1:The Celtic Cycle
2: St Brigid and Candlemas
3: Groundhog Day and the Eternal Return
4: The Four Royal Stars
5: What Imbolc means in 2023
1:The Celtic Cycle
Celtic year is worth pondering on for what it can reveal: we have two solstices, the longest day and the longest night, plus two equinoxes –with equal hours of day and night. That equals 4, and is the main axis across the first one of Summer and Winter, but then there are the in-between points. These are the festivals Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasa, and Samhain and so the overall total is 8. So, it is division of the year into 8 key points that we can actually count the days by watching the changing position of the Sun in the sky.
February 1st -2nd is Imbolc which is also known as St Brigid’s Day across Ireland. It marks a significant point in the year that is often overlooked. People are rightly excited when they see the first daffodil or crocus as that is a sign we understand- that winter will pass. The use of the cross of St Brigid made of rushes is interesting as it suggests the sun’s wheel or cycle. It is not like the crucifix at all, but equilateral, firmly placing us in the cross of spirit and matter. The Brigid cross is placed above doorways and in the rafters to bring on the light, as protection and to ward off evil spirits and protect against lightning.
From Imbolc onwards, days get longer as we move towards spring when the sun reaches 0° of Aries on March 20th so perhaps also a way of having more hope for brighter days. The date on which it is celebrated can vary from year to year as it is supposed to be when the Sun is at 15° of Aquarius. Lughnasa is when the sun is at 15° of Leo and Samhain when the Sun is at 15° of Scorpio. Some sources say this should be 9° of the sign. The chart for Imbolc this year the sun is at 13° of Aquarius (not 15° which comes on Feb 3rd), so there is some calibration to do- it is not exact. These are all in fixed signs and 15° or thereabouts is the zenith of the sun’s movement through that sign, so its height, but also its depth begin neither near the beginning of the sign nor the end. This cycle of eight points in the year revolves around the Cardinal and Fixed signs only and excludes the Mutable Signs which are the more nebulous transition phases.
The difference between Astronomical and Astrological frames of reference are striking so the calculation is different each year as to when there are any Gaelic celebrations. The solar calendar itself can be rigid in comparison- it is time that flows relentlessly regardless of the way we count it. There is a minor wobble similar to the precession. If the frames including the Meteorological do not coincide exactly, it does not disprove anything, it’s just differing ways to see the same thing and long ago no one thought it odd that as above was so below and astronomy and astrology were actually the same study of the universe.
These mid-points are significant markers of the seasons and the Tropical system of astrology is based on solstices and equinoxes as markers of the interactional orbits of the Sun, the Earth and the Moon. The ecliptic is a projection outwards based more on the northern and southern hemispheres and the points of declination – 23° the north which is the tropic of Cancer and 23° south which is the tropic of Capricorn at which changes in season (as opposed to weather) are noticeable just through your own observation.
Then there is the subject of Archeoastronomy which by definition has to include astrology and astrological philosophy. Here is another layer to wrap your head around. Why were certain temples and stone monuments such as Stonehenge, Castelrigg and New Grange built in perfect alignment to Solstices and Equinoxes? What is that intended to make people on the ground viewing that on those specific days realise? Perhaps it acts as a reminder of how we as humans in the micro integrate with the cosmos as a system that is the macro, but it is a fractal holistic system. We are just locked in time and repeated cycles and we blame Saturn for that. The temples, monuments, dolmens, stone circles are a sort of ancient technology that orientates us to the earth in relation to the changing positions of the Sun and Moon and the Stars to solstices and equinoxes, even Angkor Wot in Cambodia aligns to the solstice. And in the case of ancient temples across Malta which are over 11,000 years old – perhaps even older according to Graham Hancock- are aligned to the dog star Sirius along with Göpekli-Tepe in Syria/Turkey. But the exactitude of these alignments to celestial phenomena is astonishing given that knowledge of the orbit of Sirius was allegedly only known recently.
2: St Brigid and Candlemas
The significance of Imbolc is worth celebrating. You can do this just by acknowledging the point in the year which signals the approach of spring. That’s when lambs are born. There’s something here we have not been fully told about that should matter to us- it is how we part of this same cycle. St. Brigid was a goddess, before she was a ‘Saint’ and is really pre-Christian but garnered a label ‘the Mary of the Irish’. She was the daughter of the Dragda and one of the legendary Tuatha dé Danaan. She is associated with fire, birth and healing. People made pilgrimages to sacred wells in her honour like the one at Kildare. People make little rag dolls -mini-Brigids- in her honour.
There was also the practice of Biddy boys, perhaps more than just a bit of rustic fun, where men dressed as the Breeda, the ancient goddess. They went around the houses collecting money for St. Brigid. They would even steal bread, money and drinks from pub counters if they met with any opposition.
