Tag Archives: Brigit

The Eternal Flame of Bride

The weather has been quite literally foul today, I drove through snow, thunder and lightning all at the same time. Whilst walking between buildings I stopped to enjoy the sunshine whilst being pelted with hail. Much to the amusement of my work colleagues. Truly a day of change. And according to some folk lore, if Brides Eve is fair then the Callieach will venture out for some time to come. But if the weather is foul, the. spring is just round the corner. So if my day was anything to judge, I’m hoping for a balmy Saint David’s day.

My Imbolc this year could not be any more different if it tried. 12 months ago found me in a quiet woodland grove in silent contemplation on a cold, crisp and very much still winters night. I contemplated the nature of The Goddess and the lessons (and gifts) she had for me. This year I find myself early to bed, a wondrous weekend of magic and transformation ahead of me, and a beautiful afternoon of snowdrops and cleansing ritual behind me. A time of new beginnings, I stand on the cusp of a time of change which like an enchantress tempts me forward.

It’s fair to say Bride has been a quiet but constant companion for me this year, she shares many of the same traits as other deities I work with such as Hekate and Ceridwen, so it’s not very surprising. She has province over flame, and Water, of healing and of transformation. She is a fierce protectress for those she names as her own. But isn’t above also teaching strict lessons to those who fail to heed her words and gifts. So to honour her I thought I would share this prayer of protection from the Carmina Gaedelica by Alexander Carmichael a folklorist from the 19th Century. Although the contents of this work often has much older providence. I have adapted it somewhat to make it slightly less Christian but believe it keeps its essence beautifully. A truly powerful prayer indeed.

Adapted from a Traditional Scottish Gaelic Supplication of Saint Brigit

Brigit of the mantles,

Brigit of the peat-heap,

Brigit of the twining hair,

Brigit of the augury.

Brigit of the white feet,

Brigit of the calmness,

Brigit of the white palms,

Brigit of the kine.

Brigit, woman-comrade,

Brigit of the peat-heap,

Brigit, woman-helper,

Brigit, woman mild.

Brigit, Goddess of the Well,

Brigit, Nurse of infant child,

Each day and each night

That I say the Descent of Brigit,

I shall not be slain,

I shall not be wounded

I shall not be gashed,

I shall not be torn asunder,

I shall not be despoiled

I shall not be down-trodden

I shall not be made naked,

I shall not be rent

Nor will the Goddess Brigit forsake me

Nor sun shall burn me,

Nor fire shall burn me,

Nor beam shall burn me,

Nor moon shall burn me.

Nor river shall drown me,

Nor brine shall drown me,

Nor flood shall drown me,

Nor water shall drown me.

Nightmare shall not lie on me,

Black sleep shall not lie on me

Spell sleep shall not lie on me,

Nor will the Goddess Brigit forsake me

For I am under the keeping of the Eternal Flame of Bride

The Blessings of Brigid

For a couple of years now I have been trying to make more of a conscious effort to really connect with the festivals on the wheel of the year. So at the end of January I found myself accepting an invitation to attend an hour’s silent vigil in the woods dedicated to the Goddess Brigid. I’ll be frank, whilst I love dark nights, woodland walks and candle-lit vigils I was rather perplexed as to my subconscious motivations. Brigid is not a deity Ive had a lot of connection with and nor did I really want to. To explain, I think how you interact with deities is a bit like how you interact
with people. There has to be a certain something about the person or nothing will never develop. They will remain just somebody you know in passing, might say “hi” to as you walk past in the street because you recognise them. But you wouldn’t necessarily stop and talk. And to be frank my previous interaction with Brigid had left me pretty much as cold as the Imbolc snow that so often scatters the ground at that time of year. So I think it goes without saying that I was more than a bit shocked when during the vigil a quiet internal voice instructed me to continue to light candles until Equinox.

Publicly Ive been wearing my Druid hat almost as much as I’ve been wearing my Wiccan hat of late so it occurred to me that this sudden tentative spark of connection may be related to that, Brigid is a goddess of poetry and often a patron to Bards. It also occurred to me that it was an aspect of Brigid I was feeling as a soul calling rather than an actual connection. At that early point of connection during the vigil it was close to seven weeks since I had set foot on Anglesey, the longest I have gone in well over 18 months. The author Kristoffer Hughes suggests that the Goddess of the river Braint which bisects the Isle of Anglesey is a localised version of the Goddess Briganti, whom many believe to also be Brigid [1.Hughes, K. The book of Celtic Magic, Llewellyn 2016]. Therefore although admittedly in a reluctant manner I started lighting a candle whenever I sat down in my study and when away, I made an effort, if only for a fleeting moment, to think of Brigid and her sacred flame. After all Imbolc to Equinox was not a long time, right?

Of course Spring is now most definitely upon us and Equinox is looming fast and I find that the whole catalog of synchronicity which has followed is such that I am now left without a shadow of a doubt that the relationship now has some form of chemistry going on. A spark of interest which wasn’t there before. What that interest is I have no idea, and whether there is a longevity to the interaction is equally mystifying. However, the more I read about her, the more I can see the similarities she shares with the two other Goddesses that have at one point or another shared my life. And there are a couple of aspects which have me positively entranced. For example, How can a fairy Princess, the wife of Angus the Ever young, a Tuatha de Dannan also be patron of smith craft, an occupation which even into history is an Iron rich activity?
I think sometimes, when connections are made you have to go with your gut and follow your nose, and just enjoy the journey, no motivations, no ulterior motive, no “What’s in it for me?”. So I find myself with a small shrine to Brigid on my window, and not unsurprisingly everything I needed for it to feel right was either made available to me or I had in my possession already. Including some beautiful glass crystals that reminded me of the “Guiding Star of Bride”

 “Over her heart gleamed a star like crystal, pure as her thoughts and bright as the joy that Angus brought her.”

And with that I thought I would finish with an enchanting poem I found telling of the search of Angus the Ever young for his Princess.

Angus hath come — the young, the fair,
The blue-eyed god with golden hair,
The God who to the world doth bring
This morn the promise of the spring;
Who moves the bird to song ere yet
He hath awaked the violet,
Or the soft primrose on the steep
While buds are laid in lidded sleep,
And white snows wrap the hills serene,
Ere glows the larch’s vivid green
Through the brown woods bare. All Hail!
Angus, may thy will prevail
He comes, he goes, and far and wide
He searches for the Princess Bride[2. Mackenzie, D.A. Wonder Tales from Scottish Myth and Legend, Stokes 1917]