A homily for Imbolc on February 1, 2025.
Dearly beloved,
Blessed Imbolc! I greet you in the name of the Divine and of the goddess Aphrodite on this holy day!
Today is a very special day here on Without Authority. One year ago today, I published my first homily, “On The Blessedness Of Brigid”. My goal was to take up the traditional role of pastors sharing inspiring and edifying spiritual literature with their religious communities. This was something I had wanted to do for many years, but I simply wasn’t ready. It took a type of courage and a faith in my own vocation as a priestess that has always been difficult for me, and it required me to bare my heart to the world in a different way than I do in my poetry or philosophical work, which is frankly terrifying.
The truth is that while I have felt the call to spiritual service ever since I was a child, I have never felt worthy of that calling. That put me in a bind, of course. One does not just ignore such a firm calling by the Divine to service. But one can…delay. So that is what I did, for many years. Like Jonah, I was told by the Divine to preach, and like Jonah I ran away. There was always one more thing I needed to do first, always one more book to read, one more theological or philosophical issue of which I needed to be sure, before I could begin my ministry. I let my anxieties and my lack of self-worth interfere with my Great Work, and that was not okay. It was understandable, but it was still not okay. I had a job to do, a mission to accomplish, and I avoided it for years. Decades.
Finally, I was confronted by my goddess and had to make a change. I had to commit. And so I wrote the original version of this homily and committed myself to the writing schedule I have kept since. I stepped forward and started taking active roles in planning and running rituals for my primary spiritual community. And I started offering pastoral care and serving sacraments to those who desire them. And that, as the saying goes, has made all the difference. And from the growing audience of readers and the comments I have gotten, it has made a difference for some of you, too.
So I want to thank you all for reading my poor scribblings. It’s an honor to serve.
And now, without further ado, I wish to speak about the sabbat we celebrate today and a goddess that is dear to my heart.
Today in the northern hemisphere we celebrate a special feast. For some it is the Feast of Saint Brigid. For some it is Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus At the Temple. And for some it is the sabbat of Imbolc. But in all cases, what we are really talking about is the return of hope, warmth, and light to the world as the days lengthen.
Often, in pagan circles, we talk in terms of the agricultural cycle, and this cycle is an excellent way of understanding the movements of meaningful change throughout the year. But the agricultural cycle only functions as it does because of the rest of the cycle. Above: the great wheel of the heavens, the movements of the planets, the Zodiac, and the larger universe beyond. Below: the atomic and quantum realms, the roiling possibilities of chaos. And in-between: all of us and all of this, all unified into a single, grand system, an organic and conceptual whole. And this single, grand system in which all that exists and does not exist participates is the clearest and surest indication we have of meaning in the universe. Everything is connected. Everything unfolds with purpose and meaning, revealing to us the face of the Divine looking back at us from behind everything we see. And within that great manifestation of the Divine we have reached a special moment: the return of the Sun.
Many who celebrate this holiday hold the goddess Brigid, paralleled under Christian auspices as St. Brigid of Kildare, as sacred and holy. I don’t want to relitigate old injustices or reopen old wounds. We all know what happened and who did what to whom. Great tragedies abound in this world. But I do want to talk about Brigid, divine and holy Brigid, and sing to Her today.
Brigid is a healer. This is the aspect many of us who have been wounded by this aching world connect with the most. This is the face that looks upon us with love and concern. She will take you up, clean your wounds, tend your illness, and sit with you in the light of the fire as the pangs of fever convulse within you.
Let us pray:
Oh blessed Brigid, holy healer, be Thou ever with us in our moments of pain, wounding, and illness. Comfort us beside your fire as we shiver and bring us sweet healing in the coming year. So mote it be.
Brigid is a smith, a maker, maintainer, and repairer of tools and artifacts. A thinker as much as a tinker, the smith must design, build, and maintain what the community needs to survive and thrive. The smith must take the raw ore given to us by the Earth and turn it into useful metals. And, when necessary, the smith must forge the weapons with which the community will defend itself.
Let us pray:
Oh mighty Brigid, She of the hammer and the anvil, the bellows and the fire, inspire us as we work in the coming year to create, maintain, and repair the important things in our lives and the lives of our communities. Be with us as we work together to build a better world. So mote it be.
Brigid is a poet. A poet drinks from the well of holy inspiration and brings out of themselves worlds and dreams, joys and agonies, a true wealth and abundance to share with the community. A poet must reveal the age to itself, must not only speak truth but the right truth at the right time, and must dance on the edge of despair again and again to bring forth beauty.
Let us pray:
Oh, inspired Brigid, golden-tongued Brigid, teller of tales and singer of songs, be Thou ever with us in the coming year. Take us on Your blessed journeys, weave us into your stories, and help us laugh, weep, and learn lessons old and new in the coming year. So mote it be.
And with that, I wish a very happy and blessed Imbolc to you all.
With love,
Soror Alice
Art: John Duncan, “The Coming Of Bríde”, (1917)