The Purification Month
February, though the shortest month of the year, is said to have the worst weather. Native American tribes called the full moon of February24 the Snow Moon, the Hunger Moon, or the Storm Moon.25 In the mornings, my garden pond is frozen and the plants are rimmed with frost. A blanket of powdery white snow covers the earth, showing the angular marks of bird feet, printed like runes on the ground, as the hungry birds try to find a fallen seed or a scrap of bread. Winter seems to be dragging on, and if we didn’t see signs that spring is around the corner, it might be considered the dreariest month of all. Yet the rain, the cold, and the snow are cleansing the face of the earth, destroying harmful bacteria, soaking the soil with life-giving moisture, and filling the rivers and reservoirs, all of which will ensure good crops later in the year.
Just as the earth is being washed clean, many ancient festivals of February reflect the theme of purification. The name of the month itself is derived from the Latin februarius, which means “purification.” According to the Roman writer Ovid, in ancient times purgation was called Februa: “Of this our month of February came…For our religious fathers did maintain, purgations expiated every stain of guilt and sin.”26 He explained that the custom had come from Greece, where it was held that pure lustrations could cleanse any sin or impious deed. In the oldest calendars, February was the last month of the Roman year, and the idea seems to have been to propitiate the spirits of the gods and ancestors, atone for any offence given to them, and so prepare for spring and the coming year with a clean slate.
The ancient Greeks celebrated the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries this month, during which those who were planning to participate in the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries in September went to Athens to be purified of any ritual impurity or sin (miasma).27 As Clement of Alexandria wrote: “The mysteries of the Greeks begin with purification,”28 and in most mystery traditions, ritual purification is necessary before the would-be initiate can approach the gods. At the centre of the Eleusinian Mysteries were the agricultural goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, the goddess of spring who was associated with purity. Representations show Demeter seated on the kiste (the basket that held the ritual implements of the Greater Mysteries, which would not be revealed until the autumn equinox), with the initiate holding out his hand to touch the snake that coils from the kiste to Demeter’s lap.29 The snake symbolised mystery and rebirth, and the fact that the initiate was ready to receive the mysteries at the autumn equinox.
Just as people purified themselves, their homes, and the tombs of their ancestors at this time of year, there are many stories of goddesses cleansing themselves in sacred waters in order to renew themselves and restore their virginity. The Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, renewed her virginity every year by bathing in the sea at her birthplace of Paphos in Crete. Artemis, the moon and hunt goddess, refreshed her virginity by bathing every year in a sacred fountain, while Hera, the Queen of Heaven, bathed in the spring at Kanathos near Argos in order to become a maiden once more.30 Even in Christian lore, Candlemas (February 2) is the feast of the purification of the Virgin Mary. The maiden goddess is associated with purity, new beginnings, and regeneration, so these seem to be metaphors for the old year being washed away and turned into spring.
Similarly, there was a Scottish tradition that at the beginning of spring the Cailleach (“hag” or “veiled one”) drank from the Well of Youth and transformed into the youthful maiden Bride.31 The Cailleach ruled the winter months, while Bride (Brighid/Brigit) ruled the summer months. The Cailleach is the female personification of winter. Her staff freezes the ground, and she brings storms and bad weather, though she protects deer and wolves and is the mother of all the gods.32 Là Fhèill Brìghde (St. Bride’s Day, February 1) was said to be the day that the Cailleach gathered her firewood for the rest of the winter. If she intended the winter to last a good deal longer, she made sure that the weather was bright and sunny so she could go out and collect plenty of fuel. If the weather was terrible, it meant that the Cailleach was asleep and would soon run out of wood, so winter was nearly over.
In Scotland, St. Bride’s Day was considered the beginning of spring, with Bride melting the river ice. According to Scottish folklorist Alexander Carmichael,
Bride with her white wand is said to breathe life into the mouth of the dead Winter and to bring him to open his eyes to the tears and the smiles, the sighs and the laughter of Spring. The venom of the cold is said to tremble for its safety on Bride’s Day and to flee for its life on Patrick’s Day.33
As Nigel Pennick puts it,
At this time of year, Brighid symbolises the opening out of enclosed, invisible nature concealed in the darkness of wintertide into the visible world of light.34
In Scotland the serpent, sometimes called the noble queen, is supposed to emerge from its hollow among the hills on St. Bride’s Day:
On the day of Bride of the white hills
The noble queen will come from the knoll.
I will not molest the noble queen
Nor will the noble queen molest me.35
The serpent sloughs off its skin annually and is thereby renewed, making it an ancient symbol of regeneration. Snakes and maidens also featured in the February celebrations of the Roman goddess Juno Sospita (Juno the Saviour). At the beginning of February, the consuls made a sacrifice to her, while young girls offered barley cakes to the sacred snake in her grove. If their offerings were accepted, their virginity was confirmed and the year’s fertility assured.
