Imbolc, Brigid, and Groundhog Day

We often talk about the connections of astrology with the season cycle. The Solstices and Equinoxes mark zero degrees of the Cardinal Zodiac Signs. The midpoints in time between Solstices and Equinoxes are "Cross Quarter Days," holy days based on the seasons.

The middle of Aquarius comes early in February and brings Imbolc or Brigid ~ Candlemas (February 2) ~ the newborn Sun God is seen as a small child nursing at the breast of the Mother. Energy is directed toward blessing and empowering new beginnings. At this Holy Day the Goddess of Fire and Inspiration, Brigid, is honored. To the Irish she is the Triple Goddess of Poetry, Healing, and Smithcraft. The Light of the days continues to increase.

Aquarius tells us it is a time for our unique individuality to manifest as well. It is a time of Initiation ritual, of beginnings. Coming at lambing time, Imbolc (or Oimelc) celebrated the beginning of the end of winter. New lambs were born, and a dish made from their docked tails was eaten. This survived into Christian times as the Feast of Brigid: the saint was a Christianized version of the pagan goddess of the same name. http://www.livingmyths.com/Celticyear.htm

Brigid's festival is Imbolc, when she ushers Spring to the land . . . This mid-Winter feast commences as the ewes begin to lactate and is the start of the new agricultural cycle. During this time Brigid personifies a bride, virgin or maiden aspect and is the protectoress of women in childbirth. Gailleach, or White Lady, drank from the ancient Well of Youth at dawn. In that instant, she was transformed into her Maiden aspect, the young goddess called Brigid. Wells were considered to be sacred because they arose from oimbelc (literally "in the belly"), or womb of Mother Earth.

Imbolc also is known as Oimelc, Brigid, Candlemas, or even in America as Groundhog Day. As the foundation for the American Groundhog Day, Brigid's snake comes out of its mound in which it hibernates and its behavior is said to determine the length of the remaining Winter. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/b/brigid.html "Brigid." Encyclopedia Mythica from Encyclopedia Mythica Online.

-- from handout material at a January 2005 talk I gave. Although there are a couple of sources given, I'm not certain where I got some of this. It didn't just pop out of my head or from the belly of Aquarius for that matter even though I have Venus quite near that place. -- Tim

Meteor shower astrology

A friend wrote me this morning and it got me thinking.

She included a news clip about this morning’s meteor shower and wrote: “Hi Tim, Any horoscopic effect of the likes of this?”

I replied that I love looking into the night sky; especially from places with little or no light pollution. That’s another one of the many things that inspire my calling. Sometimes, if I happen to awaken “pre-dawn” and happen to remember there’s something to look at, I see a special sky show. I missed this one.

In terms of horoscopic effects, I don’t see astrology as any kind of cause and effect thing. My view is that astrology is a reflection, and so offers another perspective on life, on whatever.

This Orionid shower represents a convergence of Earth’s orbit with the debris field left by a comet (this famous one, Halley’s). Particles of the debris fall through the atmosphere and light up.

While I’ve never made a study of an astrological reflection of such an event, I would do it something like this. I’d translate the location of the event into Zodiacal longitude in order to know where it might apply in an horoscope. That opens a big can of worms in that the belt of the Zodiac is relatively narrow in terms of the whole of the space around the planet. If the location is way above or below the belt the convention is to drop lines down (or up) from the location to where they would be if within the belt, if space could be squished down into a disk.

Then, knowing where the event is occurring Zodiacally, I could plug that into a horoscope (stylized round map) and begin to apply some of the symbology/mythology to the individual or whatever in question. I would consider the symbology of the region of space, of Halley’s Comet itself, what stars, what constellations, if there are any planets currently in the region, and so on. Then I’d apply that via its location in the individual horoscope to get more information on the intersection of the event with the person.

http://meteorshowersonline.com/images/orionidsnorth.jpg You see by looking out into space just from this picture you see Orion, a constellation. Here’s another view. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/images/orionids/skymap_north.gif]

The astrological background would be the palette of myth, symbol, and scientific measure. Orion is the Great Hunter and in the Tropical Zodiac the constellation extends from about 8º Gemini to 6º Cancer. Had I the time to make an evaluation I’d include all of that and especially links including major stars like Betelgeuse, Rigel, Bellatrix and others. There are symbolic applications that can be made including the comet, these stars, the constellation, the Zodiac, and more.

A meteor shower might be a blip astrologically that we’d link with what it looks like, bright displays, streaks of light, enhanced wonder, even joy at a natural display. It might coincide with some flashy dreams, some moments of inspiration, illumination of an individual’s hunt, and so on.

There are astrologers who utilize a great deal of focus on the stars and constellations who could offer much more than I can. Because a meteor shower is such a flickering and transitory event, I’ve not thought to make much of a study of them. I am open to the possibilities though.