Brigit Reviews (Series Four): Nonfiction, Popular (Saint)

Nonfiction, Popular (Saint):

“Brigit, the Mary of the Gael”, from A Book of Saints and Wonders by Lady Gregory (1907) (Mention only.)

Saint Brigid of Ireland, Alice Curtayne (1954)

Saint Bride, Iain MacDonald (1992)

Power of Raven, Wisdom of Serpent, Noragh Jones (1994)

Rekindling the Flame: a Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of Brigid of Kildare, Rita Minehan CSB (1999) (Pilgrimage Guidebook; Guided Meditation)

The Life of Saint Brigid, Anna Egan Smucker (2007)

Introduction:

This is a surprisingly small sampling, but I like all of these books. If you could read only one I would recommend Curtayne. Unless of course your purpose was to hurriedly prepare for a pilgrimage to Kildare, in which case go with Rekindling the Flame. Oh, heck. They all have different aims, so any could be the one for you, depending on your needs.

Curtayne’s book, written in the early 1950s, is a detailed and broad-ranging introduction to the saint which has no time for the goddess, yet which deepens our understanding of Brigit on many levels. It is told from the perspective of a believing Catholic—ironically, a rare view in the current Brigidine literature, and therefore doubly valuable for the insight it provides. It is the first full book I read about Brigit and remains a favourite.

MacDonald’s highly portable text contains translations of a late (15^th century) Life of Saint Brigit from the Book of Lismore and an unusual prayer sometimes credited to Saint Columba (among others): the 9^th century “Hail Brigid”. Perfect for a quiet walk in the countryside, reflecting on the saint.

Jones looks at length and in an accessible style at the traditional roles and rituals of the Scottish countrywoman, and Brigit appears throughout.

Minehan, herself a Brigidine nun, has written a moving and informative pilgrims’ guide to the Brigidine sites of Kildare town and its environs.

Smucker has pieced together a small and lively (and beautifully illustrated) primer on Saint Brigit as told through the late (15^th century) Life of Brigit from the Leabhar Breac and customs and prayers related to her.

I had hoped to include “Brigit, the Mary of the Gael”, from A Book of Saints and Wonders by Lady Gregory (1907). Unfortunately, the copy I borrowed from the Vancouver Public Library in the ‘80s appears to have been withdrawn from the collection, and I don’t have another copy near to hand. Hence only a brief mention below.

Read More!

Brigit Reviews (Series Three): Plays and Poetry

Poetry/Plays:

The Story Brought by Brigit, Lady Gregory (1924) (play)

St Brigit of the Mantle, Norah Kelly (1924) (play)

Brigit of Kildare, Ann Egan, (2001) (novel/poetry) (SEE ALSO the review in the NOVELS posting)

Brighid’s Runes, ed. Rachel Mica McCann (2008) (poetry)

Introduction:

I'll be brief here as the reviews are not long, themselves. Each of the four books brings something of interest and value. Two are Christian, tinged with the rosy blush of the Celtic Twilight, one is Christian, but embraces to some degree the saint’s pagan roots, and bases the story on diligent research, and the last is NeoPagan poetry that has little to do with Brigit herself. 

The Story Brought By Brigit, Lady Gregory (1924) G. P. Putnam’s Sons (play)

T.R. Henn, in his introduction to Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World, wrote that “Lady Gregory herself could achieve a comedy as refined as her gay and gracious nature, and a tragedy, pathetic or patriotic, fitted to her vision and gifts” (pg 37). This is evident in her Passion Play, The Story Brought By Brigit. The story is tightly scripted and effective, with poems sparsely interspersed in the dialogue. The characters speak in a homey Irish manner, which at first is surprising but which becomes comfortable and pleasant, to my ear, anyway. When a minor character speaks of oppression and rebellion we can easily read English where he says Roman. But if we are hoping to get more than a glimpse of the great lady herself (Brigit, not Lady Gregory) we are to be disappointed.

The play’s conceit is that if Brigit could be present at Christ’s birth (as in Irish and Scottish folk tales), why not at his death? St Brigit arrives in Jerusalem shortly before Passover in order to see Christ for herself, but she is very seldom on stage and has few, brief lines and no role in the action. Where she does surface is in the notes at the end of the play, where the author discusses Brigit’s connection to Mary and Jesus in Irish and Scottish folklore, pointing out that whereas in Scotland Brigit is thought to have gone to Palestine to Jesus’s birth, in Irish tales Mary and her son come to Brigit. Although the play itself has nothing to say about Brigit, the notes do share some lovely images.

