Preparation and Cosmos Home
Three Goddesses at the Threshold
We’ve journeyed through Samhain’s descent into darkness, rested in Yule’s deepest stillness, and now stand at Imbolc’s threshold preparing to emerge. At this stage in our exploration we shift our attention outward, beyond the immediate needs of Body, Community and Planet and place our work within the larger stream of deep time. At this moment of preparation how do we align our work with the cosmic and ecological cycles that reach back into the distant past and forward into the distant future, without becoming lost in vastness?
In my own practice I am deepening my connection to the timeless realm of myth to find these answers. I am currently participating in The Mythic Body course - a year long exploration of mythic embodiment led by scholar and podcaster Josh Schrei. It is profound and humbling work, giving context to my practice of the Wheel of the Year and helping me ground my ChangeMaking into narratives that connect cultures across time and geography. I feel we need this perspective even more at this precise moment of spreading war, rising fascism and global destabilisation. Decisions that affect millions are being taken by leaders who have no plan, no wisdom and no respect for life. I will explore this more in a side article - there is much to say about what is being done to our Four Homes in this conflict and I want to stay true to the ChangeMaking sequence you have signed up for.
To help us think about preparation at a cosmic scale I invite us to stand at the threshold of spring with three goddesses - ritual keepers from three ancient cultures who gift us with timeless perspectives on the Imbolc themes.
Persephone - Queen of the Underworld from the Greek tradition.
Inanna - Queen of Heaven from the Sumerian tradition.
Brigid - Goddess of healing and inspiration from the Irish Celtic tradition.
These three deities teach us the importance of the full, natural cyclic process of birth, growth, decline, death, rebirth in their stories of annual descent into the underworld and ascent back to the world of the living. This cycle matters to us as ChangeMakers, because it describes the entire process of regeneration. There can be no new life without the deaths that provide the nutrients, energy, wisdom to nurture revival. Instead, we are struggling under the continuous linear growth model of capitalism - a cancer that depletes and destroys without leaving anything to nurture the new life to follow. In the Body Home article I referenced Ale Duarte’s Self Regulation Cycle - we feel this cyclic movement inside our very bodies. Not respecting and completing the full cycle - which includes integration and rest - leads to dysregulation, trauma and burn out.
So back to this Readiness/Preparation moment in the cycle. On our journey together so far we have completed our descent into the Underworld and are climbing back out into the light. What do our goddesses teach us about Imbolc? Let us begin with Persephone.
Persephone: Purification Before Ascent
Persephone was the daughter of the agricultural goddess Demeter. When Persephone was abducted by Hades the King of the Underworld, Demeter went into a mourning so deep that nature died, leaving the world barren and infertile. In the negotiations for the return of Persephone it was decided that she should spend half the year in the Underworld and the other half in the lands above. And so we see embodied in this myth the natural seasonal cycle of autumn/winter/spring/summer, which was observed in the Eleusinian Mysteries - the most sacred and important religious rite in Ancient Greece. At Imbolc Persephone is preparing her return to the living world, just as we have observed nature’s preparation for the coming spring. This preparation for return was celebrated in late February in the ancient world (the 20th day of the month of Anthesteria) and was observed by rites of purification and cleansing - ritual bathing in the sea and fasting. We can think of this as a transitional moment - an acknowledgement of a change of state from the darkness of the Underworld to the bright light of spring - which requires us to shed behaviours and trappings that were appropriate for winter but no longer suit the activities to come. Like putting heavy winter clothes and blankets away to be replaced with the lighter ones more appropriate for the season ahead. When we ritualise activities what we are doing is marking them out for special meaning to signify change. This can be as simple as the pouring of a favourite tea into a special cup and savouring the flavour with no distraction for a few minutes. It is not the rite itself that counts, but the ATTENTION given to the rite. This sends signals to our nervous system to recognise a mini cycle that fully completes and helps us to feel more connected to ourselves. If we perform this rite with others it helps us to feel more connected to them too. And so we lay down neurobiological markers that connect us to the world in a way that rushing from one activity to the next cannot do.
