{"id":47658299,"date":"2022-01-25T14:00:43","date_gmt":"2022-01-25T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=47658299"},"modified":"2022-01-25T14:00:43","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T14:00:43","slug":"the-illuminating-spark-imbolc-countdown-week-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=47658299","title":{"rendered":"The Illuminating Spark: Imbolc Countdown Week 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

A seasonal poem inspired by etymology.<\/h2>
<\/figure>

(Image description: A photo of a field of snowdrops lit up by a bright, distant light.) Credit: Photo by Simon Berger<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>

It\u2019s now only a little over a week until Imbolc, and I decided to write a poem for the upcoming festival. I\u2019ve been re-reading through Arin Murphy-Hiscock\u2019s The House Witch<\/em>. In one section, she explains how the word focus can be understood as fire, center, and hearth, to name a few of the meanings. It can also mean \u201cpoint of convergence\u201d<\/a>. These are simple, yet poignant definitions, a richness that can be applied to poetry.<\/p>

With Brighid\u2019s complex connections to fire, focus embraces the essence of Her holiday, Imbolc. Pulling on the threads of a word and morphing it into something more felt very contemplative to me. I may have to experiment more with this method in the future.<\/p>

The Focus of Spring<\/h3>

The Focus of Spring<\/p>

the center,<\/p>

the stirring<\/p>

The tending of the fire,<\/p>

the hearth burgeoning<\/p>

with new life and promises<\/p>

In the belly of the Earth<\/p>

gestating, whispering<\/p>

of the new hopes to come<\/p>

Keeper of the Fire,<\/p>

You stoke the embers<\/p>

as you do the dreams.<\/p>

Everything is fresh,<\/p>

eyes closed in anticipation<\/p>

hearts pulsing in excitement.<\/p>

Dreams of running in fields<\/p>

tasty food and milk for the young<\/p>

the stirrings of restful joy<\/p>

The sun\u2019s trek<\/p>

mirroring the flame<\/p>

of the cthonic hearth<\/p>

Gentle gazes of the sun<\/p>

tendrils of flame<\/p>

warming the body and spirit<\/p>

The Focus of Life,<\/p>

the brilliant flame,<\/p>

is kindled with Your approach.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A seasonal poem inspired by etymology.<\/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-47658299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47658299","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=47658299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47658299\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47658299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47658299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47658299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}