“Our tradition, and that of Gaelic Scotland, speak (sic) of St. Brigit as ‘the foster-mother of Christ’, and I have been told by poor women of Slieve Echtge that she succoured both the Blessed Mother and Child when they were brought here by a Heavenly Messenger for safety in Herod’s time, and that she ‘kept an account of every drop of blood He lost through His lifeftime.’”

pg vi

“The two names are constantly put together, ‘calm, generous Brigit,’ ‘mild, loving Mary.’ And in the dedication, the binding, of the young hunter ‘not to kill a bird sitting, or a beast lying down,’ he was bade remember ‘the fairy swan of Brigit of the flocks; the fairy duck of Mary of Peace.’

                                                     pg 92

Fora fine rendering of the hymn Lady Gregory includes in the book, follow this link:

Iarla Ó Lionáird - Caoineadh na dTrí Mhuire

Those interested in a play that actually concerns Saint Brigit, Norah Kelly’s St Brigit of the Mantle, also published in 1924, is the one for you.

St Brigit of the Mantle, Norah Kelly (1924) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London. (Religious Drama) 32 pp.

First produced in Gloucester Cathedral in 1923, this play is a lovely blend of Celtic Twilight Paganism and unpretentious Christian evangelism. Kelly acknowledges her debt to “‘Fiona MacLeod’ (William Sharp)” for her version of the legend of Brigit.

William Sharp was, with WB Yeats, Lady Gregory, and others, a Celtic Revivalist. This movement drew on traditional Celtic literature and art but did not reproduce them exactly, using them as the loam on which to seed a new self-image for Celtic people. As was Yeats, Sharp was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an occult group famous now for the membership of Aleister Crowley.

How Sharp’s occultism influenced his writing would make an interesting study, but regardless, with this acknowledgement we know that we can’t assume the story “MacLeod” has written, and Kelly bases her play on, is traditional. Had she used a story collected by some diligent folklorist, or an old Life of St Brigit, a vision she’d had at prayer one night, a tale handed down by her grandmother, we would watch out for different elements, trust the material in different ways.

The legend as given is a unique take on the life of St Brigit, bearing elements that likely stem from Scottish legend but which havebeen liberally embellished.

A herdsman named Dughall and his daughter Brigit, ordinary peasants, live on the Scottish island of Iona in the Hebrides in the mid-6^thcentury CE. Only the local Arch-Druid knows that Dughall was a prince of Ireland, exiled for having allegedly made pregnant a Princess Mora. Both she and he protest his innocence—the child, she says, is an immortal, a daughter of the Tuatha De Danann¹.

A storm washes their boat ashore on Iona, killing all but the father and child. Brigit proclaims that one day she will hold “the King of the Elements Himself” in her arms. They are welcomed by the Arch-Druid of Iona who links this statement to a prophecy that “a child of the immortals” would one day “hold eternity in herarms”, neatly combining Pagan and Christian symbols and marking Brigit as an Otherworld being.

Brigit grows up in Iona. Inspired by the Druids’ offerings to a “Most High God”, she time travels “in search of a deathless love” through a gate of quicken trees (either the mountain ash or the service-tree, both in the genus Aucuparia), trees with Otherworld associations. She arrives in Palestine, in therole of the inn-keeper’s daughter²at the “Rest and Be Thankful”, in time to offer lodging to Mary and Joseph and attend the birth of Jesus. In keeping with the traditions of Celtic Otherworld adventures, she is gone for a year and a day.

The prose is delightfully “old fashioned” and well put together. In a wonderful aside, Brigit worries about the cattle of Palestine, caught in drought, and says “scarce a drop of milk will they give, and that only after the milking lassies have sung tune after tune tothem...” I don’t know about the milking lassies of ancient Palestine, but this is exactly how the Irish dairymaids approached such a problem.

It is intriguing that the heavy Pagan symbolism, given in a positive light, is accepted and absorbed into the Christian story, rather than being rejected outright as at other times and places. But be not confused, this is purely Christian in its intent.

Thestory of Jesus’s birth is of course is a familiar one to those raised in Christian tradition, but the infusion of Brigit—disobedient, sincere, and generous to a fault—and the melding of her medieval vitae with the biblical tale is delightful. Introducing Celtic saints into biblical stories (and vice versa) is not uncommon and gives a wonderfully accessible and neighbourly feel to both the saints and the stories themselves. No longer a tale of a remote time and place, it is an incident fresh and real as today’s new churned butter. Mary chastises the storm for threatening to wake her baby. Brigit offers refreshment that grows no less for the drinking. She swaddles Jesus in her blue cloak to keep him warm, and Mary responds that henceforth she will be known as Brigit of the Mantle.

In the closing scene, Brigit has returned to Iona, now blessed with the knowledge of deathless love, to bring Christianity to her “own sea-girt isle...that never more may Druid-worship sway the people’smind.” Ah, well.

