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Officers
of Avalon |
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e-mail: webmaster@officersofavalon.com |
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Dispatches:
Volume 2 No. 1 Imbolc/Feile
Bhride/Brigid//Barri/Iddis-Thing 2007 |
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Letter of Thanks From a Military Pagan On January 8, 2007, Officers of
Avalon received this e-mail from Bill Ramsey, SFC, a Combat Engineer serving
in Iraq. “Subject: Blessings and Gratitude “I was introduced to your website from
someone on one of the Internet groups I belong to. As a solitary eclectic
Wiccan it does my heart good to see this bonding of our American Emergency
Services, and the pagans within bonding and being able to have a support
chain that understands what it is that they do. “I am in The U. S. Army, No, I am not an MP, nor
am I in the Medical field but I wanted to express my gratitude for the jobs
that you all do. Knowing that you all are there keeping the wolf at bay on
the home front protecting my family and friends, makes it easier for me to
come over here to Iraq and do my job. Blessings on all of you, All of you are
heroes in every aspect.” |
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Dispatches: Official
Newsletter of Officers of Avalon |
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Be glorious! |
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“Februum,” from
which we derive the word for February, is a Latin word meaning “purification”
and “atonement”, thus this month is considered a month of cleansing. Juno Februa was the Roman Goddess who
presided over this month. Wiccans call February 2 Imbolc, which means “in the
belly.” It is also known as Imbolg,
Uimelc, Oimelc, Feile Bhride, Brigid, Brigantia or Candlemas. Many Druids call this festival Imbolc. The ODU calls it Oimelc. This is a Greater Sabbat on the Wiccan
calendar. It was named by some
“Oimelc” (“Sheep's Milk”) as it marked the beginning of the lambing season
for the Celts. Imbolc marks the
midpoint of the dark half of the year. At Imbolc household fires are put out
and relit. Imbolc often marks the
first ploughing and first planting of the year. Imbolc is a celebration of the first signs of returning life in
Spring. It was celebrated by the Celts
as being sacred to Brigid, a Goddess whose threefold aspect rules smith
craft, poetry, inspiration, and healing.
Hence one of the other names for this day is “Feile Bhride”, meaning
“Brigid's Feast.” Brighid is commonly
honored at Imbolc, which is indicated by the Christian observance named for
it: St. Brighids Eve. At Imbolc the fires of the smithy are
blessed by a woman acting on Brighid's behalf. |
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Avalon Cares Officers
of Avalon’s Avalon Cares project has been seeking suitable places to send
relief funds. We just sent $2000 to an
ATC church in the New Orleans area that has been doing a lot of work with
victims of hurricane Katrina. As
FEMA is not going to be assisting the victims of the Xmas day 2006 tornados
in Florida, we’ve started looking in that direction. The latest news is that Florida member
Guardian has located an agency assisting victims of this Florida disaster
that may be suitable. We’ll keep you
posted on this project. |