During this month animals begin to shake off their winter sleep and emerge from hibernation. Some are said to come out to check the weather on Bride’s Day or Candlemas, testing whether it is safe to emerge or if they need to go back to sleep. Badgers were reputed to emerge at noon and if they saw their shadows, they went back to their setts. If they didn’t see their shadows, they stayed out, and the worst of winter was over. In Huntingdonshire the day was even called Badger’s Day.36 A similar folk belief persists in America as Groundhog Day.
The year is awakening, new and pure, waiting for life to mark it. The lengthening days that follow Imbolc hold the promise of spring and the rebirth of plant life, and the yearly cycle of work on the land begins once more as the earth is prepared for the seed.37 I think of February as a time of purification during which we can banish negativity in all its forms. It is a time to cleanse, physically and spiritually, and prepare for the busy season to come as, day by day, the light increases, and we embark on the many personal and spiritual lessons the year will bring.
Early February
February 1: Imbolc
February opens with Imbolc, one of the quarterly festivals of the old Irish and one of the eight sabbats of the modern Pagan year. The term Imbolc (alt. Imbolg/ Oimelc) only occurs in the literature of Ireland and probably means “parturition” or “lactation.”38 A fifteenth-century quatrain said this of Imbolc:
To taste of every food in order,
This is proper at Imbolc,
Washing of hand and foot and head;
It is to you thus I relate.39
This suggests it might have been a time of feasting and purification. Little else is recorded of its customs except that it was accounted the first day of spring and the time ewes came into milk. In Christian times it seems to have been completely subsumed in the feast day of St. Brighid (alt. Brigid/Bride/Brigit),40 and indeed, modern Pagans often celebrate Imbolc as the festival of the goddess Brighid. From the tenth-century Cormac’s Glossary:
Brigit i.e. a poetess, daughter of the Dagda. This is Brigit the female sage, or woman of wisdom, i.e. Brigit the goddess whom poets adored, because very great and very famous was her protecting care. It is therefore they call her goddess of poets by this name. Whose sisters were Brigit the female physician [woman of leechcraft], Brigit the female smith [woman of smithwork]; from whose names with all Irishmen a goddess was called Brigit. Brigit, then, breo-aigit, breo-shaigit, “a fiery arrow.”41
This single source gives us most of the ideas we have today about the goddess Brighid: three sisters or a triple deity with the Brighid of poetry, prophecy, and inspiration, the Brighid of healing, and the Brighid of fire, who oversees the hearth and forge and who is the patroness of craftsmen and women.
Most of the tales we have that expand these concepts come from the later legends of the saint the Christian church turned her into.42 However, since many of the practices around the saint’s feast day concern fire, fertility, and the birth of young animals, it seems entirely probable that these originally related to the goddess Brighid at Imbolc.43
While Cormac’s interpretation of her name as “fiery arrow” may be fanciful, she was certainly connected with fire. In one tale, St. Brighid was born at sunrise on the threshold of the house as her mother was on her way out to milk the cow, and immediately a tower of flame emerged from her forehead that stretched from earth to heaven, fulfilling a druid’s prophecy that she would neither be born inside nor out, nor during the day or night. Later, a house she was in flamed up to heaven and a fiery pillar rose from her head. She also hung her cloak on sunbeams, cow dung blazed before her, and flames engulfed her body without burning her. In another tale, she carried a burning coal in her apron.
Furthermore, the saint is said to have founded an abbey at Kildare (Cull Dara = “temple of the oak”), where a perpetual fire, held to burn without ash or waste, was kept burning by a college of nineteen women called Inghean an Dagha (“daughters of the flame”), who fed the fire each night and kept it from dying; on the twentieth day it was believed that Brighid herself tended the flame. Men were forbidden to enter this sanctuary. This sounds very much like the rites of a Pagan temple, a sacred hearth tended by virgin priestesses akin to the fire of the Vestal Virgins of Rome, given a thin Christian veneer. Nevertheless, the abbey kept the flame burning until 1220 CE, when Henry de Loundres, the Archbishop of Dublin, shocked at this evidence of fire worship, issued an edict ordering the flame to be extinguished, condemning it as “pagan superstition.”44
In 1969 the Catholic Church officially removed Brighid from the list of accepted saints, finding no evidence that she ever existed. The goddess Brighid, however, was certainly a pan-Celtic deity. Her association with the hearth fire, by way of the erstwhile saint, persists in Ireland to this day. Within living memory, the domestic fire was kindled with invocations to Brighid, and I often use this traditional prayer45 to kindle my hearth fire:
I will build the hearth as Brighid would build it.
Guarding the hearth, guarding the floor,
Guarding the household all.
Imbolc Ritual
I celebrate Imbolc as the festival of the flame—the domestic hearth fire, so crucial at this cold time of year, as well as the fire of the sun as the days increase in length. Both of these fall under the auspices of the goddess Brighid. She is called “daughter of the bear” as she comes after the first rising of the star Arcturus, the Bear Keeper, over the horizon at Imbolc. She is born at sunrise and is the herald of new beginnings. When she comes, she kindles the first stirrings of spring in the belly of the earth. I honour the Hearth Goddess, thank her for her gifts of warmth and prosperity, and ask for her blessing, as well as consider how I will use her creative and healing fire in the coming year.
