“Spindles and Fingers” chant for the Imbolc season
Although the part of Ontario where I live has been under snowfall for 6 weeks, beneath it lies a blanket of earth where the roots are beginning to stir. Over the next month sap will begin to rise in sugar maples and the other early-bloom native species of trees that grow here. Trees will be tapped, fires lit, and the patient, ancient process of making maple syrup starts again. Branches reach into the sky, silhouetted against cloud cover and the occasional sunset that paints them in peach and rose. Soft colours for a winter palette, snow lining every fork.