WW – Simply Imbolc

For the majority of my time on this earth so far, one of the biggest obstacles I put in my own path, was the fear of doing things the “right” way. I’d get an idea in my head of something I wanted to do, like reorganize a room, set up a ritual, or write a story. I’d then spend inordinate amounts of time researching the correct way to go about it, fretting about whether or not I could do it without mucking things up, then never actually managing to get ‘er done. As I approach my crone years, I’m learning to focus more on the intention, not the action.

As I mentioned in my post last Witchy Wednesday, I had a few things I hoped to accomplish to celebrate Imbolc. My plan was simple –

• lit a candle
• sage & sweep
• clean one big thing (possible our stone collection) and one small

The result –

• I got my candle lit, and had it going for most of the day.
• My mom’s late January visit was extended thanks to the record breaking snowfall, so in deference to her allergies, I’m delaying the sage & sweep until she goes home.
• I gave our cat a bath, cleaned the silverware drawer, and organized my wallet (took two whole seconds!).

To elaborate a bit on my choices for cleaning projects –

Our cat Sid is an indoor cat with outdoor privileges, so we give him an occasional bath. He’s very tolerant of the experience, but it’s usually a quick wash and rinse. On Monday, I made it a point to take it slow, letting him relax in the warm water for a bit. Then I swaddled him like a baby (did I mention he’s very tolerant?) and cuddled him in front of our bedroom heater. I told him how thankful we were that he adopted us all those years ago, and I hoped his bath would clear away any aches, pains, or fleas that might have lingered from the summer months. I may have also turned the fur on his head into a mini mohawk, but there’s no photographic proof (the files on my SD card were mysteriously deleted), so I refuse to confirm or deny.

The silverware drawer made sense to me, because I’ve felt a strong pull towards kitchen witchery for years. On the peripheral of my brain, I’d noticed there were crumbs and such gathering in the corners of the ugly plastic tray, and made countless mental notes to do something about it. Monday, whilst lamenting that every. single. spoon. in the house was dirty, I decided to take advantage of the almost empty drawer, invoke my inner Nike, and just do it. I ditched the plastic, wiped down the wood with some yummy smelling Murphy’s Oil Soap, and used a kitchen towel as a liner for the time being. As I did it, I thought about some of the amazing family dinners we’ve had, friends we’ve had over, and put intentions out for more to come in the future.

My trip to Urgent Care last week after hubby’s trip in the driveway made me aware of how many expired insurance cards and receipts I was lugging around. So after I cleaned the kitchen drawer, I dumped the contents of my wallet on our bed, and only put the necessary items back in. During the minute or so it took to do it, I imagined all our old financial clutter getting sorted, and told the Universe I’d made room in my wallet for any money heading my way.

I found that having a few cleaning projects in mind, but not making grand preparations (or having high expectations) for them, made the tasks easily doable, and they felt much more personal and spiritual. Feel free to shout out in the comments how you celebrated the rumored return of spring!