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Episode 44: Imbolc
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Welcome back, Witches! For this week's episode, we're going to be going over ALL things Imbolc!! We're going to be discussing history, the Goddess Brigid, correspondences, and ways to celebrate for those in and out of the broom closet.
We would be forever thankful if you left our podcast a 5-Star review. If you really loved the show and want more Get in Loser content, check out our Supercast & Buy Me a Coffee links below. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @GetinWitches, on TikTok @weredoingwitchcraft or email us at weredoingwitchcraft@gmail.com. You can support our show through our
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Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio- The Witch
Imbolc. (2022) History. https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/imbolc
14 Imbolc Ritual Ideas for a Pagan February Eve Celebration. (2022) Spells8. https://spells8.com/imbolc-ritual-ideas/
Manson, Megan (2016). Setsuben- Japans Imbolc. Pagan Tama. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/pagantama/2016/01/28/setsubun-japans-imbolc/
Wigington, Patti (2019). Maman Brigitte, Loa of the Dead in Voodoo Religion. Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/maman-brigitte-4771715
Youtube
Scarlet Ravenswood
HearthWitch
Michael Fortune (to create your own Brigid's Cross)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn_MG4HZVOo&t=0s
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Witchcraft Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult, but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In, Loser. We're doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey. Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we have learned about
A Close Call and Intuition
00:00:16
Speaker
the craft. So get in, witches, as we explore in bulk.
00:00:48
Speaker
Crazy story. So originally my tattoo appointment was going to be at 1 30. So I would have had to have left like 15 minutes earlier than I did because I left earlier than I needed to. So I probably would have left like 15 minutes earlier than I did.
00:01:02
Speaker
And Brandy messaged me and was like, Hey, I have something, um, like I have something I need to go pick up or whatever. Can we do two o'clock? And I was like, yeah, no fucking problem. I'll be there too. And I left, you know, probably 15 minutes later, got on the freeway and it was like completely dead stop traffic. And I was like, what the fuck? Yeah. It's like the middle of a day. Yeah.
00:01:24
Speaker
There was such a bad accident. Like it was a semi in a compact car. Oh, God. So if I would have left earlier, I could have been you. Yeah, I was like, Oh, my God. That sucks. Oh, I feel bad for that person. But I'm so glad that you left later than. So looking at that car, I don't think that person made it. That's really like that car was ripped completely down the middle open.
00:01:52
Speaker
I don't know. Jesus Christ. Yeah. It was really bad, really bad. I don't know what happened, but, but yeah, I could have been in it or near it or. Yeah.
00:02:04
Speaker
wild, fucking wild. Well, and I told Brandi, she's very, she's not witchy, right? Like she just bought a book of runes because she wanted to learn about runes because someone got them and she's, um, she does like meditation and breath work. She's certified to do it. Yeah. Or she's, she's going through the certification process to do it for other people. And she's very like, you know, putting things out into the universe. So I told her I was like, girl,
00:02:30
Speaker
I had to call her, you know, and I was like, Hey, I'm on my way, but there was an accident. So I'm like, she's like, no problem. Like I'm here whenever you get here. And she was like, Oh, is traffic bad or something? And I told her, I was like, No, there was a really bad accident. And if I would have left earlier, that probably would have been me. And she was like, I just I was like, I need to go get this thing right now. Like something kept telling me I need to go get this. I need to go get this. That's why I called you. And I was like, Yeah,
00:02:55
Speaker
fucking universe, man. Right. Thank God that somebody is pushing you because Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She was like, I don't even, it wasn't even something that I needed, but my brain was like, you need to go do this right this minute. I was like, dang, that's my wild of the week.
00:03:11
Speaker
Well, before we get started, we have some exciting news.
Welcoming Subscriber Sybil
00:03:16
Speaker
Yes. So we wanted to welcome our newest Supercast subscriber, Sible. Sible.
00:03:25
Speaker
I mean, I know like I recognize you. I don't know if you recognize me, Sybil, but I'm pretty sure we were either stationed in England together. We never met each other, but we are on some same Facebook pages in England. Well, and I was telling Samantha.
00:03:43
Speaker
when your email came through. It was like, you guys have a new subscriber. And I was like, oh my gosh, who is this person? It put your first name as your last name. So I was like, hold on. That seems familiar from our Facebook. So I was like, I'm going to go see how you pronounce it correctly.
00:03:58
Speaker
Go on the Facebook, come to find out we have a mutual friend in common because I lived in Germany for a while. So hi, Sybil. We're so happy to have you. Yes. So hopefully that doesn't sound creepy, but I did creep on your Facebook.
00:04:13
Speaker
just trying to see how you pronounced your last name, which it didn't have pronunciations, but that's okay. I did find out we have a mutual friend. Yes. And we really appreciate you supporting our Baby Lo podcast. We do. And we just got your email and wow. Yes, the impact. We both got chills reading that.
00:04:33
Speaker
Mm hmm. Yeah. So we'll email you back about that and go from there. And then maybe if you're comfortable with us sharing it on the podcast, when we have our next spooky episode, we can. Yes, because we love ourselves a good spooky episode. So it's inevitable that we're going to have one soon. And if we can share it, just let us know. We'd love to share that story because wow. Mm hmm. Yeah, it was pretty crazy. Yeah. So what are we talking about today?
Imbolc Festival Overview
00:05:01
Speaker
We're talking about in bulk.
00:05:03
Speaker
Wow. I love Embolk. I know. This was a fun one to research because you can go down so many rabbit holes like we were just talking about. You found one for Japan. Yeah. But for Embolk, celebrations begin on the evening of February 1st, and they run through the evening of February 2nd in the Northern Hemisphere. If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, that'll be August 1st and 2nd. So
00:05:30
Speaker
your time is coming. Right. Yeah. It'll be here soon, regardless of where you live. Soon-ish. It is, yeah. Because August is like, still like eight months away, but you know. But it's also part of my favorite time of the year, so it's fine. Yeah. I long for it too.