Nicely done, all told, and with the various hymns prescribed for scene openings, I can see that a very pleasant afternoon could come of the staging of this play.

1In the statement that Brigit is a daughter of Pagan deities we find a nontraditional element undoubtedly introduced by either Sharp or Kelly.
2See Bryce Milligan’s Brigid’s Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story (picture book) for another instance of Brigit’s assuming this role in fiction.

Brigit of Kildare, Ann Egan, (2001) (novel) Kildare County Council Library and Arts Service, Eire.

This novel is reviewed in the previous post—Brigit Book Reviews (Series Two) but I want to mention it here because Egan, an award-winning Irish poet, has included a number of excellent Brigidine poems.

From “Dufach’s Daughter”:

the touch of her small hand

cool as a breeze-kissed petal

on my hard warrior’s palm,

the woodbine tendrils on her brow

have me within her spell, I am

bondman to my druid daughter.

To her I bequeath my sword,

its hilt aglow with rubies.

Brighid’s Runes: A Collection of Women’s Soul Poetry, Rachel Mica McCann, editor, Mica Arts, England, 2008.

When I heard about this book I imagined that the poems would have something to do with Brigit, but almost without exception, they do not. Instead, they are dedicated in a more generalized way to Goddess, sometimes to specific goddesses, such as the Cailleach, or to the process of ritual and awakening, from a woman’s perspective.

There are some very nice pieces in here. All of the poets are connected in some way to Scotland, England, Wales, or Ireland. They range in poetic experience from relative newcomer to adept, but the sensibility throughout is one of celebration, connection, growth, and joy. The youngest author is in her teens; another has gone on to the Land ofthe Dead. A very pleasant collection under the aegis of Brigit, patron of poetry.

Samples from the poems:

I have a Venus urge

for slow love making

soft kisses, smooth caresses

Autumn cooking,

pickles, stewed apples and spices.

I feel my body soften

as the gentle waning sun beckons me outside,

to pick up hazlenuts from the warm afternoon track,

so that I can bake wisdom cake.

My love for you.

Debra Hall

It was in the wreckage of kelp limbs I found you

The long crescent of your thigh,

a shade quicker than sand,

woven in the tidal reach, the tangle of sea

dried into cloth or food,

dried salt around your lips

your sea fingers

open and

close about drifted wood...

Sophia Dale

St Blaize's Brigit Doll

St Blaize is an inspired craftswoman and photographer with a lovely Flickr series featuring her Brigit Doll. Her comments under each photo are worth reading, as well. Here is a sample, but do go have a look at the whole set:
St. Brigid in her Spring Cloak

The greens represent the dark evergreen colors at the top, contrasted with the new bright growth of spring.

Materials include: Willow branch, manzanita branches, pearly everlasting flowers, and dry chaparral grasses and flowers. Her head is stuffed with the lichen usnea.

Techniques include: stuffing, tying, machine applique, and machine piecing.

This is an interpretation of a traditional "corn dolly", using materials from the local chapparal ecosystem of the Central Coast of California. The willow branch is from a riverbed, part of the watershed of the Monterey Bay.

St. Brigid's Day is celebrated on the first or second of February in Ireland, and coincides with Imbolc, one of the four seasonal celebrations of the Gaelic calendar.

Brigit Reviews (Series Two): Fiction

Fiction: 

     The Tomb of Reeds, by Sarah Baylis, (1987) (YA novel)
    Brigit of Kildare, Ann Egan, (2001) (novel/poetry)
    Brigid of Kildare, Cindy Thomson, (2006) (novel)
    “The Brideog” by Casey June Wolf. Escape Clause: A Speculative Fiction Anthology, edited by Clelie Rich (2009)
    Brigid of Kildare, Heather Terrell (2010) (novel)

(People! You’ve got to start getting more imaginative in the Brigit book titles! It’s getting a bit hard to tell them apart.)

    Mention only
Confessions of a Pagan Nun, Kate Horsley, (2001) (novel)
Sister Fidelma series (novels), Peter Tremayne/Peter Beresford Ellis (1994 onward)

         Historical novels which are based on real people must be constrained by known facts. The fiction comes in where facts are unknown. An author’s note at the end of the book will point the interested reader to which elements are fact and which are fiction, thus satisfying both the love of imagination and the love of clear scholarship. In the case of St Brigit, much of the “fact” is hagiography, tales written long after the woman’s death, but they nevertheless form a body of understanding that can’t be tossed aside without cause.

