The Nudge - Dispatch 25 | Imbolc 2025

Welcome to The Nudge | Imbolc 2025

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening 

that is  translated through you into action, 

and because there is only one of you in all of time, 

this expression is unique. 

It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, 

to keep the channel open” 

- Martha Graham

Dear Friends, Kindred Spirits & Anam Chairde

Táimid as bís -we are excited to prepare our monthly care package The Nudge, for you as we approach the festival of Imbolc - a pivotal point on the ancient Wheel of the Year. 

We are living in times of trouble. Our planet is on fire and underwater. Our people are sick and suffering. We are disconnected and displaced from ourselves, each other and this place we call home. And yet we long to belong…

These are also initiatory times. We being called to remember and reclaimour response-ability as ancestors-in-training.

Ár sinsir - our ancestors were animists, aligned with the rhythms of the land and the wild forces of nature that hibernate during winter (Giamos) and shine during summer (Samos). The Giamos half of the year has its midpoint at this time. Imbolc marks the quickening - the point at which ‘decrease’ turns to ‘increase’. True Imbolc occurs at the astronomical midpoint between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, which varies each year. The cross-quarter date for Imbolc in 2025 falls on February 03.

Imbolc translates as ‘in the belly’. Something stirs in the belly of the Great Mother. It is a threshold moment. pregnant with the seeds of possibility. As the Great Wheel turns we find ourselves slowly re-emerging from the dark womb of winter. This season offers a potent portal for personal & collective regeneration.

As the earth stirs, we notice the creative stirrings in the landscape and the greening power of nature; what 12th century Abbess and herbalist Hildegard Von Bingen named “Viriditas”, the greening force. Imbolc gives us pause to notice the stirrings in our own internal landscape so we can feel and embody the quickening.

Viriditas by Ceara Conway | One of our guides for Tending Our Roots

n Ireland, the festival of Imbolc is affectionately known as Lá Fheile Brídebecause the seasonal threshold of Imbolc is midwifed by the exalted one, Brigid, otherwise known as Breo-Saighit - the Fiery Arrow, Triple Goddess, Matron Saint of Ireland and Keeper of the Flame. She embodies the fertile aspect of the divine feminine energy, which emerges from the dark feminine energy of Samhain. 

We can call on Brigid as our ally in these initiatory times. She can support us rekindle our hearth and hearts so we can reconcile the past, receive the present and reimagine the future for the generations to come. 

'i mbolc - in the womb' by Kathy Scott

These times call for radical acts of resistance and reciprocity. The word radical is the botanical term for the embryonic first root. We are an interconnected interwoven ecosystem - fite fuaite. If we are to find collective liberation, we begin by tending our roots and tethering to each other so that we can rise together, rooted in resilience

Our Imbolc: 'Tending Our Roots' programme begins tonight at The Hedge School and honours this moment of quickening. We will be planting new seeds in the soil and soul of our lives. 

Remember we were made for these times and we are here walking with you, committed to keeping the channel open.

 journal prompts to inspire you at imbolc:

Reflect on the metaphor of "winter pregnant with summer." What areas of your life represent the possibility of new beginnings, and how can you cultivate a sense of renewal at this time of Imbolc?

How can you align with the 'quickening' and increasing energies available at this time? This is what the great poet Dylan Thomas called 'the force that through the green fuse drives the flower'. Notice the creative energies awakening within you. How can you bring these inner stirrings to fruition? How can you keep the channel open?

In what ways might you call on Brigid this season as a guide, ally and keeper of the flame? Is there a special place, holy well or sacred site associated with Brigid that you could visit at this time, either physically or through the power of your imagination?

what's coming up at the trailblazery:

As the Great Wheel turns, we are invited to pause and remember what we have travelled through together. We are excited to let you know what the future holds for our community here at The Trailblazery.

Tending our Roots is an invitation from the soil and soul of Ireland to walk together through the season of Imbolc; a time of emergence and renewal on the ancient Wheel of the Year. Tending Our Roots will host voices from Ireland and other parts of the Earth, bringing alive the power of right-relationship with ancestry and the wild world that nourishes us. As we travel through this 5-week immersive online journey, we will have an embodied experience of rewilding and tending our roots in alignment with the gifts and challenges of Imbolc.

We will be led by a host of extraordinary guides, artists and medicine keepers through communal ritual and ceremony. Our intention is to re-source true belonging with kin and kindred so that we can “tie our roots together” (Sophie Strand) and develop our capacity to navigate the turning of the Wheel at this time on our planet.

3 curated resources to mind your life & nourish your senses in the days ahead:

❀ Listen: For your ears

Pat McCabe (Weyakpa Najin Win, Woman Stands Shining) is a Diné (Navajo) mother, grandmother, activist, artist, writer, ceremonial leader, and international speaker. She is a voice for global peace, and her paintings are created as tools for individual, earth and global healing. She is also one of our guides for Tending Our Roots. 

She draws upon the Indigenous sciences of Thriving Life to reframe questions about sustainability and balance, and she is devoted to supporting the next generations, Women’s Nation and Men’s Nation, in being functional members of the “Hoop of Life” and upholding the honour of being human.

✦ Connect: For your soul

Brigid’s Way is an ancient path also known as the Irish ‘Camino’. This special and beautiful pilgrimage in honour of the saint and goddess Brigid was revived 13 years ago by Dr Karen Ward and Dolores Wheelan. It currently takes place only once a year. There is a need to highlight Brigid’s Way, the only one to honour a female saint and goddess, so we ask that you please sign this petition. This will help us to demonstrate to the powers that be how many people are interested in this pilgrimage path worldwide. Beir Bua - with victory

✮ Watch: For your eyes

Enjoy this poem by the wonderful Laura Murphy, who will also be joining us for Tending Our Roots.

Laura is a poet, activist and healer who works in the Irish tradition of Imbas Forosnai. Said to be a gift of Goddess and St. Brigid, the filí (poets) of medieval Ireland used this practice to bring wisdom into their beings, truth to power and healing to society.

Laura was the inaugural Poet in Residence at Herstory, the movement illuminating female role-models, she campaigned to make Brigid’s Day a national holiday, was commissioned by Kildare County Council to create the poem and short film ‘Is Mise Bríd’ to celebrate the new public holiday and she is an advocate for Palestine, Mother Earth, Ireland’s Mother and Baby Home and Magdalene Laundry survivors.

EnJOY these days - may the greening force be yours

Thank you for walking this path with us,
 
Beannachtaí,
Kathy and all at The Trailblazery