Imbolc (alternately titled: In my own way I'm a believer)

Imbolc (a.k.a. Candlemas... and Grondhog Day)  Another Pagan holiday that was "borrowed".  This one is the mid way point between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox.  When Jack Frost battles the Green Man of Spring... alternately if you follow the cycle of the dual gods then this would be when The light usurps and kills off his father the Dark.  Or if you follow the Groundhog if he sees his shadow... Whatever. 

I've stated elsewhere that I am a thiest of no affiliation with wiccan leanings.  I can't think of a more appropriate way to say it.  I believe in a higher power... a loving mother that gives us all a mind to think with and to know what's right and wrong.  Not someone to solve my problems or to catch me when I fall.  Not someone to be blamed when her children go astray...

I spent a lot of time investigating religions... wicca seems right to me, but I am leary of religon (all religion) so I have always forged my own path.  I am one generation removed from Baptists, Catholics, and Presbaterians.  My cousin is on a path that is leading her to become ordained in the Methodist church.  My friends are Jewish, Buddhist,  Muslim, Pagan, Athiest, Catholic, all sorts of non-Catholic Christian varieties, Mormon, and I think there is even a Krisha in there somewhere.  I'm okay with religion as long as I don't have to participate or believe.  I suppose you could say I'm on the fringe.

One day I made the statement "I'm a bad witch". One of my witchy friends went... well, freakin bazerko nuts on me.  What I meant by the statement was something a bit less along the lines of wicked witch of the west and more along the lines of "I'm a bad Catholic"... like... culturally Ed is Catholic, but he hasn't been to mass in 15 years, doesn't remember the rosary, and probably wouldn't know where to find a church anyway. 

The truth is, I'm not so much a bad witch as I am a skeptical human that doesn't believe in the power of ritual except my own personal ones.  I enjoy the holidays of the wheel of the year... but I don't really believe in them...  Do I think that Jack and Greenie are really batteling? Um... no. I think the season's will change becasue of the rotation of the earth.  Do I think that the light king is literally going to usurp his father, the dark king ,and kill him then fornicate with his mother? Um... no.  But I do think it is a cleaver way to explain the changing seasons... and to work in a party every 6 weeks or so.

In my own way I'm a believer... in my own way right or wrong.  As for Imbolc... I will be routing for the Green Man of Spring... who wouldn't be at this point?  It's almost February, and I'm in Kansas... it's cold.