Candlemas: the Preamble
My apologies for this month-long hiatus. During December, pressure of work, the demands of the holiday season, and the usual seasonal cold all contributed to making sure I had little or no spare time and energy. But here, at last, is the next instalment of the handbook: the opening section of the Candlemas chapter.
Preamble
With the coming of February the strengthening sun and longer hours of daylight initiate ‘The Quickening of the Year’. To townspeople Spring does not begin until the middle of March or Easter, but to the pagan and some country folk Spring begins today. Admittedly Winter can be a long time a-going, but nevertheless there are signs of life, indomitable and assured, even in the late blizzard’s fury, for this is the time when lambs begin to be born, and when snowdrops, the first of flowers, delight the winter-weary eye. Everywhere trees ready their buds, birds start to try over their songs, and even if a bit tentatively, the dawn chorus makes a practice start; and despite fierce weather there come calm days and pale blue skies bright with the strengthening sun.
Candlemas, as its name suggests, is a festival of light and hope. Its great mystery is in the transformation of the Goddess from being the Mother of the Star Child to the Spring Maiden. She is the Lady of Light whose radiance illumines the path of the year ahead. She is the light of intuition and creative inspiration. She is the muse of artists and the female principle in man. Her colour is white and Her flowers at this festival are snowdrops.
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