Moon mentor Kirsty Gallagher tells Chris Evans why today is a good day ‘to feel our way into the year’

Virgin Radio

1 Feb 2024, 12:36

Kirsty Gallagher talked to Chris Evans about the start of Imbolc, the festival that celebrates the first emergence out of winter towards spring and marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox. 

Joining the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch, the moon mentor, spiritual coach and Sunday Times bestselling author spoke about Imbolc today (1st February). “It's the cross quarter festival, where we are exactly now halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox,” she explained. “So, this is where we start to see the first signs of beginning to come out of winter. 

“So what today does, is all the seeds beneath the surface in nature start to stir and awaken. And the same happens within us. So all those little purposes within us, everything that we want to grow and bring to life over spring and summer, start to stir.”

She continued: “The best way I can describe it to you is, you know when you first wake up in the morning and you're no longer asleep but you're not yet awake, and you’re in that really delicious place where you're kind of dreaming? Today is like that. It's a beautiful day to just start to think about, ‘What would I really like to bring me? What would I really wish for if anything were possible, if any dream are possible? What little things can I start today, on this month, so that the closer we get to spring, the closer I get to being able to bring to life what it is that I want to bring to life?’

“So it's almost like we're taking that first little tentative stretch. We're like putting our toes out of the duvet and starting to feel our way into the year.”

Kirsty also spoke about the myth of The Cailleach - an ancient Celtic goddess who rules winter, and why we don’t necessarily want it to be a sunny day today. “She's the Goddess that brings in winter and she rules the weather all over winter. Now in the winter solstice, on about the 21st of December, she goes out and gathers firewood to see her through the rest of the winter, so she'll be all nice and warm and cosy while she does whatever she wants with the weather out there. 

“But her firewood runs out on 1st February on Imbolc. And so she needs to go out and gather more firewood for the rest of the winter ahead. So, if she wants winter to last a little bit longer, the day will be beautiful and bright and sunny, so she's got more time to go out and collect more firewood. But if she oversleeps, we'll get a cold grey rainy day and that means she won't have as much firewood so the winter then will be shorter.”

Find out more at www.kirstygallagher.com.

For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with cinch weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.