Imbolc

[selfactivated]

Candlemas​

By Raven
Like most Pagan holy days, Candlemas is honored on its eve - February 1st, and celebrated on its day - February 2nd. Unlike most Pagan holy days, this day was not co-opted by the Catholic Church fathers, although they did try. Once they discovered the people would not give up this celebration of "Spring Returning" they tried to divert it into a celebration of Lady Mary’s Churching Day. "Churching" was the custom of ritual purification of a new mother. Since erotic love was considered dirty and sinful, the reproductive act was often condemned as the ultimate pollution of a woman’s body. She was not allowed into a church for forty days after giving birth (eighty, if she gave birth to a girl). At the end of her quarantine, she was permitted to receive the ritual cleansing of the church and rejoin the congregation. Needless to say, the idea that "Our Lady" would need such a ceremony for giving birth to the God went over like a lead balloon, and Candlemas retained its original connotation.
The original title of Candlemas was Imbolc, meaning "in the belly" or "the surrounding belly" - a reference to the fertile Mother Earth. It is a festival designed to encourage the return of Spring and fertility to the earth. It was believed that if the day of Imbolc was cloudy and wintry, then winter had spent itself, and spring could commence. If , however, the day was fair and balmy, then winter had not yet peaked and the people would have to endure another six weeks of rain, snow, and cold. This ritual can be observed today in the tradition of "Groundhog Day" - since the little guy will only cast a shadow if the sun is out. Although this seems like a cute little custom, it has very serious roots.
As the winter was a harsh and difficult time for our ancestors, it is understandable that they would ritually encourage an early spring. They did this by appealing to the Gods, most especially to the Goddess Brigit, and by lighting candles to symbolize the return of the Sun, and thus of Spring. Candle burning has long been a way of attracting spiritual blessings to a household, at Candlemas it was considered a spiritual "life-line" between the people and the Goddess, firmly anchoring her blessing and aid within the family and clan.
The place within the home that is most holy to Brigit is the hearth. It was customarily the source of light and heat for the household, it was also the area where our ancestors cooked and prepared food. This area was considered to be the "heart" of the house and the center of life within the home. This sacred place is the centerpiece of Imbolc observance. Most Imbolc rituals center around a fire, and many modern Imbolc rituals involve sending up specific requests to the Goddess within the Imbolc fire.
Because this is a celebration of new beginnings and breathing new life into old ventures, it is a good time to start new projects and re-evaluate old ones. It is the best time to do "Spring Cleaning", and an excellent opportunity for ritual dedication and empowerment. So take time out and clear away what is spent to make space for the blessings to come.


Figures Id spell this right I figure I should stick to what I know. I'll be attending my first Imbolc Circle on February 3rd. I know Im not the only Solatary here. Can anyone tell me what the ceramony is like? Im inviting 2 friends to go and I want to prepare them too.

 

[L Gilbert]

Dunno. I was a day or so late for it. (Kidding. I was born on the 4th). lol

 

[look3467]

