As February approaches still bearing the cloak of Winter, we begin to notice our patterns of this first month of the year unraveling. We attempted to cling hard to our icy grip on who we should be, how we should eat, exercise, meditate, work...love. Maybe we realized the icier the grip, the harder it's been to move freely. That we've frozen ourselves in a state of immobility because of our own wintery reckoning on how ugly, fat, unloveable or not-enough-ness we are. We see now that our winter is the same as Mama Earth's and that we simply needed to rest, be still and listen to the deep rhythm of our own heartbeat underneath the frozen ground - to see that we're alive and brimming with beauty and abundant talents that just need time and space to simply just "be".

This is what Winter gifts us: TIME. Time, pause and reflection, rather than action and that not-so-useful tightening grip. The Cailleach covers the Earth in a world of hellacious frost and piercing cold so that she can protect the Earth in her slumber (and Persephone in the Underworld) in preparation for rebirth. We too must go through this same process. For what would Mama Earth build upon and grow from on the dead leaves and harvested, baron soil of Autumn if there were no period of rest and regeneration? She, always one of our great teachers.

And so it is that it is now time for the Cailleach to hand over her crown.

Imbolc is the pagan celebration of many things: Persephone returning from the Underworld, Brigid bringing back the light of Spring, and Mama Earth beginning her thaw. While we know about Groundhog Day in North America, what we're really waiting for is to see how angry the Cailleach will be about returning her crown to the maiden goddess of springtime.

Imbolc means "in the belly", and is a warm and hopeful celebration of what's to come as we wait for Spring to return. In the belly of Mama Earth, seeds have been nurtured, microbes, organisms and insects have been working, and hibernating animals have been slumbering. It's not quite time to wake up yet, but her rebirth is on its way. See the light again. Return to hope again. In the current political turmoil, we need this celebration more than ever. As you witness the thawing of the earth, begin to see the ways in which you might also melt the icy grip on your own self-sabotage. See what has been nurtured and cared for in the belly of your dreams and hopes, and know that you are deserving and worth every ounce of love and elation that surrounds you in big and small ways. Ask yourself what frosty cloak still protects you and how you might return from your own underworld to feel held in the light and warmth of your own rebirth.

Let us call forth the wisdom of our hearts, our intuition and connection to what makes us good. A rebirth in hope and empowerment, rather than a continued slumber in the darkness of the underworld. Just like Mama Earth, we cannot, nor are meant to be in any one state of the birth-life-death-rebirth cycle for an extended period of time. Or, we die. So let's thaw, celebrate warmth of community, the light of hope, let's live.

Live BOLDLY, PROUDLY, BEAUTIFULLY. In the belly of our richest and truest asset, our loving hearts.

In Perfect Love + Perfect Trust,

Jillian