![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/The-Bad-Witches-Guide-Logo-1.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Bad Witch’s Guide to Imbolc<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n (Brigid Imbolc Corn Dollie<\/a> by Carlie Bodey<\/a> of GreenWitchGlamour<\/a> on etsy.)<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Spell- Rite <\/b><\/u>(You are Worthy)<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Bad Witch’s Guide to Imbolc I am a bad witch. There are a long list of reasons why I am a bad witch. Having been out of the broom closet for some considerable number of years I would on occasion get asked \u201cbut you\u2019re a good witch though?\u201d My response to that depending on the person asking but I found I started to say \u201cyes, a very, very good witch\u201d rather darkly as it usually got the point across\u2026 January was called Wolf month in Anglo-Saxon. Where the starving creatures ventured into villages snapping at the young and helpless, just like the bitter winter winds. January stalks through the cold and damp towards the wet helplessness of Imbolc, lambing season. There is power in that fragility, in the force of hope. Power in the vulnerability to decide to grow and reach towards the light. February can feel more like winter than December weather wise at least in the British Isles. Sometimes we get unexpected sunshine and warmth, but for the most part it\u2019s sleet, snow, high winds and driving rain. (Brigid Imbolc Corn Dollie by Carlie Bodey of GreenWitchGlamour on etsy.) Imbolc to me makes more sense if it is part Valentine\u2019s Day, part Mother\u2019s day, part birthing ritual. It is a celebration of hope and the power of love. Sexual love, motherly love and love of life. Brides (Brigid dolls and crosses) are usually the decorations but in truth in our house, we usually finally take our live tree from Yule outside. It is still covered in lights but the ornaments are packed away long ago. We have a Spring clean. I might set up a small altar or temporary shrine to spring. Breed day, Brides day, all have a sense of sexual expectation I can never seem to muster at this time of year. It is still too cold to shave my legs! I grew up on a farm and much like Lughnasadh represents the frantic hot work of getting the hay harvest in rather than some languid holiday revelry; Imbolc is lambing season. You might have to herd sheep in from one place to another. Bring them in (or let them out, weather dependant) and hunt for stray ewes and small grey bundles abandoned on the luridly green grass. It is cold work. Usually having to be done gloveless. It lacks the communal jovial atmosphere a lot of other seasonal farm jobs have. There is loss and death aplenty. Little miracles happen too. After all these years I can\u2019t get the after-birth off my hands. I can\u2019t get my hands warm, my feet either to this festival. I don\u2019t hate it. Imbolc is necessary. Birthing is hard. It is dangerous. Liminal and primal. It is a labour. A labour of love. It is where all the loving words are blown away by the roaring wind and your actions really matter. It is what you do, here and now that counts. I guess this is why I struggle with the whole modern idea of fasting and dieting around January. It feels punitive when everything already feels hard. The weather\u2019s awful. A lot of people are sick. It feels counterintuitive to try and throw yourself into some fake \u201cgood\u201d mood. I usually like January. For me and my family it is full of birthdays. And yet, and yet this anticipation of the grind, the work ahead feels overwhelming. So this year I am going to give someone who really needs some love some attention: me. Just do the one thing that needs doing now. Then the next thing. One breath at a time. Keeping your head where your hands are. One step. One moment after the next. I\u2019m going to try and stop myself from berating myself at how much I have not done, and try and celebrate what I do. My bad witch self is going to clean and bless my space. Then I\u2019m putting on a playlist designed to be impossible to feel sad or sluggish while playing. I might even eat some good stinky cheese (maybe even goat or sheep cheese) to honour the milk, blood and labour. Then I\u2019m going to look at my \u201cto do list\u201d and try not to wince! I might feel up to doing something fancier on the full moon but I\u2019m not going to force myself to \u201cgo through the motions\u201d when all I want to do is hibernate! Self-care and self-love seem to be so far down most folk\u2019s lists of stuff to do. I have many of the women I know running families, jobs and education who refuse to stay home when they are sick because they \u201cdon\u2019t have time to be ill\u201d. Women are routinely told to put themselves last and in the spirit of the birthing season I ask you to give yourself the same compassion and support you give others because you cannot fill others from an empty cup. You don\u2019t have to be everything to be enough. Spell- Rite (You are Worthy) You will need: Feel good music (the only rule is that it makes you feel happy) \u201cNaughty\u201d food, be it ice-cream, stinky cheese or a decadent veggie-burger. Hot bath or shower. Candle (scented or otherwise) Incense (something sweet like amber) Firstly have a long hot shower or soak in a bath. Use your best products, add some salt. Scrub it all off. Next in your ritual wear. You can either, dress up the nines. Go all out, or put on your most comfortable \u2018jammies or nightwear. Light your candle and say \u201cI light this fire to remind myself to shine. I am of the same radiant light and I am worthy.\u201d Then light your incense and say: \u201cI light this fire to remind myself to find faith in myself. I am of the same breath and I am worthy.\u201d Just sit for a moment and take in the light and sweet smoke. Then put on your playlist and grab your food and feast. Sing-along, dance, and enjoy. When you are done extinguish your candle and if you like you can keep this as your self-love candle. You can light it if the day is dark and scary and remind yourself you are worthy. Learning to love yourself is important and honours the gift that the Old Ones have given you. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI am a bad witch. There are a long list of reasons why I am a bad witch. Having been out of the broom closet for some considerable number of years I would on occasion get asked \u201cbut you\u2019re a good witch though?\u201d My response to that depending on the person asking but I found I started to say \u201cyes, a very, very good witch\u201d rather darkly as it usually got the point across\u2026<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n