00:05:50
Speaker
So M-Bulk is a pre-Christian holiday that's rooted in Celtic traditions, and it marks the halfway point between Winter Solstice, which is Yule, and the Spring Equinox, or Ostarra.
00:06:03
Speaker
The word in bulk comes from Old Irish and it means in the belly. I also saw that it meant like in the belly of the mother, so I wasn't sure which one. So it's either just in the belly or in the belly of the mother. And this refers to the pregnancy and births of the spring lambs or is it ewes?
00:06:23
Speaker
I think it's ooze because I had a coffee cup whenever I was a kid growing up. I mean, it was in our house. I didn't have it, but it said, ooze not fat, ooze just fluffy.
00:06:38
Speaker
I love that. And so I love, I love it. And I'll never forget that because of that. Yeah, I absolutely love that. But again, you guys know, we are in season two, what episode is this? 43. We do our best. 44. Oh my gosh. 44. Oh my gosh.
00:07:11
Speaker
In bulk, it was also one of the eight Wiccan Sabbats. It's also one of the four main Celtic festivals and one of the four main Celtic fire festivals and Celtic paganism. And it's also known as Canva Mass, if you are Christian. And that's all I'm going to say about that. It's just like irritating that like, I know, I know they take things and it's not fair. You've seen the notes, so you know. Yes, but I like a lot of things. I'm like, yeah.
00:07:17
Speaker
We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best. We do our best.
00:07:43
Speaker
It's also known as St. Brigid's Day. And then I also saw this reference to the meaning behind the name too. So like along with in the belly, sometimes it's been translated to an Irish Gaelic as use milk. And that relates back to like the fertility of the land and pastures and everything to do with
00:08:07
Speaker
animals and milk. I actually, I had like all of my notes done minus a few couple, like a couple of things like correspondences and that in particular, I had a whole page up on that. And there was a lot that I wanted to read before I added it to my notes. And then when I went back today to look, I was like, Oh, Sam's already included it. It's fine.
00:08:28
Speaker
But I found a whole thing. Yeah, we always do. We find out that we always do. That's why we're great co-hosts. But I had this whole article pulled up that was talking about milk with embolk and ewes milk specifically, because it's a Celtic tradition. A lot of the traditions surrounding embolk are Celtic.
00:08:53
Speaker
in Ireland they have 80 billion sheep. So like everything kind of centered around like the breeding, fertility, and just birthing of new baby sheeps
Brigid's Transformation and Influence
00:09:04
Speaker
in spring. Yeah. Is it sheeps?
00:09:07
Speaker
Yeah. Baby, baby lambs, sheepy lambs, whatever they're called. We the babies. Yeah. So I had a whole thing that I was like reading on that and I was like, I need to process this more before I add it to my notes. And then I saw yours and I was like, it's cool. Sam already covered it. Sweet. Yeah. Yeah. So. Yeah. And in bulk just in general is all about the home, the hearth and new beginnings. It's connected to farming, as we mentioned, and the earth and abundance.
00:09:38
Speaker
So something that I came across was that the earliest documentation of Imbolc can be found in the like 10th century Irish literature, where in poetry of this time period relates the holiday to Iusmilk, like we were just talking about, and they tend to lean heavily on implications of it being a time of purification. So because of this documentation of Imbolc, speculations arose that
00:10:05
Speaker
They basically believe traditional rituals were based around the breeding cycles of sheep and the beginning of lactation. And at its core, embolk is a time to celebrate spring and rebirth. It's a time of banishing the winter season and sowing bountiful harvest for the next springtime.
00:10:24
Speaker
And it's when we start to see the first signs of spring through plant growth, maybe like grass coming up through the snow, and it's the return of the animals that migrate or that hibernate during the cold of winter.
00:10:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's the first glimmer or hope of spring. And one of the first signs that is often referenced is viewing snowdrops. And I never even saw those until we moved to England. And like those little flowers are so cute and dainty. And just seeing them pop up like when everything else is still trying to like come back, but it's basically barren. It's so beautiful to see that. And I can see how like the ancient Celts and like
00:11:09
Speaker
all of these ancient European countries seeing that would give them so much hope because they are just the cutest little things and reminders that spring is on its way. Yeah, because like everything has been dead and covered in snow and then you have this cute little plant that's just like
00:11:25
Speaker
trying to blossom its way through all of this. It's so cute. Precious. So at this point, the days are becoming longer again. It's time to like clear out the old, cleanse and purify any stagnant energy in the home or within yourself that build up over the winter and then start to feel fresh. So in pre-Christian era, the observance of in bulk began the night before February 1st.
00:11:53
Speaker
That night, one would prepare for Brigid to visit their homes. They would craft effigies of the goddess using oat and rush bundles, and then put them in a dress and a basket overnight, which I thought was really cute. So they just craft these cute little versions of Brigid, dress her up, and then just tuck her away for the night, like sweet, tight little Brigid. I thought that was precious.
