I have always felt drawn to Ireland. To the Irish heritage ... and as a Pagan, I am drawn to the Celtic roots of it. So in my year of learning ........ this is some of the great knowledge I found.
Brighid the goddess
Brighid is arguably the most important goddess in British
history yet most of what was known of her has been lost with the oral tradition
that fostered her devotion. Written sources, such as “Sanas Chormaic” (Glossary
of Cormac) and “Leabhar Ghabhala” (Book of Conquests), date from the 9th and
12th centuries respectively. This is long after St. Brighid established her
community at Kildare so we have to be careful that we do not construct a
goddess from our knowledge of the saint. The Irish Celtic scholar, An t-Athair
Sean O'Quinn, rightly says, “It is an exercise in futility to try and separate
the historical Christian Brighid from the Goddess since clearly the two are so
interwoven.”
Brighid is the Goddess of healing, (smith)craft and poetry,
useful and inspired wisdom. She is the Goddess of fire, the hearth and energy.
She is the Goddess of fertility and is said to lean over every cradle. She is
associated with sovereignty and protection of her isles and the sea.
Today, many places in the British Isles bear her name. As
“Brigantia” she gave her name to the Celtic lands of the North of England.
Rivers are also named after her including, Afon (River) Braint, the longest
river on Ynys Mon (Anglesey); Brent, London; and Brue, Somerset.
Kinship
Sanas Chormaic tells us that Brighid may have been three
sister goddesses. In Ireland she is called the daughter of Dagda, the Red Man
of all Knowledge, who had his house at Brugh na Boinne. Dagda is the leader of
the Tuatha-de-Danaan, a warrior, master of magic and skilled craftsman. He is
the son of the goddess, Danu, and the partner of the Morrigan, the Great Queen
and goddess of battle.
With Tuireann Brighid had three sons, Brian, Iuchar and
Iucharba. With Bres the Beautiful, a miserly ruler, she had one son, Ruadan. He
tried to murder Goibniu, the smith who created magical weapons that always hit
their mark, but the smith killed him. It is said that Brighid's lament for
Ruadan was the first keening to be heard in Ireland.
The Synod of Dublin (1670) ordered priests to make every
effort to bring an end to the wailing and screams of female keeners who
accompanied the dead to the graveyard. An Irish triad goes: “Fear bruine, bean
chaointe na garbhmhuilleoir, ni bhf aighidh sna flaithis aon leaba go deo.”
(Three persons who will get no bed in heaven, a quarrelsome man, a keening
woman and a crude miller).
Fire
Brighid is a Fire Goddess and as Brighid's Cross is in the
form of a solar wheel she may also be a Sun Goddess. It is believed that
nineteen priestesses tended the eternal flame of Brighid at the place now known
as Kildare. It has even been suggested that St. Brighid may have been a
priestess of Brighid before her conversion to the Christian faith.
Brighid is particularly associated with the first stirrings
of Spring as the days begin to lengthen, the snowdrops bloom, and the ewes
begin to lactate. In a Scottish story Bride is taken captive by Beira, the
Queen of Winter. Some say her winter prison is the mountain, Ben Nevis. Before
the fire of the sun can warm the earth again Bride has to be freed. So a spell
is cast borrowing three days from the heat of August. As Bride walks free light
fills the earth and the land turns green again.
Brighid's fire is truly the fire of creativity. It is
responsible for the kindling of the earth in early Spring, the kindling of
sexual passion, the kindling of the body in healing, the kindling of the heart
in poetry and song, the kindling of the mind in science and craft. Her fire is
a guiding light to her people in times of trouble, darkness and despair. To see
her pass the house at Samhain is a sign that those within will be safe
throughout the dark days of Winter.
Fire in the hearth
Until very recently the hearth formed the centre of every
home and the fire burnt all year round. It was at the hearth that the women of
the house practiced the magic of cookery. It was around the hearth that wisdom
was passed from one generation to the next and the old stories were recited.
For the more adventurous the hearth was also a focus of divination. What do you
see in the movement of the flames, what do you hear in the crackle of the logs,
what marks are left in the ashes of the fire? What is Brighid saying to you?
It is said that Brighid taught the Irish people how to weave
as she wove her own mantle at the loom by the hearth. It is easy to imagine the
very flames themselves being woven into that wondrous cloth. Brighid's Mantle
is left outside the house at Imbolc. She blesses it as she passes so it will
bring healing to those wrapped in it.
The Fire in the hearth is Brighid's fire of healing,
divination and protection. We are all in need of healing and are wounded in
some way. We all feel the need for warmth and reassurance. To find these things
around the hearth of your own home is a blessing indeed.
Brighid - Hearth Goddess of Ireland
Taken from this WEBSITE
The legends of Brighid are as old as Ireland itself.