\nJanuary was called Wolf month in Anglo-Saxon. Where the starving creatures ventured into villages snapping at the young and helpless, just like the bitter winter winds. January stalks through the cold and damp towards the wet helplessness of Imbolc, lambing season.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nThere is power in that fragility, in the force of hope. Power in the vulnerability to decide to grow and reach towards the light. February can feel more like winter than December weather wise at least in the British Isles. Sometimes we get unexpected sunshine and warmth, but for the most part it\u2019s sleet, snow, high winds and driving rain.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/BrigidCornDollie.jpg\")
<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
\nImbolc to me makes more sense if it is part Valentine\u2019s Day, part Mother\u2019s day, part birthing ritual. It is a celebration of hope and the power of love. Sexual love, motherly love and love of life. Brides (Brigid dolls and crosses) are usually the decorations but in truth in our house, we usually finally take our live tree from Yule outside. It is still covered in lights but the ornaments are packed away long ago. We have a Spring clean. I might set up a small altar or temporary shrine to spring.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nBreed day, Brides day, all have a sense of sexual expectation I can never seem to muster at this time of year. It is still too cold to shave my legs! I grew up on a farm and much like Lughnasadh represents the frantic hot work of getting the hay harvest in rather than some languid holiday revelry; Imbolc is lambing season. You might have to herd sheep in from one place to another. Bring them in (or let them out, weather dependant) and hunt for stray ewes and small grey bundles abandoned on the luridly green grass. It is cold work. Usually having to be done gloveless. It lacks the communal jovial atmosphere a lot of other seasonal farm jobs have. There is loss and death aplenty. Little miracles happen too.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAfter all these years I can\u2019t get the after-birth off my hands. I can\u2019t get my hands warm, my feet either to this festival. I don\u2019t hate it. Imbolc is necessary. Birthing is hard. It is dangerous. Liminal and primal. It is a labour. A labour of love. It is where all the loving words are blown away by the roaring wind and your actions really matter. It is what you do, here and now that counts.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nI guess this is why I struggle with the whole modern idea of fasting and dieting around January. It feels punitive when everything already feels hard. The weather\u2019s awful. A lot of people are sick. It feels counterintuitive to try and throw yourself into some fake \u201cgood\u201d mood. I usually like January. For me and my family it is full of birthdays. And yet, and yet this anticipation of the grind, the work ahead feels overwhelming. So this year I am going to give someone who really needs some love some attention: me.
\nJust do the one thing that needs doing now. Then the next thing. One breath at a time. Keeping your head where your hands are. One step. One moment after the next. I\u2019m going to try and stop myself from berating myself at how much I have not done, and try and celebrate what I do.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nMy bad witch self is going to clean and bless my space. Then I\u2019m putting on a playlist designed to be impossible to feel sad or sluggish while playing. I might even eat some good stinky cheese (maybe even goat or sheep cheese) to honour the milk, blood and labour. Then I\u2019m going to look at my \u201cto do list\u201d and try not to wince! I might feel up to doing something fancier on the full moon but I\u2019m not going to force myself to \u201cgo through the motions\u201d when all I want to do is hibernate!<\/span><\/p>\n
\nSelf-care and self-love seem to be so far down most folk\u2019s lists of stuff to do. I have many of the women I know running families, jobs and education who refuse to stay home when they are sick because they \u201cdon\u2019t have time to be ill\u201d. Women are routinely told to put themselves last and in the spirit of the birthing season I ask you to give yourself the same compassion and support you give others because you cannot fill others from an empty cup. You don\u2019t have to be everything to be enough.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nYou will need:<\/span><\/p>\n
\nFeel good music (the only rule is that it makes you feel happy)
\n\u201cNaughty\u201d food, be it ice-cream, stinky cheese or a decadent veggie-burger.
\nHot bath or shower.
\nCandle (scented or otherwise)
\nIncense (something sweet like amber)<\/span><\/p>\n
\nFirstly have a long hot shower or soak in a bath. Use your best products, add some salt. Scrub it all off.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nNext in your ritual wear. You can either, dress up the nines. Go all out, or put on your most comfortable \u2018jammies or nightwear.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nLight your candle and say<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u201c<\/b>I light this fire to remind myself to shine. I am of the same radiant light and I am worthy.\u201d<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n
\nThen light your incense and say:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\u201cI light this fire to remind myself to find faith in myself. I am of the same breath and I am worthy.\u201d<\/b><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n
\nJust sit for a moment and take in the light and sweet smoke. Then put on your playlist and grab your food and feast. Sing-along, dance, and enjoy.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nWhen you are done extinguish your candle and if you like you can keep this as your self-love candle. You can light it if the day is dark and scary and remind yourself you are worthy. Learning to love yourself is important and honours the gift that the Old Ones have given you.<\/span><\/p>\n