Imbolc

“At this time of year it sometimes feels as though winter still grips the land and the weather may be fierce. But if we seek them out, there are signs of new life stirring all around, even beneath deep snow. New shoots will be beginning to show in many plants, and for those of us out early, the dawn chorus of birdsong will be growing noticeably louder and last longer as the days visibly lengthen. Catkins, the flowers of the hazel, appear by mid February, and are followed by those of the willow…

Try to take some time out in nature during Imbolc and you’ll be amazed at what you find, even in a city park. Breathing slow and easy, try to be as present as you can to the simple act of walking, one foot after another, the earth beneath your feet and the sky above you. If the winter has felt long and tiresome, or if you feel seasonally affected by the lack of sunlight, take these moments as a gentle meditative exercise to encourage you, day by day. We all have times when winter reflects darkness or depression within our lives and these first stirrings are nature’s gentle medicine for easing our recovery, as well as adding some extra magic to our understanding of the seasonal wheel.

Even for those of us in a positive state of mind, there is something so beautiful about the quality of light on these early days of the year, and the quiet way life returns to even the bleakest landscape, that can support and nurture us, coaxing us gently into alignment with nature’s rhythm to find a more relaxed, present and reflective state.”

From The Magical Year by Danu Forest

Thought for the day, Friday 31st January

“on first seeing it
on returning from Europe
The pine! the pine! I eager cried,
The pine, my father! see it stand,
As first that cherished tree I spied,
Returning to my native land.
The pine! the pine! oh lovely scene!
The pine, that is forever green.
Ah beauteous tree! ah happy sight!
That greets me on my native strand
And hails me, with a friend’s delight,
To my own dear bright mother land
Oh ‘tis to me a heart-sweet scene,
The pine—the pine! that’s ever green.
Not all the trees of England bright,
Not Erin’s lawns of green and light
Are half so sweet to memory’s eye,
As this dear type of northern sky
Oh ‘tis to me a heart-sweet scene,
The pine—the pine! that ever green.”

To the Pine Tree, translation from Anishinaabemowin by Jane Johnston Schoolcraft / Bamewawagezhikaquay (1800 – 1842), Owijbe-American poet, born on this day

“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.”

Mahatma Gandhi, assassinated on this day in 1948

“Whatever is my right as a man is also the right of another; and it becomes my duty to guarantee as well as to possess.”

From Rights of Man by Thomas Paine (1737 – 1809), born on this day

“People tend to misunderstand solitude and sometimes it is seen as being selfish—but it is not. It’s not being socially awkward, not being anti-social, not being entirely withdrawn and not being lonely or sad. Solitude is something more than these misconceptions and if you feel like being away from the crowd, go, take steps away, take time and find rest among nature and yourself. It’s true when they say, solitude will fill you more than it will empty you.”

M. J. Blossoms

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

“I really see no other solution than to turn inward and root out all the hardness there. I no longer believe we can change anything in the world until we change ourselves. That seems to be the only lesson to be learned.”

Etty Hillesum (1914 – 1943), Dutch Jewish writer, murdered in Auschwitz

International Day of Clean Energy

“Climate change is not just another issue. It is the issue that, unchecked, will swamp all other issues. The only hope lies in all the countries of the world coming together around a common global project to rewire the world with clean energy. This is a path to peace – peace among people, and peace between people and nature.”

Ross Gelbspan (1939 – 2024), journalist

“For ourselves, who are ordinary men and women, let us return thanks to Nature for her bounty by using every one of the senses she has given us; vary our state as much as possible; turn now this side, now that, to the warmth, and relish to the full before the sun goes down the kisses of youth and the echoes of a beautiful voice singing Catullus. Every season is likeable, and wet days and fine, red wine and white, company and solitude. Even sleep, that deplorable curtailment of the joy of life, can be full of dreams; and the most common actions—a walk, a talk, solitude in one’s own orchard—can be enhanced and lit up by the association of the mind. Beauty is everywhere, and beauty is only two finger’s-breadth from goodness.”

From Montaigne by Virginia Woolf (1882 – 1941), writer, born on this day

Image: Orchard in Winter by Valerius de Saedaleer, 1907

“It was part of her discernment to be aware that life is the only real counselor, that wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissues.”

From Sanctuary by Edith Wharton (1862 – 1937), novelist, born on this day

“A true artist is not one who is inspired, but one who inspires others.”

Django Reinhardt (1910 – 1953), Jazz guitarist, born on this day