Decorate your hearth or altar with any wild greenery you can find and the first flowers of spring (such as snowdrops), white crystals, and glass vessels of spring water. You will need one white candle and three red candles. Prepare a Brighid doll, a figure in the shape of a woman made from a sheaf of wheat or oats (this is distinct from the corn dolly, representing the grain god, which we returned to the earth in January). This can be done as simply or intricately as you wish. Alternatively, you can use a doll or Goddess statue. Decorate it with shells, stones, and ribbons. Place a bright white crystal over its heart—this is called the Guiding Star of Brighid. Also prepare a white wand by stripping a twig of birch or willow, and an oblong basket for Brighid’s bed dressed with pretty fabric and other decorations you think suitable.
Light the white candle and say:
Goddess Brighid, lady of the sudden flame,
Bring me your fiery inspiration.
Come to my hearth; your bed is prepared.
Goddess Brighid, come in!
Repeat until you feel the presence of the Goddess:
Brighid, come in!
Brighid, come in!
Brighid, come in!
When you are ready, lay the Brighid doll in the bed and say:
Brighid with her white wand breathes life into the mouth of dead winter.
Lay the white wand alongside the icon and say:
The earth warms in the feeble embrace of the Imbolc sun,
and winter moves to spring. Brighid, I honour you tonight.
Light the first red candle. Say:
The fire of the hearth is the dwelling place of the Goddess. The hearth is the sacred centre of the home. It warms, it comforts, it nourishes. It draws home the weary traveller. It is the place where the gods and humankind may meet. Lady of the Triple Flame, warm my hearth and home with your living presence.
Meditate on the inspiration of your own hearth fire and home, what it means to you, what you wish for in the future, and how you might use it in the service of others and the Goddess.
Light the second red candle and say:
Lady of the Triple Flame, beloved Goddess of poets and craftspeople, you are the fire of inspiration, the fire in the head, the touch of the gods that stokes the forge of creativity. I ask you to inspire me and kindle my inner spark.
Think about the inspiration of Brighid’s “fire in the head,” what it means to you, and what you wish for in the future in connection with creativity and craftsmanship, and how you might use these in the service of others and the Goddess.
Light the third red candle and say:
Lady of the Triple Flame, you are the fire of healing that flows from the heart of the Goddess. Gentle Goddess of healing, light the fire of healing within me.
Meditate on the inspiration of healing, what it means to you, and what you wish for in the future in connection with the healing fire, and how you might use it in the service of others and the Goddess. Then say:
Brighid, I honour you tonight. You bring the return of spring and the renewal of the earth. I will honour them. You bring the gifts of the Triple Flame; I will honour them and use them in your service.
Let this ritual end with love and blessings, and allow the candles to burn themselves out.
February 2: Candlemas
Whereas February 1 is Imbolc and Brighid’s Day, February 2 is Candlemas Day, the Christian feast of the purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to Mosaic law, a woman is unclean for forty days after giving birth to a male child and needs to be purified before she can re-enter society, so when the church decided to fix Christ’s birthday on December 25 (after celebrating it all around the calendar at various times), this dated the purification of Mary to the beginning of February. It is said that as Mary entered the temple, an old man called Simeon recognised the baby as the promised Messiah and hailed him as a “light to lighten the Gentiles.”46 The Roman Catholic Church uses Candlemas as the time to bless the candles for the coming ritual year and embraces the old Pagan symbolism of light redeeming the darkness in spring.
The Celtic Church in Ireland, finding that the worship of the Pagan goddess Brighid was too deeply ingrained to be eradicated, turned her into a saint and gave her the role of nursemaid to the infant Jesus, even though St. Brighid was supposed to have lived in Ireland hundreds of years later, in the fifth or sixth century CE. She is alleged to have distracted King Herod’s soldiers when they were pursuing the holy family by dancing with two candles, allowing the holy family to escape.
Like many church feasts and customs, Candlemas was a direct takeover of preexisting Pagan festivals. Pope Innocent asked,
Why do we in this feast carry candles?…Because the gentiles dedicated the month of February to the infernal gods, and as…Pluto stole Proserpine, and her mother, Ceres, sought her in the night with lighted candles, so they, at the beginning of this month, walked about the city with lighted candles; because the holy fathers could not utterly extirpate this custom, they ordained that Christians should carry about candles in honour of the blessed virgin Mary: and thus what was done before to the honour of Ceres is now done to the honour of the Virgin.47
The purifications of the ancient Greek Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries were celebrated around the beginning of this month with candlelight processions in honour of the agricultural goddess Demeter and her daughter, the spring goddess Persephone (Ceres and Proserpine respectively in Roman mythology) and marked Persephone’s release from the underworld and her return to the land in spring. In Rome the Feriae Sementivae was held in honour of the agricultural goddess Ceres and Tellus (Mother Earth), with the protection of the goddesses invoked to defend the newly sown seed from bad weather and frost. They were given sacrifices and offerings such as spelt bread, and small decorated clay discs were hung on the trees to ward off evil spirits and negativity. Also in Rome, candles were burned to the goddess Juno Februa, or Juno the Purifier (mother of the god Mars, who protected the crops) to scare away evil spirits.48 The light of the candles echoes the increase of the sun’s light and is perhaps an act of sympathetic magic, while fire, of course, is the ultimate agent of purification.
