Imbolc - At The Threshold
The good news is, winter is drawing to a close. As bulbs begin to push their heads out from under the melting snow, we move out of the dreaming phase of deepest winter and start watering the seeds of intention as the sun brings fire to our plans.
Two years ago I attended an Imbolc ceremony with my Irish pal Hannah. She guided me through the blessings of Imbolc, based on the Celtic Wheel.
Imbolc is celebrated on 1st February. We worked with the energy of the Celtic Goddess Brigid. Sitting at the threshold between winter and spring, she guides us at the cusp between seasons, to start preparing for new life.
Celtic Goddess Brigid
Brigid is a poet, a healer and a craftswoman. She is the creative fire that blows new spark into cold winter bones and turns vision into form.
With the earth pregnant with seeds and sheep expectant with lambs not yet ready to be born, Brigid stewards land, hearth and hope through the season of Imbolc (‘in the belly’).
Brigid’s beckoning is gentle, asking us to tend to the hearth (home, womb, body, spirit) and lightly rekindle the creative fires, purifying and cleansing old winter energy as we gather intentions for the year.
This is the time to set your intentions. Not deep in the midst of winter after the rush of the festive holidays, but when nature is with us on the journey of reawakening.
January Blues
For me personally, this January has been all about processing the year just passed. A necessary final shedding of skin and heart healing for the things we leave behind. Before we step into a new chapter, it is helpful to integrate the one just gone.
Astrologically, 2025 was seen as a threshold year, crossing a doorway into a new era — with old structures falling away. In Chinese philosophy, 2025 was the year of the snake, a year of transformation where we shed old skins in preparation for something new. In numerology, it was a year number 9 — 9 is the closing, the finale, the end of a cycle.
Perhaps this is a reason January has felt so reflective for many of us — we are not just closing out the year but an entire cycle of existence.
For me it has been deep, soulful and difficult. It is what I have termed, ‘a death cycle.’ I felt tired down to my core. My body showed me through pain, fatigue, low mood and finally, my cycle being disrupted. My work involves a lot of physical, emotional and energetic space-holding. Without proper rest and renewal, it is draining. When energy output is not matched by energy input, imbalance occurs.
So I made space, I sacrificed work and social commitments and cleared some time to prioritise this journey. My body called me inward, allowing me to soften into my feminine wisdom and heal some residual wounds. It’s amazing how life facilitates these intentions when we really mean them.
As challenging as this phase has been, I am so grateful because it has shown me deep in my bones, the magnanimity of this work. Sitting in the liminal space between one year and another beginning to bloom, I feel life has gifted me the opportunity to truly practice what I preach and live authentic to my message.
And through the inner work, I was able to let big emotions move through, accept where I was with much more clarity and trust in my body and my path, despite much uncertainty. It was liberating. It helped me climb out of the hole.
Imbolc & New Beginnings
Imbolc is a turning point from winter toward spring. So for me, it is the perfect time to start planting intentions into the soil and start thinking realistically about the year ahead, delicately peeling open the pages of the new chapter that is dawning.
And this brings me back to the words — tenderness, softness, going slowly at this time, body literacy, as termed by my friend and mentor Niamh Asple — being able to read what our bodies are trying to tell us.
Not rushing, charging, or pushing when the earth’s energy isn’t with us. But working with intention, poise and grace. Taking rest when called to. Trusting that this will serve our expansion best into the coming year.
Allowing our hearts to write the pages in the stillness of the soul’s knowing, before our minds charge forward with ideas that haven’t fully formulated or had time to blossom.
It is easy to get caught up in the rhetoric of the mainstream, that we have to constantly push, strive and take action because if not it means we’re lazy or useless.
Of course, taking action and working toward a purpose is something that helps us feel fulfilled and passionate about life. It’s a wonderful part of the tapestry. Without drive, life can become bland or apathetic.
But there has to be a balance. There are two sides to every coin — finding harmony between yang and yin is where we discover better health, easier relating, less stress, more creativity and more flow.
Imbolc comes as a soft awakening with the first whispers of springtime — and it’s with this energy that we can connect to ourselves, to our desires, and to nature.
We get to change the story. It starts with us. We are blessed to be able to unite ancient wisdom with modern knowledge and begin to weave flexibility, fluidity, softness and intuitive action into a perhaps too rigid framework and schedule.
We get to make our own time, our own clock — one that honours both feminine and masculine cycles and makes space for all bodies.
It is time to ask ourselves — can we build a future that’s more humane, conscious, balanced and soul-aligned, without bypassing reality?
Thoughtful Prompts
Here are some thoughtful prompts to help you sink into February with heart and intention:
Where can I make space in my life for balance and renewal?
How do I want to move forward into this new chapter?
What part of me no longer feels aligned?
How can I honour my body better, how can I learn to listen?
What creative ideas are beginning to stir inside me?
How can I look after myself?
How can I become my greatest source of love?
What feels alive in me? What makes my heart light up?
What would I like to generate this year?
What 3 things do I want to have achieved by December 2026?