What rites could you do to mark your transition into spring?
Inanna: Conscious Reclothing
The central story of the myth of Inanna is her descent into the Underworld. In this journey she was required to pass through seven gates, and at each one to remove another of her garments and symbols of power, so that she arrived into the great hall of the Underworld naked and stripped of her living world identities. These included her crown (leadership), her breastplate (protection) and her robe (status). To reascend Inanna had to pass back through the gates, re-robing as she went, until she emerged again, fully clothed and reclaiming her position in the world. However the difference is that through the conscious relinquishment of her identities as she descended and the ordeal she passed through in the Underworld, means that her reconnection with her belongings during her ascent comes with a humility and discernment about what she takes forward and how she will wield those items back in the world. The journey of Inanna at Imbolc is one of choice - as we prepare to emerge into the light, what do we wish to take with us from the cycles before and how will we choose to show up in the cycle ahead? This reminds us that although the cycles repeat we do not have to encounter them from the same level of consciousness each time. We learn and grow bringing new understanding and wisdom at each passage - it is a spiral, not a circle.
What do you wish to take forward into spring? And what do you wish to leave behind?
Brigid: Forging for Future Generations
Our final goddess is different from the two before in that her stories do not describe a descent/ascent journey. Instead we look to Brigid at this time of year for her role as guardian of the land and transmitter of cultural wisdom - a bridge builder to the future. Brigid is goddess of smith-craft and poetry, creative skills that capture cultural knowledge and transform them into artefacts (tools and verses) that convey stories and values to future generations. She is also goddess of healing, supporting communities to survive physically and emotionally into the year ahead and her guardianship of the land itself reminds us to prepare and nurture nature for the benefit of those who will come after us. Imbolc is her sacred time because as goddess of dawn she presides over “first light”, which is celebrated across Europe as the return of light following winter. So her symbology is all about preparation - of the body, of the community, of the land, of knowledge, of the light - the forging of tools that will serve long after we’re gone. Unusually she presides over both fire and water - not as opposing forces, but as methods of ritual cleansing in preparation for the world being born.
What bridge do you wish to build to future generations?
The Ritual Prepares Us
As the culmination of our triple goddess journey Brigid aligns us firmly with our seven generation thinking:
Persephone prepares us to emerge
Inanna asks us to choose what we bring
Brigid reminds us that all are in service of the world we wish to leave to our children
The Mythic dimension anchors right action in the world through the power of story, but not just as entertainment and the familiarity of an enjoyable tale. We are invited to enter into our own embodiment of the myth by designing rituals and practices that are meaningful to us and align us to the greater story as it speaks through our own life.
As a ChangeMaker reading this Substack I’m guessing that you recognise the need for a more regenerative, life affirming way of doing your work, so the invitation here is not to suddenly start worshipping pagan goddesses but to build appropriate preparatory rituals into your activities that keep you on track. As I wrote earlier, ritual is about attention. It requires a slowing down and conscious focus on needs in transitional moments. The greater cycle of the Wheel of the Year gives us markers to direct our attention at specific times so that we know to consistently think about the needs of Body, Community, Planet and Cosmos as we go about our work. This will decrease the potential of burn out, ensure our relationships are built on care, remind us to make decisions with respect to the planet and align us with our deeper role as stewards for the generations to come.
If we prepare well now, if we mark this threshold with attention and intention, we’ll be ready for what Ostara, the next turn of the Wheel, will bring - fertility, growth, and the delicate balance between action and sustainability. Spring’s emergence will flow from winter’s rest rather than forcing against it. This is how lasting change happens - in rhythm with natural cycles rather than in opposition to them. The goddesses remind us: honour the pattern, trust the spiral, prepare the ground.
Next week get ready for the Imbolc round up and this cycle’s opportunity to reflect and evaluate your progress. If you’re new to my Substack and you haven’t completed the baseline assessment yet, you can access it here.
In the meantime may the approach of spring keep you grounded and sane at this time of great change and I wish you a beautiful week until we meet again.