Candlemas: Feast of Flames [Paperback]

What sets this book apart is the substance of its content. There is very little padding here. February festivals from various cultures are reviewed, and the information given is well researched and accurate. Many of the customs and folkways described cry out for adoption into one's own seasonal routine.

There is an enormous amount of material of the Celtic goddess Brigid (pronounced Bree-id), later identified with a 5th-century Irish saint, a rough contemprorary of St. Patrick. After reading the material collected here, the goddess comes alive as something much more than a symbol of smithcraft, poetry, and healing. She emerges as a powerful personality, central to the land, its people, and their identity.

The cross-quarter days are all associated with divination magick, and this book offers some fine, original suggestions suited to the season. I particularly appreciated the instructions for scrying with fire. This is such a primal magickal operation, accessible to human beings thousands of generations before the first tarot card saw the light of day.

The ritual suggestions (for solitaries, families, and groups) are thorough and carefully thought out, and will carry significant personal meaning when performed. There is, naturally, a section on candle-making and candle magick, which gets into the details of traditional methods and materials, not often encountered in other books. The table of correspondences for candle magick also displays the authors' characteristic attention to detail and thoroughness.

The book winds down with a fascinating selection of recipes appropriate to the ancient and medieval Irish roots of the Imbolc festival. The practice in other books in this series has been to feature mostly "fun" recipes that somehow carry out the theme of the holiday, in color, decoration, or sometimes just name. There's a place for this, but it was a delight to open this book and find something more-an attempt to make some kind of connection with the original people for whom this festival was an important milestone in the passage through winter.

In fact, that seems to be what this whole book is about from cover to cover, a vigorous and lively attempt to forge a link-to the extent that it's possible for us-with Brigid and her people at this, her most sacred time of the year.

Fortunately, the two Ladies K did a wonderful job with their subject. They briefly mentioned other holidays celebrated in other cultures at the same time, and then settled down quite comfortably to talk in-depth about Brigid in her several forms: as an ancient goddess, as a faery of the Sidhe, and as a human saint. I was especially impressed with the section on St. Brigid. Most pagan authors, when writing about Brigid, simply frown angrily at the end of the goddess's myth and rant, "And then the Christians stole her and made her into a saint!" Lol. Here, St. Brigid gets respect. There is an impressive collection of St. Brigid wonder tales, several of which were completely new to me. The authors even see a silver lining in the replacement of the goddess by the saint--by recasting Brigid as a human woman, the Irish may have felt closer to her, since she was more like an old friend than a distant deity.

Then the authors get into practical suggestions: rituals, crafts, and recipes. They include rituals for one, for a family, and for a coven. There is a thick chapter on making your own candles. And the recipes, which I didn't get to try yet since I got the book the day before Imbolc, look yummalicious! And for the authenticity police, there is a note by each recipe saying whether it's ancient, post-Crusades, or post-Columbus.

Overall, a warm and approachable guide to the Imbolc Sabbat, by two authors who seem like really great people. I have tons of ideas for next year now.