Though we now consider Twelfth Night to be the end of the Christmas season, in the past many considered it to be Candlemas; even now in Rome, the manger scenes are left up until Candlemas. In England the Yule log was often burned up until Candlemas Eve. Like Twelfth Night, it was marked by games, dancing, and feasting, presided over by the Lord of Misrule or Abbot of Unreason. The coming of Candlemas was inextricably linked to the ending of the winter season of rest and withdrawal. Very little work was done on the land from Halloween till Candlemas, and many Candlemas carols talk of the return to work. This was also the day that servants had to hand back the candles they had been given in the autumn to light their quarters since it was considered that artificial light was no longer required after this point,49 which gave rise to the saying “Candlemas, candleless.”50
Candlemas Ceremony
At Candlemas, take the besom and sweep through the house, saying: “Let winter’s grip be swept away.” Start at the top of the house and work your way down, eventually sweeping through the back door. Light a white candle in each window of the house, saying “The light grows” with each one.
If you can, make a fire in the hearth or garden to burn the last of the Yuletide greenery. I always keep a piece of holly from Yule for this ritual. Visualise burning away the winter season and, with it, all that is past and needs to be released, saying: “Let us burn away winter.” Meditate on the past—and negativity—being burned away.
February 4: Snowdrops
While snow covers the ground, the seeds are stirring in the earth, responding to the increased light levels. When the thaw comes, they will push green into the light, and already the first snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are poking their drooping white heads from the frozen earth in my garden. I always await their coming eagerly, the first brave flowers in a barren plot, and some of their folk names—such as Candlemas Maiden, Candlemas Bells, and Fair Maids of February—reflect their flowering period. Snowdrops are a sign that life is returning, and in folklore they represent new beginnings, youth, and purity. I have often read that snowdrops were sacred to the goddess Brighid, but this is simply not true. The plants are not native to Britain and Ireland, and were not introduced until late in the sixteenth century CE from southern Europe.
Snowdrops and their bulbs are poisonous to humans, so it is perhaps not surprising that they were also called the Death Flower and thought to be unlucky if taken indoors. Consequently, they are not used by Hearth Witches medicinally, though the pharmaceutical industry is investigating some of their compounds for treating Alzheimer’s disease and HIV. However, I do place the first ones on the altar and take their appearance as a cue to perform a personal ritual of purification that echoes the renewal of the goddess by bathing in a sacred pool.
Snowdrop Purification Ritual
Prepare a cauldron or large bowl of pure water and float some snowdrop flowers (or other early flowers) on its surface. Lay beside it a small crystal ball or spherical representation of the earth. Have some towels ready.
Light a white candle and say:
Like the Goddess of spring, I wash in the cauldron of transformation
so that I may be purified and renewed.
Wash in the cauldron, visualising washing away negativity and letting things you need to be rid of dissolving in the water.
Then wash the crystal ball (representing the earth) in the cauldron and say:
As I wash this crystal in the water of this vessel, so may the spring rains cleanse the face of the earth and make it ready for planting. I beseech the Goddess that the earth may be cleansed of pollution, negativity, and evil, and I pledge to play my part in this endeavour.
Spend some time meditating on this, and when you have finished, close the ritual by saying:
Let this ritual end with love and blessings.
Put out the candle. Take the cauldron of water outside and empty it on the earth, if possible.
February 6: Dorothy’s Day
According to weather lore, St. Dorothy’s Day is reputedly the snowiest day of all, when the ground is frozen and no spade or plough can turn it. Actually, the sun has come out today, so I’m going to prune my fruit trees and bushes this morning before the apple and pear trees begin to bud. I also need to trim the soft fruit bushes, shortening the side shoots and removing the centre stems to create an open goblet shape. The summer fruiting raspberries will be shortened and the autumn fruiting ones cut down to a couple of inches. The hazel trees will be trimmed, and I will keep the long shoots for sticks to support peas and for making hurdles (fencing).
It was customary to bless fruit trees on St. Dorothy’s Day, which is perhaps why she is the patron saint of gardeners. No evidence for her actual existence has ever been discovered, and she was consequently removed from the Catholic liturgical calendar in 1969. She may have been invented as a piece of Christian propaganda (a Christian virgin martyred for refusing to marry a Pagan) or perhaps to serve as a Christian replacement for the Pagan fruit tree customs associated with early February.
Fruit Tree Blessings Ceremony
I think it a nice idea to bless my fruit trees and bushes after pruning them. As I give each one a good top dressing of potash-containing wood ash from my bonfires, I say:
Lord and Lady, bless these trees
Grant us sunshine, warm breezes, and gentle rain
So that the flowers may blossom
And the fruits may come to ripeness
In the fullness of time.
