Today is St. Brigit’s day, in the Christian tradition, or Imbolc in the Celtic. She was originally a pre-Celtic goddess, of fire, of healing and of fertility.

As the dark winter days brighten and lengthen, fresh shoots appear. Snowdrops give colour to muddy ground and sparse grass. Bluebell spears emerge from cold soil and energy grows. This is the time when the fertility of the land awakens. The sun’s energy is drawn, deep into the earth, to warm the sleeping seeds and bulbs, to fertilise the land itself with its life-giving rays.

The ancestors celebrated this process. Every few years, in settlements, such as at Danebury, in Hampshire, or Fosbury, in Wiltshire – embodiments of the Mother’s womb – , a priestess would stand on the highest point of the settlement, the belly of the Mother, and bring down, through her body, the solar energy, channelling it into the waiting womb of the earth. The Sheelagh Na Gig, the Crone of Winter, became youthful Virgin once more.  

These ‘Mother’ sites were part of a vast network of energies, through which the fertilising light of the sun travelled, even before its physical warmth could be felt. Once the symbolic egg had been made fertile, this energy fed many smaller settlements, some as small as single farmsteads, but all radiating the light into the soil, into the trees, into the hearts and minds of the people.

The serpent will come from the hole
On the brown Day of Bríde,
Though there should be three feet of snow
On the flat surface of the ground

One tradition on Brigit’s day was to clean the home, to sweep out the energy of the past and to welcome in the new energy that would bring newness and fertility to its inhabitants. It was all done with intent. The past year was gone, and a new one begins. Clear out old dreams; dream new ones.

This is the time when new pathways are forged and plans for the coming year can be put in motion.

There are many well-known traditions, and all accessible on the internet if you search. The most important aspect, in terms of energywork is the solar fertilising of the earth and the lighting/maintenance of the Flames.

As a planetary healer, part of your work is to maintain these energetic flames. Planting one in your home, if it is connected to this energetic grid, keeps the energy flowing. I have one in my home and have anchored them in the homes of my daughters and friends – other Gaia Method Earthways healers – when I am impulsed to do so. For two weeks before today, the energies rise and the flames are tended. Sometimes, they change colour, sometimes other energies are added. I can see them changing, in colour and number, sometimes becoming three, sometimes reverting to one. Each flame is a frequency of creation, a creative fire that inspires and keeps abundance flowing.

There are ‘Keepers of the Flame’ all over the world, carrying out these ancient tasks, and there have been for millennia. Now we are re-learning their ways so that the earth can be fruitful and abundant. We can change our old ways and learn how to live in communion with the Mother. Learn to channel the light into her pathways once more.

St. Catherine’s Hillfort, here in Winchester — the view from my house — has a flame. This year it has become a white flame, rising from the hilltop into the sky, spreading a disc of silver around the surrounding landscape; the abundance of the Mother. A necessary thing, in these times of fear and confusion. The White feels pure, light, bringing awareness and a feeling of spiritual power. The power of Light, not might.

The more we work with the ancient energies and ways of life, the better will be both our lives and those of others around us.

In searching for fertility sites, look for the signs, both through intuition and physical evidence. Where the stone-carved Sheelagh na Gig’s are, nearby you will find a site, waiting to be reawakened. Early Christian churches often use them, as they signified a place where the energy of Imbolc was activated, albeit in a different form. There are places all over the British Isles, and Ireland, that hold these energies. All it needs is for you to find them.

“Now is the time to tend the fires. To create anew your dreams for the future. Go into the landscape. Connect to the Mother, Brigit, Goddess of life, and bring fertility and life back into your lives.”