00:12:18
Speaker
And then during the day of Embolk, rituals included burning lamps and lighting bonfires to honor Brigid. And I feel like that's just a common, like I feel like for you, you grew up in this, right? Like you grew up with a dad who was pagan. I grew up with kind of like in the closet pagan grandparents. So I feel like we did a lot of things that I didn't realize were
00:12:43
Speaker
pagan or just like rituals for these sabbats or anything so like you see like fire is this common theme in a lot of rituals or a lot of sabbats or you know tied to a lot of gods and goddesses so i like i thought that was just really cool to see that like hey we're burning a lamp or we're lighting bonfires my grandparents always had like a fire going in the fireplace for these holidays and so it's like for me i always first of all i just love a good fire period
00:13:12
Speaker
like fire in the fireplace makes me happy. I'll light a fire, sit there and read a book. But when it comes to like Christmas time, like we always have a fire going, whether it's hot in the house or not, we'll turn the air down. Let's make it cold so we can have a fire. So like, this is like a common theme that I think that we see that unless you realize that
00:13:34
Speaker
I think for me, like coming into this meeting you and learning about all these like pagan traditions that I was like, Oh my God, I do all of this. And I didn't realize that we were doing all of this. So I saw it like, especially this Christmas as I'm like lighting a fire. I'm like, Oh.
00:13:49
Speaker
Look at me, lighting me up. Exactly. But it wasn't, you know, I'm not proud. I know, I know. So yeah, they would, of course, just, you know, burn the lamps, light bonfires to honor Brigid. But Christianity, later, in quotes, you guys can't see my notes, you can't see my fingers, but I'm quoting it.
00:14:10
Speaker
they adopted, as they call it. They stole it. I know, every time, every time, damn Christians. And don't get me wrong, I know some Christians that are great people, but we want to talk about these traditions that we often get like, you know, snubbed and shamed for. Brigid was adopted into Christianity and I almost said Catholicism, Catholicism.
00:14:38
Speaker
as St. Brigid. You know, they adopted her as they do. The Catholic Church claims that St. Brigid was a historical person and is the patron saint of Irish nuns, newborns, midwives, dairy maids, and the cattle.
00:14:56
Speaker
The church claims that there is an account of St. Brigid's life written by monks dating back to the 8th century. These accounts share commonalities with the pagan goddess, and you can see the transition from the pagan goddess to the Christian worship through that documentation written by the monk, which, whatever, I mean, I guess at least she's getting her due diligence, but it's also frustrating.
00:15:24
Speaker
So some similarities that were noted include the association to milk, fire, and healing, which have been part of the pagan practices for all time. But you know, now that the Catholics took it over, she was a real person that had these ties. So it's fine. It's fine. Right.
00:15:47
Speaker
So Christians and Catholics also celebrate candle mass, which Sam mentioned earlier during Unbulk as a tradition of purification. Is it candle mass or candle moss? I don't know. I don't know. Either one. OK. That works for me. I'm not Catholics. Yeah. Sorry if you are. And if I'm wrong, just let me know. But candle mass is considered one of the oldest practiced Christian holidays.
00:16:16
Speaker
It's believed that if candle mass falls on a day that's sunny and bright, that it then would result in another 40 days of winter. And this is kind of a theme that you see during this time here in these types of beliefs and rituals and celebrations. So Groundhog Day is another one that's like this. And this is something that we celebrate or practice, I guess, in the US and Canada.
00:16:42
Speaker
And basically, this started in 1887. It's observed on February 2nd. And it's sometimes associated with embolk when they talk about it. But it's been called, sorry, did you hear that?
00:16:57
Speaker
Yeah, what was that? Oh, it's Nyx. It's Nyx. Sweet babies. Anthony went to go run errands, so I brought her in here so she didn't have to be in her kennel. Aww, sweet babies. Right? Yeah, no, I get that. Yeah, so she's been sleeping this whole time, but sorry, guys. Oh, I guess I wasn't here too sleeping, so. Aw, precious. Sweet lick of these peppers. Where did I leave off? Sometimes Groundhog Day is associated with Imbolg, and it's been called by some
00:17:27
Speaker
Um, basically I'm modern offshoot of in bulk, which I don't make those ties or see it that way at all. But I found that in research and I was like, interesting, all included for those that might feel that way too. But for those that don't know this tradition, like if you don't live in the U S or you've never heard of it, groundhog day is basically a day where there's a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil.
Groundhog Day's Pagan Roots?
00:17:55
Speaker
There's been several Punxsutawney Phil's over the time because obviously groundhogs aren't immortal, but every year the groundhog is named Punxsutawney Phil. So if he comes out of his burrow or his little den and he sees his shadow, it means that winter will last for another six weeks. Groundhog Day is believed to be adapted from a German candlemust tradition that used a badger in place of a groundhog.
00:18:20
Speaker
Interesting, right? That is interesting. What's funny is I like to think because I'm trying to be more open-minded. We are really open-minded, but you know what I mean? Sometimes it's hard to
00:18:36
Speaker
I don't know. It's just, it is what it is. It's hard. I'm not even gonna get into it. But I like to believe that the person who created Groundhog Day and the German Badger Candlemas Day was actually a secret pagan. And he's just like, you know what, I'm gonna show you guys.
00:18:54
Speaker
Look at y'all being pagan. Well, it was like, was it you? Yeah, it was you. You were talking about going through the different churches and stuff in England where they had the, is it the Green God? Yes. Yeah, the Green Man. Yeah. Green Man, sorry. Green Man, Horned God. It was all the same episode, but yeah. Yeah, they built him into a lot of the churches. Yes. And it's like, I love this. And then like going walking through antique stores and stuff, they're like, oh yeah, this is like,
00:19:23
Speaker
ancient, like, Christian carvings that they would put. And I'm like, oh, really? Oh, is it? Please tell me more. Yeah, I don't think so. Nice. Yeah. So a little bit more about just Bridget in general, she is one of the most respected and worship deities throughout the world. She's a triple goddess. And that's something I believe I have in my notes a little bit later, kind of the connection to other triple goddesses.