         At times authors feel free to dispense with, or are unaware of, important facts about the person or her times, and paint very misleading pictures as a result. Possibly this is unimportant to you if you’re looking for entertainment only and don’t also want to learn about the subject of the book. In our case, we do want to increase our understanding of Brigit, as goddess or saint or both; only one of the three novels included here is worth turning to for that purpose—Brigit of Kildare by Ann Egan.

Writing good historical fiction is a lot of work. If you don’t want to spend energy getting the details right, or if the details don’t suit your plot, there are lots of alternatives. Don’t present your story as historical fiction. Write fantasy, or alternate history; invent a similar situation and character and do whatever you like.

Acknowledgements provide clues as to what sort of novel you have in your hand. Egan thanks, among others, Kildare librarians and the Regional Archivist. Thompson thanks, among others, God and her prayer partners. This does not mean that the one is not prayerful, and the other did no research, but it does hint at how much weight is given to each in the shaping of the book. (Terrell, for the record, thanks her publisher and friends—among others.)

Although Egan and Thompson draw from the same source materials, and approach Saint Brigit as Christians, their interpretations are worlds apart. Egan’s Brocassa and her daughter Brigit live in a world where Paganism is the norm; they understand and are themselves a part of that world. There is no disdain or distance between themselves and those who haven’t adopted Christian beliefs – beliefs which were in their day rare and unimportant in Irish society. Pagans are their relatives and their friends. There is an assumption that it is a good thing that Brigit herself and people around her become Christians, but it isn’t made at the expense of those who do not.

Thompson reveals a very different attitude. Pagans, especially druids, are nearly all deluded or dangerous. To Egan Brigit’s father is a good guy who cares about his land and his family, including Brigit and her mother, his slave Brocassa, whom he is in love with. His wife is greedy, but she is smart. For Thompson he is despicable, fat, and greedy. (Another stereotype I would love to see the back of: if you are greedy you are fat, and vice versa.) His wife is an evil druid. The Christian characters display a smug, knowing arrogance toward the Pagans which becomes more clear as the novel progresses.

Egan is herself an Irishwoman, living in the area where Brigit lived. Her dialogue is natural and readable, with no particular accent attempted. Thompson, who is American, uses a clunky “Irish” accent in the dialogue. This is in part a reflection of their writing skills. These are first novels for both of them, but Egan is an accomplished poet. She has won many literary awards, and Thompson is very much a beginning writer. There is talent here, but her skill is as yet unpolished.
The single short story looks at a traditional visitation on St. Brigit's Eve by Wolf, a Canadian writer of speculative fiction.
Terrell’s novel aims to be a rousing mystery story of the DaVinci Code ilk, with no particular religious sentiment beyond a dash of feminist revisionism. There is more polish in her writing than in Thompson’s, but it never comes alive; between that and the mishandling of historical materials, this book, which I was so looking forward to, is very disappointing.

Seeking Brigid: Sacred Well, Holy Flame -- Pilgrimage

The Sisterhood of Avalon has chosen Erynn Rowan Laurie as feature presenter at this year's pilgrimage to Ireland. Erynn is an original member of the Daughters of the Flame, and has been serving Brigit for many years. How I would love to accompany her and the Sisters on this journey!

From the blurb for the pilgrimage: she "is a poet and writer and one of the many founders of the Celtic Reconstructionist Pagan path. She has been keeping Brigid’s flame with the Daughters of the Flame since 1993 and is working on a book on Brigid and flamekeeping. Her particular interests are filidecht, the sacred poetic tradition of Gaelic Ireland, and the sacred madness of the geilta, figures like Myrddin, Muirgeilt, Mís, Lailoken, and Suibhne Geilt.

"Erynn’s books include A Circle of Stones: Journeys & Meditations for Modern Celts, Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom, and contributions to a number of other publications, including a paper on the geilta and PTSD in the academic anthology Disability and Religious Diversity: Cross-Cultural and Interreligious Perspectives. Her first poetry collection, Fireflies at Absolute Zero, is due out from Hiraeth Press in October, 2012. " (For more of Erynn's writing follow this link.)

Seeking Brigid: Sacred Well, Holy Flame
Pilgrimage to Ireland, 2012
July 11-18, 2012

Join author and poet Erynn Rowan Laurie and the Sisterhood of Avalon for a seven day pilgrimage to Ireland, exploring our connections with the Goddess Brigid, patron of poetry, smith craft, and healing. With the breathtaking landscape of Ireland as our backdrop, our time together will be spent engaged in conscious sight-seeing, scholastic inquiry, and spiritual exploration inspired by Gaelic tradition. All over 18 are welcome. Only 12 openings are available.

"I hope you'll join me as we explore Ireland and our relationships with Brigid this summer!"

http://www.seanet. com/~inisglas/ pilgrimage- 2012-FINAL.pdf

The link will download a PDF file of the information packet.

