Who is Brigid / Brighid??
Brigid is the Daughter of the Dagda, one of the more universal deities of the pagan Gaelic world. Brigid (meaning ‘exalted one’ from Old Irish), Brigit or Brig is a goddess of pre-Christian Ireland. She appears in Irish mythology as a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, (tooha-de-danan). She was the wife of Bres, with whom she had a son named Ruadán (Roo-aaaan).
She is associated with wisdom, poetry, healing, protection, blacksmithing and domesticated animals. Cormac’s Glossary, written in the 9th century by Christian monks, says that Brigid was “the goddess whom poets adored”. In Old Irish, Imbas means ‘inspiration’, and specifically refers to the sacred poetic inspiration believed to be possessed by the fili (Old Irish: inspired, visionary poets).
Saint Brigid shares many of the goddess’s attributes, and her feast day, 1 February, was originally a pagan festival (Imbolc). It has been argued that the saint is a Christianization of the goddess – a form of syncretism.
She embodies the concept of ‘harmony’ with her message and healing powers transcending the local and becoming a universal source of inspiration and energy.
Her status as a fire goddess was also apparent in her connection to the sun, and dawn in particular. Imbolc reflected the sun, the light, returning to the world as winter’s hold on the land lessened. Her name, “Exalted One”, reflected not only her nature as a solar deity, but her connection to crafting and wisdom as well.
Invocation to Brigid, Exalted One
O Brigid, Exalted One,
Goddess of fire, of flame, of light,
We call upon you in this sacred hour,
To kindle the spark within our hearts,
And guide us with your wisdom bright.
You, who dwell by the sacred wells,
Whose waters flow with ancient grace,
Grant us the strength to cleanse and heal,
And nourish us with your sacred embrace.
Lady of the forge, the hearth, the home,
Shape us as your hands do shape the stone.
Through your fire, may we be reborn,
Through your flame, may we be transformed.
O Exalted One, with eyes aglow,
To you, our hearts and voices flow.
We seek your blessings, we seek your grace,
May we walk forever in your sacred place.
The brightest of blessings. Brigid Bright!
Her invention of keening, a lament for the dead, reflected her status as a goddess of life and death. Brigid also protected cemeteries, which can be found at many of her holy sites.
Given the diversity of her attributes, Brigid was believed by many to be a triple goddess. Unlike most triple goddesses in Ireland, however, all of her aspects were named Brigid. Her status as a triple goddess allowed her to have multiple husbands, parents, and children without causing contradictions in the Celtic mythos. The sacred flame on her shrine at Kildare was never allowed to go out. Every nineteen days it was tended by the nuns who served her, and every twentieth day it burnt of its own accord.
Once in the thirteenth century an accident occurred and the flame was extinguished, but except for that moment it remained alight until the suppression of the monasteries by Henry VIII.
The fire goddess was honoured even when her origin had been forgotten.
As a triple goddess, Bride or Brigit was the goddess of poetry, the goddess of healing and the goddess of Smithcraft – not one would think a very expected subject for her patronage. But if the fire of the forge be remembered then it is highly suitable for a goddess of fire to be served by the smiths.
A prayer to Brigid:
Brigid I seek you, Lady of the Well, the Forge and the Green Earth
I seek you
Warm my heart with your perpetual flame,
Heal my wounds with your gentle waters,
Cradle me in your mantle when I can walk no more
Brighid I seek you.
Brigid was a goddess full of contradiction. She was a goddess of healing, fertility, and motherhood, but also of passion and fire. Further complicating matters, Brigid was a goddess of serenity and water as well. Evidence of her worship has been found throughout Ireland, reflecting her importance as a powerful, yet personal deity. When she was not protecting mothers and newborn children, Brigid inspired many of the writers and poets for whom Ireland is internationally renowned.”
Goddess of the Healing Wells:
Combining Water & Fire, like the many-petalled lotus of the Crown Chakra / Sahasrara, Brigid‘s universal healing powers emanate and cascade like a waterfall to the Earth. As crystal clear water replenishes the earth, so too are we rejuvenated as we drink Her sacred water.
Wells throughout the Celtic lands are named after Saint Brigit. There are many legends that the Saint had stopped by a well in her travels, and blessed and healed people at the site. ‘Clooties’ are often tied to the trees (often Hawthorne) overhanging the wells, with healing wishes.
I walk, wrapped in your mantle
green as leaf on tree, newly blown on the wind
Hands still, I walk, silent and serene
in the knowledge, that I walk alone, and never lonely
Light is reaching out over the hill
I take your hand. and walk into the dawn
that lights the grass, and never burns
Bride, Lady of my night, Lady of my morn
Rise ever and walk ever onward
blessing us with your grace.
(Finn)
Daughters of the Flame: On Imbolc, 1993, the Daughters of the Flame lit a fire in honour of the Goddess Brigit and the saint Bridget, modelled after the perpetual fire which once burned in Kildare. There they share the task of tending the flame, on a twenty day rotation; each woman tends the fire in her own way, so that it is a solitary devotion linked to the devotions of a larger group. On the twentieth day the Goddess Herself keeps the flame alive. Instead of burning in one grove, temple, or monastery, it burns on personal altars, desks, and picnic tables in countries east and west, south and north.
Brigid’s fire burns bright,
Sacred waters heal the soul,
Strength in flame and light.
Flame and water blend
Brigid, goddess of the earth,
Guide us with your grace.
References:
The Celtic goddess Brigid: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=928247405996286&set=a.653019206852442 and
https://kr.pinterest.com/pin/954552083517885115/
Daughters of the Flame: http://www.obsidianmagazine.com/DaughtersoftheFlame/index.htm
Survival of a Goddess: https://druidry.org/resources/brigid-survival-of-a-goddess
Artwork by Catherine McGagh: https://www.ordbrighideach.org/prayerhealing.html
“I walk wrapped in your mantle green as leaf on tree newly blown on the wind Hands still, I walk silent and serene in the knowledge that I walk alone and never lonely Light is reaching out over the hill I take your hand and walk into the dawn that lights the grass and never burns Bride, lady of my night lady of my morn Rise ever and walk ever onward blessing us with your grace.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/yp9sqMG9Mr/ (marieisafreak)
However, without acknowledgements. ☹ I was never able to find out who ‘Finn’ is.
(Haiku style, 5-7-5)
Brigid’s fire burns bright,
Sacred waters heal the soul,
Strength in flame and light.
Flame and water blend, (fuse..)
Brigid, goddess of the earth,
Guide us with your grace.
