Imbolc, the goddess Bridgid and her connection to Maman Brigitte Imbolc has arrived like a quiet breath after winter’s longest nights. It is a sacred pause where the earth is still cold, but something underneath is moving. Imbolc marks the quickening of life, the promise of spring, and the return of light. It is a threshold feast, a liminal moment, when hope is no longer an idea but a spark. Imbolc, is commonly linked with the goddess Brigid. Not just as a goddess, but as sacred flame. The keeper of the hearth, the patron of poetry, prophecy, healing and smithcraft. Brigid teaches us that creation begins small: a candle lit, a word spoken, a wound tended, a vision shaped by patient hands. This magic is devotional, intentional, and rooted in daily life. Imbolc asks us: What are you tending? What future are you quietly feeding? Find out more about Imbolc in the Dark Moon Rising classroom. For those rooted in the African diaspora and Louisiana spiritual traditions, Brigid’s flame may feel familiar. There is a powerful resonance with Maman Brigitte of Louisiana Voodoo who is another fierce, protective woman whose spirit is associated with fire, the dead, healing, justice, and the boundaries between worlds. While they come from different cosmologies and histories, the echo between them is undeniable: both guard liminal spaces, both demand respect, both protect the vulnerable, and both transform suffering into strength. This isn’t about collapsing traditions—it’s about recognizing how Spirit speaks in similar languages across cultures shaped by survival, resistance, and reverence. Imbolc reminds us that syncretism is not confusion, it is memory. It is a symbiotic global connection. It’s what happens when people carry their spirits across oceans, through colonization, through loss, and still find the flame waiting on the other side. Whether you light a candle for Brigid or pour a libation for Maman Brigitte, or simply whisper your intentions into the quiet; this season is about honoring the fire that refuses to go out.

🔥 We Belong to each other and to the Earth. Somewhere along the way this world tried to convince us that we are separate… that survival is an individual mission… that strength means standing alone. An individualistic approached pushed by gov and indoctrinated upon us as a society. Dog eat dog. Neighbourly spirit and community support is rare and fleeting on the whole. But the deeper you walk this life… the more obvious it becomes… none of us were ever meant to do this alone. Whether we realize it or not… our lives are quietly tied together. The way you speak to someone… the way you show up… the way you choose love instead of judgment… it matters more than you know. Every action sends a ripple into the collective. A strong community isn’t built when everything is easy… it is built when people begin to remember that their life is connected to something greater than themselves. It is built when we stop competing… stop dividing… and start recognizing that another person’s struggle is not separate from our own humanity. Right now… the world is remembering this truth. You can feel it. People are craving real connection… real support… real belonging. The future will not belong to those trying to outrun everyone else… it will belong to those who reach back… lock arms… and move forward together. Because when one of us rises… we all rise. And when one of us is hurting… we do not look away… we lean in. Take care of each other. Protect your community. Be someone others feel safe standing beside. We were never meant to walk this earth as strangers. We were meant to remember… we are one human family. Apart of this land, the spirit, the energy. Oneness. Adapted from a post by ZF 🔥

Welcome to Hagwitch Herbals and the Dark Moon Rising. Before you dive into the community I wanted to introduce myself and the ethos here, it's core purpose. Dark moon rising is a development group (in-person) I began to facilitate decades ago. However meeting the demands of the time I am moving everything online in a bid to open the community up so we can support more people on their individual unique healing and spiritual journey through life. This group originated in liverpool because people were looking for more, searching for more and desperate for truth. As a group we have delved together and grown together over many years, also as individuals with hectic family lives. I have been facilitating pagan spiritual development groups and rites of passage for decades. I am currently studying a bsc in clinical herbalism and have recently rejoined the QWA (quantum wellness academy) team again. I am a fully qualified reiki master and holistic therapist, with ptlls and dtlls qualifications. Quite a few of my family members are pagan so I was very lucky growing up to have that awareness of certain topics readily available. Real wholistic healing doesn’t happen overnight its a journey of growth and development. 'It's only when you realise you have given your power away that you can reclaim it' hawkshadow 2004 (c) This is a space to do just that alongside others who are reclaiming their power, growing and learning together, empowering their health, wellbeing and spiritual grounding. I started my journey into spirituality, holistic therapies, energy healing and recognising vibration at a very young age. My grandad was a great believer in nature, breathing correctly, energy and believed in the power of the mind. Going so far as to have surgery under self hypnosis. The man was beyond ahead of his time and I was incredibly blessed he shared his knowledge and support with me. At 26 I was stuck in a bed for 3 years, bedbound, with 3 young children. It was a slow journey of nutrigenomics, herbalism, ddp yoga and deep shadow work. I am still on that healing journey with continual self improvement and growth. I was diagnosed with asthma, type 2 diabetes, behcets disease, ehlers danos syndrome, pots, mast cell disease, fibro, hidradenitis supporativa and tietary adrenal insufficiency (both my adrenals and pituitary gland where killed off due to prescription oral ateroid medications). As I said I am still on my journey, however, after several years of walking my talk and implementing what I have learned along the way I have my EDS well managed and the Addisons under control, my hidradenitis has gone from stage 3 back to stage 1 but everything else including the T2D has gone into remission or reversed. I intend for them to stay in remission and to continue my healing journey. It has been a long journey to get to this stage that is for sure, a lot of those years spent deep in scientific research seeking answers and guidance. In 2014 I was offered the liverpool pathway by the NHS my body was failing drastically, system by system, I am so thankful I declined and finally listened to relatives advice on natural remedies that I incorporated into my day to day wellness regime. In the interest of honesty i am still steroid dependent as my pituitary and adrenal glands produce no hormones, so I have to take hydrocortisone steroid tablets daily to replace this action. Without the steroids I would go into a coma and die. I have managed to reduce them down gradually over the last few years however, but this has to be a very slow journey as a result and can't be rushed. It's a fine dance between stimulating my glands and taking enough steroids to stay alive. Which is why in this group we stick to the science, and there is official scientific research out their proving the medicinal effects plants have for our physical, mental and emotional health.