Candlemas​

By Raven
Like most Pagan holy days, Candlemas is honored on its eve - February 1st, and celebrated on its day - February 2nd. Unlike most Pagan holy days, this day was not co-opted by the Catholic Church fathers, although they did try. Once they discovered the people would not give up this celebration of "Spring Returning" they tried to divert it into a celebration of Lady Mary’s Churching Day. "Churching" was the custom of ritual purification of a new mother. Since erotic love was considered dirty and sinful, the reproductive act was often condemned as the ultimate pollution of a woman’s body. She was not allowed into a church for forty days after giving birth (eighty, if she gave birth to a girl). At the end of her quarantine, she was permitted to receive the ritual cleansing of the church and rejoin the congregation. Needless to say, the idea that "Our Lady" would need such a ceremony for giving birth to the God went over like a lead balloon, and Candlemas retained its original connotation.
The original title of Candlemas was Imbolc, meaning "in the belly" or "the surrounding belly" - a reference to the fertile Mother Earth. It is a festival designed to encourage the return of Spring and fertility to the earth. It was believed that if the day of Imbolc was cloudy and wintry, then winter had spent itself, and spring could commence. If , however, the day was fair and balmy, then winter had not yet peaked and the people would have to endure another six weeks of rain, snow, and cold. This ritual can be observed today in the tradition of "Groundhog Day" - since the little guy will only cast a shadow if the sun is out. Although this seems like a cute little custom, it has very serious roots.
As the winter was a harsh and difficult time for our ancestors, it is understandable that they would ritually encourage an early spring. They did this by appealing to the Gods, most especially to the Goddess Brigit, and by lighting candles to symbolize the return of the Sun, and thus of Spring. Candle burning has long been a way of attracting spiritual blessings to a household, at Candlemas it was considered a spiritual "life-line" between the people and the Goddess, firmly anchoring her blessing and aid within the family and clan.
The place within the home that is most holy to Brigit is the hearth. It was customarily the source of light and heat for the household, it was also the area where our ancestors cooked and prepared food. This area was considered to be the "heart" of the house and the center of life within the home. This sacred place is the centerpiece of Imbolc observance. Most Imbolc rituals center around a fire, and many modern Imbolc rituals involve sending up specific requests to the Goddess within the Imbolc fire.
Because this is a celebration of new beginnings and breathing new life into old ventures, it is a good time to start new projects and re-evaluate old ones. It is the best time to do "Spring Cleaning", and an excellent opportunity for ritual dedication and empowerment. So take time out and clear away what is spent to make space for the blessings to come.


Figures Id spell this right I figure I should stick to what I know. I'll be attending my first Imbolc Circle on February 3rd. I know Im not the only Solatary here. Can anyone tell me what the ceramony is like? Im inviting 2 friends to go and I want to prepare them too.

Interesting story. Which makes sense.

I did notice one sentence that is the cause of all the different gods mankind knows. Quote: "
They did this by appealing to the Gods, most especially to the Goddess Brigit, and by lighting candles to symbolize the return of the Sun, and thus of Spring."

Way before the Patriarch Abraham, (a Gentile) gods in numbers were the norm.

If the harvest was good, the god of the harvest was praised, but if the harvest was bad, the god of the harvest was considered to be angry.

The American Indians identified with the great spirit by giving it an object of adoration.

These are just two examples of the many, many gods devised by mankind’s to use for adoration, simply because they did know nothing of the real true God.

The true God identifies Himself by way of a race of peoples. That being: the Jewish nation.
To them were entrusted with His laws and were dealt directly with.

It was all done with purpose by which all mankind was to be saved.

This true God is worthy of our praises and adoration. For this one truly saves our souls to an eternal habitat.

Thought I’d add these thoughts in response to that one quote:

Peace>>>AJ:love9:

 

[selfactivated]

Dunno. I was a day or so late for it. (Kidding. I was born on the 4th). lol

LOL I was born ON Summer Solstice

 

[L Gilbert]

Bright one are ya?. Your color is blue or green, according to the Apache. Red according to the Ojibwa. After that I forget.

 

[selfactivated]

Bright one are ya?. Your color is blue or green, according to the Apache. Red according to the Ojibwa. After that I forget.

lol I am Godess I fit them all

 

[L Gilbert]

oooooooooooook. I'm a lowly hierophant. At least according to a friend who does that tarot stuff. lol
I'm also a horse in Chinese astrology. A raven according to some Aboriginals. An otter to some others. Water bearer in ordinary strology and I'm also getting full of stout.

 

[selfactivated]

oooooooooooook. I'm a lowly hierophant. At least according to a friend who does that tarot stuff. lol
I'm also a horse in Chinese astrology. A raven according to some Aboriginals. An otter to some others. Water bearer in ordinary strology and I'm also getting full of stout.

