Disinfo Alert: What is Imbolc (Imbolg) and Who is Brigid?

Today’s post comes as a follow-up to yesterday’s shared post with Ann Kreilkamp of Exopermaculture. If you’ve not read that, please click through to both of our comments by following this link. We’ll begin with a comment bump-up from reader Kieron:

Y’know, in seeking out info on that ritual that took place last Sunday (and I forbade anyone in my house to watch it, BTW), I’ve found several references to the “sacrificial” or “blood sacrifice” date of “Imbolg,” with references to ritual killings to honor Brigid, Bride or any other spelling of Her name. Or “connections” to “Imbolg” (which is how it’s being spelled in these sites) as a Satanic holiday. Obviously there’s a lot of disinfo, not to mention idle speculation by people who have no idea what Imbolc is about. But it sorta fits with Ann’s remark about the increase in demonization of the awakening Divine Feminine. The disinfo controllers know their days are numbered so they’re opening the sewers to create a stink and keep people from finding the bits of truth in the mess.

For those not aware, the ritual to which Kieron refers is the Superbowl half-time show, which for the past several years has been (or has at least been designed to appear) overtly Satanic. I don’t need to go through the ritual here. I didn’t watch it. I don’t have a television. I consider the Superbowl a barbaric embarrassment to America and to humanity in general. It’s one of the largest human trafficking events in the world, the hugest drunkfest, and an enormous waste of resources and for what? A bunch of men running around and getting concussions? Uh-huh, great stuff, even without the halftime “show.”

You can find innumerable analyses of that halftime show ranging from somewhat intelligent to completely hysterical, fundamentalist fear porn. Here’s the deal, and I said this about last year’s performance, too: the Illumi-snotty know they’ve been busted for their sick child sacrifices and other things beyond the imagination of normal, healthy humans. Will they fess up? No, not really, and these in your face rituals are not — as some people assume — designed as confessions. They’re designed to redirect public attention. As I have noted before, and as Ann notes again in yesterday’s commentary, conveniently, the demonized element becomes … wait for it … some “evil” Goddess, along with anyone who has ever showed any interest in agricultural/Earth celebrations like The Wheel of the Year, which originally celebrated the seasons and Mother Earth.

Of course, in a patriarchal, genetically modified, transhumanist-pushing, weather-warfared world, tuning into real mothers, natural feminine creative force, and actual, un-manipulated seasons becomes a threat. Aligning with Goddess energy, especially with Mother Earth, any Goddess associated with Sovereignty and the Land, or the mother aspects (think mama bear) of any people-loving powerful Goddess would be things the patriarchal pariahs want to discourage at all costs. We’ve had millennia of propaganda, genocides, book burnings, and witch burnings, and yet still, here She is. That pesky feminine force that will not be silenced.

If you can’t suppress from above, then what’s the next best thing? Start a revolution from below. Get the well-intentioned but still patriarchal and largely brainwashed New Agers to unite with born again Christians and start busting the “pagan” qualities in all these rituals. Nevermind that pagans (“country dwellers”) and heathens (“of the heath”) existed long before the “Holy” Roman Empire massacred anyone who wouldn’t accept their one, redeeming “truth.” It’s all Satanic, yep, that’s the ticket to complete domination. Begin it as a conspiracy and pretty soon, even the dumbed down masses will imbibe what their slightly more awake (but still controlled by the hidden hand) “peers” tell them about the self-appointed “elite” puppeteers.

Just like in the French Revolution, which the Illumi-snotty brag about orchestrating (talk about a blood sacrifice!), the “useless eaters” will begin demanding that anyone and everyone who sounds like a witch, a pagan, a heathen, even gardeners (now on the terrorist watch list, no lie!), and anyone who uses esoteric skills, works with Mother Earth, or honors  the Goddess in her many forms, should be burned at the stake, hung from the nearest lamppost, because they’re “just like George H.W. Bush or Queen Lizardbeth.” Those two will, no doubt, go into hiding or fake their deaths, not actually be affected the 21st century Inquisition. Meanwhile, the frenzied, fiery masses — if stoked enough — will demand a purge to usher in either a State sponsored official “rational religion” or an even more complete right-wing, fundamentalist backlash against women, the Earth and any individual connection to Spirit or Soul.

