Do you feel it, too?

Imbolc and the Maiden archetype

Yesterday I had so much FUN.

I finally went to the indoor water park up at Jay Peak (The Pump House) with my kids. I don’t like water parks, generally, because I am always cold. My Vata-self. But it was actually 85 degrees in there, I did not have goose bumps, I did not shiver, I did not worry that I was furthering my imbalances.

I smiled and let my head back and LAUGHED my way down the (comfy) water slides.

It is hard for me to have fun - triple water sign, double-scorpio over here...I can be so SERIOUS much of the time.

I am feeling so blessed right now. Meaningful work with other Ayurveda practitioners underway for the year. A prolonged trip to Costa Rica to visit family beginning on Monday (years in the making), and a purchase agreement signed on community land (also years in the making.)

My husband told me last night that maybe the waterslides were the ‘cherry-on-top’ that were just going to burst my heart open with joy.

Allowing the joy in. That is my New Year’s intention. Feeling safe in my nervous system to trust the opening. I have lifetimes (who doesn’t) of keeping my heart closed, in order to protect myself. Protect myself from heartache, loss, and suffering that I have experienced in past lives.

Though I have also seen how that limits my experience to share love and give love and receive in this life time, and I am bringing that into my conscious awareness in order to shift it.

I love to bring in my plant allies, and I have been working with cacao and rose (duh!) again. I keep the Beach Rose Heart Magick on my altar, and part of my morning practice is to announce ‘My Heart is Open!’ and take a few drops.

I have also been sharing A LOT of rose medicine over the past six months. A good friend, Suzy, has brought it to her medicine circles (Eagle Condor) and everyone has fallen in love with it, which has reminded me of its power and potency.

This time of year, nearing Imbolc, is one of my favorite seasonal junctions. We have made it through the darkest ten weeks of our year. There is no doubt the solar energies are increasing. We are actually moving towards Spring Equinox, though it is important not to rush ahead of ourselves, but to sit in this special space between.

Imbolc is a traditional fire festival that honors the subtle shifts within, or underneath. The quickening of the babe in the womb, that perhaps only the Mother can feel. The stirrings of root energy in the trees and plants, which we will start to see in the flowing of the sweet, nutrient-rich maple sap.

The stirrings deep within the heart to more deeply connect with source. The ability to do so seems to come more easily to me at this time of the year. Songs arise in me when I sit at my altar, not yet fully formed but melody pouring out as from a bubbling Spring. I am more easily drawn to a sitting practice, or a writing practice, without the need for discipline or force, and I can more readily connect with the simple lightness of what joy feels like.

I don’t take this for granted. In fact, it is hard not to want to grasp onto it and hold it for longer. When I realize that it is really just a practice of softening, which takes its own kind of strength.

Dropping out of the business in the head, realizing that the head and mind are not going to figure it all out, and then it will be perfect. Remembering that the best things happen when intuition and prana is aligned, and life cannot be forced.

And remembering that when it is good, it is also okay to enjoy it, to settle into it, and practice presence.

Another aspect of Imbolc is the Maiden archetype. We can all tap into the energies of the Maiden this time of year, no matter where we find ourselves on our personal Wheel. The Maiden, budding sensuality and sexuality, freshness and innocence, playfulness and experimentive, she imagines she has nothing to lose. She has not been jaded by years or lifetimes of injury or loss, and she allows herself to be swept up in the momentum of life.

Heart-opening practice feels like reconnecting with the Maiden. Sometimes I simply lie down and experiment with how much I can relax and soften in my chest. There are so many layers.

I would love to hear about how you tap into the energies of Imbolc. Do you have rituals you come back to each time this year? Is it easy or challenging to tap back into your Maiden?

And if you’re also working on heart-softening and opening, I’d love to get you some rose. I am leaving Monday for my trip - so if you order today or tomorrow, I can ship it to you Saturday morning. (This is a completely alcohol-free glycerite. It’s made from gathering fresh rose petals off the coast of Maine last Summer, and you can taste the rose profoundly.)