Imbolc

Recently, I created a beautiful Imbolc ritual for the congregation that I serve here in Sunnyvale, CA. If you are not familiar with Imbolc, it’s a Greater Sabbat of the Neo-Pagan calendar, and it is a time to welcome the first stirrings of spring and honour the goddess Brigid. It’s a festival of renewal, fire, and fertility, marking the midpoint between the dark of winter and the light of spring. It’s also a celebration of the Maiden Archetype in Neo-Pagan theology, who in my personal theology is powerful because of her command of her fertility but also her powers of rebirth and self-rediscovery (think: Phoenix rising from the ashes).

As part of this holiday, in preparation for spring, I write down my laments and my joys for the year (very much like a written Joys and Sorrows for those UUs following along) on a piece of parchment, and when I was working in a circle/coven, we’d burn these parchment pieces in a cauldron and dance around it. Some of these fire dances were very powerful, and incredibly heady experiences. I remember at one time I was able to get the fire up to my height (I stand 6’2.5″) so that’s significant when you think this was just paper and alcohol as an accelerant! Instead, this time I simply collected the laments and hopes of the congregants, and offered them to the flames below…

As my lament/call for justice, and reminder of joy, I created this prayer/meditation/spell for myself and my congregation to hear. I hope you read it and are as inspired as my congregants were when they heard it.

A Lament for Justice

I invite you now into a quiet time, a time for spoken and silent contemplation.

Spirit of Life, Love, God/Goddess/Goddexx of many names, and of none…

Grieve with us. 

Lament with us as our neighbors are forced into deportation, to countries they fled from for whatever reason. Grieve with us that we cannot seem to acknowledge that no human is illegal. 

Lament with us as science is rejected and fallacy is championed. Grieve with those that have been affected by polio or tuberculosis, that they be healed as is available. 

Lament with us as our siblings lose their rights to be their authentic selves, and grieve with us even more if they cannot move, leave, or escape to a place where they are safe and free.

Lament with us as the rights so hard fought for by the LGBTQIA community, grieve for the potential loss of the rights that allow many of us to marry, have families, serve our country, and have survivorship rights. 

Lament with us as women continue to be attacked by legislation that limits their freedom of choice and grieve with them the loss of their bodily autonomy, knowing the irony of a corpse having more rights than they. 

Lament with us dear Spirit of Love. Grieve with us Goddexx.

But…

Fill us with the simple things that bring us joy. 

Fill us with the beauty of sunsets and sunrises, 

the smell of rain after a storm, 

the smell of fresh cut grass and sweet flowers, 

the roughness of the bark of trees or the prickliness of a cactus, 

the smell of a newborn and their giggle, 

the cuddle of a companion animal, 

the sound of a favorite song. 

the joy experienced by service members being reunited with their families.

These joys can make us thrive in our survival during this immoral and iniquitous time.   

Know that as your minister, as your spiritual leader,

That while we might disagree, and we might not always see eye to eye,

I still love you; I still respect you, and I will still fight for each and every one of you. 

Blessed Be.