Working with deities or natural energies doesn’t always require complex rituals or complex spells. Oftentimes a simpler approach will provide you with those contacts in just a few moments, usually without the need for any tools other than yourself. The following invocations, prayers, meditations, and simple magicks can provide you with clarification, direction, and a deeper connection with both the natural and supernatural worlds.
Blessings for New Projects
As Imbolc is a time for planning new projects, it is also a great time to ask for blessings for your new (and renewed) projects. The following prayer to the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha can help remove obstacles blocking the success of your projects in the coming warmer days. Ganesha is known as Lord of New Beginnings, which makes this a perfect prayer for Imbolc.
Ganesha is a very approachable god and a powerful ally for any new project. That being said, Ganesha is also a god who will become offended if we ask for his help after having asked others before him. Ganesha wants to be the first god on your list, so offer this prayer before invoking other deities and—if you use one—before casting a magick circle. Just be certain that Ganesha is the deity in your workings since he is also known as Lord of Obstacles (he can remove them but he can also place them in your way)! If you wish to make an offering, Ganesha is very fond of cakes made of grain (a rice cake or corn muffin would make a good substitute). If you choose to use offer a candle, use one that is pink or white.
Great Lord Ganesha, I call upon you at this
season of Imbolc and ask for your blessings
and thank you for hearing my plea.
Lord Ganesha, I ask your blessings on
[my new project] in the coming year.
Please grant your favor and remove all obstacles
that stand in the way of my/our success.
I ask that you show me/us the path to success.
I thank you for listening to my prayer.
If you have used a candle or incense as your offering, it is best to allow it to burn completely. If you are doing other rituals, prayers, or meditations, allow the candle or incense to burn as a continuing blessing for all the other work you do. Safety is an important concern here, and you should never leave anything unattended while it burns. If you can’t stay nearby until the offering has burned out, allow it to burn as long as you safely can. Food offerings can be left outside to feed some of the Earth’s hungry animals who are also just beginning to emerge from winter’s icy grip.
Prayers for Healing
Brigid is a goddess of healing, and Imbolc is a time for new beginnings, so this sabbat is a perfect occasion to call upon her powers to heal body and mind. Whether physical or emotional healing is needed, her energies have long been revered for healing of all kinds. A white candle is often used when praying to Brigid, but a blue candle is also appropriate when asking for healing. Be aware that many Pagans and Wiccans believe that when praying for another, the other person’s permission should always be granted beforehand. Praying for the wellbeing of others seems like a kindness, but it is wise to ask before sending any type of energy to another person.
A Prayer for Healing the Body
Physical injury and illness are simply part of life, but winter adds its own season of physical issues. Endless days spent indoors while waiting for warmer days makes illness spread more easily. For many of us, the cold aggravates old injuries, and the ice and snow in many places also increases the number of injuries. Imbolc is a great time to energize healing of these physical ailments. Light a candle and ask Brigid to help. You can always ask for general health, but the energy will be more focused if your healing request is specific.
Goddess Brigid, Maiden, Mother, and Crone,
protector of life, I ask that you return health to me/
[name other people] during this season of Imbolc.
Please send your healing power to mend bone
and flesh, ease breathing, and restore full life.
Above all else, please ease the pain and
discomfort until health is restored.
Glorious Brigid, goddess of flame and of well,
in the light of perfect love, bring a swift
healing to those who are suffering.
A Prayer for Healing the Mind, Heart, or Soul
Those close quarters of the cold days can also cause rifts between us and those closest to us. Sometimes new beginnings are created because something else has come to an end. Getting a new job is a type of a new beginning, but sometimes the new job came about after losing a previous job, or it means leaving behind coworkers with whom you had grown close. Starting a romantic relationship with someone is a new beginning, but often new relationships come about after the ending of previous ones. Just as old physical injuries can leave us with scars and chronic pain, old emotional pain can linger for a lifetime if left unaddressed. Light your candle and ask Brigid to use her immense power to help heal minds as well as bodies.
Goddess Brigid, Keeper of the Flame, Tender of the Well, I come to you to ask for the healing of an injured soul.
Please look into deepest places within [person’s name]
and find the injuries that lie beneath the surface.
I ask that you ease the pain within my/that soul.
Just as this candle shines, I ask that you
shine a light on a path towards healing.
Shine a light so bright and clear that
the path to healing is unmistakable.