00:19:53
Speaker
So I'll come back to that one. But she's also a fire deity. She's linked, as we've already mentioned, to the home, hearth, and protection. She's also linked to the cauldron, kitchen, and to smiths. So the people that are working with the anvil and the hammer and all that stuff. She's connected to Earth's rhythms and cycles, and she's known as the keeper of the sacred flame. And so this kind of ties back to lighting the bonfires, lighting candles,
00:20:21
Speaker
One way to really connect with her and I guess honor her during this time of year is to light all the candles in your home, light your hearth and allow that fire.
00:20:33
Speaker
safely to kind of connect with her. She is, again, connected to midwifery, and she's connected to healing as well. And so I got this quote from Scarlet Ravenswood, which is a YouTuber that we have mentioned multiple times on this podcast. She's really awesome. You should check out her YouTube channel. But when she was talking about Brigid, she mentioned this, and I thought it was just the best way to put it.
00:21:02
Speaker
throughout history you can see like with what Tiffany mentioned earlier how Christianity basically stole Brigid from pagans that she went from this powerful Celtic goddess to a demure Christian saint and that kind of is sad in a way because she is this powerful goddess she's not this demure nun so whenever we talk about her obviously we're going to be referring to her powerful
00:21:29
Speaker
Celtic goddess personality, not this made-up Bridget that we see in Christianity.
00:21:36
Speaker
So, she's always shown with a healing elixir and a blacksmith hammer. She travels with two oxen as her companions, a boar, and a ram. So, she loves all the animals. She travels with a farm with her. She just needs some chickens and, you know, it's fine. Legends state that her father was Dagda, which is a primordial Irish deity and master of magic and mysticism.
00:22:04
Speaker
She is also known as the goddess of poetry, fire, and healing. She's not originally associated with just female traditional energy. She was also associated with both genders, and so she has a very multifaceted nature.
00:22:19
Speaker
Back to that whole triple goddess thing that I mentioned earlier, there is a correlation between her and Hecate from the Greek pantheon and the star goddesses called Zora because she has that triple form. But I love that because I have a niece named Zora and I didn't even know that there was like a witchy type back onto that name and so I love it. But the most important association is to
00:22:45
Speaker
bring on spring. She's known as the first sign of the beginning of spring and bulk is the first official day of spring to ancient Celts. And, you know, she is the perfect, I guess, just overall goddess. Yeah. Well, and I think that's crazy because
00:23:05
Speaker
That's so early. If you think about like America, we see the first day of spring being like end of March, isn't it? Like March 20th or something. So like for it to be like, hey, this is the first day of spring, like historically, like back in the day, pre-Christian era, if you're really looking at it. But it is a time where you're seeing
00:23:26
Speaker
you know, the first grass shoots or like you said, the little snowdrop flowers kind of things are starting to come up at this point. And of course, you know, the animals are waking up, you're starting to see the like breeding process of them so that they can have these spring babies that they raised throughout the summer and then that go out and do their own things for the next fall and winter. So it just makes sense. But in America, we're like, no, March 20th. March 20th. Yeah.
00:23:55
Speaker
And during this type of year, it is like a great way, and we'll go into correspondences and how to celebrate, but one cool thing that you can do is weather divination is the perfect time of year to do that. And so this is a way to kind of like with Groundhog Day, like guessing when warm weather would return and you could even use like tarot or other divinatory practices to kind of
00:24:20
Speaker
see when spring's going to come for you and your area. But what I saw too is that ancient Celts, what they believed was that if on Brigid's day, on Imbolg, if it was
00:24:35
Speaker
warm or sunny, then that meant winter would, you know, still be around for the next four to six weeks. But if it was a shitty day that falls on in bulk, just like with grad hog day, that means spring will come sooner. And I'm just like, Oh, okay. I like that.
00:24:53
Speaker
That's nothing new with the seeing the shadow it's all about if you have shitty weather on in bulk. Yeah, that's a great sign. Which was I think candle moss was if it was like, what did I say earlier, a sunny day? Yeah, it was like, oh, well, you're now you're gonna have 40 or what however many days winter still.
00:25:12
Speaker
Yeah, but that all came from embolc. Healing holy wells in Ireland are also associated with Brigid. And so it's very common to see people take like ritual baths for embolc. That's a great way to kind of connect and- That's like my love language. Yeah, so- Give me a bath and I'm happy. Yeah.
00:25:35
Speaker
And then also like in bulk and just Bridget in general is not just seen by ancient Celts. I also kind of went down another rabbit hole where she is found in voodoo traditions and she's known as Mamont Brigitte. So in Haitian voodoo and New Orleans voodoo
00:25:55
Speaker
she is known as a loa. And so these are spirits who work as intermediaries between mortals and the divine.
Brigid in Voodoo Traditions
00:26:02
Speaker
And that was that part of the witchy book club. If you're in our supercast, you will know that Matthew calls his mom the mom. Yeah. That's the French word for mother. Every time I'm like, Oh,
00:26:18
Speaker
Yes, she's associated with death and cemeteries and fertility and motherhood, just like the Irish Celts version of Brigid. And the origins have their ties back to British colonialism, which is kind of sad, but also
00:26:34
Speaker
crazy how it just evolves, but essentially English, Scottish and Irish people found themselves entering into contracts of indentured servitude and they were transported throughout the world and many of the places that they were transported to would be the Caribbean and North America. And because they were serving as servants, many of them were also women and they brought their traditions with them. And so Brigid was introduced to those who had been forcibly brought over from Africa as slaves
00:27:03
Speaker
And so it just kind of evolved from there. So my mom Brigitte is depicted as Mary Magdalene, and she's portrayed as fair skinned with red hair, just like the Celtic version of Brigitte. And she's a powerful Loa, and devotees often offer her rum, which I'm down for that. Look, I love me a sweet spirit. Yeah.
