The still point of the turning world.

                                              Today, February1 is Imbolc or St. Brigid's day , the Gaelic traditional festival. It marks the beginning of Spring. I am reminded of the day Ruth went with her mother in law Naomi to Bethlehem. The time of barley harvest which marked the beginning of Spring. (  The barley harvest in ancient Israel took place in the early spring) So Naomi returned, and with her Ruth, the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, who returned from the land of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem at the beginning of barley harvest.”(Ruth 1:14-22) So, St. Brigid's day is about half way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. This tradition of Imbolc used to be observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Weaving of Brigid's Crosses is one of the customs practised even in the present day. These are hung over doors and windows as prot...

 This morning some thoughts and musings filled up my mind on the novel To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf...A quote on " annihilation" captured my attention.  “Heaven be praised, no one had heard her cry that ignominious cry, stop pain, stop! She had not obviously taken leave of her senses. No one had seen her step off her strip of board into the waters of annihilation.” — Virginia Woolf         But that took me over to yet another land , a pristine island in Northumberland and the memories of a little voyage into the Farn islands ... Wikipedia says : The Farne Islands are a group of islands off the coast of Northumberland , England. The group has between 15 and 20 islands depending on the level of the tide . [1] They form an archipelago, divided into the Inner Group and the Outer Group.   It was during this boat trip into the mysterious waters surrounded by islands that i first heard of Grace Darling and her adventurous participation in the res...