Please send whatever assistance will be
needed to make this soul whole once again.
Opening to New Possibilities
Much of the focus of Imbolc is on new life and new beginnings. We understand that the wheel of the year turns and life begins anew, so Imbolc always has these themes. That doesn’t mean that you are going to launch new projects or start new relationships every year, however. Sometimes we grow so comfortable in our lives that we stop even considering the possibility of change. The following meditation is one way to open yourself to new possibilities that might not normally be on your radar, so to speak.
The heart of meditation is to quiet your mind. While the kind of contemplative meditation in this exercise will not completely quiet the mind, it can create a serene space where new possibilities can reveal themselves. Sadly, our inner voice is sometimes so quiet that we can’t hear its whispers above the voices outside ourselves. Meditation can help to hear those faint voices.
If possible, select a location to meditate where you have a clear view of a natural space, such as an open field, a stand of trees, or even a snow covered patch of yard. You don’t have to be physically outside (you could look out a window or even use a photo of an appropriate scene), but if you can comfortably sit for a while outside that can add to the experience. Physical discomfort can distract from your ability to quiet your mind, so sit somewhere comfortable. Don’t get too comfortable, or when you relax your mind you might accidentally fall asleep!
Look out on the barren or frozen landscape of late winter. As you begin to still your mind, let your gaze drift around the scene. If you live in an urban area, you might use an empty lot that grows a little patch of weeds each summer. In rural areas you might look out over a brown pasture or a grove of deciduous trees bare of leaves. Even a planter on your porch with a patch of snow where flowers will bloom in the summer is a good focal point.
Just take in your view of the life that is about to emerge from winter’s grip. As you allow your own voice to fade away, let that natural space fill your mind. If you have trouble quieting your inner conversation you might try singing a verse of a favorite song or chanting for a minute or two to help silence your thoughts. As you look at your bit of natural landscape, allow your mind to start to see its future. See the snow melting, the brown grass turning green and growing under a summer sun, or see flowers sprouting from the window box outside. As you watch this bit of nature turn the wheel of the year, relax your mind and allow images to enter into the scene.
Many times you might see only the growth that comes with the turning of the wheel, but if you keep your mind open you may well see signs of new possibilities for yourself. It might be something as obvious as the revelation of a new garden spot in your yard. It might be something more esoteric such as seeing yourself in the landscape performing some task. You may even receive a visit from a spirit guide to nudge you in a certain direction. The more subtle signs may require a great deal of thought and reflection to decipher. Often during this type of meditation people will have a “Eureka!” moment of clarity where a new possibility suddenly becomes obvious. Don’t worry if you have no such moments. There isn’t always a need for new opportunities, and that result might tell you that you are already on a good path.
Prophecies of Faunus
Faunus (also known as Lupercus) is the center of the Lupercalia festival discussed in the Old Ways chapter. He is renowned for bringing prophetic dreams to those who ask him or sleep in his sacred places. You should be warned, however, that Faunus has an untamed energy that can result in frightening or upsetting dreams even when they may portend wonderful things. Unless you are very familiar with interpreting dreams, those sent by Faunus may be difficult to comprehend. Faunus does not communicate verbally; instead, he uses very primal energies and symbols to convey any messages.
If Faunus grants you a dream, write down as many details as possible as soon as you wake. He is a protective deity but his animalistic methods of protection can sometimes be difficult for humans to understand. For instance, he protects livestock from wolves and at the same time protects wolves from humans. His sense of balance is nature-based and doesn’t always agree with the human perspective. You may have to review the details of the dream many times to gain real insight to its meaning. His symbols may be violent or sexual, making it even more difficult to see a positive interpretation, but the dreams are famed for their powerful truths.
While it is unlikely that you will want to sleep beneath a holly tree, open a window in your bedroom—if only a tiny crack. Doing so will provide an easy pathway to Faunus’s natural energies. If you believe the god Pan has appeared in a dream after you have reached out to Faunus, carefully evaluate the dream; Faunus is often mistaken for Pan.
Just before going to bed on the night of the full moon or the new moon, quiet your mind and call to this ancient god.
Faunus, Wild One, Lupercus, god to the fathers
of the Romans, I ask you to hear my words.
Show me what the future holds
for me in the coming long days.
Your strength, your passion, and your
essence of nature can open the eyes
of a human to possibilities that might
never be considered otherwise.
I call upon you to enter my heart
and look upon my soul this night.