If you don’t have fruit trees of your own, you can send out a general blessing to all the fruit trees in your area.
Mid-February
At this time of year, there is little left growing on my vegetable patch apart from a few remaining carrots and leeks and the members of the Brassica tribe—cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, and broccoli. The Anglo Saxons even called February “Kale Month” (kele monath). But by the middle of February, the sun is starting to warm the soil on my vegetable plot. I need to prepare it for planting in March by digging it over, incorporating lots of vegetable matter from the compost heap. I’m also putting my seed potatoes to “chit,” or sprout some short shoots. I put the potatoes in old egg boxes with their eyes facing upwards. They need to be placed where they will get some light, but not in direct sunlight. I will be planting out my garlic and shallot sets immediately, though, weather permitting.
All through the dead time of winter, in the warmth of my kitchen, I make plans for the gardens and vegetable patch. What to plant where, what to grow, where the air will be perfumed with roses and lavender, where the earth will be turned for potatoes, where the poles will be raised for the beans. I remember that it won’t just affect me and my table, but that the local wildlife depends on it and there must be flowers for the bees, safe places for the insects, perches and nesting places for the birds. I’m willing to share my produce with the mice and small mammals and the fruit with the birds; my plans will have consequences for hundreds of little lives.
The garden is starting to come alive, and I can see bulbs pushing through the ground. According to local folk wisdom, it is time to start work on the garden when the crocuses appear. In preparation for planting seeds, I’ve been cleaning down the greenhouse and washing all my seed trays, pots, and cloches with warm, soapy water.
The Blessing of the Garden Tools
The garden tools are brushed off, cleaned, and sharpened, and I like to bless them before the real gardening begins. You can do this even if you only have houseplants and a little watering can for them.
Lord and Lady, bless these tools
Which I have prepared in your honour.
Bless my endeavours this year.
May there be plenty;
May there be abundance.
Lord and Lady,
Blessed be.
February 11: The Day the Birds Begin to Sing
The birds start to prepare for nesting this month, and already they are claiming their territories. According to tradition, this is the day when the birds begin to sing. They have certainly been pretty quiet over the winter, but as this month progresses, the dawn and dusk choruses increase in volume and complexity, with new voices being added. It reminds me that the birds sometimes need our help during the winter, so I am making fat cakes to give them a much-needed energy boost, which will help protect them from the cold.
NB: Please remember to wash your bird feeders often, as accumulated dirt and bacteria can make the birds ill.
Homemade Bird Cake
Just mix up some birdseed—or even kitchen leftovers like currants, oats, breadcrumbs, cheese, and peanuts—with melted lard, suet, or coconut oil (two parts dry mix to one part fat). Take an old yoghurt pot and put a hole in the bottom and push a piece of string through it. Pack the pot with the mixture and pop this in the fridge to set overnight. Take it out, cut away the pot, and tie a knot in the string to secure it. Then just hang it in your garden and watch the birds come along for a treat!
NB: Never use leftover fat from frying or roasting, as this can coat the birds’ feathers and prevent them flying.
February 14: Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day has its roots in the rites of the Roman mother goddess Juno and the Lupercalia festival (see February 15). The Lupercalia celebration featured a lottery in which young men would draw the names of young girls from a box. What happened afterwards varied from place to place; in some areas a girl was assigned to each young man and would be his sweetheart during the remaining year. In others it was the single women who drew the lot with a single man’s name on it. In an attempt to stamp out Lupercalia rites, the church replaced them with the feast of St. Valentine. Under the church, instead of drawing out lovers’ names from the box, young people could draw out saints’ names and sermons. They were then expected to meditate on their saints and emulate their qualities during the year. However, not surprisingly, this didn’t prove very popular. The practice of sending love letters on Valentine’s Day appeared in France and England in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
St. Valentine is an amalgamated figure with several conflicting and confused biographies. During the reformations of the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church, embarrassed by the nebulous nature of the saint and finding no evidence of his existence, dropped St. Valentine’s Day from the official calendar.
The custom of choosing a lover on this day may relate to the commonly held European belief that birds select their mates for the year on February 14. In Parlement of Foules, Chaucer wrote: “For this was on St. Valentine’s Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.” In February, activity amongst birds increases, and they begin to nest this month. Perhaps stemming from this belief, a later superstition was that the type of bird a woman first saw on this day was an omen of the type of man she would marry:
- blackbird: a clergyman
- bluebird: a happy man
- crossbill: an argumentative man
- dove: a good-hearted man
- goldfinch: a rich man
- hawk: a soldier or brave man
- owl: a man who would not live long
- sparrow: a farmer
- woodpecker: the girl would remain single
Naturally, Valentine’s Eve and Valentine’s Day lend themselves to love divinations. One old method is to take five bay leaves washed in rosewater and pin them on your pillow on Valentine’s Eve, one in each corner and one in the middle, then dress in a clean nightgown turned inside out and whisper: “Good Valentine, be kind to me/In dreams let me my true love see.”51 Or you could try a method used by English girls a couple of centuries ago and write the names of prospective lovers on slips of paper, roll them in balls of clay, and drop them in a bowl of water. The first to rise to the surface will be your valentine.52
In ancient Rome February 15 was the Lupercalia, an archaic pastoral rite that persevered into classical times and commemorated the passage of young men into manhood to the god Lupercus. He was a fertility deity, often identified with Faunus or the Greek god Pan, especially worshipped by shepherds, who invoked powers to promote fertility among sheep and protection from wolves. A special group of priests called Luperci were responsible for conducting the rituals.