AND a God

 

[L Gilbert]

There's no such things except in people's minds. Hey cool. I'm a chunk of someone's imagination. Wunner if I can fly.

 

[selfactivated]

There's no such things except in people's minds. Hey cool. I'm a chunk of someone's imagination. Wunner if I can fly.

Seriously Gilbert, My beliefs arent all that different from yours. I am the creator of my existance. I make or break my world. I am Godess and God. Perfection in one entity. Its simple I AM the I AM. In my world.

 

[L Gilbert]

oh. Well, I AM the tired one in my world. IOW, finished my bottle of stout. Need to snooze now. It's 0141 hours here. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay past my bedtime. But I was having fun listening to Craig Ferguson, gabbing here, and playing stratego.
Have a g'nite.

 

[selfactivated]

oh. Well, I AM the tired one in my world. IOW, finished my bottle of stout. Need to snooze now. It's 0141 hours here. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay past my bedtime. But I was having fun listening to Craig Ferguson, gabbing here, and playing stratego.
Have a g'nite.

Night Love Im sure by tomorrow this will all seem very silly.

 

[selfactivated]

While you sleep off your stout I'm going to do something I'll regret........explain.


Aithiests believe in no diety. If you take away the fantacy and the aery faery you'll actually find I believe basically the same. I believe that I am the creator of my existance. I believe that when someting goes wrong in my life its gone wrong because I created it. I take full responcability for my actions and reactions. I said earlier that I did something because my feelings were hurt. Well I allowed them to be.I also said somewhere that the trick is remembering that I am the only one responcible. I am the manifestor in my world.

Now where does Fae and Pan come in? Well, they help me feel loved and wanted and important. Self Worth is a definate issue in my life. So my deities help me see all the kind and soft places within myself. I Love them and they love me no matter what. Im not going to Hell, Im not damned, Im not.......well ok I am nuts. But within this belief system Ive made up for myself I find Peace. For the very first time in my life. I dont expect nor want anyone to believe me or follow me. My deities dont need that. They are quite happy to allow free will and let everyone grow on their own paths.

Its me that gets angry not my deities. I own that.

Now I need some sleep, its 5:26 here and I at least need to try.

 

[selfactivated]

Just another opinion

Is Candlemas Pagan?


We have recently had a discussion on the e-group list about the Mists of Avalon, and whether we thought the ending was closer to reality than fiction; the ending with Mary mother of Jesus as a converted over Goddess of the Pagans.

I think this is true to a certain extent, seeing the many similarities in other cultures. I do not, however, agree that Mary is a Goddess, just a converted Pagan woman, mother of a God. Throughout history there have been many cultures that had the Gods born of a Virgin mother, and many more with Gods taking Mortal women to bear their children.

The Teutonic Goddess Hertha was a virgin and became pregnant with the child of the Spirit of God, same as Krishna born of the virgin Devaki, or Dionysus born of the Mortal Virgin Semele.

Buddha was born of a virgin, so Immaculate Conception of a virgin mortal was an old story by the time the Jews wrote the Christian story. In this way, I believe the story of the Virgin Mary is the same as the many other stories from ancient religions.

I don’t believe she was a Goddess though, and people prayed to Semele and Devaki – I mean to pray to the mother of the savior is a normal thought process. And in many stories, the mother of the Divine becomes the Divine – so maybe she became the Goddess.

Part of the Christian miracle of the birth of Jesus was that Mary was a mortal human woman and a virgin. She even followed normal human Jewish customs, which is where Candlemas comes from. It is the festival of Hypapante, or the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

This comes from the Hebrew traditional law that stated women were unclean after giving birth and were not allowed around anyone else for three and thirty days, till the blood of her purification was done.

Basically 40 days, and February 2 is 40 days after the birth of Christ, which is when Mary and Joseph went to the temple to present Jesus to the Priests, and the prayers of Simeon and Anna the prophetess purified Mary.