00:27:31
Speaker
And then I saw, I was reading this and I thought this was interesting. Often like in the Caribbean and in New Orleans, the grave of the first woman buried in the cemetery is marked with a special cross and is said to belong specifically to Mamon Brigitte.
00:27:47
Speaker
I thought that was sweet. So she is the consort or wife of Baron Samdi, and that is a loa of death. Samdi also is Saturday in French, so I didn't really read into the ties with that, but I thought it was interesting. Which you see that with a lot of Norse days, that the days of the week correspond to the different deities. I love finding all of these things that cross over.
00:28:17
Speaker
Again, I do this every episode. I'm doing hand motions like you guys can see me but literally only Sam can do like see these karate chops I'm making. I like make fun of her by doing it. Yeah. So we just are sitting here continually doing karate motions and you guys can't see any of it. But it's fabulous.
00:28:35
Speaker
Also, she is associated with healing STIs and fertility as well as divine judgment. I know, right? Like gross, but also. But awesome. Thank you. Thank you. And also like, um, she, like if you have an STI, maybe that is your divine judgment. You know what I mean? That would make sense. Yeah. Especially if you were like a shitty person or something. Anyway.
00:29:02
Speaker
She's also associated with long-term illnesses, so she can step in and heal them or ease their suffering by claiming them for death. And I thought that was pretty interesting. And in the voodoo tradition, her colors that she's associated with are black and purple, and she accepts offerings of candles, black roosters, and pepper-infused rum. You know, who else likes black roosters? Satan.
00:29:29
Speaker
Do you remember in the plant episode? Is it belladonna? If you release a black rooster, then he's like, oh, forget the belladonna. I got a black rooster over here. You have that. He's going to take this. So she probably gives the devil run for his money. He's like, well, fuck. I'm just going to leave this alone. What's your rooster?
00:29:54
Speaker
Those possessed by her power are known to rub spicy rum on their genitals. That sounds like it would hurt. Yeah, especially if it's like black pepper infused rum. Could you imagine? Ouch. No, thank you. Also, if you're a woman, that just is a frickin' yeast infection or urinary tract infection waiting to happen. Yes, it's a sensitive little like microbiome of its own. Yeah, please don't mess up.
00:30:24
Speaker
on your genitals unless like you know what you're doing but also because I don't want to be like shaming any other cultures. Yeah, we never shame other people like we don't yuck your yams but that just sounds painful. It does sound painful. And then her sacred symbol is the heart and sometimes she appears as and sometimes her symbol appears as a cross with a black rooster on it.
00:30:48
Speaker
Oh, I know. Yeah. I love my mom's Brigitte. And then also, as I mentioned that, you know, I went kind of on a little tangent whenever researching in bulk. And I wanted to see like, since I live in Japan now, what they do, if they do anything and they do, and it's related back to in bulk.
Setsubun Festival and Imbolc
00:31:06
Speaker
So they, there is a Japanese celebration called Satsuben. It occurs on February 3rd.
00:31:13
Speaker
The primary theme is cleansing the home and community of negative energy and inviting and positive energy. And so they do this by something called, it's a ritual and it's called mamamaki. I could, I'm assuming I'm saying this wrong. So I really, really apologize about that. We're not, we're not Japanese. We try. Yeah. Yeah. We try. I don't know how to say it, but it's,
00:31:42
Speaker
or it looks like it would be pronounced mamamaki. This is a most common purification ritual in Japan and it's known as bean scattering. So what they would do is so on Satsuban they would toss roasted soybeans outside of their homes or at a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple.
00:32:01
Speaker
And sometimes someone will wear a mask depicting an oni, which is a malicious mythological creature translated as a demon, usually in English. And then others will throw the beans at the person in the oni mask symbol, like, and this is to symbolically drive away evil spirits and negativity. And I thought that was really cute.
00:32:25
Speaker
It's like a stoning, but with beans. Yes. Get out of here demon. And it's like, you know, it's something that's not going to hurt really. Like, unless you get it in the eye or something, but you know, you're wearing that mask, so it's fine. I love that stoning with beans. I can't even. It's all I could think of is like,
00:32:49
Speaker
You know, in the Bible, they're like, oh, you're a woman? Stoned. Yeah. And this is like a little bit nice. You're stoning. Yeah. Bean stoned. Beans. Bean. Beans. Have all these roasted soybeans. So often, they would cry out, oni wa soto fuku wa uchi. And that translates to demons out fortune in. That's what they would say whenever they're stoning the oni with the beans.
00:33:19
Speaker
um and then often there is someone with another mask on called an otafuka and this of course is probably being pronounced wrong but the face of the mask often resembles a buttocks a phallus or just genitalia in general um which is lovely but it's just on their mask
00:33:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's like, it's like a just like the outline of it kind of resembles like a foul shape. Okay, okay. I was like, imagining a mask with like a dick sticking off. Right? Basically, like, it's like the forehead will be like super tall and elongated. Okay, and then it'll be like rounded at the bottom.
00:33:59
Speaker
Yeah, or like it'll be like super round and like butt cheeks at the bottom or kind of like appear like a vulva shape. Oh my gosh. I love it. But that's supposed to be a symbol of luck, happiness or fertility. And so sometimes whenever you see people with the Oni mask on, you'll also see somebody with the Oda Fuka mask on too. It's kind of a balance, right? Yeah. It's really interesting too though. Like
00:34:24
Speaker
in America, or apparently like also like old German, it was like, here's this animal if it comes out, sees its shadow.
00:34:33
Speaker
Okay, we're gonna have more, like, awful weather. In Japan, they're like, anyways, we're gonna bean people in the streets. Right, yeah. We're symbolically, we are making sure there's no negativity happening, so we're just gonna stone you with the beans. With beans. Beanstonings. Beanstones, yeah. We should bring those back to America. We really should. I can think of a few people that need some beanstones.
