Dried beans such as pintos need to be thoroughly washed before cooking, and ideally should be soaked overnight, the night before they are to be cooked and consumed. This preparation can in itself be a magical ritual calling on the blessing or the deities while imbuing the beans with ones own personal power. They are rich in fiber, iron, and protein, and so are themselves a vast source of physical and even magical energy.
After they come to a heavy boil, reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking while covered for three hours, adding water at regular intervals. Add salt and some other form of seasoning, such as bacon grease, fat meat, or jowell bacon. Add onions and either catsup or hot sauce when serving the beans, which you should eat with a slice of bread and a glass of strong brewed ice tea.
For iced tea, allow to boil moderately for five minutes, about six tea bags to half a gallon of water in a large pot. After boiling, allow bags to steep in brew for an hour over low heat. Afterwards, remove the bags. Add enough water to make about a gallon of tea, to which you should add approximately one third cup of sugar, but no more.
Nothing gives power and strength quite like dried beans, and what more appropriate food to consume for Imbolc? Okay, I guess you might think of something better as far as taste, and you can certainly find more exotic and "fun" fare, but name me something more bristling with raw power, with pure protein energy?
Not only is there magical power to be harnessed and utilized, folks, but lo and behold, you can participate in that tried-and-true children's game that surely transcends the ages-who let that fart?
And you can do it in the context of ritual as well, especially group or coven ritual.
Following a meal of pinto beans augmented with onions and hot sauce and a nice strongly brewed tea-and I can't stress strongly enough you really do need a good strong caffeine tea (nor can i stress enough that one third cup of sugar per gallon is quite sufficient)-you settle in for your group ritual. As this is Imbolc, each participant should bring his and her own candle to light at the appropriate time, which can be either prior to casting circle or after it is released, or for that matter any time during the circle ritual.
The game you play prior to this though is one you might also call Tell Us Your Darkest Secrets, which of course no one is really going to do. Remember, this is all in good fun, though there is a point to it.
Sometime during the course of the evening, someone might well let out a good rip-roaring fart. Naturally, in ordinary circumstances this would prove quite embarrasing, but in this case, you have found your Imbolc Lord or Lady-or both. In the best of circumstances, a round of farts will greet the assembly, which should by all rights be occasion for great merriment. If this does not happen, then it is up to the High Priest or Priestess, or both, to conduct the round of questioning. This can consist of a number of written questions which everyone draws out of a hat or a box. The person should then answer the question as though it applied to them, whether it truly does or not.
They should be sufficiently provocative. Have you ever had an affair? Do you masturbate? Is there someone you would like to hit? If you could get away with stealing something, what would it be? As the questions are read aloud by each participant in turn, and answered forthrightly, it could get noisy.
A word of caution is advised however, and this is where the game turns serious. The smelliest, stinkiest farts are those you never hear. These are indeed what we term the "Silent Killer". People who let silent farts are in fact repressed people, and by their nature it might ordinarily be impossible to bring them out into the light of day. This is not to say they are hiding some monstrous evil, just that they have numerous hang-ups. This occasion, if handled correctly, might be an opportunity to draw them out and set them on a path towards releasing these neurotic feelings which might well be hindering their growth as a person.
Nor will they be that difficult in this sort of environment to pick out. They will be the ones who will seem shyly uncomfortable or perhaps even project an inordinately amused persona, one that is exaggerated to what might even be an inappropriate degree at the louder discharges of another.
Bear in mind, this is not to be done as a malicious undertaking performed in a judgmental manner, it is a manner of heralding the growth of the individual(s), but in a caring yet relaxed manner.
That is after all the message of Imbolc, the formation of the new person through recognition of his or her true potential, a potential that meeds guidance and nurturing, in addition to positive encouragement.
As the sun begins to grow in strength and stature on it's journey through the Wheel of The Year, it is incumbent on us to launch our own journey of discovery and inner growth. Still, we should always remember to not take ourselves too seriously. We are, after all, at this stage in our development during this year, children, and children, while they need positive direction and discipline, also need encouragement and, perhaps as importantly, they need to have some fun and joy. As adults in reality, we can bring forth that lesson by loosening up a bit while aiming for that growth.
Nothing brings that lesson home, nor brings out the best in a group, quite like a good old fashioned rip-roaring round of farts.