The celebration began in the Lupercal cave on the Palatine Hill in Rome where Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome, were said to have been nursed by a she-wolf. Two naked young priests, assisted by Vestal Virgins, made offerings of a sacred grain mixture called mola salsa and sacrificed a dog and a goat. Blood from the animals was spread on the two priests’ foreheads and wiped off with some wool dipped in milk. The priests then ran about the city, scourging women with strips of skin taken from the sacrificed goat called februa (“purification”). The Romans believed that this flogging would purify them and assure their future fertility and easy childbirth. Being struck by these whips was considered especially lucky for women who wanted to become fertile.
The rituals of February echo the interconnected themes of purity and fertility, with one being reliant on the other—in order to obtain fertility, abundance, blessing, or, moreover, to be worthy of the mysteries, one must be purified within and without.
Sound Cleansing
I have a bodhrán drum that I use to shift blocked energy in my house. It is made of goatskin, which rather fits in with the theme of fertility and purification of the Lupercalia. The goat is reputedly a lusty animal that is associated with fertility in many parts of the world. I am a terrible drummer and can’t keep a rhythm to save my life, but it doesn’t matter in this instance. Drums have been used to chase away spirits and negative energy in many parts of the world. You can also use bells and singing bowls for this, or even just clap loudly. Start at the top of the house and walk through, drumming into all the corners and visualizing the stagnant areas shifting, allowing the energy to flow.
Movable: Lent
Many of the folk traditions of February focus around the moveable Christian season of Lent, the forty-day period of fasting, penitence, and purification that comes before Easter, which echoes the earlier Pagan customs of purification at this time of year. In 325 CE the Council of Nicaea established that Easter would be held on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox, which was approximated to March 21. That means that the beginning of Lent can fall as early as the second week in February or as late as the second week in March.
Before Lent began on Ash Wednesday, for Christians there was one last chance to eat, drink, and be merry on Shrove Tuesday, indulging in rich foods such as meat, sugar, eggs, and butter that were forbidden during Lent. In Britain, Ireland, and some Commonwealth countries, Shrove Tuesday is still called Pancake Day, and elsewhere it is known as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Shrove comes from the word shrive, meaning “absolve,” since it was customary to go to confession and obtain absolution before the start of Lent. The church bell was rung to call people to confession and became known as the “pancake bell.”53 In Britain the day was a holiday, and children would chant: “Pancake Day is a very happy day/If we don’t have a holiday, we’ll all run away!” In some places the first three pancakes were sacred, marked with a cross, and set aside.54 In others it was customary to give them to the chickens,55 perhaps in an act of sympathetic magic to show them what to do.
It was always traditional to have them with a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkling of sugar when I was a child, and this is still my favourite way to eat them, but you can use your own preferred topping.
100 grams plain white flour
2 large eggs, beaten
300 millilitres milk
vegetable oil
1 lemon
sugar
Put the flour, eggs, and milk into a bowl and whisk to make a smooth pouring batter. Rest the mixture for 20–30 minutes. Wipe a frying pan with a little vegetable oil and pour in some of the batter. On high heat, cook the pancake for about a minute on each side.
February 17: Fornicalia
Around February 17 the ancient Romans celebrated the festival of Fornacalia in honour of Fornax, the goddess of ovens, who oversaw the proper baking of bread. Her name is connected with the English word furnace. “The oven is the mother” was the adage of the Fornicalia.56
Fornicalia Ritual
To honour Fornax or your own Hearth Goddess, clean your oven today. I know it’s a job that everyone hates, but it’s one that has to be done. Consider it a sacred act that honours the Goddess. Afterwards, make some bread and put it to bake in the oven with these words:
Hearth Goddess, Goddess of the oven, Lady of fire,
You are a goddess of transformation,
Taking raw ingredients and transmuting them into nourishing food.
On this day I honour you and bake this bread in tribute.
Share the bread with friends, and be sure to put the crumbs out for the wild birds.
100 millilitres liquid castile soap
240 grams bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
60 millilitres white vinegar
water
Mix together, adding enough water to turn the mixture into a paste. Spread over your oven and leave for at least 8 hours. It will foam a little. Wash off with clean water.
February 19: House Cleaning
I’m going to do a spiritual cleansing of my house today. It is a good idea to do this at least once a year, and the month of purification is the perfect time to do it.
House Purification Ritual
In each room of your house, place a dish with a peeled clove of garlic ringed with salt to absorb negative energies. Leave them for an hour. Take the dishes of garlic and salt outside and burn the contents completely. Open all the windows and doors. Carry a dish of cleansing incense (see recipe below) around the house, starting at the top and working your way down, and in each room allow the smoke to go in each corner.
