Cassandra Eason

Using playing cards, dice and dominoes, plus a two part course on tea-leaf reading.

A month of the stirring of new life. A festival called Imbolc, dedicated to the maiden goddess Brighid, who melted the winter snows with her willow wand heralds in February. 

On the 1st, we welcome the Full Moon in Leo - read all about it HERE

In the southern hemisphere it celebrates Lughnassadh the first harvest when the Grain God offers his remaining solar strength to the Earth Goddess that this and later harvests may flourish. 

Known also as Oimelc the festival of ewe’s milk, early February is linked with the story of the mother of the sun god (goddess in older and some far northern cultures) whose maternal milk is mirrored by the milk of the ewes coming into lamb; traditionally a time for rituals that there will be sufficient nourishment in the year ahead and thanks for any blessings received. 

The month itself is named after the Roman festival of fertility and purification held on February 15th . The festival of Februa became combined with the love and fertility festival Lupercalia held on the same day, from which we have inherited St Valentine’s Day, plus the myth that he fell in love with the gaoler’s daughter when he was imprisoned for his faith. Before his execution, he etched on his cell wall, Always, Your Valentine.

Februum means purification and the festival of Februa traditionally involved cleansing and washing homes with water to bring the new Springtime energies into being and remove stagnation and what needed to be left behind. This can be as relevant in the Southern hemisphere for a new start before the winter or when life seems to have hit a brick wall. 

The Goddess Februa was mother of Mars, and Goddess of passion. Indeed, many modern Valentine Day customs are watered down versions of Lupercalia, that was dedicated to the goddess she-wolf Lupa, who suckled the twins Romulus and Remus, later the founders of Rome. On this day, unmarried girls and young men performed love and sex rites in the Grotto of the She-Wolf in order to bring fertility to animals, land and people. In the modern world February is good for awakening new love and trust, for increasing good luck, melting coldness or indifference and planting the seeds of future success; also for spiritual and emotional as well as actual cleansing/purification of the home and your life especially after sickness or misfortune. Use lavender floor wash and anoint door handles and window catches inside and out with rose water or rose fragrance.

Barakiel (or Barchiel), the bringer of good fortune is the Angel of February and helps reconciling differences, trusting intuition, combining two careers or interests, aiding psychic development, changing bad luck and assisting fortunate overseas travel. Barakiel or Barchiel wears robes of blue and gold and has lightning flashing from his halo. Avoid in February, if possible, encounters with officialdom, committing yourself to binding contracts if you have doubts, matters involving logic or attention to detail, people who are manipulative or dishonest and those who show excessive emotions, sentimentality or changeability according to who is present.

The colours of February are white and mauve.

The crystals are amethyst, bloodstone and all fluorites.

Incenses and oils include honeysuckle, sweetgrass and lotus.

Its flowers are daffodils, early spring flowers, water lilies and wisteria. 2026 is not a Leap Year and so this February has only 28 days. Leap Year did not come into being until the advent of the Gregorian calendar in England in 1752 and almost two hundred years earlier in Europe. February 29 appears when the calendar contains an extra day every four years (when the last two numbers in the year date can be divided by four). This is to put the astronomical calendar back into synchronicity. One myth or maybe tradition says that on this day in 1228, the Scottish parliament passed an Act to say that their fair Queen Margaret might propose to any men she wished and unless they were betrothed would have to forfeit a hundred pounds if they declined. It is reputed she only proposed to wealthy men and made a fair profit. 

You will need Five white candles as a pathway on a table, with a mirror propped on the table, so the reflected candle pathway leads into and continues in the mirror as well in actuality on the table. 

Timing Any time in February after dark, with no other light in the room, especially on 1st or 28th to compensate for the shorter month.