Please spread the info far and wide!

Imbolc Craft Idea from Homeschooling Mum

Have a look at Ten kids and a Dog : The days in the life of a large, Catholic, homeschooling family. Specifically the Imbolc posting which features this lovely craft:

Brigit Reviews (Series One): Picture Books

Picture books:

St. Brigid’s Cloak, Reg Keating. Illustrated by Heather McKay. (1997)

Brigid’s Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story, Bryce Milligan. (2002)

The Life of Saint Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, Jane Meyer. (2009)

First off: we have here three good, saint-oriented Brigidine picture books. Now we need some goddess-oriented ones.

It isn’t surprising we have three saintly versions and none focussed on the goddess aspects of Brigit. Among other things, there is an abundance of saintly stories and the goddess lore for Brigit is thin on the ground. Nevertheless, without it we have only half the story. I would like to see a picture book that addresses the triple Brigit, maybe even one that tackles both sides, Pagan and Christian, in a positive and simple way. There’s your gauntlet, writerly and painterly folk. (And when you do it, please send me a copy to review!)

The present books are quite different from each other in terms of both artwork and writing, but they do have a number of things in common. Interestingly, from among the many, many stories related to Brigit, stories of her cloak, in one form or another, figure in all three books. When you consider the pithiness necessary in a picture book, the brevity of the text which allows only a few aspects to be explored, it is perhaps surprising that the cloak figures in all three, though admittedly the cloak stories are among the most well known in her vitae. The cloak is a main focus in the first two, and more or less a footnote in the latest, by Jane Meyer.

St. Brigid’s Cloak, Reg Keating. Illustrated by Heather McKay. Tarantula Books, Dublin, Ireland (1997)

The first, St. Brigid’s Cloak by Reg Keating, is the smallest, shortest, and least elaborate in every way. Heather McKay's illustrations have a humorous, energetic style with simple, bold lines and Adobe Illustrator-type colour-pattern infills. The style is well-suited to Keating’s direct, simple, playful text and the underlying humour of the story.

The focus is narrow—after quickly giving us an idea of Brigit’s early life and desire to serve God, Keating tells a medieval tale of Brigit’s miraculous cloak. In this story, Brigit tricks a stingy king into giving her ample valuable land to build her monastery on by asking for merely as much as her cloak would cover, only to have the cloak grow enormously once on the ground.

This book is not written to entice children to holiness. It simply tells a fine and funny traditional story about someone who happens to be a saint and rather holy herself. It certainly doesn’t try to persuade against living a holy or moral life, and she is indeed presented as someone who works hard to do good, but that’s not the point. If anything, Brigit’s independence and cleverness are the important thing here.

By contrast, the two later books are more self-consciously Christian, and much more developed.

Brigid’s Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story, Bryce Milligan. Illustrated by Helen Cann. Eerdmans Books For Young Readers, USA and UK (2002)

Brigid’s Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story, by Bryce Milligan, is a beautifully illustrated, textured book aimed at somewhat older children than Keating’s audience. In it we go beyond the bare facts of Brigit’s life to hear the wild winds of fifteen centuries ago, to huddle in a cold hut outside her father’s hill fort, to hear the stars singing and see a Druid in the forest, come to prophesy about Brigit’s life.

Brigit’s magically noted birth is followed in time by her vision (as in Norah Kelly's play based on the Scottish folk tale¹) of being in Palestine. There she plays the role of the daughter of the innkeeper who shelters Joseph and Mary, and helps Mary with Jesus’s birth. The story of her cloak, in this case given by the Druid, is not the one where she tricks the King of Leinster into giving her lands, but the one where she lends her now shabby cloak to Mary, who is shivering as she lies in labour, and who returns it beautifully renewed. The story is centered on Christ’s birth, though inspired by Brigit’s devotion and generosity.

Milligan’s writing is subtle and often beautiful, and his tale touches on many evocative details that inspire a sense of wonder. There is an attempt at verisimilitude in the drawings of ancient Irish and Palestinian dwellings and dress, and the book closes with a page devoted to historical information about Brigit and her cloak. Helen Cann’s paintings are delicious, with subtle shades of colour that match the subtlety of the writing, and with energy, balance, and magic.

The Life of Saint Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, Jane Meyer. Illustrated by Zachary Lynch. Conciliar Press, Ben Lomond, California, USA (2009)

The Life of Saint Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, by Jane Meyer, is perhaps the most joyfully religious of the three books. Published by Conciliar Press Ministries and written and illustrated by members of the Orthodox Church, it is intended to share the story of Brigit’s generosity and devotion to others and to God, and to inspire similar love and compassion in the children who read it.

