Friday, February 19, 2010

Songs of Bride: Fundraising CD for Friends of Bride's Mound


"Songs of Bride" arrived today. I was afraid I wouldn't like it -- a lot of pagan music is rockier than I enjoy. But saving Bride's Mound is a worthwhile project and I'm happy to kick in a little now and then to help pay off the bank loan, which is what earnings from this CD are meant to do. (Though regular old donations probably do still more in that regard. Or membership sales.)

I was pleasantly surprised. The music is good, well performed and well presented, and appeals to me (as a bonus). The cover is graced with lovely artwork, and the words are included. Very pleased to have these love songs to Brigit.

From the Friends of Bride's Mound website:

Songs of Bride: CD of music honouring Bride by various artists including Jana Runnalls, Julie Felix, Silver on the Tree, Triskelian... Cover art by Dorrie Joy and sleeve art by Jill Smith. This CD has been produced to raise funds for the Friends of Bride's Mound and all the tracks have been donated free of charge by the artists.



Hello and Welcome to Friends of Bride's Mound TM

Bride's Mound is a mound to the West of Glastonbury, just near the foot of Wearyall Hill (on the right in the photo).

Small it may be, but its history is great, being known as the western gateway to Avalon where pilgrims would stay in vigil through the night before passing on up the processional way to Avalon proper - and to the Tor.

The mound appears to have served this function through a seamless transition into the Christian period, as this is the legendary site of a pre-Christian bruga - a Druidic hostel/college. Such an established spritual community would have been a fertile source of recruitment for monks at the fledgeling abbey. Later, King Arthur is said to have had a vision of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child here, and that St. Brigid of Kildare (Brighde) stayed here in 488 AD.

Two stone chapels were dedicated to her and built, consecutively, on the same site where, as legend would have it, stood a much earlier wooden structure - the Shrine of Saint Mary Magdalene- during Brigid's time. As so often happens on the Isle of Avalon, the results of archaeological investigations turn out to be remarkably consistant with ancient legend.

Download our January 2008 Newsletter Here (pdf file)

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