Imbolc

BRIGIT kindles and stokes her fire to ward off the chills and hungry wolves of the mid-point of the coldest quarter of the year. Though the year is at its coldest, the light is increasing and the darkest quarter has been left behind by her festival of Imbolg (aka: Imbolc) but her fires are needed more because of the drop in temperature. Her festival paves the way for the fires of passion in the mating season to begin and so she is fertile and youthful. Her fires warm the land to prepare it for the green Adonis.

Brigit is fundamentally a goddess of rising splendor as seen in the rising of the year, the rising of the sun, the rising of life from its wintry sleep, the soaring splendor of artisans and smiths and the rising of uplands (Brigantia). In this sense, she is the Celtic analogue of Minerva who is Her Eminence and of Athena of the rising acropolis and high-brow erudition.