Meyer ranges farther in her treatment of Brigit than the previous two authors, telling more about her young life, including her penchant for miracles associated with milk and butter and including a prayer she uttered to God to bless her pantry, which led to such abundance. She then follows Brigit through her life, touching on a few brief, important moments, such as her father’s attempt to sell her to the King who would one day inadvertently supply the land for her first monastery, her refusal to marry (somewhat dodging, though alluding to, the self-mutilation that convinced her family to let her off the matrimonial hook), her peripatetic ways and the resulting monasteries she founded across Ireland. She ends the book with an “Irish Rune of Hospitality”, a brief prayer that we may follow Brigit’s example, and the “Kontakion of Saint Brigid”: a prayer about and to Saint Brigit.

Zachary Lynch’s rough and ready iconographic illustrations are perfectly suited to the text. A playfully reimagined cow from a medieval Irish manuscript, Celtic knotwork gone mad with colour, Brigit with a hint of Theotokas in her face—there is much to delight the mind and eye in these pages.

My only complaint about this last book is the Celtic typeface used for the main text. If, as an adult who has been reading for many years, I have occasional difficulty making out a letter and therefore a word, I can only suppose that a young reader might find such a typeface one more obstacle on the rocky road to reading. But since with picture books of this complexity you generally have an adult reading to a child, perhaps it isn’t that much of a problem.

Okay now, Pagani. Get out your pens and paints and come up with some equally impressive Pagan counterparts to these three books. Ready, set—go!

1 A version of this folk tale is found in the the Carmina Gadelica, a collection of stories, prayers, etc collected by Alexander Carmichael in the Scottish Highlands between 1855 and 1910.

The Reviews, At Last!

A Grace On This Work

clear eye and thankful heart

calm pen and loving speech

bless this work Brigit

make of it a gift

self to self

neighbour to neighbour

friend to friend

across each boundary

of your fresh and speckled earth

I come at last to publish the first of my Brigit book reviews with a sense of gratitude and peace. There have been many obstacles along the path, yet I think that the work has benefited from, rather than been harmed by, these sometimes transformational delays. Today I am just returned from a week-long retreat for people living with cancer¹, and I am deeply and joyfully aware of the blessings of this life. One of the greatest blessings for me has been the opportunity to know and draw close to Brigit and her stories and traditions, to find guidance in the wealth of meaning that arises from her, and to share my love of her with the many people who celebrate her in their many different ways. I have gained something from every one, even those I strongly disagreed with, even ones who are long drifted from my life.

I have certain standards I apply to works about Brigit which not everyone shares. I prefer works that rely on verifiable stories and traditions, and, where they branch off from these into new understandings and associations, are clear and up front about it. I’m not opposed to the evolution of her cult—this is a far different world from that which gave birth to her—but I am opposed to muddying the milk. As authors, teachers, or spiritual leaders I believe we owe it to others to be frank about what we simply believe about Brigit as opposed to what we know and can verify. If we offer no clue as to which is which, we rob others of the opportunity to find for themselves who Brigit is to them, the unique understanding that emerges out of her profound mix of old traditions and tales.

NeoPagans can be particularly guilty in this, but so can Christians. We want so much for her to be for everyone what she is for us, we do a little bending here and there—“surely if the facts were known they would prove that the saint was originally a priestess of the goddess Brigit, so I will just say that she was.” But there is no evidence at all for this, and personally I don’t believe it. Or “surely she is a historical figure completely separate from Pagan goddesses and their goings on, and would never have, say, caused a foetus to disappear from a woman’s womb. That would be abortion! That story can’t be true.” Well, whether it is true or not, it is a legitimate part of Brigidine lore, and we have to take an honest look at what that means.

Like the authors of the works being reviewed, I have my cherished beliefs, and my feathers get ruffled now and then. My endeavour has been to present each work as fairly as I can, whether I “approve” of it or not, to allow you to know whether this would be the right work for you or whether you might prefer to start with another one. I am not always entirely successful in smoothing my feathers. It is a delicate balance, though, between respecting and valuing—as I very much do—every author and her or his efforts to bring Brigit to the world, and blunting my perceptions of how this work fails its audience through, for instance, misleading or inadequate scholarship. And if my grumpiness shows through from time to time I do apologize and ask your forgiveness.

It struck me, as I read through these books, that they are all written by members of my Brigidine community. The authors are academics, NeoPagans, Christians; they are thinkers, artists, enthusiasts. They would not all get along, or approve of the interpretation or treatment of Brigit employed by another, but some common thing draws each of us to this ancient figure and touches us deeply. Whether our primary intention is to understand her role in the recent or distant past, to shape her modern visage (which is what we are doing, whether it is our intention or not), to draw meaning or comfort, or simply to remain agape in her presence, we are joined to each other through her and through our regard, even love, for her.

