The Light of a Snow Moon
As we welcome the Snow Moon this week and continue our journey out of midwinter, I am struck not by the quantity of light but its quality. While the daylight has been increasing for two months now, it is these February days that leave me with a distinct feeling of more light — bits of birdsong punctuated with more sunny, sparkly days.
One of many February festivals marking this distinct change towards the light is the Celtic Imbolc. I recently learned one of its possible meanings is “in the belly,” referring to this as the lambing season in Britain. This past week as I hibernated and listened to an audiobook of a 20th century bucolic romance, Precious Bane, Mary Webb spoke of the shepherd farmer wandering the woods late into the cold night, in the company of ghosts, listening hard against the wind for the unlikely sound of birth.
As we brace ourselves against the chill and lean towards the new life that signals spring, we at WBC continue our Mothering & Alternative Winter Traditions series. Guest writer Amber Ridenour Walker writes of creating ritual and turning to deep nourishment. Chris writes of midwinter communion with ghosts, or writers of another time, and of seeing the subtle movement behind what’s seemingly still, reminding me of sap beginning to ooze unseen:
“As I passed each puddle, I began to take pictures of their freeze patterns, the concentric rings suggesting the flow of water or fractures on the hardened surface. Each was a masterpiece, entirely unique and in flux.”
Look for more in our series as we lean ever so slowly into the light.
