May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome and dangerous,leading to the most amazing view.
—Edward Abbey, from Desert Solitaire
by Mark Gallup
Imbolc is a Celtic festival that marks mid-winter. The name is said to derive from “oimelc,” ewe’s milk. In Britain, Imbolc signified the beginning of lambing season. Foxes and other animals start to give birth this time of year too. It is sacred to the Celtic fire goddess Brigit, who some say morphed into the Christian saint.
Yet still there is winter. But in New England there is life in the snow and under it—as the photo shows—waiting to be revealed; voles, moles, and mice are active under the snow leaving trails that are revealed as snow melts. Foxes go to their dens to give birth, seldom leaving for several weeks.
So also in our lives. Deep within us are things that remain hidden or are waiting to give birth. How do we bring this life to light or birth it?
Sometimes we need to “den up” for a time – as a fox does – to give birth and nurture what is being born. For the hidden things, we need to wait until that which covers what seeks to be known melts away. Just like waiting for the end of winter, patience is called for. But the light of the sacred and divine shining within us can warm the den and melt the snow. We simply need to bask in the light.
Look at your own life. What needs birth? What is hidden and needs to see the light?
Den up and spend some time gestating. Then let the light shine in.
The Rev. Mark Gallup is a Pagan high priest, interfaith minister, spiritual seeker, mystic, and diviner of the Natural World. Mark has been a practicing Pagan for over thirty years. He is a graduate of the College of Wicca and Old Lore as well as being trained in Feri. Mark was ordained in 2013 as an interfaith minister by the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine. Along with his wife, Mary Gelfand, he leads Earth-centered spiritual events and serves as an elder for White Pine Programs in York, ME.
