The Pagan Preacher: Imbolc Sermon

Once the Maiden Goddess has appeared at Imbolc the Season of

Outward Growth begins. Both God and Goddess are on the land. Now

we have an active part to play in the world around us.

The Maiden brings forth Her waters, and dresses Herself with

green leaves and flowers. She will flaunt the potential wealth and

abundunce that She has to offer.

Soon the heat of the God will begin to make itself felt. He

instinctively reaches out to the land and warms the body of the

Maiden for the time to come. Like any boy past the cradle but not

yet full grown, He is headstrong and makes Himself more evident

each day.

Not sure what He is to be, He reaches outward, learning more

and more about Himself and what His Magic truly is.

On the mundane level the time has come for all of us to act.

If we were in an agricultural environment the fields would have to

be prepared for the planting.

In whatever environment we are, figuratively if not

literally, we must do our part without hesitation, so that when the

"planting" time comes the "seeds" will be sown in time to grow to

their fullest.

In the herds and flocks, New Life is born. Calves and lambs

are appearing and We must assist in the birthing so that the herds

can give us all that we will need.

It is up to you to see the application of this metaphor to

your own life and universe.

Now there is work to be done while the Goddess adorns Herself

with finery and the God grows and warms the Lady with His presence.

The climax of this is His puberty celebrated on The Day of the Wild

God, otherwise known as;

OSTARA

from Dyffd ap Tower

Fire Tide

At Candlemas the Fire Tide flows, and this season until the Spring Equinox is called the Time of Change. In this time the God born at Yule grows to manhood, and that mystery of change informs all others. It is a time of great creative power, when all projects of art and making, will and change, are carried forth on their most auspicious tide.

Nightmares

Children dream of monsters in the dark.

Normal, the experts say.

The self fears its new and undiscovered growth,

And so screams out.

In middle years, the anxious dreams of threatened self-importance;

Naked in the street, speechless before a theater,

Assigned to teach a class where you are ignorant,

And the students have no patience.

But in old age, I find, the nightmares are of loss and confusion:

A wrong turn somewhere, a missed connection,

A mistaken off-ramp, and no return on the other side.

You seek the way home, but there is no way.

There are people, but they do not help;

They are mute, or indifferent, or in the worst dreams

Mad with some irrelevant obsession.

When you finally understand that here you must remain

You wake to your accustomed bed,

Relieved and hoping

That you have not foreseen the realm of death.