This, I think, would please the Brigit I have come to know. In honour of her I encourage us to recall always that essential elements of this complex goddess and saint are healing, reconciliation, creation, and hospitality. May we find ways to induce those elements in our perceptions of and communications with each other.

Besides filling many of the holes in my understanding of Brigit and Brigidines, there have been surprises. I’ve liked books I’d expected not to, and been disappointed by some I thought I’d enjoy. This latter has been difficult to come to terms with, which is one reason I moved slowly on the project.

I’ve delayed posting anything until all the works were read and reviews written. They can be read individually, but if you have the time and muscle for it, I suggest reading them collectively. Themes touched on lightly in one may be developed in another, and the group presents a vast picture of Brigit, past and present, all valuable in its own way.

The astute observer will notice that the review list has changed as new material has come to my attention and certain other works have been removed for various reasons. I have kept the names of a couple of items on the list that I have yet to review; I hope to get and review them later.

To quote Lisa Bitel, “To journey through the scholarly literature on the saint-goddess is as wild a pilgrimage as surfing the web for Brigit-sites.²” The stories of Brigit, goddess and saint, are there to be discovered, and able students like Lisa Bitel, Kim McCone, and Erynn Laurie, among others, have vast offerings of background material and interpretation that are of benefit to us as we attempt to gain a sense of who she has been over time, and in shaping who she can be to us today. Poets like Ann Egan, Christian and NeoPagan writers such as Rita Minehan, Alexei Kondratiev, and Amber Kay can begin to evoke a vision of her and nurture our relationship to her as the seeds of our understanding grow.

The Brigidine movement is growing, and it is diverse. May we honour the spirit and the essence of Brigit, goddess and saint, with diligence and in good faith, in our writings, our prayer, and our ritual.

Now, to the first set of reviews. For more background on why I am reviewing these books, please see the earlier post Brigit Book Reviews (1): Introduction and see also Brigit Book Reviews (2): List of Books to be Reviewed. For those who would rather read the entire document as one, feel free to contact me by commenting on this blog and I will email you a pdf when all of the sections have been posted. (Depending on surgery dates this may take more or less time.) Or if some soul knows how I can post a pdf to the blog, tell me, and I will do that.

Happy reading, and Brigit’s blessings on you.

Mael Brigde

1 See the Callanish Society of Vancouver, Canada for more information on these amazing retreats. http://www.callanish.org/

2 “St. Brigit of Ireland: From Virgin Saint to Fertility Goddess”, Lisa Bitel. Presented at Fordham University, February, 2001

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where Have You Been?

"On Reading" by André Kertész. Esztergom Hungary 1915

I want to explain why Brigit's Sparkling Flame has been so quiet recently. I have indeed been working on it, but rather than doing my usual little posts I have been ploughing through approximately twenty-five books and articles about Brigit, reviewing them at greater or lesser length, and preparing the reviews for the blog. This was a much bigger job than expected, in part because I kept expanding the list (it has since contracted a little as I had to rein myself in a tad), and in part because of Life.

I have in fact finished the reading and am at the stage of final drafts and organization of sections, to go on when that is completed to adding links, images, etc. Portions of some of the reviews will also go on LibraryThing.com and Amazon.

Problem is, I am not well. Various commitments to bring me to a healthy state are now taking most of my time, and there is no energy left for finishing the project at the moment. So once again there is a delay, but I am determined to get it done as soon as I can, and perhaps in the meantime I ought to go back to posting the odd little bit of interest to lovers of Brigit, such as the previous piece about the Daughters of Bride.

My apologies, and blessings of Brigit on you all.

Mael

New Flame-Tending Group: Nigheanan Brighde, Daughters of Brìde

There is a very interesting new flame-tending and well-tending group I've been made aware of. I like the inclusion of the well for those who are drawn more to that aspect of Brigidine devotion. Note that what Éireann is looking for is a close-knit group, rather than the more loosely organized community of mostly solitary flame-tenders that other groups generally consist of.

I'll give you the blurb from their yahoo site and then a brief note from their founder, Éireann nighean Brighde Johnson:

Nigheanan Brighde, Daughters of Brìde, is a Celtic Polytheist Order of Flame Keepers & Well Tenders for Brìde.