00:34:59
Speaker
Be gone, demon. Orton Inn. Demon's out. So like we do with any other holiday or Sabbath, we're going to talk about some correspondences.
Symbols and Celebration of Imbolc
00:35:14
Speaker
So for in bulk, the colors are red, white, green, gold, lavender, pale pink, yellow, and any other pastels.
00:35:25
Speaker
And when I was reading about it too, I saw that, so because it's like such a massive color range, it really just depends on which type of in bulk or which variation of like Brigid you're wanting to celebrate for these correspondences. And so if you're wanting to focus on new growth or beginnings, that's when you would use like the white and the pastels. And then if you're wanting to focus more on like the fire energy surrounding in bulk, it would be the brighter colors, like the yellows, the oranges, and the reds.
00:35:55
Speaker
I will say too, like in researching this, it was hard actually to find color correspondences because most sources that I came across just said white candles, like overall just use a white candle. And I was like, okay, but is white the only color for spring? Like, I feel like there's going to be others. So that definitely, that took a lot of digging. So if you're struggling finding that, that's probably why.
00:36:22
Speaker
So for plants, think of like potted bulbs or like seeds and seedlings because this is spring when everything's starting to sprout. And then spring flowers, things like dandelions, daffodils, tulips. We talk about a lot of
00:36:41
Speaker
beautiful plants and trees and flowers all the time. I've said this before in another plant episode that we covered, but dandelions are the most underrated plant in witchcraft. People just look at them and they're like, oh, it's a weed. Look, I've made some beautiful wine out of dandelion. I've made some great selves out of dandelion. Dandelion has so many properties.
00:37:07
Speaker
that tie to witchcraft, that tie to like herbal medicine and then dandelion wine is just like a happy spring drink period. Like if you've ever had it, you'll know it's like sunshine in a bottle. So don't overlook those dandelions. They are perfect for so many different things.
00:37:26
Speaker
they really are yeah and I mean they're so abundant like you just just don't cut your grass yeah they grow those things can grow in concrete yeah they're so resilient they really are and then another thing that you can do too say if you don't have space outside to plant anything you can even just do like a little potted plants in your house in a window or something
00:37:50
Speaker
with any sort of herbs. So this could be like lavender, chamomile, basil, bay, anything like that meant these are all great things to plant around this time of year and even if it is just inside your house.
00:38:06
Speaker
And even if it's too cold, which I feel like I talk about this a little bit later in ways that you can practice, but it might be too cold to plant some of this stuff outside, but you can start your seedlings indoors, let them sprout and get strong enough to survive outside. And then once the weather's warm, transfer them outside, transfer them to your garden, your flower bed, whatever it is, and then you're gonna have them for the whole season.
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. So for foods, I didn't find a lot on this. I don't know if you did, but the ones that I did find, it was like oats, cakes, oat cakes, which we've talked about before on the podcast, and then milk, which we've talked about a lot on this podcast. Sorry.
00:38:49
Speaker
Yeah, I basically found like the same thing as well. Yeah, like, I feel like a lot of episodes that we cover, you know, on the different holidays, they're like, here's all of these things, these foods, these fruits, these drinks for M bulk, it was literally like oat cakes of milk. So
00:39:06
Speaker
I will say too, like, um, just because she is connected to like the cauldron, I think this would be a good time too, if you wanted to make like a nice soup or something. Yeah. And even just like a, a milk based soup or something would be a great time of year to do this. Like a cream of mushroom or potato or. Yeah. And then just putting in some of like the herbs that we'll discuss and there would be great.
00:39:36
Speaker
Yeah, symbols, I found Bridget's cross. Ribbons are apparently tied to embulk, just like a little bowed ribbon is how it was explained. Aw. Yeah, like they were just little tiny little bows. I was like, this is cute. And then sacred wells, white candles, a fire, which we've talked about already, and corn dolls, which again, I feel like corn dolls are kind of a common symbol to a lot of the pagan holidays.
00:40:05
Speaker
Mm hmm.
00:40:07
Speaker
And as far as herbs, I found blackberry and coltsfoot, which I've never heard of coltsfoot before, have you? Okay. Yeah. Okay. I had never heard of it. But I feel like it's only because I'm in the herbal academy that I've heard of that because that's the only place I've ever seen it. I haven't seen it like in any of the herbal groups I've been in or anything like that. So yeah. But then also, you know, if you don't have access to like coltsfoot or blackberry or something, even something as simple as,
00:40:36
Speaker
Bey, Basil, Ginger are also great herb alternatives, but then also Angelica and Heather are associated with Embulk, and I did not know about either of these two either. I have Heather in my pantry. I don't think I have an Angelica, but I do know of it. Yeah, that's really cool. Then as far as trees, they are Willow and Rowan.
00:41:03
Speaker
Every time I see Rowan, I just think of my sweet baby Rowan from a Throne of Glass. So another little bookish reference. But if you guys have not read that Throne of Glass series, please check it out because it's so good. And then let me know. I'm still working through it. And for me, he's not a sweet baby. He's very sassy and I love him. I love him so much. He's so sassy at the points that I'm at.
00:41:26
Speaker
He is my favorite bookish dude. I love him. And then for instance, this is going to be frankincense, myrrh, rosemary, cinnamon, basil, and bay. And for your crystals, we have citrine, sunstone, amethyst, acrimony, amazonite, fuschite, turquoise, bloodstone, and garnet.
