As the excitement of the winter holidays winds down and the new calendar year opens with fresh energy around resolutions, I spend my January looking forward to and preparing for Imbolc in a practice I created called an Imbolc Advent.  

An advent is a period of waiting, as when many Christians observe an advent during December to await Christmas and the birth of their god. In my case, I spend January looking forward to welcoming Brighid, who is said to awaken the land from winter with her fingers that thaw ice and her footsteps that leave behind blooming snowdrops, and as a saint, she is said to bless those hearths and homes that prepare for her.

Over the four Sundays leading up to Imbolc, I practice this advent by journaling, communing with Brighid, and envisioning myself hibernating in the dark earth and slowly rising from it, as the life force itself does. And as I envision myself rising more each week, I move in time with the rising life force inside the land so that I am ready to emerge refreshed and energised into the Celtic Spring of Imbolc with the blessings of Brighid.

If this interests you, I invite you to observe an Imbolc Advent this year. You will need candles, five candle holders, a space to set them up, a lighter or matches, and a journal and pen.

Begin by creating an Imbolc Advent altar space where you can set out five candles—one central candle to light at Imbolc and four candles arranged around it at either the four points of a compass rose, or the four points at the ends of the four arms of a Brighid’s Cross. You will light one on the first Sunday, two on the second Sunday, and so forth, so you can decide whether you will let your candles burn down all the way each week or whether you will snuff and relight them each week as you build up to four advent candles on the fourth Sunday, and all five on Imbolc morning. Choose a journal and pen and keep them nearby. Mark out the four Sundays prior to Imbolc and designate a time on each of them for your Imbolc Advent practice, about thirty minutes each day.

During the first Sunday, seat yourself before your Imbolc Advent altar and envision yourself hibernating deep in the dark earth like a sleeping serpent. I equate this serpent with a winter face of Brighid I have come to call Brighid the Dreamer, sleeping under the earth with the sleeping land, dreaming the Dream of Summer. Feel yourself begin to awake and become aware of the faint stirrings in the land around you, of seeds beginning to hear the call of the now-waxing sun. Take up your journal and contemplate, like a snake outgrowing its skin, what might be constricting you or holding you back from awakening to the coming growth cycle? Then light an advent candle, gaze into the flame, and ask Brighid to show you a symbol of what will help you shed this old skin to inhabit the skin that will best suit you at this time. When you finish your communion with her, thank Brighid and fully return to your body with a deep breath. Spend the following week implementing the guidance she gave you. As you do so, begin to feel yourself gently rising from the darkness of winter.

During the second Sunday, contemplate Brighid the Smith and her forge, and in your journal, explore what inner resources you must forge at this time to move out into the world with the new growth cycle. Then light two advent candles, for last Sunday and this, as the light waxes toward Imbolc, and ask Brighid to show you an image of a tool you need to help you forge your way through the year and how to use it. Afterwards, spend the following week working with this new tool and feel yourself rise a bit more toward the growing light.

During the third Sunday, contemplate Brighid the Healer and her healing well. In your journal, write about what kinds of fears you harbour that may be arresting your inner development and consider what your life might look like if you were released from those fears. Then light three advent candles and commune with Brighid, sharing your fears with her and asking her to show you in her healing well a symbol you might use to aid you in your healing work and how to best use it. Thank her and record everything in your journal. Feel yourself stretching up toward the light as the daylight is slowly lengthening. Over the following week, focus on letting this new symbol guide you in healing your fears so they won’t impede you in the coming season of renewal and growth.

During the final fourth Sunday before Imbolc, contemplate Brighid the Poet and her Flame of Inspiration, or Imbas. In your journal, ponder and write about what shape your new life in this new growth season will take now that you have shed restrictions, created a tool to help you forge your way forward, and worked on healing your inner fears. Then light all four advent candles around the central candle, and with all this fresh energy in mind, ask Brighid to give you a word that perfectly encapsulates it. This word will be your Word of Power for the renewing cycle, to guide you through the seasons. Now ask Brighid what kind of container can best express your Word of Power—a drawing, a poem, a song, a painting, etc. Feel yourself near the surface of the earth now, nearly ready to crest it into the light. Spend the following week making your container for your Word of Power.

On Imbolc Eve, light your central advent candle and set your Word of Power creation on your Imbolc Advent altar for Brighid to bless, along with a dairy and grain offering for her. On Imbolc morn, light all five of your advent candles to welcome Brighid and her Imbolc Light of Spring! Feel yourself emerging from the earth and into the light, reaching toward the Sun and ready to grow with the waxing year. Imbolc Blessings!

For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/authors/erin-nighean-brghde

Erin Aurelia is an author, poet, spoken word performer, and book coach who has tended Irish goddess Brighid’s flame for twenty years. Her work has been featured in the Paganism 101 Anthology by Moon Books and in two anthologies by Goddess Ink: Brighid, Sun of Womanhood and Stepping Into Ourselves, An Anthology of Priestesses. She is author of The Torch of Brighid: Flametending for Transformation. She lives with her voluminous book collection in Vancouver, Washington. You can follow Erin on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/authorerinaurelia and join her community of Brighid devotees at facebook.com/groups/thetorchofbrighid.