Every winter I realize that February is the high point. To many people it just means Groundhog Day [or as Ingrid calls it, Warthog Day] cold sun & 6 more weeks of winter. I look forward to the pure clean light of February, just as much as I feel like I'm white knuckling my way through March. This is the month of winter when bundling up to go out with paint, or a camera is like bathing in renewal. Imbolc, Candlemas or whatever you call it in whatever tradition you honor, is the point of the year when hope is restored. This year, it occurs with a retrograde Mars. This last Full Moon included Mars. The Moon was Perigee [closest point to earth] and Mars, in his retrograde phase is also. This gives us an undistilled experience of re-evaluating where our search has led us, and a chance to change our approach. How we get our needs met is a very old path. The journey is improved by fearless introspection.