FEAST OF FIRST MILK

Last night at sunset the ancient Celtic Feast of First Milk, Imbolc, commenced. Like Halloween and MayDay, Imbolc is often celebrated by modern pagans on a fixed calendar date. Because the type of magick I practice is so tied in with the patterns of the planets-- and especially to the movements of the sun and moon-- I prefer to celebrate the "Fire Festivals" and other feasts on their astrological anniversaries. Again, it just "feels" right to me to do this.

Of the fire festivals, or quarter days, Imbolc is the most subtle (at least to those of us living today), and most probably a later addition to the Celtic calendar. Bealtaine and Samhain, now known as MayDay and Halloween, are certainly the oldest. Their discovery points to the wisdom of the ancient Druids who no doubt were able to see the veil between the spirit world and our world lift on these two days-- the sun at 15 degrees Taurus and Scorpio respectivly.

The Druids evolved from a people who were really neither agricultural nor pastoral. The wandering tribes that eventually settled in France and Ireland, and everywhere in between, were initially fierce nomadic warriors. Even as they established homes and became herdsmen, cattle raiding took up a large portion of their time (and fire-side tales).

Their calendar reflects this in that, unlike agricultural peoples, there is little evidence that they celebrated the seasons (the solstice's and the Equinox) except for a recognition of the "fallow" time between Samhain (Halloween) and Yule (Christmas). (A new day began at dusk, and the New Year, which began at Samhain, also began in darkness, until the new sun was born at the winter solstice.)

Samhain was a Feast of the Dead and of death. It was the final slaughter of the animals, and a night (actually a week-long celebration) to honour the ancestors. Bealtaine was the celebration of the mating of the animals, and of new life coming into the world. (The feast I have not discussed here, the final quarter day, is Lughnassadh, probably the last feast adopted, the Feast of First Grain, a decidely agricultural holiday. Lughnassadh is the counterpoint to Imbolc, celebrated on the fixed date of August 1st, and astrologically when the sun reaches 15 degrees Leo.)

In a time and place where an over abundance of food is more of an issue than lack, and where the change in the seasons affects us very little, as we drive in our cars to jobs where we look at computer screens, and then drive home to look at television screens, perhaps it is hard to imagine what these Festivals meant to our ancestors.

What hope and promise those new lambs, and the milk their mother's produced, must have meant to people thousands of years ago. The final breeding before Samhain would have determined which of the herd would be spared slaughter. In the cold dark night, a spark of the Bealtaine fires would have warmed the hearts of those waiting for winter's end, much like the later promise of the Groundhog's shadow.


Spring will come. The snow will melt. Life will be re-born again.

Today, look ahead to MayDay and the waxing half of the year. What dream has been incubating since Samhain? What seeds did last year's harvest reap? Today is a day for blessings. Blessing the past, blessing the future, and knowing that the cycle of life will continue. Prepare your dreams for the next growing season, and nurture the birth of today's miracles, as fragile as newborn lambs in the winter's cold.

PRAISES, THANKS, & BLESSINGS!!!