Guess who will be most affected by this New Age Inquisition? New Ager’s. Yep, just like Communists use their liberal mouthpieces like journalists, artists and intellectuals to whip up frenzied demands for Communism and then promptly kill all these people once they get in power, the very “Christ Consciousness” New Ager’s getting so frothy against paganism will likely be lumped into the “esoteric” purge. Already in the UK, there’s a movement to shut down “esoteric” websites, supposedly because some child pornography rings have hidden behind them as cover. This has gotten public approval, but it has also linked child pornography with esoteric learning. A very small percentage of occult or esoterically educated people have anything to do with the horrors of child pornography or child sacrifice. Those who do are usually in positions of power like police chiefs, presidents, Senators, princes, Secret Societies or their high-powered associates.

The people who probably are not involved are your friendly neighborhood gardeners, tarot readers or people who gather for Wheel of the Year feasts celebrating the harvest. Yes, the harvest … or the planting season, the first growth, the animals’ various stages of reproduction. The Land. The Elements. The cycles of time, birth, life, death and rebirth. This brings me to today’s title, “Disinfo Alert: What is Imboc (Imbolg) and Who is Brigid?”

Imbolc translates to “in belly” and refers to the ewes being nearly ready to give birth to their lambs, which in pre-modern times meant fresh milk after a long winter of dwindling rations. Another version of the word, “Oimelc,” actually meant “ewe’s milk.” Contrary to whatever disinfo the hysterical people are spreading around online, and contrary to whatever patriarchal perversions the self-appointed “elite” have twisted this cross-quarter day into, Imbolc (celebrated on February 1) traditionally honored aspects of motherhood. Gestation, milk, lambs. The Irish Goddess Brigid — patron of midwives, newborn children, mothers and the hearthfire — was also honored on that date. In fact, devotion to this powerful Goddess was so strong that the Irish refused to give her up. The Catholic Church needed to adopt her — pretty much as is — and honor her on the same day.

“The Christian Feast Day of St. Brigid of Kildare, one of the two patron saints of Ireland, is held on February 1, the pre-Christian holiday known as Imbloc.  It is well known that St. Brigid has the same name as a pre-Christian Goddess of Ireland, variously known as Brighid (pronounced “Breed”), Brigid, Brigit, Bride, or Bridie.  The name Brigid is from the Celtic ‘Brig’ meaning ‘High One’ or ‘Exalted One.’  Brigid like other Irish Goddesses was originally associated with a Mountain Mother, protectress of the people who lived within sight of her and of the flocks nurtured on her slopes.” (source)

In addition to all these mother-related associations, Brigid was a goddess of sacred wells — wells with healing water, not whirlpools for drowning! Associated with healing, poetry and smithcraft and the fire that inspires all three, Brigid was and is one of the most powerful feminine forces revered for ages. Originally, iron for smithworking was associated with the menstrual blood of the Earth. Smithing was a magickal profession that required Brigid’s favor. You couldn’t just rape the Earth of her innards and expect to survive; you needed to honor the Mother, ask for permission and follow protocols. You needed the blessing of a powerful midwife Goddess.

I haven’t read all the discussions of “Imbolg,” but as Kieron shared in his comment, they mostly focus on blood and fire “sacrifices.” I mentioned yesterday that the original blood offering came from women and was menstrual blood — something potent, nourishing, powerful and deeply, unequivocally feminine. If a patriarchal crew suddenly wanted to co-opt a peaceful religion and somehow associated blood with power, then the only way to do so without honoring women would be to turn a peaceful female blood offering into violent blood sacrifices. This does not and never did have anything to do with Brigid!  Anyone who says it does is either misinformed through propaganda; is referring to some patriarchal perversion of an original celebration of mothers, motherhood, milk and fertility; or is trying to foment a 21st century witch hunt. Please don’t participate in this kind of slander, which will only backfire on those perpetuating it.