In Irish mythological cycles, Brighid (or Brighit), whose
name is derived from the Celtic brig or "exalted one", is the
daughter of the Dagda, and therefore one of the Tuatha de Dannan. Her two sisters
were also called Brighid, and were associated with healing and crafts. The
three Brighids were typically treated as three aspects of a single deity,
making her a classic Celtic triple goddess.
Patron and Protector:
Brighid was the patron of poets and bards, as well as
healers and magicians. She was especially honored when it came to matters of
prophecy and divination. She was honored with a sacred flame maintained by a
group of priestesses, and her sanctuary at Kildare, Ireland, later became the home
of the Christian variant of Brighid, St. Brigid of Kildare. Kildare is also the
location of one of several sacred wells in the Celtic regions, many of which
are connected to Brighid. Even today, it's not uncommon to see ribbons and
other offerings tied to trees near a well as a petition to this healing
goddess.
Celebrating Brighid:
There are a variety of ways to celebrate the many aspects of
Brighid at Imbolc. If you're part of a group practice or a coven, why not try
Honoring Brighid With a Group Ceremony? You can also incorporate prayers to
Brighid into your rites and rituals for the season. Having trouble figuring out
what direction you're headed? Ask Brighid for assistance and guidance with a
Brighid's Crossroads Divination Ritual.
Brighid's Many Forms:
In Britain, Brighid's counterpart was Brigantia, a warlike
figure of the Brigantes tribe near Yorkshire, England. She is similar to the
Greek goddess Athena and the Roman Minerva. Later, as Christianity moved into
the Celtic lands, St. Brigid was the daughter of a Pictish slave who was
baptised by St. Patrick, and founded a community of nuns at Kildare.
In addition to her position as a goddess of magic, Brighid
was known to watch over women in childbirth, and thus evolved into a goddess of
hearth and home. Today, many Pagans and Wiccans honor her on February 2, which
has become known as Imbolc or Candlemas.
Crafts to Honor Brighid:
In many Pagan traditions today, Brighid is celebrated with
crafts that honor her role as the protector of the hearth. You can make a
Brighid corn doll, as well as a Bride's Bed for her to sleep in. Perhaps the
best known decoration is the Brighid's Cross, whose arms represent the place
where a crossroads comes together, the space between light and dark.
Brighid and Imbolc:
Like many Pagan holidays, Imbolc has a Celtic connection,
although it wasn’t celebrated in non-Gaelic Celtic societies. The early Celts
celebrated a purification festival by honoring Brighid. In some parts of the
Scottish Highlands, Brighid was viewed as a sister of Cailleach Bheur, a woman
with mystical powers who was older than the land itself. In modern Wicca and
Paganism, Brighid is sometimes viewed as the maiden aspect of the
maiden/mother/crone cycle, although it might be more accurate for her to be the
mother, given her connection with home and childbirth.
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| St. Brigid's Well - Kildare, Ireland |
Brighid
The Goddess Brighid
Brighid is the Irish Goddess of Fire, both the Sun-fire in the sky and
the fire in the hearth. She is the fire inside all of us, the part of us that
burns with desire for Life. From of old, she was honoured as the Triple
Goddess, the fire of poetic inspiration, the fire of creative work - traditionally
smithcraft, and the fire of healing. A perpetual fire was kept burning at her
sanctuary. It was extinguished at the time of the Reformation of Henry VIII,
but since Candlemas of 1993 it burns again. In addition, I also honour the
shadow that is cast by that fire, because all things in Nature have their
counterpoint for balance.
Brighid was such a popular Goddess, that the coming of Christianity
could not wipe out her worship. Opportunistic as ever, the Church adopted her
and transformed her into St Brigit. To me, Brighid the Goddess and Brigit the
saint are one and the same. From the stories and poetry she inspired before and
after the coming of Christianity, we can learn about who she is, and how she
can be significant to our world today.
One story tells of the birth of Brighid. She was born at sunrise and
her mother was standing in the doorway, with one foot inside and one foot
outside the house. Immediately, her head was surrounded by fire.
This story tells us two things about Brighid. Firstly, of course, it
clearly associates her with the Sun. But the strange place of her birth also
indicates that she is a Goddess of the threshold, of the gates between this
world and the Otherworld. This makes her a patroness of shamanic journeys,
which take place at the Centre of the Wheel. She is the natural protectress of
shamans, since in the Celtic tradition poets, smiths and healers were all
shamans.
At the Centre, Brighid is also the Lady of the Mantle. A story is told
of how Brighid asked the local lord for land to found her abbey at Kildare. At
first the lord refused, but Brighid said that she asked for no more land than
her mantle could cover. The lord was obviously not a generous man, but he did
think that he could spare as much land as a lady's mantle can be stretched
over. So he consented, and Brighid returned to Kildare where she spread her
mantle on the Earth. When she tried to stretch it as far as it would go, it
kept stretching, until it comfortably covered enough land for her community to
live off.