They would chant…
“Something for poor Biddy
Her Clothes are torn
Her shoes are worn
Something for poor Biddy
Here is Brigit dressed in white
Give a penny for her tonight
She is deaf, she is dumb
She cannot talk without a tongue
For God’s sake, give her some…”
They had elaborate head-dresses made of rushes with this swastika- like sun wheel on them and masks called vizards and acted like mocking trickster characters out of the folk horror film ‘The Wicker Man‘ (1973). It was probably wise to give them what they wanted, but it would also bring you luck. It was a way of welcoming in the Spring.
People traditionally also laid strips of cloth, ribbons and clothes outside their houses overnight on the eve of St Brigid, January 31st, and when they brought them in on the day itself, the items were imbued with healing qualities, or they helped women be more fertile. The name Brigid actually means ‘exalted one’ and ‘Imbolc’ means ‘in the womb’.
These traditions go beyond just religion – they come from a deeper relationship to the Earth. I was brought up as Catholic but the priests that taught me never bothered to explain the significance of Candelmas (Imbolc) or All Souls Day (Samhain), we were left to guess. But I noticed that the masses slyly referenced these older Pagan traditions while still maintaining that they were Christian.
The tradition of Candlemas for example included this saying:
If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again.
So we can put this to the test on the day to see if it is useful as a predictive tool. But you could do also light a few candles as candles are portents of light and the flame is your intention. Beeswax also became associated with Candlemas.
Catholics still had this connection to folk magic which it would be a shame to lose. The Blessed Virgin Mary procession happened in May and this too was a throwback to goddess worship- the Marist – worship of Mary- strand of Catholicism was very strong. She even points to the Pagan May Queen tradition, signalled by the onset of Taurus (ruled by Venus) so we must include Aphrodite too. So she is the goddess of Beltane as Brigid is the goddess of Imbolc. Even Frazer’s The Golden Bough mentions this tradition. The emphasis was on flowers and the abundance of nature as it triumphs over winter. Young girls would be chosen to be the representative of Mary on Earth- a truly elevated status- and this girl would place the garland of flowers on the statues of the Virgin Mary in the church. She was carried on a catafalque as the procession covered the church grounds, and boys wearing white satin shirts chosen to be the carriers of the cushion that held her floral crown. That role once fell to me as an altar boy. It was all very solemn and meaningful, one of the many rituals we lose connection to with the rise of nihilism and reductive materialism.
3: Groundhog Day and the Eternal Return
Imbolc can also be known as Groundhog Day which again points to a ‘cycle’ even back to the eternal return. It is not exactly the same day but has become somehow culturally associated by being on February 2nd. This idea was from a story in Punxatawney in Pennsylvania 1887 in the open square with a creature called Phil. A local newspaper created a sensation so people gathered annually and it became popular. They watched for the groundhogs or woodchucks to emerge from their burrows and be prognosticators of the weather. They are the real hibernators so they know when it’s okay to emerge and start mating. And that actually became a way of predicting an early spring or a second round of winter- in which case, go back to bed. It originated from the German tradition of observing the Badger linked to Candlemas. The idea is that if the weather is good – it it gets better, but if the animal can see its shadow, it keeps repeating that point in the cycle. We are back where we started.
And that’s like a dream where you are trapped in a cycle like a timeline, an eternal return which even Nietzsche said was a possibility to explain a whole round of phenomena. Writer Anthony Peake says the secret to understanding time and varieties of paranormal phenomenon is to understand this theory of the eidolon -the small self- and the daemon– the genius on your shoulder. The daemon warns you ahead of time – if you are lucky enough to hear it- because it has seen your previous errors from all the previous lives and only wants you to make better choices. These two parts of the self can be at war with each other.
4: The Four Royal Stars
The power of four is celebrated in astrology – we have four elements and the four points in a Grand Cross aspect. There are also the four angles on the chart the Ascendant, the IC, the Descendant and the MC, which mirror the four polar points of the compass North, South, East and West.
But the correspondences do not stop there. There are four Cherubim, the four Archangels , the four gospels and four evangelists, and the Four Royal Stars: Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares and Formahault. The celebration of four seems to contain and delimit the whole world hence used by Masons to symbolise control of the world and represented in the Tetramorph icon. These seem to parallel the mid points of the pagan calendar Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasa and Samhain, as they only obtained their Christian overlay in the past 1000 years. The Man-Bull-Eagle and Lion emerge in Coats of Arms, in Heraldry, in various Family emblems as well as in the Tenth Tarot- The Wheel of Fortune. It is striking how the symbolism sinks quite deep with this tetramorph. They match to the four points of the world and their princely guardians you must address and acknowledge if you wish to command any manifestation in the world.
