Blessed Imbolc! 

All the sabbats are special but I have such a soft spot for Imbolc. It always feels like new beginnings to me. I particularly like when it falls on the weekend so I can dedicate time to cleaning and cleansing the house. Today will be a light clean and making some plans for the garden year ahead. Unfortunately I won’t be spending much time outside as it’s miserable here. I’ll still make sure to get out for my lunchtime walk and feed the swans though! That’s what raincoats are for right? 😀

Even though it’s miserable there are some exciting developments in the garden and it’s another reason to love Imbolc. When looking out at the garden this time of year it can look like nothing is happening and winter will never end but once you go out and look closely you can see that Spring is racing towards us. Hopefully racing anyway, last year we had hard frost until May!

Either way, my garden is showing signs of waking up. Last year I added a miniature Cherry Blossom and she has me out in the garden everyday, even in the rain, to track her progress.

It feels like it’s time to start getting my garden tools ready and soon, some much needed pruning of shrubs will begin. The daffodils are starting to poke their heads out and I need to do some mulch top ups once they begin to gain height. The Blackbirds are behaving like actual vandals and throwing my mulch all over the place. And don’t get me started on the two cats who have recently started to visit my garden. I love cats and I’m happy for them use my bamboo bed to do their business but I’d very much like for them to leave the rest of my flowerbeds alone. I was told that there is lion fertilizer that you can put down and it ‘might’ work? I’m willing to try it. They are annoying but I also love them and don’t want to put anything down that will hurt them or make them sick.

Anyway, I digress!

This is to be my first #MindforBooksPromptFebruary post. The others will likely be mostly book related but I couldn’t let today pass without an Imbolc post.

There are lots of gorgeous creators out there doing amazing sabbat things throughout the year and I’ve added two below. The ‘Ways to Celebrate Imbolc’ by @moonlightandmindfulness is super cute and gives some simple fun ideas to mark the day.

I adore, love and am obsessed with @talesfromthewood. Her Goddess Brigid depiction is just absolutely stunning and I really want one of her prints BUT if you visit her website shop talesfromthewood.ie/shop/ you will see why I clearly have a problem. I want EVERY. SINGLE. PRINT. I most especially want The Morrígan print because my emo teenage self would be very happy. Talesfromthewood also has a TikTok that I recommend following. She has loads of really cool content about Irish mythology and all her social media are spaces to feel calm.

So a blessed Imbolc to all! As of next year we will have a bank holiday here in Ireland in honor of St Brigid so an extra day to make sure my house is in order. 😀