An Invocation for Imbolc

Sometimes a gift emerges, and sometimes that is a poem. A timely arrival, for today, Brigid’s Day in Ireland. Hence an additional post this week.

Last night, marking the threshold of Imbolc, a group of poetry salon participants from Ireland, UK, Italy, France and the US, nine of us in total, gathered around the spirit of poetry to honour the turning, and the power, of the season.

At the end of the salon, as a collective creative ritual, the following invocation, inspired by Brigid (the mythological feminine force, after whom the festival is named, and patron of The Arts and Poetry) was written. The invocation also draws upon the ancient bardic tradition of the very first poet, Amergin, in the form of ‘I am’. Each participant offered one or two lines, without knowing what each other were writing. Very little editing was done- some rearranging of the order of the lines (by Clare), and it has been recorded on behalf of all the participants in the gathering, as a gift, speaking to these times, and shared with all their permission.

May the force behind and invoked in these words travel to the hearts of those who need to hear them.

…

I would also like to acknowledge the poets who words were also read at the salon, these included the ancient poem, The Song of Amergin, and also specifically the Brigid themed poems which offered inspiration, by Paula Meehan, Doireann Ní Gríofa, (see here), alongside Caroline Mellor’s Imbolc Poem, The Dream of Awakening, from her book The Honey in the Bones.

Thank you all.

Clare x