Say:
In the name of the God and Goddess,
I command all evil and negativity to be gone.
This do I will.
So mote it be.
Close the doors and windows. Using a protection oil, dip your finger in and draw it round the edges of all the doors and windows, saying:
In the name of the God and Goddess,
I seal this place so that no evil may enter.
This do I will.
So mote it be.
Light a white candle on your altar or hearth and say:
Lord and Lady,
Grant me your protection
As I give you my thanks and my service.
So mote it be.
2 parts frankincense
2 parts myrrh
1 part crushed juniper berries
1 part rosemary
few drops rosemary essential oil
Quantities are by volume, not weight, so you might use two spoons frankincense and one of rosemary, for example. All ingredients should be dried. Mix together and burn on a charcoal block. If you intend to carry this around your house, place it securely on a fireproof dish on top of a heat-resistant mat.
30 millilitres olive oil
3 drops rosemary essential oil
4 drops geranium essential oil
4 drops cypress essential oil
Combine and keep in a dark glass bottle.
Late February
We enter Pisces, the faint constellation of the fishes, considered to be the last sign of the zodiac. In Greek mythology, the gods of Olympus had defeated the Titans, the elder gods, but the Titaness Gaia (Mother Earth) coupled with Tartarus, the lowest region of the underworld, where Zeus had imprisoned the Titans, and from this union came Typhon, a hideous monster. Fleeing from him, the goddess Aphrodite and her son Eros took cover among the reeds on the banks of the Euphrates. Pan saw him coming and alerted the others with a shout. Aphrodite and Eros, calling to the water nymphs for help, leapt into the river. In one version of the story, two fish swam up and carried Aphrodite and Eros to safety on their backs, although in another version the two refugees were themselves changed into fish.
By late February, spring is really stepping up a gear. On sunny days I’ve even seen a few bumblebees and early butterflies basking in the light. In the woods the leaves of the bluebells and wild garlic are starting to emerge, and catkins have blossomed on the hazel and alder trees.
I’ve been weeding, pulling up lots of fresh green chickweed (Stellaria media) from the garden. It is a common weed in most parts of the world and not hard to find. Its botanical name, Stellaria, means “little stars,” a description of its tiny white five-petalled flowers. My chickens love it (it is not called chickweed for nothing), and it makes a nourishing spring addition to their diets. The leaves can be eaten by humans too, used fresh in a salad, in a soup, cooked like spinach, or even made into a pesto with pine nuts, garlic, and olive oil. Medicinally, chickweed is useful for cooling skin inflammations. Every spring I make chickweed salve.
handful of chickweed (Stellaria media) aerial parts
olive oil
beeswax
Put the chickweed together with just enough oil to cover it into a double boiler. Heat very, very gently for 2 hours. Strain the oil off and discard the plant material. Add some grated beeswax (the more you add, the harder the set) and when the wax has melted, pour into small jars.
The Return of the Frogs
Though in some years we get snow at this time of year, the weather has been mild here and the frogs are returning to my garden pond, having overwintered on land, where they spend most of their time. They are croaking loudly to attract mates, which they only do in early spring. In several cultures this croaking of the frogs was thought to call down the spring rains that cleanse and renew the face of the earth after winter, regenerating and transforming it, watering the sleeping seeds so that they can burst into life. Frogs are associated with creation all over the world for this reason.
Frog Meditation
This annual return of the frogs reminds me to meditate on the powers of water and on the frog as an animal guide. Light a candle and sit quietly while you meditate on the following:
Frog represents the creative power of the waters, the primal source of all life; she has a moist skin, which contrasts with the dryness of death. Water flows, nourishes, and replenishes the earth. The power of frog is concerned with cleansing, purifying, and the free-flowing of emotional energies. Emotional cleansing is another aspect of purification this month. Do you conceal your feelings? Tears are water, too, and have a power of their own. Call on the power of frog to teach you how to nourish your emotions.
February 22: Feast of Forgiveness
In ancient Rome this was the festival of the Caristia (“pardoning”), a day to renew ties with friends and family and settle disputes. Families gathered to dine together, give each other small tokens of appreciation, and offer food and incense to the household gods.57 The emphasis was on love and accord. Concordia, the goddess of harmony, was invoked, along with Janus, the god of new beginnings; Salus, the goddess of health; and Pax, the goddess of peace.58
I really like this idea, so I’ve incorporated its inspiration into my practice. On this day, offer incense to your household gods to show your appreciation. This is a day of forgiveness, so take the opportunity to mend quarrels: this is another act of purification, removing the toxicity of bad relationships from your life. If you wish, you could cook a meal for family and friends, including any you might have fallen out with, to show them how much you value them.
Put four candles on the table and light them with the invocations; you can do this silently if all the people present are not Pagan.
Goddess of harmony, be with us and bless us. (light the pink candle)
Goddess of peace, be with us and bless us. (light the white candle)
Goddess of health, be with us and bless us. (light the blue candle)
God of new beginnings, be with us and bless us. (light the green candle)
Then just share the meal together and have fun! If for any reason you can’t get family and friends together, you can still light the four candles.