00:41:51
Speaker
any of these would be a perfect symbol for your altar or anything, like even just to wear or to hold during this time of year as a way to, um, as a way to honor for sheets. Sorry, my dog like jumped on my bed and I just saw like, something back there moving. Nobody should be in here. I hate that. Yeah.
00:42:15
Speaker
So let's talk about some modern day ways to practice. Today's celebrations are not as ritualistic, nor are they centered around the breeding cycles of sheep so much as they are a way to really just reconnect with nature.
00:42:31
Speaker
Brigid is still the main goddess that's tied to Embulk today, just like in the past. So some ways that you can celebrate would be to build an altar for Embulk where you even dedicate it to Brigid, or using a statue of the goddess or a candle that you dedicate to her.
00:42:49
Speaker
Some other items that you can include would be candles, bridget's crown, a bridget's cross, corn dolls, Celtic symbols, and knot work like the little bows that I was talking about, or using any of the listed correspondences that we just went over.
00:43:06
Speaker
As far as offerings to use I mean obviously milk we've mentioned this so many times already on this podcast episode but milk is great even just like filling up a glass of milk putting it on your altar for like February 1st for very second and then putting it back into the earth or doing something else with it would be great ways to honor Brigid and celebrate in bulk. For two people who don't drink milk we've talked about milk more on this podcast and I think we have
00:43:35
Speaker
in our lives. Yeah. I hate milk so much. I do too. I use oat milk. That's like my milk of choice. Yeah. Well, and then you could probably even just use like whatever plant-based milk too. Yeah. It's better for the environment anyway, so. Yeah. And it's not gross. It's not pus. Yeah.
00:43:59
Speaker
Gross. There's like a percentage that they allow a pus and it's a high percentage. It's too much for me. For me, no. No, thank you. My percentage of pus in my drink is like a negative 175. Yeah, exactly. Gross.
00:44:20
Speaker
um if you're like a crafty person and you like to make things you could craft a bridget's cross or a corn doll yeah which would be really cool i am not um i will speak for sam in this sense that she is not either because we have tried crafting things together we have and it doesn't turn out well no she's very hard to paint it for you but yeah she's very artsy but i'm really bad at anything like that um
00:44:49
Speaker
I'm really bad at following directions. I'm really bad at all of that. But if you are interested in making yourself a little Bridget cross or a bridy doll or anything like that, you can just get a corn husk and figure it out. Like, I don't know. I didn't.
00:45:07
Speaker
I didn't really look too far into it, but. Well, you see them all the time, you know, like you see the little corn dollies or the corn has dolls. They're really cool. I could never do it. Yeah. I'm not that type of a person, but if you do do it, you can relate it back to what Tiffany was talking about earlier with like the ancient traditions of like, they would take the doll and they would dress it up. You could dress it.
00:45:30
Speaker
for the night. Yeah, dress it up in like a little white cloth, put some flowers on it to represent spring. And it's supposed to be a great way to bring fertility and abundance into your home. So it's really cute. That is precious. I came across this and I don't know if you have ever heard of it, but a seven candle ritual
00:45:52
Speaker
And I meant to actually dig a little bit deeper and I just completely forgot. But basically you have seven candles that are like, you light them. They're seven red and white candles. So the way they wrote it, I'm not sure if it's seven red candles and seven white candles or seven candles total. And this is why I was gonna look it up because it also said that each candle holds a significant meaning with the general theme being around the element of fire and welcoming back the warmth
00:46:22
Speaker
that melts like the snow while purifying your home.
00:46:25
Speaker
But I don't know if it was like seven of each color and what those significant meanings were. I'm sure they're all tied to like Bridget and Spring, like all of the correspondences and stuff that we've already talked about. But again, I forgot to look this up more. So I'm sorry, guys. But if you're interested in it, maybe look up the seven candle ritual. And I think I found this particular like just small amount of information on it on spells eight, which I've talked about before on here.
00:46:54
Speaker
and it's in our show notes. So if you guys are interested, definitely look it up. If I remember, which let's be real, my life is crazy and I'll probably forget, but if I remember, I'll try to include more on it on our socials for you guys. But yeah, I thought that was really cool. So I included it in here.
00:47:13
Speaker
You can also hold a fire feast, which essentially this is just like holding a feast with friends and family and relatives or whatever with some form of fire, like a bonfire, just lighting candles, having fire in your fireplace, or something that symbolizes fire, like maybe the colors. So just hang out with those that you love, celebrating the coming spring and like,
00:47:39
Speaker
saying goodbye to winter essentially while eating delicious foods, maybe having like a cake or o cakes or something with milk in it and having a good time. Yeah, that sounds like a fun time. Right? That's my kind of celebration. They're low key. There's not a whole lot of planning to them. Something simple.
00:47:58
Speaker
Yeah. And then if you're in the broom closet, I saw this on earth, which, and I love this idea. And you could do this with any sort of Sabbath or celebration, but wearing the colors of the season. So whether your clothes, makeup, socks, whatever it is, um, if you're in the broom closet, this is a great way. It's simple way even like, and it's free. If you have those colors to celebrate,
00:48:22
Speaker
Also working with flowers, so like what Tiffany mentioned earlier, like the dandelions, daffodils, tulips, putting those flowers on your altar or your kitchen table, or even just making a flower crown or wearing a flower crown that you already have that might not even have any of those flowers in it, but flower crowns are also tied to this sabbat, and I love that, and I have a few, and maybe I'll wear them.
