The Guide to Imbolc Symbols and How to Use Them at the Holiday

As one of the eight sabbats of the Wheel of the Year, Imbolc (February 1) is an important day for many modern witches and pagans. It’s a day for reflecting on renewal and growth, and for celebrating the return of longer days and spring’s life-giving sun.

Traditional Imbolc symbols include fire and candles, water and ritual cleansing, milk from newly lactating ewes, early spring flowers like snowdrops, and representations of the goddess Brigid, including the Brigid’s cross.

Many (but not all) of these Imbolc symbols have their roots in ancient Ireland and Scotland. Which makes sense, given that the ancient Gaels (i.e., Gaelic/Goidelic Celtic-speakers) of Ireland and Scotland were the first to celebrate Imbolc.

And it is in Irish mythology, specifically the Ulster cycle story the Wooing of Emer, where we find one of the earliest references not only to Imbolc, but to the very concept of marking cross-quarter days on the calendar. Cross-quarter days are the four holidays (Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh, and Samhain) that fall between the equinoxes and solstices.

Imbolc falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Of course, holding a festival to celebrate the fading of winter and the coming of spring wasn’t unique to the ancient Gaels; many ancient cultures had similar customs. 

And it’s clear today that modern Imbolc celebrations, in addition to reflecting and paying homage to the original Gaelic festival, sometimes incorporate symbols from those other cultures, just like the symbols of Yule and other holidays also did.

Let’s investigate.

Imbolc Symbols at a Glance

Fire

While more commonly associated with the cross-quarter day of Beltane that falls on May 1, fire has become a near-ubiquitous component of Imbolc as well. 

Green and white candles now frequent Imbolc altars, with green representing life, growth, and abundance and white representing purity or purification.

But what about the flame itself? And the flames from those bonfires people gather around on those cold February evenings?

Based on Irish mythology and folklore, these Imbolc flames are most likely linked to the festival’s chief goddess: Brigid.

According to Cormac’s Glossary, which is attributed to a 9th-century king/bishop of Munster, there is a trio of divine sisters named Brigid, one of whom is “the woman of smithwork.”

Already, we have some fire from Brigid’s forge. But wait, there’s more:

That same entry in Cormac’s Glossary gives the etymology of the goddess Brigid’s name as breo-aigit or breo-shaigit, meaning “a fiery arrow.”

In another work attributed to a 9th-century Irish bishop, the Martyrology of Óengus, it is noted that the 5th-century Saint Brigid “took the place of an ancient goddess of fire.”

This “goddess of fire” identity for Brigid is bolstered by Gerald of Wales’ 12th-century account of a women-only bonfire he observed in Kildare, site of Saint Brigid’s monastery:

“This fire is surrounded by a hedge, made of stakes and brushwood, and forming a circle, within which no male can enter; and if any one should presume to enter, which has been sometimes attempted by rash men, he will not escape the divine vengeance. Moreover, it is only lawful for women to blow the fire.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, many scholars have argued that before it became a Christian holy ground, Kildare was the site of a druidic shrine and/or cult dedicated to the goddess Brigid. 

To quote J. A. MacCulloch’s Religion of the Ancient Celts: “Perhaps her fire was fed from sacred oak wood, for many shrines of S. Brigit were built under oaks, doubtless displacing pagan shrines of the goddess.”

Flash forward to early 18th-century Scotland and Brigid’s association with fire remains strong. 

As noted in M. Martin’s 1703 Description of the Western Islands, descendants of the Gaels living on the Hebrides archipelago off Scotland would wake up on February 2nd to check their hearths for signs of Brigid: a footprint in the ashes was a sure sign of a prosperous year ahead.

How to Use Fire During Imbolc:

• Have an Imbolc fire at home or find a community bonfire in your area.
• Light candles in honor of the goddess Brigid.
• Prepare your hearth for Brigid’s arrival by spreading or sprinkling ashes.

Water

At first glance, it might seem counterintuitive for fire and water to both be symbols of Imbolc. There is, perhaps, an association with alchemy here, as the mixing of these two seemingly opposite elements, fire and water, results in a transformation.

But, if we consider the domains the goddess Brigid ruled over, remember, as the goddess of smithwork, her craft requires both elements: the fire for heating the metal and the water for quenching it. 

In addition, Brigid is the Irish goddess of healing. Or to be more specific, one of Brigid’s three aspects is “the woman of leechcraft,” per Cormac’s Glossary. And, leeches live in water.

But the stronger connection here between Imbolc and the symbolic element of water is between Brigid and the curative wells that are found across Ireland.

Here’s how MacCulloch described them:

“[T]he sacred waters were supposed to ward off disease from the district or from those who drank of them. Or, again, they had the power of conferring fertility. Women made pilgrimages to wells, drank or bathed in the waters… the idea was in harmony with the recognised power of water to purify, strengthen, and heal. Women, for a similar reason, drank or washed in the waters or wore some articles dipped in them, in order to have an easy delivery or abundance of milk.”