Guide my dreams and show me what lies ahead.
If you don’t receive a prophetic dream on the first night, don’t give up! Offer the invocation the next night at the exact same time of night. If you continue every night for twenty-eight days, you will have performed the invocation in every phase of the moon. If Faunus hasn’t sent a dream to you by then, accept that perhaps he has nothing to show you. You can try again at a later date.
Chinese Red Envelopes
It is traditional in China to give red envelopes (called hong bao or lai see) as gifts for weddings and birthdays, but they are most frequently given during Chinese New Year. The social rules in China for giving envelopes are well-defined and somewhat rigid. Adults give them to children in their lives and those who regularly provide goods or services (much like in America you might give a small gift to your letter carrier or newspaper delivery person). They are not given to peers or those in a more powerful position than the giver. For example, an employer will traditionally give employees a red envelope during New Year’s, but an employee would never give an envelope to the employer. Parents traditionally give them to adult children if they are single, but not much beyond their mid-twenties.
Inside the envelopes is a single, dependable item: money. The amount depends upon the relationship you have with the person to whom you give it. The closer the connection to the person receiving the envelope, the more money would be given. While such rules don’t translate perfectly into Western terms, it is somewhat similar to some traditions where money is given to children at Christmas or on birthdays with lesser amounts given based on the “distance” of the relation (for example, your uncle would give you more money as a Christmas gift than your great uncle). We can take the core idea, adapting it to a new practice that borrows from this long-held Eastern tradition, and blend it into a Western context. While some might appreciate a tradition of handing out money to family and friends around Imbolc every year, there’s a different, more personal gift you can give to those who matter to you—some may say it is a better gift than a few dollar bills.
Rather than giving envelopes to “subordinates,” these envelopes can just as easily be given to anyone important in your life—especially anyone you interact with regularly. Rather than offering cash or gift cards as is so common during some holidays, you can celebrate the Chinese New Year, or even Imbolc itself, by giving envelopes that contain a simple phrase about what the receiver of the envelope means in your life. There are many times when we become connected to people in our day-to-day lives, and they never have any idea how they affect you. The grocery store clerk who always asks how your children are, the neighbor who tosses your newspaper onto your porch when it’s raining, and your child’s teachers might all be people who make a regular, positive effect on your life. They will probably have no idea that their small services and kindnesses are meaningful unless you tell them. The red envelope is a great way.
The envelopes are red to represent good luck for the coming year, so it’s worth the extra effort to shop for red envelopes but not mandatory. Place a small card inside each envelope with a single hand-written sentence telling the addressee how they positively touch your life. “Your smile always brightens my day” or “You can always make me laugh” are the types of messages you can send to others that show you’ve noticed their efforts—and there’s no need to stop there, either.
How often do we stop and tell the people who matter the most to us how much we appreciate the little things they do for us? Sometimes people feel they’re being taken for granted when they make the effort to do little things but are never acknowledged. Even if they don’t feel that way, giving them a red envelope is a great way to warm the heart of someone close to you just by letting them know you noticed. You can also use these envelopes to reward a child for an accomplishment, even if only a small one.
Each red envelope should be hand-labeled (and addressed if being mailed) with a single card enclosed. A red index card is a good choice, but any color or style is fine. The Chinese dragon is a symbol of good fortune, so a card featuring one would be doubly blessed. You could even use a blank greeting card. Write a single phrase on the card that succinctly tells the person one way she or he makes your life better.
Each card should be written by hand, and no two cards should say exactly the same thing. Give thought to each card and avoid mundane, impersonal phrases like “Thank you for picking up my paper.” Dig deeper into what the person does. For example:“Every time I find my newspaper safe and dry on the porch, I know that you are out there in the rain thinking about me, and that makes my day a little brighter.” After each envelope is sealed, place both hands over it and invoke an appropriate goddess or god to bless the envelope and its contents. Choose a goddess or god based on what you have written on the card for that particular person. For the example cited earlier, if a person made you feel safer you might ask Kwan Yin (a patron goddess of guardians) to bless the envelope.
You can also make this bit of personal magick quite a surprise if you hand envelopes out on the first day of the Chinese New Year. Outside of large cities with active Asian communities, many of us in the West are unaware of the date, as it changes every year. The envelope will be a complete surprise for most. This type of small recognition and blessing can multiple many times as that energy radiates out to those around the person who received your blessing.