The Quickening

This illustration was first inspired by the true account of Elizabeth Woodcock, a Cambridgeshire Woman who, in 1799 got buried in the snow where she remained, alive, for 8 whole days before being rescued. You can read more about Elizabeth Woodcock’s ordeal here.

I started an illustration of Elizabeth Woodcock. I imagined a quiet field in the early hours of a midwinter morning, her horse nearby and perhaps a fox running home. In her account of her ordeal Elizabeth said that she marked the time by the chiming of the bells in Impington church so I included the church in the distance. (This drawing is currently unfinished but I will share it once it is complete.) However, once I started drawing it, this story reminded me of the Celtic Legend “Bride and the Cailleach”. In this Celtic legend The Cailleach is the goddess of winter, ruling from Samhain to Imbolc. She is a hag figure, representing the wind, the snow and ice. Her breath makes the leaves fall from the trees and her touch turns the ground to iron. She keeps a prisoner, the beautiful Bride (or Brigid) whose breath awakens the frozen streams. During Imbolc, Bride breaks free from her icy tomb and is free to wander the land again. Wherever she walks she leaves a trail of snowdrops in her wake. Suddenly Elizabeth Woodcock became a Bride figure to me, the spirit of the spring, entombed in her icy prison waiting to break free, pushing up the snowdrops to remind us that she is always with us even during the darkest months of winter.

Imbolc is usually celebrated around the 1st of February. It marks the beginning of spring in the Pagan calendar. It is the time when, even though all around us is still icy cold, frosty and seemingly dead, nature begins in earnest to prepare for spring. If you listen closely you can hear it in the bird calls. If you look you can see the buds on the trees and the bulbs pushing up through the soil. Imbolc translates to “in the belly of the mother” as the year is pregnant with the spring. Seeds begin to stir under the soil, the days grow lighter and longer, the agricultural year begins again. I always feel that the burden of winter begins to lift at this time of year and I can begin to look forward to the warmer weather and the spring flowers. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to feel the warmth of the sun again but looking for those first signs of spring always brings me that hope and positivity I need at this time of year.

If you’re in need of some hope and positivity from nature then there is a snowdrop trail at the Cambridge Botanic Gardens during February and a whole host of snowdrop related events throughout the region listed in this Cambridge News article.

Fellowship of the Grey Goosefeather

Bride and the Cailleach