Imbolc Festival
Foundation Centre - Ireland
February 7th, 2026
By: Rev. Noeleen Watson
For the past few weeks Ireland has been hit with a lot of rain and flooding around the southeast. Today's gathering was quite large considering all the issues with roads and recent floods. We had a different experience today for our Imbolc Ceremony as our Temple is being rejuvenated and reinvigorated. Standing in the castle courtyard today, one had to check what season were we in as the day was mild. A couple of dark clouds hung around and a soft rain shower occasionally.
Cait, our Presiding Priestess gathered us all around to share the news about our Temple and that today the castle theatre would be our heart home. The room was set up beautifully with four large tables to represent the directions and a large centre spread with a Brigid's Healing Blanket. Imbolc is a time of the year when the hint of Spring is promised, the ewes are preparing for the birth of their lambs, and the landscape will turn again.
In procession we made our way towards the Rose Garden. The area was quite busy with lots of hens enjoying their feast. The stream gushed under the little bridge; you could see all the new growth among the rose trees. Katheriona led the invocation to the Rosa Mundi and asked us to connect to our breath. She passed around a beautiful handmade chalice filled to the brim with rose petals. As we walked back over the bridge, we held an intention that whatever needed to be cleansed would be released.
On our walk towards the Sacred Grove, which is dedicated to The Druid Clan of Dana, you could see a flurry of snowdrops. The ground was like walking on a plush velvet carpet. We made our way into the grove where the Goddess Danu was invoked. A poem was read here, 'Emerging communities, standing together, hands reached out and eyes met.'
We moved in procession towards the Abbey, the seat of the Noble Order of Tara. Here Eriu was invoked. The sun even popped out to say hello as we made our way towards the Goddess Persephone. As we stood there we sent lots of heart love towards our Temple. It will be wonderful to see all the upgrades that will be completed presently.
We walked back towards the courtyard and into the theatre. Everyone took their seats and our main ceremony started with Cait reading an oracle written by Lady Olivia, The Oracle of Kundalini: 'to bring down My Power from the heavens look upwards and wonder at the sun and the moon and the stars.' Blessings were given to all who wanted one. An oracle from An Cailleach was shared by one of our Priestesses, it was very powerful and really hit home. For I heard the importance of being yourself, to be authentic in all you do.
We were taken on a fabulous journey by Sarah, one of our Priestesses; she brought us to meet Brigid and connect with her. We then were treated to a mystery play by Tom, one of our Priests. He represented the God Hades and shared a story on Hades and the Goddess Persephone; he left us all with food for thought.
As our ceremony ended, Cait thanked us all for being there, because each person is our temple. We bring our hearts, our love and our appreciation for community, fellowship and the good of all. When we show up as our unique self we bring a source of magic and healing to each other and this ripples out to our wider community. In closing I would like to mention how each of us can be our true self and sit among people that accept and respect us as we are.
Our next ceremony is the Spring Equinox, 21st March 2026 at 11 am. (Please note: Festival attendance is by invitation only - to request one, see this page: Events)
