It feels like a lid has been lifted on a hidden cess pool; in so many places across our world, a light is being shone into the collective shadow to reveal the very worst of what humans are capable of. So many of those in power and in corporate business appear to be sociopathic, narcissistic, greed ridden, power hunger (and worse), and the pain and suffering in our world – evident in the horrors of Gaza, Sudan, Iran, Ukraine, the US and other places – continue without very much outrage or action from our political institutions. It is left to those folks at the grass roots – everyday people who are distressed and horrified by what they are witnessing – to stand up and be counted in a way our political systems appear unable, or unwilling, to do. It is the everyday folks who are displaying a courage and vision that our politicians lack.
There are so many occasions over recent years when I have felt sick to my stomach at the injustices that happen without consequence. A moral compass appears absent in our power structures, corporations, and in world politics, regardless of where people stand on the political spectrum. Shadow work – whether collective or personal – takes courage and honesty, and it is these qualities that we so desperately need in a world of political and corporate duplicity and corruption.
As well as courage and honesty, shadow work takes compassion and the strength to not lose sight of hope; it takes a regular checking in with the real reason for shadow work, which is healing and integration of energies that have become banished, distorted and wounded. It means recognising both the tyrant and the victim within, that these do not become projected out into our world in destructive ways or materialising in cruelty and meanness. Shadow work is the work of regaining and retaining our humanity in the face of ignorance, pain and denial. In short, it is not easy.
Given all that is happening, Imbolc has felt particularly poignant this year. The snowdrop is such a symbol of delicate but powerful strength in the face of adversity, such a hopeful little flower. It is giving me the strength to not be consumed by all that is happening.
At Imbolc and for the season of Imbolc – which for me is the entire time from Imbolc to the Spring Equinox – I honour the Goddess Bride and the God Angus. In Scottish mythology, they are linked with Beira, the Cailleach of Winter, and the relationship between them plays out in the eternal cycles of the seasonal year. The Cailleach is said to keep Bride captive in her cave during winter until she is released in the spring, bringing fertility and growth back to the land. In some stories, Angus is the son of Beira, who falls in love with Bride and aids her escape. Bride and Angus are deities of the summer months; of renewal and youthfulness, and the rebirth of hope.
In Irish myth, Angus is Aengus Óg, the son of Boann and Dagda, and is a god of love, youth, poetry and music. These qualities are also present in his Scottish incarnation, for me at least, and I am particularly fond of the story that birds are said to flutter around Angus’ head; these sweet singing birds are said to be his kisses, and draw love from all that hear their song.
In my Imbolc ritual to Bride and Angus this year, I pondered the importance of reconnecting with the youthful qualities of optimism, joy and hope, especially now. As we age, we can perhaps become a little world weary, a little rigid or stuck in our ways. If we have been truly wounded by life, bitterness or an emotional brittleness can rob us of our ability to be flexible and open to life and love; if we ever feel this happening to ourselves, it can be so valuable to remember our own youthful excitement and curiosity, our capacity to love life and believe in our dreams and visions as instruments for beauty and goodness. It is no coincidence that we honour these qualities of beauty, poetry, of dreams, visions and hope at Imbolc, even when the harshness of winter and the darkness is still very much with us. We dream, we create beauty, we love, despite – and even because – of the darkness, the cold, the cruelty because our humanity thrives in that hopeful, shining space that Imbolc so beautiful celebrates: these qualities keep the darkness from taking over perpetually.
Music, poetry, stories, song, dance, art, cooking, gardening, caring for others, every creative act performed with love – these are Bride and Angus’ gifts to us, and their power is greater than hatred, greed, divisive power grabs or the toxic narcissism of broken leaders and morally bankrupt systems. In the creative flame lies the spark of new visions, new ways to be, new ways to understand, new ways to relate to each other with kindness and with the joyful recognition of all that unifies us.
In these dark times, Imbolc encourages us to hold on to our hope; it is where true healing resides; it is the guiding light in the shadowlands.
A Druid Thurible 