The hearth flame of Brigid represents home and the nourishing qualities of fire, not the burn your house down or burn the nearest witch quality of fire. Each Element is a powerful force capable of nurturing or destruction. Originally, people honored fire at cross quarter days (the halfway points between each season’s start on the Wheel of the Year) for its life giving or nurturing properties, specific to the time of year. At Imbolc, halfway between Winter and Spring, fire meant “hearth fire.” At Bealtaine, cattle were run between fires in order to remove parasites. Bealtaine also celebrates the inner fire of passion and its outward expression of fertility. At Lammas (loaf mass) or Lughnassagh (for Lugh, the Sun God), they celebrated the baking of grain into bread and the hot, bright sun that allowed crops to grow. On Samhain, perhaps the most legitimately “scary” of the festivals, at least for people who fear death, it was time to honor the ancestors and to put the land to sleep for the winter. The final harvest festival of the year, Samhain acknowledges the importance of death as part of the life cycle. People lit candles for ancestors, with whom they still felt deep kinship.

Imbolc also has associations with “spring cleaning” and taking stock of winter supplies. Halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, Imbolc marked the time of checking if a family had enough food to make it through May. These seasons are based on British Isles and Old Europe, so obviously, in some areas like Northern Indiana, a household would need more than half their supplies to make it through early harvest. Our last frost date sometimes doesn’t occur until early June! In the most traditional sense, Imbolc celebrated the return of the ewe’s milk, which offered sustenance not only for the little lambs, but also for hungry humans nearing the end of their food stores. Imbolc was a celebration of life and the promise that Winter would not last forever. We don’t know a lot about it, except that rural people held this day as incredibly important. In a culture that recognized a spiritual and soulful connection in their food growth and harvesting, we can perhaps understand why this would be so.

I hope these descriptions begin to clarify some of the deep, targeted disinformation and slander making waves on the internet these days. Brigid is the Matron Goddess of Faery Healing. You can read more about that here. If you’d like to learn more about celebrating the seasons, you can find countless books on rituals to honor the Wheel of Year. One particularly nice one is Jane Meredith’s “Rituals of Celebration.” There are beautiful rituals ranging from simple solitary to complex group, but I’ve never seen anything advising human sacrifice. Even this pagan website called (a threatening to some) “Raise the Horns,” doesn’t consider Imbolc any kind of sacrificial event. The article traces the history of Brigid, Imbolc, and the simultaneous but differently derived Candlemas. If you’d like to read more about the bizarre lengths our culture has gone to from pretty much every direction to denigrate or suppress the Goddess energies, I highly recommend Monica Sjoo’s book, “Return of the Dark/Light Goddess or New Age Armageddon.”

My friend Mitch also has this to say of her other book, “Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth”: While I appreciate and have learned much from Dark/Light Mother, Monica Sjoo’s calling  is ‘Cosmic Mother’, I cannot put it down. It’s hard to describe but it really feels like I’m reading a sacred text or a pivitol historic masterpiece, even though I don’t like that word but you get the gist, it just feels like ‘home’, sacred truth, kind of a ‘ahh so this is what it’s all about’ feeling. It truly is one of the best and most important books I’ve ever read. The only thing lacking is any knowledge of an (male) ET war on the divine feminine in Universe(?) and on Mother Earth but those holes are easily filled in. Almost every page has some incredible factoid nugget or connective wisdom I want to take an iphoto and send you so instead I urge you to order it and dive in, even if you have a pile of other books waiting, lol.

I do have a huge pile of other books waiting, but I ordered Great Cosmic Mother anyway. Other reference books would include Barbara Tedlock’s “The Woman in the Shaman’s Body” and, oddly enough, a belly dancing book called, “Grandmother’s Secrets.” The Illumi-snotty would have everyone reject the power of ritual as something evil or ridiculous, while keeping the power of ritual all to themselves. In our time of reclamation, let us also reclaim our own rights to live in harmony with each other and with Earth, Sea and Sky. May we heal them, and allow them to heal us!