Wednesday 2 February 2011

~ Imbolc and dragons ~

A little hearth altar to honour Brigid and the return of the light.

The goddess in the back which was a woodland~walk gift, the crystal and stone friends have a permanent residence there.
I made the cross in the little woven basket ~ which was a beautiful thrift find ~ many years ago, the mini brass anvil was also a thrift find, and St Brigid's Cross I made last week while house~sitting the Willow Farm for a few days again. The sage and rosemary are from our garden ~ brave survivors of the snow and frost ~ they will be wrapped up into a small smudge stick tomorrow.

I always like to honour the return of the light on February 1st and 2nd. It is obviously lighter now ~ yay ~ and I could, if I wished to (always!) or had the time, read from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm without flicking a switch or lighting a candle....yes! yes! yes!

Brigid is one of my favourite goddesses and I love that she is the patroness of poetry, healing, smithcraft, midwifery and the care of animals. She also presides over the hearth and is traditionally honoured on this day. I often ask for her assistance if the fire is being difficult to light....she always answers.

I had such fun making the Brigid's Cross...my first attempt, and I was glad that I thought of it while I was on the Willow Farm and that Willow is the tree for February...LOVE it so much when things fit so neatly. I found this excellent video tutorial, and armed with a bunch of very fine purpurea willow, successfully followed Stella's instructions. The man with her, cracks me up with his 'mmmm's' and 'aaahhh's'!

 Yesterday, My Man and I were in my favourite town ~ Newcastle Emlyn ~ only three miles from the village where I grew up. It's ancient castle ruin ~

taken in September 2010

~ which has quite a history, was the site of the death of the last dragon in Wales....although, since the hatching of that egg I am so very happy to see it has returned ~

~ and was standing guard over the gateway into the castle. I'm glad to say it was very friendly to us :~)

Happy Imbolc ~ from a wet Wales with fire and candles lit ~

Cariad mawr
H x


8 comments:

  1. Hi I thought I better introduce myself, as my name is Helen also, I have no blog, but I've been commenting at Spirit cloth and other related blogs from her list under the name of "helen" and nothing else. I will try to use my last name, as I tend to be cynical, sarcastic and have a dry sense of humor and would hate for people to mix the two of us up. When I saw the comment on "spirit cloth" I immediately thought, I didn't post that. The only people I've ever encountered with my name were "old " aunts or grandmothers, Ha! so never in a million years did I think I would have to distinquish myself from someone else. Like I said I can try to remmeber to use my last name so people won't think badly about you. HA!

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  2. Google doesn't have my last name on file when I post. i also am not computer savvy so...on google posts we'll just live with it. :)

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  3. Ha! ha! Hi Helen :~) There are THREE of us now!! I'm not terribly computer savy either, and 'living with it' is fine. I tend to gush with admiration...but do try to control it. I'll sign myself 'Helen from Wales' at the end of my comments if you like...that should work.

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  4. I love the world you conjure up of natural finds and natural-made wonders, of firelight and candlelight.

    Happy February to you, Helen! (from yet another Helen! Maybe we should start a club...)

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  5. Hi hi Helen and thank you for your lovely words :~) You were one of the three Helen's I was refering to!....the H club! :~) Love to you x

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  6. Ooops....punctuation error!!

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  7. :-) well i am not a helen but i have adored every helen i have ever met ... so ... um yeah :-) xoxo

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  8. Ha ha ~ I recognise that beautiful face ~ and I adore your blog and writings :~) Thank you Darlene x x

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