This post is part of a series of ambient music playlists I’ve developed for the 8 seasons of the solar year, which you can read more about here:
The second playlist in the series, “Imbolc,” is meant to capture the liminal transition season between winter and spring. This is the season of “quickening” — a time when the first kicks of new life can be felt.
Of course, those living in the northern latitudes or at higher elevations may find that this “prevernal” season arrives much later… in which case, you may want to continue resting in the deep winter playlist, “Epiphany” for a bit longer. But where I live in central North Carolina, this is a playlist for February 1 - March 21.
The good thing is, you don’t really have to wait until you can see or feel the first signs of spring to celebrate this season of imbolc. The word literally means “in the belly,” a reference to the pregnancy of sheep during this time of year in Ireland, which signaled the return of fresh milk after having gone all winter without. Imbolc is a season of trust — that somewhere deep within the belly of the cold dark ground, seeds are already beginning to germinate.
Regardless of what your local weather forecast may look like, February 1st marks a significant turning point in the solar year: it is the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. February 1st is also the Feast Day of St. Brigid, one of the patron saints of Ireland. According to legend, St. Brigid was born in a doorway at dawn, on the threshold of darkness and light, with her mother having one foot inside and one foot outside.
This is what the season of imbolc represents: a threshold that anticipates our eventual return to the outdoors. Many cultures in the northern hemisphere have traditions of hibernating animals peering out of their holes during this time of year, just to test out the conditions. We still honor this custom in the U.S. with Groundhog Day on February 2nd. In Hungary, it is bears who traditionally come out of their dens to check for shadows, and in Germany it is hedgehogs.
In the Christian liturgical tradition, February 2nd is celebrated as Candlemas, also known as the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Technically, this is actually the last feast day that relates to Jesus’ birth, and therefore it marks the end of what was originally understood to be a 40 day season of Christmastide (which mirrored the 40 day season of Lent). To honor this, many people (myself included) still leave some greenery from Christmas up in their homes through February 2nd.
Candlemas is also when the church candles for the year are traditionally blessed, which continues the Epiphany theme of light coming into the world. In ye olden days, people would bring their household candles to the church to receive a blessing as well, so that the light filling their homes each night would be blessed.
But even as we stand at this threshold of new light and life, most of us still find ourselves in the midst of bitter winds. For many people, this is a difficult season — a time when the cold and dreary weather seems relentless, and the will to maintain our new year’s resolutions begins to fade. We are confronted once again with the limitations of our humanity, and the difficulty of sustaining real change in our lives and in the world through our efforts in “ordinary time.”
For Christians, the liturgical season of Lent offers us a grace during this time: even as we anticipate the bursting forth of new life in the spring, we are reminded of our limits as humble creatures of the earth. Ash Wednesday always falls between February 4th and March 10th, marking us with an earthly reminder that “to dust we shall return.”
Lent draws us into a 40-day period that invites deep self-reflection, accountability, and restraint. It is a time when we consider and reflect on the barriers to our fully embracing the life we have been given. With Jesus as our guide, we can learn to more accurately identify and skillfully navigate the ways in which sin shows up in our lives, both individually and collectively. Slowly, we can begin to truly confront those things that are keeping us frozen in our own emotional winters of fear, anger, and despair.
The songs on this playlist try to capture all these themes:
the quickening or the “first kicks” of life hiding in the belly of the cold earth and in the bare branches of the trees
the sense of stirring, with animals beginning waking up out of hibernation
the relentless back & forth battle between cold and warmth, darkness and light
the anticipatory sense of standing at the threshold of spring
a time of deeper self-awareness about our limitations as humble earth creatures
*BONUS PLAYLIST!
Click below for a playlist of songs to carry you through the season of Lent.
Click here to read more about the history and meaning of Lent:
Previous Playlist
Annum: Epiphany
The first playlist in the series, “Epiphany,” is meant to capture not only the season of winter, but the beginning of the new year, and the liturgical season of Epiphany. It is a playlist for January.