Here Is A Little Graphic I Did To Get People In The Mood For Imbolc!

Let's Talk Imbolc!: The Earth Stirs

As the first proper Sabbat of the Spring and the (ostensibly, depending on your system) first Cross-Quarter of the year, Imbolc represents the time of the Wheel when the seasons begin to turn from winter to spring, snow and ice beginning to mely, and the first vestiges of life start to pop up from beneath the blanket of winter. (Your results may vary - I live in New England where everything is still metaphorically dead as doorknobs on February 1st!).

Imbolc marks the time when winter begins to seep away, when greenery first begins to poke its head through the stillness of the Dark Half of the Year, and, of course, themes of light abide throughout.

Neatly tucked between Yule (the Winter Solstice) and Ostara (the Spring Equinox), Imbolc is the transitory celebratory day positioned exactly between these two climes. Though "Imbolc" and Sabbats are typically associated with Wiccan tradition, secular & non-Wiccan witches can observe and celebrate these days as mathemetical nature festivals marking the turning of the year.

Imbolc Dates, 2022: Sunset February 1st to February 2nd

Associated Colors (for altars and decorating, etc): White, Cream, Light Blue (Periwinkle), Green & White, Silver

Symbols: Melting snows, evergreens, lights and candles, melting ice, & white flowers

Scents: Vanilla, Benzoin

Herbs: Angelica, Myrrh, yellow, white or blue Flowers, snowdrop, rowan, the first flowers of the year; to burn: basil, bay, benzoin, celandine

Colors for Ritual Wear: White

Magic for Imbolc

As a time of renewal and rebirth, these themes are key to any spellwork or ritualcraft engaged in on Imbolc. Though many might advise you that Sabbats are really days for celebrating and not a lot of heavy-lifting spellcraft ought to be done, I tend to disagree - especially, at least, when it comes to Imbolc and Litha. Here, Imbolc is the perfect time to state new beginnings and begin any cycles of renewal or rebirth you have in mind! The pull of the natural passing of the seasons (again, adjust as applicable here) is a magnificent tide for ebbing or renewal magics.

Other topics or purposes suitable for Imbolc include: Health, omen observation, animal kinship, safety, improving finances, awakening, light, fertility (not just literal - gardening or creative endeavors could fall under here), initiations and self-dedications, turning focus inward, centering power, and attending to the self.

Foods of Imbolc

As a big advocate for lavish feasts on Wheel days, Imbolc is a prime time for preparing seasonally appropriate food! Dishes or courses may include:

Dairy, milk, cheeses, creams and sour cream, peppers, onions shallots, garlic, leeks, chives, olives, raisins, breads, creamy soups, white wine, soy milk, cornbread cake, rowanberry wine, lamb, fondues, creamed spinach

Customs of Imbolc

Observing Imbolc Sabbat rituals (as appropriate to your traditions)

Wearing a crown of lights, or carrying candles/tapers, during invocations & rituals.

Renewing vows of magic, initiation, and dedication to the Craft, one's coven, etc.

Burning of the Yule Greens (for some)

Leaving buttered bread for the Fae who travel with the Lady of the Greenwood on Imbolc Eve (I personally Do Not Eff With the Fae but - for those who do!)

Place three ears of corn over the doorway for/to represent The Triple Goddess and leave til Ostara (for the Wiccans/Those Who Eff With the Triple Goddess in the room)

Cleanse your magic working area with rosemary or vervain

Walk in the snow (as applicable)

Light a candle in every room of the house, or all the lights, even just for a few moments, after sunset on Imbolc.

Take a bath of renewal

Meditate or inquire of your deities - there is a tradition amongst those who call upon a Goddess in the Wiccan fashion to inquire of them, then recieve their answer overnight on Imbolc during which no word must be uttered, which I admit is incredibly appealing (as someone who loves, loves, loves ritual!)

Imbolc is a wonderful time for peacefully looking inward and starting anew - I hope you find what you're looking for, and have a wonderful and lovely cross-quarter day! (Remember: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, flip the Wheel - February 1st/2nd would be Lammas for you!)

Sources for this post include: Ann Moura, Deborah Blake, Scott Cunningham, Patricia Telesco, Titania Hardie, Ellen Dugan

[Part of the Let's Talk... Sabbat Series: Lammas | Litha | ]

House Claiming and Warding

You will need:

Four small bowls

Frankincense oil or tears

Myrrh oil or tears

Vervain oil or plant matter

Yarrow oil or plant matter

Salt

In four small bowls, in four corners of the house, place one tablespoon frankincense, one tablespoon myrrh, one tablespoon vervain, one tablespoon yarrow, and surround each bowl with a circle of salt.

Sitting in the center of the house, you then surround yourself with a circle of salt, and seek your own power. This is your home. It is your territory. You are the power of this place and it is your temple. It has meaning because it is yours. It is a home because you make it one. 

Seek feelings of security, stability, and confidence within yourself, remembering your home as a place of safety and rest.

When those feelings are strong within you, cast a claiming and warding.

The claiming and warding I prefer is quite simple, “This house is mine. I have claimed it with frankincense, that there may be riches within it. I have claimed it with myrrh, that evil cannot enter here. I have claimed it with vervain, that it may be a sacred space, a temple for my earthly flesh. I claim it with yarrow, that only good health may enter here. This house is mine.”

But you use whatever warding affirmation you prefer.