If this potential connection between water and Imbolc seems tenuous to you, there is a much more direct link to be found in the 8th-century Hibernica Minora, translated by Kuno Meyer that says: “Tasting of each food according to order, this is what is proper at Imbolc: washing the hands, the feet, the head.”

All of that ritual Imbolc washing required water.

In a 1992 paper published in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Séamas Ó Catháin highlighted a similarity between Brigid’s fiery/watery associations and a Nordic folk ritual performed in mid-January. The ritual involved preparing a bucket of ashes (the torelut) and mixing it with bathwater. The resulting mixture would then be used for cleansing newborns.

How to Use Water During Imbolc:

• Take a bath or shower using water from a spring or other special source.
• Fill bowls with water and sprinkle in ashes, seeds, and/or flowers.
• Gather Moon water at Imbolc to use in spells and rituals later in the year.

Milk

An argument could be made that there is no Imbolc without milk. Specifically, ewe’s milk (i.e., sheep’s milk).

In the Irish myth The Wooing of Emer, “Oimolc” or “Oi-melc” is defined as “the beginning of spring… the time in which the sheep come out and are milked.”

Cormac’s Glossary more or less confirms this definition, while also proposing an etymology: “Oimelc (‘beginning of spring’) i.e. ói-melg ‘ewe-milk’, i.e. that is the time that sheep’s milk comes : melg, i.e. milk, because it is milked (blegar).”

Granted, a competing and arguably more popular etymology for Imbolc traces it to the Old Irish phrase i mbolc, meaning “in the belly.” 

But notably, this etymology still links the festival to ewes who are about to come into their milk, as “in the belly” is a reference to pregnant ewes. 

How to Use Milk During Imbolc:

• Raise a glass of milk (and don’t forget to wipe your ‘stache after sipping).
• Take a milk bath. Whole milk is best. Just add a few cups to warm water.
• Fill a bowl with milk and add it to your Imbolc altar.

Snowdrops

In Latin, they’re Galanthus.

In English, they’re snowdrops. 

In Irish, they’re plúirín sneachta, with plúirín meaning “little flower” and sneachta meaning “snow.”

These bulbous perennials, known for their white, winter flowers, are non-native to Ireland. They were introduced sometime in the 1500s, going by John Gerard’s 1597 The Herball, or, Generall historie of plantes.

So while snowdrops would not have been a part of ancient Irish Imbolc celebrations, it’s easy to understand why these small white flowers became absorbed into modern Imbolc celebrations. Snowdrops are among the first plants to flower in the new year, their petals often pushing up through the snow. They are symbols of renewal, resurgence, and the promise of spring’s return.

And, in Homer’s Odyssey, the messenger god Hermes instructs Odysseus to use an antidote made from snowdrops to protect himself from the sorceress Circe’s powerful transformative potions. 

How to Use Snowdrops During Imbolc:

• Adorn your altar with snowdrops, placing them among your candles and other items.
• Add snowdrops to water or milk. Add to a bowl or other vessel.
• Weave snowdrops into Imbolc decorations.

Brigid and the Brigid’s Cross

It seems only natural that the goddess Brigid herself would be a symbol of Imbolc. She is, after all, the primary goddess associated with the festival.

For an example of how Brigid has historically been idolized or made manifest on Imbolc, let us return to the early 1700s, to the Hebrides, where, on February 2nd, ”[T]he mistress and servants of each family take a sheaf of oats, and dress it up in woman’s apparel, put it in a large basket…and this they call Briid’s Bed.”

In his 1902 book Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland, John Gregorson Campbell observed that this custom seems to have evolved over the centuries, as the Hebridean women of his era made beds for Brigid out of birch twigs (leaba bharraich).

Regardless, the more well-known symbol of the goddess Brigid is the Brigid’s cross, which is typically woven from straw or rushes. The three-armed version of the Brigid’s cross resembles the Celtic triskelion or triskeles. 

And, while the origin of the cross is popularly linked to Saint Brigid in Irish folklore, it’s likely that the symbol predates Christianity.

Some scholars have also interpreted the “cross” as a solar wheel, with the implication being it represents the strengthening of the sun and the return of warmth that comes with spring.

How to Use a Brigid Doll or Brigid’s Cross During Imbolc:

• Adorn your altar with a handmade representation of Brigid or a Brigid’s cross.  
• Hang a Brigid’s cross from the rafters or above a doorway or hearth for protection
• Make a bed for Brigid using a basket or sticks and place it by the hearth.

Sources and Further Reading

Wooing of Emer
Cormac’s Glossary
Martyrology of Óengus
The History and Topography of Ireland by Gerard of Wales
Religion of the Ancient Celts by J.A. MacCulloch
Description of the Western Islands by Martin Martin
Hibernica Minora
“Hearth-Prayers and Other Traditions of Brigit: Celtic Goddess and Holy Woman” by Séamas Ó Catháin
Odyssey by Homer
The Herball, or, Generall historie of plantes by John Gerard
Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland by John Gregorson Campbell