Alice Mason Artist

Imbolc
by Caroline Mellor

I am the dream of awakening.
I am the returning of the light.
I am the tough green shoot pushing up through the pavestones, I am the first kiss of sunlight on the unfurling petals of the snowdrop. I am the wind which whispers the gentle pull of home to the migratory bird.
I am the drop of ice melting on the mountainside with its great dream of the ocean.
I am the sap rising in the blossom tree just before it reveals its sticky buds to the sky; I am the riotous celebration humming away beneath the earth’s mantle of frozen sleep.
I am the rousing of the bee from its winter slumber, and the soft pad of the mother-wolf’s paw on the snow as she prepares to birth her pups.
I am hope, potential, rebirth and promise. I am the kindling breath which transforms the flicker of inspiration in your creative core into a blazing torch.
Give me the silent crescent moon rising over the sea and I will build you a bridge of silver light so you can walk up and lie in it.
Give me the frost-hardened wilderness and I will breathe radiant green life over it.
Give me the healer, the writer, the craftsperson and the storyteller, and I will replenish her essence and make her new again.
I am Brigid, Bast, Inanna and Hestia. I am the fierce protectress of the sacred fire.
Tonight I bestow my gifts of power and courage at the hearth of your soul: power to step out of the shadows of self-doubt and negativity which have held you in darkness for too long, power to shed all that which no longer serves you, and courage to clear your heart and mind for the dawn that awaits you.
I am the time to honor your unique gifts for their true worth and to protect and nurture your creative self as you would a child. I am the deep longing of the spirit which refuses to be consumed by a narrative of fear and chooses instead to place itself vivaciously on the side of love.
I am the stirring in your belly which knows exactly what you are capable of — and that it’s time the world found out.
I am the fire within which will not be contained any longer.
I am the quickening, I am the serpent uncoiling, I am Imbolc.
I am the dream of awakening.

Well, the rural idyll which was the beautiful hovel in the campo of Bayacas, situated on a mountainside with only a couple of donkeys as neighbours so intoxicated me, that I didn’t at first notice I was being bitten alive by creatures, ( fleas? bed bugs?) And even the cicadas drowned out the sound of the creatures eating away at the wooden beams above my head.. The beam-eating creatures became so loud that I wished I’d brought ear plugs..I could positively hear them chewing and crunching their way slowly through the wood..Funny sort of life that…at least you don’t need a calendar…I would ponder the existence of a creature whose sole purpose is to chomp through wood day in, day out..

One night there was a thunder and lightening storm and i ran outside arms wide to receive the magic. Never do I feel that sense of freedom and aliveness as I do in these mountains.

I am now here, near friends in a clean house in the wilds of the (currently) dry river bed..The heat makes me feel lazy, so I am not fighting it..

I plan to paint, read and walk a bit..