February 24: St. Matthias’s Day
In the Roman Catholic Church this is St. Matthias’s Day. He is called the thirteenth apostle, chosen by the apostles to replace Judas. It’s a strange day as it is a leap day, affected by the change of the calendar in leap years—the feast of St. Matthias is moved from February 24 to the following day every leap year.
In Slavonic myth St. Matthias’s Day is one of the days on which the vesna were said to gather. These are female spirits or fairies associated with youth and springtime. In several Slavic languages, the word for spring is vesna, while in Slovene the month of February is called vesnar. During the month of February, the vesna were able to leave their mountain palaces and travel down to the valleys below in order to return fertility to the land. In Pagan times Vesna was the goddess of youth and spring, daughter of the summer goddess Lada. Her appearance banished Morena, the winter hag goddess of death, in much the same way Bride banished the Cailleach in Scottish lore. She represented the victory of spring, light, and life over winter, cold, and death. The season of the Crone is ending.
February 28/29: Out with the Shvod
On the last day of February, the old Armenian peasants performed a curious ritual called “Out with the Shvod.” The Shvod was one of the guardian spirits, who often appeared as serpents, which variously inhabited fields, woods, and houses. Armed with sticks and old clothes, they struck the walls of their houses and barns, crying “Out with the Shvod and in with March!” to drive the field spirits, which had been sheltering in the house over the winter, into the fields and orchards to begin work on the land.59 Then the dish of water placed on the threshold the evening before was overturned, the doors closed tightly, and the sign of the cross made to prevent their lazy return to the warmth of the hearth.60
Out with the Shvod Ritual
It’s not just the land spirits that need to be shaken out of winter lethargy and all thoughts of hibernating inside—it’s us too. This is a spring wake-up call. I’m not inclined to go around hitting the walls of my house with sticks and ruining the paintwork, but starting at the top of the house, I flick a feather duster into all the corners, calling “Out with the Shvod and in with March!”
I take this as an opportunity to declutter and get rid of all the clothes, knickknacks, and other unused stuff that has accumulated over the winter and just sits there, unused, taking up space and sapping energy.
Once all this is done, I place a dish of water on the threshold and overturn it to indicate that the matter is finished, and those items and that laziness will not return this spring. I close the door and make the sign of a protective pentacle on it to seal the business.
Now we have finished with the purifications of February, we are prepared and ready to welcome the work of March.
24. Every nineteen years there is no full moon in February at all!
25. The Old Farmer’s Almanac, https://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names, accessed 19.10.18.
26. Ovid, Fasti (trans. J. Frazer), https://www.theoi.com/Text/OvidFasti1.html, accessed 13.5.19.
27. Stephanie Goodart, The Lesser Mysteries of Eleusis, https://cac45ab95b3277b3fdfd-31778daf558bdd39a1732c0a6dfa8bd4.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/05_goodart.pdf, accessed 13.5.19
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Pausanias, ii.38.2, online at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160, accessed 13.5.19.
31. Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica.
32. Mackenzie, Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend.
33. Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica.
34. Pennick, The Goddess Year.
35. Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica.
36. Pennick, Folklore of East Anglia.
37. Owen, Welsh Folk Customs.
38. Ó hÓgáin, Myth, Legend and Romance.
39. Kuno Meyer’s translation as found in Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson’s Studies in Early Celtic Nature Poetry (Cambridge: University Press, 1935).
40. Blackburn and Holford-Strevens, The Oxford Companion to the Year.
41. Cormac’s Glossary, https://archive.org/stream/sanaschormaicco00stokgoog/sanaschormaicco00stokgoog_djvu.txt, accessed 10.4.19.
42. Gilbride & Aster Breo, Finding Brighid in the Ancient Lore, https://clannbhride.wordpress.com/articles-and-essays/finding-brighid-in-the-ancient-lore, accessed 26.9.18.
43. Ó hÓgáin, Myth, Legend and Romance.
44. Jones and Pennick, A History of Pagan Europe.
45. Danaher, The Year in Ireland.
46. Luke 2.22–40.
47. Quoted by William Hone, The Every-Day Book: or, The Guide to the Year: Relating the Popular Amusements, Sports, Ceremonies, Manners, Customs, and Events, Incident to the Three Hundred and Sixty-Five Days in Past and Present Times; Being a Series of Five Thousand Anecdotes and Facts (London: W. Tegg and Co., 1878).
48. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Blitz Editions (Leicester: Bookmart Ltd., 1990).
49. Owen, Welsh Folk Customs.
50. Bogle, A Book of Feasts and Seasons.
51. Long, The Folklore Calendar.
52. Ibid.
53. Jones and Deer, Cattern Cakes and Lace.
54. Raven, Black Country & Staffordshire.
55. Ibid.
56. Pennick, The Goddess Year.
57. Peck, Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities.
58. Blackburn and Holford-Strevens, Oxford Companion to the Year.
59. Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend.
60. Fox, The Mythology of All Races.