TIMING 2019 IMBOLC

Current technology gives easy access to calculate the precise moment of astronomical phenomena, including of the cross-quarter days, those that are mid-way between the solstices and equinoxes. We’ve already seen one of the reflections of a cross-quarter recognition with the February 2 attention to Groundhog Day, brought to the Americas by European immigrants who used different animals in their home countries. Some didn’t use animals at all but on the morning of notice saw either a clear cold day with sunshine (winter continues) or a damp, cloudy day (the ground begins to warm).

Imbolc Flowers - Church of All Worlds

15° Mid-Aquarius
February 4, 2019
03:14:35 AM UT/GMT
February 3, 2019
10:14:35 PM EST
09:14:35 PM CST
08:14:35 PM MST
07:14:35 PM PST
05:14:35 PM AHST

From Palden Jenkins we have this:
“...there is a distinction between the quarters and the cross-quarters. The quarters represent change-points in energy-patterning, in terms of light. The cross-quarters represent change-points in manifest energy, in terms of visible seasonal changes. The peaks of the four seasons show themselves at the cross-quarters.”

Biddy Murphy Irish Gifts

Imbolc or Imolg is celebrated at the end of January/beginning of February in Celtic and pagan traditions when Winter has reached its peak, the days are lengthening slightly, and the first signs of Spring begin to show. Coinciding events include Saint Brigid’s Day, Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus, Candlemas, and Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Those who minded such things were advisers to kings and to farmer folk. They had the respect of those whom they advised. Some were scientifically oriented, some were more intuitively minded. They were priests, nuns, druids, shamans, witches, and wizards who had respect as men and women of wisdom. Their attunement to the astronomical had nothing like the precision of timing offered here, and that timing may not be a superior tool for its accuracy. As long as it’s available though, it may be useful for some to incorporate into personal, ritual, or social practice.

Brigid found on Etsy

Inspired by "Sacred Celebrations, A Sourcebook"
The active phase of life in the Northern Hemisphere is beginning as daylight lengthens and the sun returns warmth. This awareness might be combined with intuitive receptive energy and what has been assimilated and understood on inner levels during the winter months is source material for the season ahead. It is a time for new beginnings, emerging ideas, and the outer growth of personal seeds from their incubation period within.
Glennie Kindred  http://www.gothicimage.co.uk/books/sacredcelebs1.html

A nature oriented wise person might also take note of and include lunations, new and full moons, as they may sometimes tie in closely with astronomical days. At the exact moment of the 2019 Imbolc Cross Quarter, the Moon is 8 degrees from the New Moon Sun. She catches the Sun about 15 hours after the cross quarter moment still within the 15th degree of the cross quarter. The final hours before the Moon joins the degree where the Sun is gives a sense of absolute consolidation. The cycle in completion is about to birth a new cycle from the loved or hated stuff of the closing cycle as it is dying and being born. For this a keyword, Emergence.

New Moon 15° 45’ Aquarius, February 4, 2019
09:03:28 PM UT/GMT
04:03:28 PM EST
03:03:28 PM CST
02:03:28 PM MST
01:03:28 PM PST
11:03:28 AM AHST