Brighid's mantle covers and protects the land. The Goddess also
lovingly wraps her mantle around each person who asks for her protection. The
threads on her Mantle are the filaments of relationship that connect all things
in a great Web of Life. Brighid's mantle and the Web are one. Shamans journey
along those threads into the world of Spirit. They bring back knowledge and
healing for this world.
Brighid's fire at the Centre of the Wheel is also the fire, the life
spark, within each of us. It is our duty as human beings to find out what each
of us burns for, what lights our fire, so to speak. We are all unique
expressions of Spirit, and we are alive in order to let Spirit express itself
as fully as possible through us. We are called to tend the flame within, to let
it grow, so that it will burn for all to see.
Brighid is also Bride, or St Bride in Scotland. She is the young maiden
of Spring, the Eastern Quarter of the Wheel. She appears at the first signs of
new growth. She is the Inspirer of poets and other crafts of the word. Her
festival is Candlemas.
In Summer, the Southern Quarter of the Wheel, Brighid is the creative
maker, protectress of all creative endeavours. She supports and inspires my
doll making and collage making. She also has a thing or two to do with the
creation of this web site. But she is also the British warrior Goddess
Brigantia, defender of the hearth and the creative process. She will go out and
fight for what has to come into being.
When Autumn comes, and the Western Quarter, we are reminded of St
Brigit, patroness of a thousand healing wells. She supports all the healing
crafts, be it herb craft, spell craft, or plain witchcraft. Hers are the powers
that will heal the Earth and all the ailing souls within it.
In Winter, the Northern Quarter, I honour the shadow that is cast by
Brighid's fire. The still time stretches from Hallowmas to Candlemas. The light
is at its greatest ebb. The shadows are long and the nights are cold. In this
time the Cailleach reigns, the ancient Earth Goddess who is one spirit with
Bride.
The cross has long been a symbol of Brighid, the Irish
goddess who presides over hearth and home. In some legends, the girl who became
St. Bridget wove the first of these crosses as she explained Christianity to
her father, a Pictish chieftain. In other stories, the cross is not a cross at
all, but a wheel of fire, which explains why it's a bit off-center in
appearance. In parts of Ireland, Brighid is known as a goddess of the
crossroads, and this symbol represents the place where two worlds meet, and the
year is at a crossroads between light and dark.
A Brighid's Cross can be purchased in many Irish craft
shopes or at festivals, but it's actually pretty easy to make your own. You can
incorporate the creation of your Brighid's Cross into your Imbolc rituals, use
it as a meditative exercise, or just put one together with your kids as a fun
craft activity.
To make your Brighid's Cross, you'll need straw, reeds, or
construction paper -- if you're using plant material like straw or reeds,
you'll want to soak it overnight so it's pliable when you go to make your
Cross. Your end result will be about the length of one piece of your material --
in other words, a bundle of 12" reeds will yield a Brighid's Cross just
slightly longer than 12".
** Note: for a super-easy, kid-friendly edition of this
project, use pipe cleaners.
How to make Brighid's Cross ...
Brighid's Mantle - History and Lore
Information gotten from HERE ...
Brighid is the Celtic goddess who is the keeper of the
hearth, the deity who watches over nursing mothers and pregnant women, and who
is the overseer of all things domestic. She is also connected to healing and
wisdom. One commonly found symbol of Brighid is her green mantle, or cloak. In
Gaelic, the mantle is known as the "brat Bhride."
Although her origins are that of a Pagan goddess, at one
point she became associated with Christianity and St. Brighid of Kildare. The
legend has it that Brighid was the daughter of a Pictish chieftain who went to
Ireland to learn from St. Patrick. In one story, the girl who later became St.
Brighid went to the King of Leinster, and petitioned him for land so she could build
an abbey. The King, who still held to the old Pagan practices of Ireland, told
her he'd be happy to give her as much land as she could cover with her cloak.
Naturally, her cloak grew and grew until it covered as much property as Brighid
needed, and she got her abbey. Thanks to her roles as both a Pagan goddess and
a Christian saint, Brighid is often seen as being of both worlds; a bridge
between the old ways and the new.
In Celtic Pagan stories, Brighid's mantle carries with it
blessings and powers of healing. Many people believe that if you place a piece
of cloth out upon your hearth at Imbolc, Brighid will bless it in the night.
Use the same cloth as your mantle each year, and it will gain strength and
power each time Brighid passes by. The mantle can be used to comfort and heal a
sick person, and to provide protection for women in labor. A newborn baby can
be wrapped in the mantle to help them sleep through the night without fussing.
To make a Brighid's mantle of your own, find a piece of
green cloth long enough to comfortably wrap around your shoulders. Leave it on
your doorstep on the night of Imbolc, and Brighid will bless it for you. In the
morning, wrap yourself in her healing energy.
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