00:48:49
Speaker
um and then you should yeah maybe i will and then i'll take a picture and then live my best life in my flower crown you definitely should another super easy like in the broom closet out of the broom closet whichever way um to celebrate in bulk is by writing or reading poems because she is so bridget is associated with poetry um she's a goddess of poetry and this is a great way to appreciate to show your appreciation for bridget and so
00:49:19
Speaker
Oh, something I was just gonna say something I came across was that if you look up in bulk, like, chants or poetry, I don't know if you saw any of this in your research, there are already some that are like written that, especially in like Celtic and Irish traditions, they practice this like, for in bulk, they'll go out and recite this poetry as they like, sweep their like porch from their door down their sidewalk, if they have a driveway, they sweep it on their driveway while they're saying this like,
00:49:49
Speaker
poem or chant or whatever to like ward off winter and welcome in spring. And a lot of it has to do with like, Father Winter going away and like Mother Spring coming back. So I thought it was really cool. I didn't include any of it because
00:50:06
Speaker
I don't want to recite poetry on the podcast, but I thought it was worth mentioning since you brought it up. Yeah, no, I love that. And then even if it's just reading poetry online and printing that out and then reciting it while you're doing that, that's a great way to celebrate.
00:50:21
Speaker
Uh, so spring cleaning, which I feel like that's not just a witchy thing. Like everybody practices, like you hear everybody like, Oh, I got a spring cleaner or whatever. This is like literally the perfect time to do some spring cleaning. So just purge all the things that you no longer need and then follow that up.
Modern Rituals and Kitchen Magic
00:50:39
Speaker
with a home cleansing, open all of your doors and windows, get all the stagnant energy out. And you can do this with smoke or sound. You can also physically just sweep all that stagnant energy out your door as you go through your house. And all of this is just a way to let go of the winter weight, clean out your old spaces. And while you're doing this, it'd be great meditation to let go and accept all the new and abundant things into your life.
00:51:09
Speaker
can also just decorate your home for spring to welcome in the energy of the springtime. So using some of those corresponding colors and flowers or you know a bridget cross or a corn dolly like somewhere in your home. Just something simple to decorate and just welcome spring in and you know bid farewell to winter. And you can also do this
00:51:32
Speaker
through a winter closing meditation or something as simple as just taking a walk in nature and if you want to go the meditation route again spells eight has a bidding winter farewell meditation on their website that you could just listen to and follow along with.
00:51:50
Speaker
Oh, I love that. Yeah. And then as far as the nature walk thing, just being able, I mean, this is something that you can do any time of year for any sabbat, but appreciating the cold, dark months and noticing the new beginnings. So whether that be plants, birds, anything new peeking through, but also appreciating the cold and the dark and thinking the cold and the dark and bidding it farewell. This is a great thing to do to celebrate.
00:52:15
Speaker
You can also just prep your garden for the growing season. Like I talked about earlier, it might be, you know, too cold. It's not warm enough to actually start planting things outdoors, but you can start doing some of the prep work, whether that's like weeding your garden or
00:52:31
Speaker
planting your seedlings indoors or prepping soil mixtures, finding all your tools and your pots that you might need for when it's warm enough. You can do all of this prep work leading up to the weather being warm enough to actually start an outdoor garden.
00:52:46
Speaker
Yeah. And you can even lay your garden tools on your altar as a way to get them charged or like purify them, imbue your intentions into them. Any of that, that's also great as well. Something that you can create is called an acorn wand. And this will work alongside your bridy doll as the masculine energy. This is a cheap and easy craft. And you can find examples of them online.
00:53:14
Speaker
and all this is using is acorns, seasonal seeds and nuts. And then if you have access to rowan or willow, anything like that, but just really any wood would work too. And then also a sabbat divination. You could do this on the day of the sabbat and then every day until the next sabbat. You could also, if you are interested in doing sabbat divination, the best ones are fire scrying and water scrying in a cauldron.
00:53:43
Speaker
as a callback to Embulk, those would be the best ones to use. And then also for fire, any sort of fire magic, so lighting candles, charging signals, burning incense, or anything related to your intentions, using fire magic during this time of the year is a
00:54:01
Speaker
perfect way to celebrate in bulk and give your appreciation back to Bridget. And then also creating an anointing oil with any of the herbs or other correspondences that we have listed. This is a great way to also celebrate as well and you can anoint your candles, you can use it in spell work, whatever you want to do.
00:54:19
Speaker
if you have a kitchen altar or you work with any sort of kitchen magic, anything like that. So having that feast, creating your magical food, imbuing your energy into your cooking, all of that is just a really easy in the closet and out of the closet way to celebrate. Yeah. I love kitchen magic, especially for those that are in the broom closet, because you can use so many different correspondences in your food.
00:54:48
Speaker
you know, stirring intentions in or out. There's just so many different things that you can do that wouldn't seem out of the ordinary if you're not out of the room closet.
00:55:00
Speaker
There's so many things. And then also I wanted to mention real fast, I forgot to include this in the notes. But in our resources for this episode, we have listed a YouTube video if you want to make your own Brigid's Cross. So there's like a YouTube video on how to do it if you are that crafty person. And it's in there if you want to do it. So perfect.
00:55:24
Speaker
Yeah. Again, we're not the crafty people, so you're not going to see our fancy Bridget crossed on the social medias there, but if you make them, we love to see them. I wish I was that type of crafty person. Me too. So please tag us if you do, or any sort of Bridget celebration, if you're comfortable tagging us in your celebrations, we would love to see how you celebrate.
00:55:48
Speaker
We'd be your biggest hype man in the background. So we love seeing it. We're just not crafty people. So yes.
00:56:09
Speaker
That's it for this episode of Get In Loser We're Doing Witchcraft. You can find our source material for this episode linked in the show notes. If you love this episode, we would be forever thankful if you leave us a five-star review on wherever you listen to your podcasts. If you really love the show and want more Get In Loser content, check out our Supercast link provided in the show notes or search the Supercast website for Get In Loser We're Doing Witchcraft.
00:56:31
Speaker
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