Nature connection prompt: Imbolc

...because we are nature

I thought I would do something a little different this week because, according to the Pagan Wheel of the Year, it is Imbolc this weekend…

Imbolc marks the halfway point between the winter solstice (the shortest day) and the spring equinox (when day and night are equal lengths). What’s lovely about the Pagan calendar is that it is divided into eight festivals, rather than four seasons, so rather than waiting until 21 March for Spring to begin, we can start looking forward towards it from early February.

It is common practice to draw tarot cards to align with Pagan festivals or the moon cycle. I am away this weekend at the Ocean Advocate Summit so I will miss more formal and collective celebrations in Cornwall, so I thought I would do just that as part of my personal Imbolc celebrations.

I am not a pro at this stuff, so I started by searching ‘Imbolc tarot spread’ online and came up with the following:

• lessons from the depths of winter

• what to cleanse and burn away

• how to prepare for the spring

• what to look ahead to

Then I shuffled my deck and those four cards jumped out. (Opinions are divided on ‘jumping’ cards, but I love it when a card seems to want to be chosen!) and you can see from the image above that I got:

• 0. the fool

• iv. the emperor

• nine of swords

• ace of wands

Now these cards will mean different things to me from what they mean to you, so start with your own interpretations.

If you’re not super familiar with tarot, start with the images – what do they suggest to you?

If you were sitting in nature asking for guidance and saw any of these things (apart from maybe the swords – that seems unlikely!), how would you interpret them?

To give you some more hints (and again, I’m not a pro, so I’m looking all of this up in a book called The Art of Tarot by Amélie Auffret!) the Fool and the Emperor are both major arcana cards.

The fool can either be placed first or last and represents freedom. He can be a pilgrim, an adventurer, a wonderer, a free spirit, a joker or sometimes a court jester.

The emperor can represent you if you identify as male, the masculine energy within you, or a male or masculine figure in your life – and this card suggests power, a warrior, bravery, conviction, dependability, family and friendship.

A nine can mean solitude and swords are usually associated with intellect or the mental realm.

An ace or a one represents new beginnings and wands relate to action.

Spend some time journalling on all of that and see what comes up for you.

Don’t be tempted to scroll down until you have captured at least some of your own thoughts…. The intention here is to connect with your own inner nature, not mine!

All done…?

Promise…?!

Okay.

What comes up for me

Okay, so I am thinking about this as I type!

• lessons from the depths of winter // the fool // freedom, a pilgrim, an adventurer, a wonderer, a free spirit, a joker, and sometimes a court jester

I have been thinking about freedom a lot lately – what it really means to be free. I love the possibility in this image – the idea that you could step off that precipice and have no idea what comes next. And as this card is 0, I am interpreting the sky as dawn and a sense of new beginnings.

I have hugely simplified my business in the last six months, making some tough decisions to close parts of it down, and reduce my overheads. It has been tough, but it’s brought a sense of spaciousness and autonomy that I am really enjoying now. I am even considering a full-time role as we speak – which sounds like less freedom, but I am hoping it might just bring me more. I hope that clear boundaries about what is work and what isn’t might enable me to let go of some of the stuff that doesn’t really fill either cup and enable me to be more present for each as a result.