Brighid of the Mantles embody us.
Woman of the Lambs shield us.
Keeper of the Fireplace kindle us.
Beneath your mantle collect us
And Restore us to reminiscence.
conventional invocation
While I deeply honor the Gods, and the many fluid, a number of, and mysterious genders which can be manifestations of Deity, my personal epiphany and transformation in 1974 was completely, unmistakably Female (and sure, little Miss Episcopalian Me was STUNNED by this!).
Thus, on this fiftieth anniversary of my name to the Goddess, I’m rededicating myself to Her in all Her varieties. However most particularly, to beloved Brighid, for I’ve served Her for a few years, together with as a flamekeeper in a Brigadine group that takes turns tending Her flame.
Brighid roughly means the “Brilliant One.” Brighid, additionally spelled Brigid, Bridget, Bríd, or Bride (the latter two often pronounced “Breej” or “Breed”), is without doubt one of the few Goddesses to outlive Christianity practically intact. She efficiently made the leap to revered saint, due to the love and devotion of the individuals of the Celtic lands from which She involves us.
Though profitable in wiping out the worship of many others, the Church couldn’t muster the facility to interrupt Her bond with the individuals, so with a couple of tweaks and revisions to Her tales, She continues to be beloved the world over.
Brighid is a Triple Goddess, however because the late Goddess scholar Patricia Monaghan notes in her important information, The New Guide of Goddesses and Heroines, “There have been three Brigids, who had been most likely by no means construed as separate Goddesses, however as facets of 1 divinity; in contrast to different triple Goddesses, they had been an identical, not getting old by means of the everyday maiden-mother-crone sequence.”
The unification of Her triple facet, Patricia explains, is thru Her image of fireside.
Preserving the Fireplace Flame
As my good friend, acclaimed artist and devoted flamekeeper, Mickie Mueller writes:
The family hearth is sacred to Brighid, and every night the lady of the home would smoor the hearth, (cowl it over to maintain the hearth in a single day) asking for the safety of Brigid on all its occupants.
Generally a small piece of fabric meant to signify Her cloak is left on a tree, windowsill or wherever outdoors in order that Brigid blesses it as she passes by on the night of Her feast day, that is known as a Brigid’s Mantle or Brid Brat. It’s used all yr to bless the house and likewise is beneficial to put close to the mattress of anybody who falls in poor health, as Brigid is a Goddess of therapeutic.
Right here is my very own Brat, draped for additional blessings on certainly one of our Hawthorn bushes.
Born on the actual second of dawn, Brighid rose into the sky with the Solar, rays of fireside beaming from Her head. She is the daughter of the Dagda, the good Good Father God of Eire.
In Druid mythology, the toddler Goddess was fed with milk from a sacred cow from the Otherworld. Brighid owned an apple orchard within the Otherworld and Her bees would deliver their magical nectar again to earth. It’s stated that wherever She walks, small flowers and shamrocks seem.
Lengthy earlier than Her adaptation as a Christian saint, probably even pre-dating the Celtic civilization, there had been a terrific cult that surrounded this Solar Goddess. As a Solar Goddess, Her presents are gentle (data), inspiration, and the important and therapeutic power of the Solar.
Brighid is the Goddess of smithcraft, the artistic arts — notably poetry and inspiration — and of therapeutic and drugs.
Because the Christian saint, She is patron of the common-or-garden folks of the land, protector of the harvest, of wells and streams, and is the guardian of cattle and sheep.
Saint Brigid can also be the patron saint of research and studying. Beloved to numerous tens of millions, She has been known as the Mom Goddess of Eire.
The human girl recognized as St. Brigid constructed her Abbey round 480 C.E., on a hill beside a terrific oak tree. This had been an vital gathering place and sacred pilgrimage web site since much more historical instances, and it was named from the Gaelic time period Cill Dara, which suggests the Cell or Church of the Oak, pointing to its significance in Druid observe. We now realize it as Kildare.
She is supplier of loads, giver of life and can also be recognized with nurturing, childbirth, and fertility.
Along with Her fiery blessings, springs, wells, and lots of streams all through the British Isles are sacred to Brighid, for they’re doorways to the Underworld and the womb of our Mom, the supply of all life. It’s also possible to see Her embodied within the vibrant stars of the constellation we name Orion.
The Flame Keepers
For millennia at Her temple at Kildare, Brighid’s priestesses, and later, the nuns of Her order, tended an everlasting flame in Her honor. Though it was extinguished throughout the Burning Instances (the Inquisition) for being too Pagan, one of many sisters of Her order boldly re-lit St. Brigid’s flame on Her feast day in 1993.
It was lit once more for Her feast day in 1997, within the sq. at Kildare by a member of the Norwegian Brigidine Sisters.
Annually thereafter on Brigid’s Feast Day, regardless of the displeasure of Popes John Paul and Benedict, the Brigidine Sisters in Kildare continued to gentle Her flame within the city sq. for the day.
Till 2006.
For then, the Wheel turned but once more. That yr, in Kildare, on St. Brigid’s day, with a lot ceremony and celebration, together with the dedication of a specifically commissioned sculpture housing it, Her everlasting flame was lit as soon as extra, by the president of Eire, Mary McAleese.
The native information studies described the sculpture as “a twisted column, which thrives on the prime into large-scale oak leaves, nestled into which there’s a bronze acorn cup holding the flame. The usage of oak leaves symbolises each the Christian beliefs of St. Brigid and the sooner Druidic worship of the bushes.” And there it burns to at the present time.
However that was nonetheless not the tip of it, for Brighid is profoundly beloved by Her individuals, and (because the Catholic Church discovered the onerous approach) not simply ignored.
After years of urging by an Irish feminist group, simply final yr Her feast day, Feb. 1, grew to become a everlasting public vacation for all of Eire, proper up there with the extra contentious Patrick on March 17.
Ignite Your Holy Fireplace
Brighid presides over all transformations: beginning and brewing, metal-smithing and poetry, and the passage from Winter to Spring. Her identify could also be derived from Gaelic “breo aigit” that means “fiery arrow.” Her identify is noticeably just like the Sanskrit derivation “Brahti” which suggests “exalted one.”
The presents of Brighid transcend non secular path and tradition. The truth is, Maman Brigette, one of many major loas within the Voodoo custom, is related to the Celtic Brighid and shares Her feast day. Writer and Voodun Priestess Lilith Dorsey has written this inspiring essay about Their connection.
Brighid conjures up us to turn into greater than now we have ever been – to succeed in for the best potential that exists in every of us. Her Flame is given to us for inspiration. It lights the trail from our darkish Winter to the promise of Spring.
As talked about, there are springs and wells and rivers all throughout the British Isles which can be thought of sacred to Her, and folks implore Her grace by tying ribbons and items of fabric to the close by shrubs and bushes. Numerous therapeutic miracles are embedded within the lore of these liminal locations.
Her grace illuminates us to see and know our historical, true historical past. Hers is the purifying hearth that cleanses our wounds, forges new power, and weaves creativity and artwork into our lives.
Could Brighid the Shining One bless you at the present time and at all times with Her hope and energy. Could Her therapeutic waters move freely and cleanly in your life; might Her creativity and poetry ever illuminate your path.
And will we by no means, ever lose our strategy to Her effectively.
Blessed be.
