{"id":141226498,"date":"2024-01-31T14:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T14:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=141226498"},"modified":"2024-01-31T14:00:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T14:00:42","slug":"the-illuminating-spark-preparing-for-imbolc-la-feill-brid-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=141226498","title":{"rendered":"The Illuminating Spark: Preparing for Imbolc\/La F\u00e9ill Br\u00edd Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

A continuation of plans before the festival.<\/h2>
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(Image description: A photo of a gold Brighid\u2019s floating in a small pool. A white flower rests on a reddish-brown stone surface. There are a pair of light-skinned feet next to the pool, with a knotwork-lined robe hanging over the feet. A rainbow-colored reflection bounces off the pool.) Credit: Photo by Haley Owens<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>

The festival is nearly here! In a weird sort of way, there\u2019s a certain excitement when Brighid\u2019s Day happens. It\u2019s a bit like the thrill you might\u2019ve felt when you were waiting Christmas as a child, and you were waiting for Santa to visit. However, the only gifts She leaves are the blessings on the mantles and crosses that are made and Her overall presence with the waking of spring.<\/p>

Lately, spring definitely feels like it\u2019s own its way here. There was a spell of frigid and then rainy weather, and now it feels like spring will occur at any time. However, this might be an illusion, as there\u2019s usually another round of cold weather that nips the plants back into a dormant state until later on.<\/p>

As of writing this post, my most recent flamekeeping shift is happening a couple days before the holiday. It gives a sacred time to devote to getting ready for the occasion. However, it\u2019s also a busy week for me, so fitting in activities will be slightly difficult. Thankfully, this is the beginning of a season, rather than a specific day.<\/p>

During this time, I\u2019m ironing out the details of what I\u2019m doing, and even then, there may be activities that are more sporadic and will be done when there\u2019s adequate time.<\/p>

I do know my celebrations will combine Brythonic and Gaelic elements. I plan to loosely use a Brythonic ritual because of its overall casual and simple flow. I will lay the various Brighid\u2019s mantles outside for Her blessing, make a new Brighid\u2019s cross, write some poetry, and give other offerings to Her.<\/p>

Additionally, I will do my usual three fid reading to see what to meditate on for the next few months until Bealtaine\/L\u00e1 Bealltainn. I don\u2019t feel like I completed what was set out for me during the last reading in its entirety, so it\u2019s possible the themes of the previous three months will continue over to the next ones.<\/p>

I\u2019m not sure how much time I\u2019ll have to do this, but I would also like to attempt to do the Nine Days for Brighid<\/a> that starts on February 1st<\/sup>. I feel like it might be time to potentially broaden my practice, so that could be a good time to start that addition.<\/p>

Brighid\u2019s blessings to you and yours for Imbolc\/La F\u00e9ill Br\u00edd!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A continuation of plans before the festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141226498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141226498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=141226498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141226498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=141226498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=141226498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=141226498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}