Surviving the longest winter ever.

This current global health crisis has put many things in perspective. As the order to shelter in place continues on, I've been thinking a lot about the time when I was in my first formal Wicca 101 class with Tony K. Tony K., the future founder of the Church of the Knotted Ash, was my instructor. He was telling the class about the importance of the festival called Imbolc. He asked us to imagine ourselves in the place of the first Wiccans who had been confined to their homes since Samhain. By the beginning of February, when Imbolc occurs, you feel like you're about to go crazy. The only people that you've seen are the people in your home or neighbors you can conceivably walk to.

These first Wiccans, most likely hunter gatherers, lacked the things that we take for granted today. Back then If you were wealthy enough to receive an education maybe you could play a musical instrument. If you were a child you most likely only had one hand made toy and that was the only toy you could get for the entire year. After working together on the farm families of that time either learned to enjoy each others company or spent that time bickering at each other. What we can take away from the example set by previous generations is that if they could survive long periods of isolation, then we can to.

The festival of Imbolc reminded everyone that brighter. warmer days will come. This spring, in Western New York State, we got a lot of "extra snow". I feel like that is The Earth Mother telling us that she is ill and needs more time to rest before the lasting warmth comes. In obedience to The Earth Mother we stay inside sharing the comfort of those closest to us.

As modern people, we use our computers, smart phones etc.. to bring those we love and miss close too us.. We would all do well to remember that while it is heartbreaking to be physically apart from loved ones, our ancestors would consider our time nothing less then magical.

Before I leave you today I want to talk about the reason why I haven't directly addressed the situation that we're all in. The truth is that I didn't want to think of this time as lasting anymore than a few weeks. The reality is that this is lasting longer than we anticipated. I took my time so that I could choose my words more carefully. My hope is you may want to carry my stories with you through this time when we're all being tested. In these blog entries you will hear about the many people who have inspired me and I hope that I can do the same for you.

Let's all keep walking with the Goddess together.