Gather each ingredient from the four bowls and place them in a container of your choice. Place this somewhere in the home – the mantle of the fireplace, inside your chest of drawers, on your altar, etc. Gather the salt from the circles and scatter it around the outside of the house, reinforcing your warding, for example, saying: “This house is mine. This house is mine. This house is mine.”

Cautionary Note: If you are using pure essential oils rather than infused oils, please be careful touching them, as they can cause chemical burns.

Developing Your Super Senses 🔮

In particular Clairvoyance…

There are many different types of super senses and you can train yourself to learn most of them. Clairvoyance is also known as ‘Clear Vision or second sight’ which is seeing or knowing things before they happen based on what your clairvoyance has shown you, being able to read peoples present situations or their past events through these visions.

Signs you are Clairvoyant:

You have vivid dreams/ dreams that come true, or often lucid dream

You have a vivid imagination

You can visualize or daydream easily

You see flashes of twinkling lights, colours, symbols, shadows or images

You had imaginary friends as a child

You can see glowing light around people (aura)

Other types of super senses you may have (that I will not go into great detail on this post with) are:

Clairaudience: clear audio/hearing

Clairsentience: clear sensation/feeling

Clairscent: clear smelling

Clairtangency: clear touching

Clairgustance: clear tasting

Channel/Channeling: Being a mechanism or channeling from the etherial world.

Activities/ways to strengthen your Clairvoyance and supersenses:

KEEP A DREAM JOURNAL: If you are having vivid dreams you should be keeping a dream journal to learn how to lucid dream, which can later help in astral projection, dream journals also assist with clairvoyance because it is a part of remembering and strengthening your visual imaging, the most important part of developing clairvoyance.

CRYSTALS: Some crystals can aid in enhancing and developing clairvoyance. Third eye crystals are better at helping with this as your psychic vision comes from the third eye chakra. Great crystals for developing clairvoyance are: Magnesite, Labradorite, Lolite, Dumortierite, Lapis Luzuli, Azurite, Malachite, Amethyst. You can place any of these crystals under your pillow when you sleep, carry them with you throughout the day and meditate with them.

MEDITATION: meditation can help with almost anything, and is especially good for developing clairvoyance. You can meditate with your third eye chakra crystals to help open your third eye. You can meditate on focusing to become more clairvoyant, asking your spirit guides to aid you with this, you can also meditate focusing on your third eye, visualizing your 'eye’ develop. There are many meditation activities you can learn to help with developing clairvoyance.

VISUAL JOURNEY’S: developing your visualisation skills will be a huge advantage in becoming more clairvoyant, visual journeys are a great way to do it! You can find visual journey tapes and recordings online, YouTube has a good variety, just try some different ones out until you find one that you like and practice on it. A visual journey is a guided walkthrough meditation that lets you 'be in’ a different environment, almost like a dream.

DIVINATION: practicing divination through the use of tarot cards, oracle cards, scrying, lithomacy, dowsing and sensing can aid in developing clairvoyance. Using these methods of divination help you focus your clairvoyance on matters which may be occurring at a distance, or back and forth in time. You can start off by choosing 1 oracle or tarot card per day and try to interpret its meaning before looking up its meaning in the tarot or oracle book, you may be surprised at how close you can match the meaning after a while. Learning divination takes patience and some forms of divination will be easier for you to pick up, not every form of divination will come easily to you, just do whatever you feel comfortable with.

INTERPRETING YOUR DREAMS: Along with your dream journal try and interprate your dreams meaning when you wake up, at the end of the day or the week look back at your dreams and see if any of your interpretations matched real life events.

REGULAR PLAYING CARDS: you can practise your intuition with regular cards, by keeping the shuffled deck face down, and not looking at the face of the cards, trying to visualise or guess if it is black or red, and putting them in two separate coloured piles, once you have gone through all the cards look at the two piles you have created, you will be surprised at how many of them you got right, and you will get better at it with practice.

I hope this post helps you develop your super senses and helps you with your clairvoyance and intuition.

I will do a divination post whenever I can to help with tarot, oracle, lithomacy and scrying development, I will also do a post about spirit guides. Do what your comfortable with and go slow, these are skills that will last you a lifetime so do not rush them 🔮🌙🌌

@dreambxby thank you for requesting this post xx

Character profiles of the two equally reckless and lunatic halves of a complete whole

Honey Orange Blossom Cake with Pistachio Buttercream

Iron sword, Scythian, 600-400 BC

from Apollo Galleries

Binding & Knotwork // Grimoire Pages

I’m posting this under the excuse that this could be a witch’s pet.

Anti wolf heck collar

“The purpose of the collar is to protect the dog wearing it when it has to fight the wolves. The collar base protects the dog’s throat and carotid arteries, while the spikes are intended to deter bites to the neck or even injure wolves trying to do so.”

🍎 small batch apple butter recipe 🍎

2 lbs of your apple of choice (about 5/6 medium apples; i used gala and they were perfectly soft for this and not too sweet!) 1/3 c. of water juice of one medium lemon (abt 2 tbsp) ½ c. granulated white sugar

2 tbsp (un)salted butter (i dont think salted vs unsalted matters much but i like my sweets a lil less sweet, so i used salted!) 3 cinnamon sticks (or ¼ tsp of ground cinnamon) 1/8 tsp of cardamom (optional; can sub for ground clove at ¼ tsp) 1/3 c. packed brown sugar ¼ c. maple syrup (optional!) a pinch of salt (1/8-¼ tsp) to taste

Keep reading