Again we see the purification theme of February, but it is the Catholic blessing of the candles that is of the truest Pagan origins, and even the Church admits this. It was a Roman custom to bring the light of the world, candles made of beeswax, into all temples.

The Church, during the heavily celebrated festival of Lupercalia, needed some deep symbology to override the excesses of the season, and since it was the time that Jesus, the Light of their World, would have been delivered into the temple, it became a feast and ceremony in the Church.

Of course it wasn’t officially decided that Jesus was born on December 25th until 526 at the first council of Antioch, but the theme of bringing the light of the world into the temple on February 2 fit nicely.

You can still find the ceremony in the Rites of the Roman Catholic Church in the Sacramentary under Candlemas. The celebrant, in cope and stole of purple (the royal color), blesses the candles that must be made of beeswax with incense and oil, and sings the incantations of Simeon, a prayer of purification.

So Candlemas does come from ancient Pagan, actually Greek and Roman, rites and ceremonies; the meanings and symbolism have just been changed a bit to suit the current beliefs of the Church.

Is this wrong, or is it natural? Taking a comfortable, understandable practice and adding it to regular worship? I think it is perfectly natural, ask any eclectic Pagan if what they are doing is right or wrong.

The early Church, while trying to convert, was also trying to build a faith that people could be comfortable with and understand as easily as they understood their Pagan faiths. The early Christians were just a bunch of Eclectics, much like many Pagans today.

While we celebrate our season of Imbolc, we should remember that there are many good people of a lot of different faith backgrounds, who will also be celebrating a season of blessings, purifications, and cleansing. We are unique through our differences, but all the things we inherently share build a strong community.

I wasn’t really sure about the collective unconscious of people before I became a Pagan, but I am sure of it today. I still believe the more we listen and pay attention to the signs of the collective as a community, the closer we will all grow together, and the closer to the Divine we can become, and the closer to the Divine we can become

 

[selfactivated]

Spirituality and Philosophy (13 Viewing)
Discussion surrounding religion, spirituality and philosophy.
Sub-Forums:

Christian Discussion,

Faith Discussion,

Philosophy Discussion

Since there is not a forum for non-christians I had tucked this subject in the Faith discussion. Which is why there may be some questions in Dinning Alone What the Imbloc recipes are for. So since there is not a non-christian forum I will continue to tuck any Pagan subjects in the Faith or Philosophy forums, Since there is only a christian forum.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

Interesting story. Which makes sense.

I did notice one sentence that is the cause of all the different gods mankind knows. Quote: "
They did this by appealing to the Gods, most especially to the Goddess Brigit, and by lighting candles to symbolize the return of the Sun, and thus of Spring."

Way before the Patriarch Abraham, (a Gentile) gods in numbers were the norm.

If the harvest was good, the god of the harvest was praised, but if the harvest was bad, the god of the harvest was considered to be angry.

The American Indians identified with the great spirit by giving it an object of adoration.

These are just two examples of the many, many gods devised by mankind’s to use for adoration, simply because they did know nothing of the real true God.

The true God identifies Himself by way of a race of peoples. That being: the Jewish nation.
To them were entrusted with His laws and were dealt directly with.

It was all done with purpose by which all mankind was to be saved.

This true God is worthy of our praises and adoration. For this one truly saves our souls to an eternal habitat.

Thought I’d add these thoughts in response to that one quote:

Peace>>>AJ:love9:

There is no one true god. Gods are inventions of humans. Their traits are a reflection of local culture and myths. Different gods have different aspects, hence why paganism is for the most part polythestic. If wisdom is the aspect you wish to venerate the the god Odin is a good one to call on. If transcendence above earthly desires is what you wish to honour than the god Buddha works well. The christian god is one of humility and meekness. Before the christian god became popular as a monothestic god he was apart of a pantheon of gods. He originally was a Caananite god of storms I believe. Eventually he morphed in to a god that slaves of Rome could call their own. A twist of political fate and the power of the poor population of Rome caused an emperor to convert and lo and behold we have a state religion.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. WRONG. In the beginning was God the Word followed, hence the different words for god. Odin, Buddha, Gaia, Allah, Jehovah. There is only one god. At the moment of the big bang something, some guiding principle decided how the universe would develop and how we would perceive it. That something was god. All the other stuff are creations of man. In our attempt to understand the mind of god we put names to him/her/it. In our superiority we think if we name it we have conquered it and now know it. All the different names we give to god are based on local belief systems and folk lore passed down through the years. It is all an attempt to know God and reach the high ideals we give our gods. Wether you give god the aspects of humility and self sacrifice of the Judeo-Christian god, the power and majesty of the Norse and Germanic Odin/Woden or the quiet contemplation of the Buddha it's all the same. We strive to know the mind of that which caused us to be brought forth into this world and mimic that power.

The Judeo-christian god was originally a Canaanite storm god. This article talks about the duality of the christian god and a male and female root.
http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/asherah.html
Another good article on the origin of the J/c god.
http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/kien.html

 

[Sparrow]

Thanks for the links they are very interesting. I always thought that the Gods of old had something to do with the beliefs today.

 

[RomSpaceKnight]

No one god just sprang up. They all evolved form previous myths and legends. To think that a god who created the world in 6 days and a woman from a man's rib bone is as far fetched as the world being supported on the back of a giant turtle. Still good stories with acceptable morals from the bibles but as an above all else belief structure a bit much.

 

[look3467]

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God. WRONG. In the beginning was God the Word followed, hence the different words for god. Odin, Buddha, Gaia, Allah, Jehovah. There is only one god. At the moment of the big bang something, some guiding principle decided how the universe would develop and how we would perceive it. That something was god. All the other stuff are creations of man. In our attempt to understand the mind of god we put names to him/her/it. In our superiority we think if we name it we have conquered it and now know it. All the different names we give to god are based on local belief systems and folk lore passed down through the years. It is all an attempt to know God and reach the high ideals we give our gods. Wether you give god the aspects of humility and self sacrifice of the Judeo-Christian god, the power and majesty of the Norse and Germanic Odin/Woden or the quiet contemplation of the Buddha it's all the same. We strive to know the mind of that which caused us to be brought forth into this world and mimic that power.

The Judeo-christian god was originally a Canaanite storm god. This article talks about the duality of the christian god and a male and female root.
http://www.asphodel-long.com/html/asherah.html
Another good article on the origin of the J/c god.
http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/kien.html[/quote]

In the beginning is a point in time. There is a first beginning and there is a second beginning.
The second beginning ends the first by engulfing it: or re-creating it.

Jesus, being the word comes in on the second beginning. Ending the first and beginning of the second.

Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

So, like you said, God first, is correct in the first beginning, but then the word came, or was made flesh (Jesus) re-created a new beginning by ending the old.

Jesus then had to go to the beginning of the old in order to end it in its totality, and then start a new heavens and a new earth.

The first beginning had for its consequence the fall of mankind or spiritual death. Barring heaven’s entrance and hell holding prisoners captive.

Jesus had to go back to the first soul born, along with all souls born up to the day He died in order to grant them salvation from the prison of hell.

Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

Hell could not hold it’s prisoners because Jesus set them free.
There is only one God, and yes, He has been called allot of names. But the true God has revealed Himself to us by way of the Jewish nation.
He is known as I know Him by Jesus Christ His Son.

He has declared Him.

Now as for the views in asphodel-long, the word female is given preference over the male.
As if God were female instead of male.
God is neither.
Adm represents the spirit of God, while Eve represents the flesh. The marriage of Adam (Gods spirit) and Eve (the flesh) constitutes a living soul.

Hence when speaking of the flesh, Eve is the mother of all.
When speaking of the spiritual, Adam is the son of God.

Together forms humanity as a whole or as one body. Humanity.

Peace>>>AJ:love9: