Preparing for the Sun

Today is the pagan holiday Imbolc. Tonight we welcome the quieting of Winter and the approach of Spring. The Crone makes way for the Maiden in the turning of the wheel.

Bright, warm blessings to all on this Imbolc. Today I am hoping the turning of the wheel brings some peace, love, good energy and a happy 2017 to my friends and family as well as guidance and light to the new president.

This is the day I begin working on the changes or tweaks I’ve contemplated since Samhain. This year will be working on creating good habits and focus. I have recognized a lack of follow through and want to push myself to not just have ideas but to implement them and work them through to completion. To not allow the fear of failure or embarrassment to push ideas away.

Today I plant the seed of Completion is Accomplishment (whether something turns out well or not, completion is accomplishment) thereby Increasing Self Worth.

Creating habits: I’ve become quite lazy and cozy with not working and loving the home we are in right now. It’s time to stir things up, new habits will include:

Yoga and Meditation: I started the year doing 31 days of Yoga which was semi-productive. I was not able to do it every day but I did it every week day and will complete the program even if its a few days late. After completion of the program I will continue with week day yoga practice and implement a regular meditation time.
Scheduling: Right now I have no schedule really. I will be implementing a cleaning schedule. With such a large house to take care of and a bad back to consider, cleaning needs to be broken up which caused me to be lazy about it. Today I will create a schedule for house maintenance and keep to it.
Ritual: I have been relaxed about this for far too long. Today begins a weekly routine for my pagan practice. Wednesdays will be ritual day and I think one afternoon per week will be set aside for researching and enriching my spirituality.
Learning Italian: I have several learning Italian apps and youtube channels to draw from as well as a local school that offers a class which I need to set up an appointment with to find out what it entails and the cost. If possible, I will sign up.
Exploring the area: I want to have at least one day per week where I go out and explore a different area whether its by walking or taking a quick train ride.

Those are the major habits I want to put into action this year. The first thing I did to prepare for this was to create my own planner. I’m still tweaking this to suit my needs but I have a planner I can customize and it is rather fun to do.

For the Imbolc feast tonight I will be preparing Jamie Oliver’s Sweet Leek and Rabbit Pie and I think a cheese plate of some sort, as dairy is the tradition for today.

If you follow me on social media or have contact with me personally feel free to poke me to see how I’m doing with the above tasks, keep me honest.

The next turn of the wheel is the Spring Equinox, Ostara, when I hope to be planting some things literally. We have a few balcony planters and a small square of dirt sitting empty. I think some flowers and possibly some vegetables will be going in.

Thought of the moment: Today started out with me sleeping in later than usual, I tend to get up with the husband leaves for work (6 am) but this week for some reason I’ve been sleeping in longer and dreaming A LOT. Time to set the alarm again I suppose.

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Side note: I have a couple of travel posts to do still from our Christmas in Vatican City trip and New Years Eve in our little town. Its coming once I settle on purchasing a plan for this blog so I can upload the load of photos for it.

We are currently planning a trip to Sicily for our Anniversary coming up.