This is what we collected last year.

7. Have a fire: 
On Imbalc evening we seek out bits of winter around the house and burn them in a fire. When our kids were young we hid things around the house-- old Christmas wrapping paper, some leftover wreath greens, last year's calendar... and had a search.

Me- adding greens to the fire last year.

We've invited friends over for a fire on Wednesday this week, a little late, but it promises to be a dry-ish evening.

As we threw these bits on the fire we shouted "goodbye winter!"