According to Pratt (2001) “The Book of Enoch explains that the four creatures of the lion, eagle, bull and man (four cornerstone constellations) correspond to four angels, who are also associated with the four sides of the throne of God.” The four Angels are Michael, Raphael, Gabriel and Phanuel in this source, but in the western occult tradition Phanuel is designated instead as Uriel. The full names and links of the Royal stars of Persia with their associated Archangels are:
They were as observed by the Persian astronomers related to the fixed points in the sun’s journey, but have since moved out of line with the Tropical system based on the solstices and equinoxes and not the constellations- and they have their specific impact on the charts especially if directly on any other planet or point. What’s also Interesting is that these positions now align more to Mutable signs Gemini whereas the Fixed cross system of the Celtic year is Cardinal and Fixed only and Mutable does not appear to count.
5: What Imbolc means in 2023
To make it ultra clear: The Man, or Water Bearer, is Aquarius, the Bull is Taurus, the Lion is Leo and the Eagle is Scorpio creating a square of the four fixed signs. In other words, Imbolc celebrates mid Aquarius, Beltane celebrates mid-Taurus, Lughnasa celebrates mid-Leo, and Samhain is the essence of mid- Scorpio. If you had a grand cross at these exact points, I hesitate to say how intensely you would feel these days in your life, it would probably define you as an engraving in metal reveals its image each time it is printed. But also these are times when the veil which is already thin is even thinner between the hidden realms and the bumpy 3D world.
This means Imbolc is the quintessence of Aquarius – the cold hearted opposite of Leo, the warm-hearted, as it relates to the other points in the annual cycle. In 2023 it happens and soon after Uranus went direct on January 22nd and there was a new Moon in Aquarius on the 21st There is a strong blast of Uranus to Imbolc. This will be a Uranian year with Pluto moving into Aquarius, ruled by Uranus, that is now the designated sign for profound change. Pluto will leave its stamp there. It will dredge up stuff from the depths, all that needs to be reexamined. Pluto there will show us how Aquarius in its Uranian revolutionary mode is really done through utterly radical reform of society and its notions of how people should behave in groups.
The chart here show a bi-wheel of both February 1st and 2nd at noon, and we can see that together it covers the transition point where the Moon shifts from Gemini to Cancer. Pluto is not yet at the 29° where the eruptions will conclude its path through Capricorn, but it will be there soon. Jupiter is in Aries and is happy there for now, sextile to Mars in Gemini so increasing the power of ideas. Both Venus and Neptune are in Pisces which can’t be a bad thing- that’s a mood of sweet elevation and radiated compassion. Plus Venus is in a Water trine with the Moon in Cancer and the South Node. But the Moon moves so quickly, it barely lasts.
The Sun is applying to a square to Uranus however and that’s kicking in this clear-sighted mode where ideas are flooding in but clashing with contrary ideas. People are pushing back on each other head to head and not giving any inch of space. We understand the stakes more clearly. This can produce friction, but from that what emerges from the battle may take us forward into the spring when March hits us head on. Then by Friday Mars moves into square with Venus giving us love friction, and the full Moon in Leo comes on Sunday where the Sun is at 17° of Aquarius and squaring the eclipse points. Could be galvanising on your energy and people could feel wired up and beware of overstimulation or increased electro magnetic fields keeping you awake at nigh. But again it brings piercing clarity of mind too -the blessing of Uranus.
A few other points about the time cycle this year would include the timing of Easter and Ramadan. Ostara or Easter is really supposed to be March 20th with the Sun at zero degrees of Aries but then it became April 1st, or the first Sunday in April after the Paschal full moon. This is not always the same as the actual full moon as the calculation is more complicated. The Muslim month of fasting Ramadan begins this year on March 22nd or 23rd it will be determined by the first sighting of the new moon above Mecca by the Imans- so this coincides with the Vernal Equinox -that is from a lunar calendar the Hejira…another story indeed. Each year Ramadan moves forward in time by a couple of weeks and never occurs on the same day each year as befits it Moon like orientation. Easter in the Christian calendar this year lands on Sunday April 17th almost a month after the Vernal Equinox. So Easter in itself by the calendar and Christian denotation is not part of the underlying 8-point year.
The Christian Orthodox Easter known as Pascha – falls on April 24th the beginning of Taurus. This whole period is known as the time of rituals and blood sacrifices so watch out for any psi-ops during this time. Sadly, the all-planets-going-forward phase ends April 21st so all the action of the year may begin to slow, or backtrack somewhat by the end of April and the brakes slowly come back on again.
Happy Imbolc. Let’s hope it’s a good one.
© Kieron Devlin, January 31st, 2023, All Rights Reserved
Pratt, J.P. (2001) The Lion and Unicorn Testify of Christ Part II: The Four Royal Stars’ Dec 5th. Meridian Magazine.
Kieron is a London-based and trained astrologer at Proteus Astrology on Facebook and his home page:
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