The first time I really felt the meaning of Imbolc in my body was about 5 years ago on the dance floor at a 5Rhythms dance in Philadelphia with Rebekah Zhuraw. It was early February around the time of Imbolc on the Celtic calendar. Imbolc, meaning “in the belly,” is the time when lambs turn in their mother’s belly getting ready to make their way into the world. It is the time when seeds begin to turn over in the ground and start the process of rooting and eventually growing up to sprout in the spring. It is a time when spring is not yet here, but there is a hint in the earth, in the womb, in our own bodies that something is beginning to shift. I remember on that day planting a seed in a big pot of soil that Rebekah brought into the dance. We planted our seed with the intention of what we were hoping would root and grow in the coming months. And then we danced those intentions. Our bodies living and moving into the experience of Imbolc.

Below is a reading of an excerpt from Caroline Mellor’s poem, “Imbolc,” from her book The Honey in the Bones (highly recommended for those interested in the changing of seasons and the celtic calendar).

In the video, I invite you to listen to the words, take them into your own body, into whatever is beginning its organic process inside you of turning down and rooting, and to let that move you into a dance, into an expression of how your body is living these words.