Every Shadow Points to its own Light

Something almost feels off in the universe that it’s so sunny in Seattle.  We’ve had a particularly grey winter, and I for one have almost become used to it.  But today, as the light graced our sky, I knew what I’d been missing.  It felt like I’d put down a 20lb weight and continue walking for another mile after holding that same weight for months. I forgot how delightful it is to see the full glory of color, to sense the warmth of sunshine on my cheeks, to note time passing by watching the length of shadows as we move towards dusk. 
 
Today is Imbolc, a Celtic pagan holiday to mark the halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.  The feast day is an offering to the fire of Goddess Brigid, the precursor to St. Bridget. But the ancient goddess was evoked for healing, poetry and creativity. She was a conduit for fertility, of the body, and of the mind.  And in general, she was a source of illumination.  It’s a great time to honor the ways you’ve grown behind closed doors, the subtle practices you may have changed, remainders of any resolutions set at the New Year.  It’s a time to sit down and write, even though you don’t know what’s going to come out. Remember that although you’re not out of the woods, there is light around the corner, and it is so sweet when you have missed it, isn’t it?
 
In the western world, we celebrate this as Groundhog Day, the day when predict the duration of the cold.  Dr. Rev. Kathianne Lewis, the spiritual director of CSL Seattle, calls this High Holy Day.  She always laughs when she mentions this, because it’s ridiculous. But she points out that it’s the only pagan holiday not appropriated by the Christian Church. And more importantly, the day is rich with metaphor. In these dark months, it’s so easy to forget the light within because we don’t see it in the sky above.
 
It harkens Plato’s allegory of the cave, wherein people in a dark subterranean land can’t envision the world above.  It’s the same light that illuminates their cave, but they are unwilling to see it as truth, as their own.  They are accustomed to shadows, and though invited to see the light above, reject it. There can be a cognitive dissonance when we see the truth for what it is. Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King said “Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.”  So I ask, what don’t you see that maybe you can?  Where are you stuck?  Where are you making excuses, holding that heavy burden for the sake of familiarity alone?  What are you looking at that you need to feel, process, and release?  Shadow work is transformational work, the universe is asking you right now to look at it.  You alone can reset your world-view, and reset your world. 
 
As the sun climbs towards the Olympics I remember.  And I want you to remember.  We are already the light, we are already whole.  We are already the very gifts we will birth, speak, and create.  That’s the point of the celebration, to remind us the light is ours, was ours, always. 
 
I have always appreciated the way these spiritual myths overlap. I feel obliged to tell you that this day is in fact a Christian celebration – it’s Candlemas, a time to light a candle for cleansing the shadows within.  Traditionally it was about the purification of Virgin Mary after the birth of Jesus. The humor in that should be easy to see – she was always pure, as we all are.  But this weekend, light a candle to let your shadows go.  Remember the light you see there is yours, and always has been.