Also known as Candlemas, this Sabbat is the re awaking of the Earth Mother so that She may return to make our lands green again. It is also a time when the Sun God is encouraged to grow in strength so that He may awaken the Goddess from Her Winter slumber.

Imbolc actually means "in womb". This refers to all the Life that is laying beneath the hard frozen ground, in our Earth Mothers "womb", waiting to come forth in the Spring. It is up to the Sun God to warm the frozen ground and stir these seeds so they may blossom.

In our tradition, we take this time to encourage others and ourselves. The dark Winter months tend to depress many people, and several seem to give up hope. On Imbolc we try to restore that hope in order to survive. We light candles in a variety of ways to show that there will be brighter times and hopefully to encourage that inner light within all of us to ignite and flare.