Nigheanan Brighde's goals are as follows:

1- To function as a flame keeping and well tending order firmly rooted in the traditional, polytheist Celtic cultural worldview and accordingly supporting, studying, and participating in traditional Celtic cultural expressions;

2- To tend the Sacred Living Flame of Brìde through keeping vigils over our portion of the flame in shifts;

3- To tend the Sacred Healing Well of Brìde through stewardship of the waters of the world by tending a watery location such as a section of a river or lake where each of us lives;

4- To forge deep communal bonds between Flame Keepers/Well Tenders through sharing our vigil experiences with each other, holding regular Chat sessions, and extending community-building beyond the bounds of the internet;

5- To explore the aspect of Brìde which has a special connection to women and women's wisdom.

As is traditional, this order will be a sisterhood of women. While male flame keeping is not frowned upon by Nigheanan Brighde, we cherish the inherent gifts of working in female-only space.

I asked Éireann what inspired her to start the order. This is her reply:

I have flame tended in the past with Ord Brighideach, on two different occasions, but ultimately what I longed for was a close community with the fellow flame tenders of my cill, and that didn't seem to be how the cills operated. It was in the end a very solitary experience and I didn't enjoy that.

After I left the second time I briefly facilitated an online meditation group dedicated to Brìde in which we would all meditate on Her once a week and then post to an email list about our experiences, but it fizzled out.

Later I ran across a blog which was a site for an independent flame tending group in which members blogged about their shifts and I was really drawn to that kind of sharing together of each member's experiences with Brìde. I tried to join, but the group seemed defunct at that time.

In the meantime I ran across a women's Celtic spirituality group online which included a well-tending practice and mentioned Brìde, and I was very drawn to this idea of participating in a devotional to Her watery side. The group also incorporated a flame tending circle but they worked separately. The overall membership in this group was deeply involved and not something I could pursue participating in.

I also got involved with another independent flame tending cill for awhile which has a tradition of a member's exchange at Imbolc, and I really liked the idea of breaking free of the internet constraints to connect with fellow flame tenders. The group was less social overall than I had hoped for however, and so I did not remain with them.

I also noticed that the Celtic polytheist worldview was not a focus of any one cill, and, while I do appreciate the bridging aspect of a group consisting of both Christians and pagans, I felt that as the original flame tending community was religiously and culturally homogenous and that this facet likely helped member bonding, I'd like to see such a group rooted in the Celtic Polytheist tradition.

Finally, I feel a special pull to women-only groups, and as the original flame tending was centered around women, I felt there was some special relationship alluded to there between Brìde and women, and I desired to actively explore that in the company and community of other women devoted to Her.

All of these ideas brewed inside me, percolated, and came out as a new kind of Brìde-devoted sisterhood in which members would commit to: sharing their flame tending vigils online each time so we could grow in our understanding of Her through all of our experiences and offer each other support as needed; to dedicating ourselves to a regional watery location such as a riverbank or lakeside or well to tend at least once seasonally by cleaning up trash and leaving prayers and offerings as a way to both meditate on Brìde's connection with water and to forge a mindful relationship with our own lands; to being firmly rooted together in the Celtic Polytheist tradition; and to further forge community by both holding group chats for as many members as could attend on each 20th shift, and by creating together an Imbolc exchange tradition.

Our group is not yet full. We began actively tending at Samhain and so far it has been a wonderful experience which I hope will continue to blossom for all of us, and for those members yet to come. To the best of my knowledge, this is a truly unique kind of flame-tending group and experience. It is not suited to the solitary or casual tender, however; but, for those willing to commit to deep community through Brìde, I think if offers a special opportunity to such women.

I am thankful for the long and winding road Brìde has set me on which has brought me here and to all those who have influenced and inspired me along the way.

Éireann

Hot off the "Press": Under the Oak on Brigit, Daughter of Duffy

I've mentioned this blog before, and likely will again. Under the Oak is dedicated to postings on the Irish Saints, in particular Brigit of Kildare. Here is a snippet from her latest post:

Brigid, the Daughter of Duffy

A few days ago we looked at the feastday of Saint Dubhthach. I remarked then that this is a name borne by both Irish pagans and Christians, and suggested that perhaps the most famous of its pagan bearers was Dubhthach, the father of Saint Brigid of Kildare. It is also claimed that this name has been anglicized as the modern Irish surname Duffy, and it is in this form that Irish-American poet, Denis A. McCarthy (1870-1931), presents Saint Brigid as the champion of the poor and generous to a fault, something which provokes a culture clash with her pagan father...

The author of the post includes the poem by McCarthy, which begins thus:

ST. BRIGID

BY DENIS A. MCCARTHY

BRIGID, the daughter of Duffy, she wasn't like other young things,
Dreaming of lads for her lovers, and twirling her bracelets and rings;
Combing and coiling and curling her hair that was black as the sloes,
Painting her lips and her cheeks that were ruddy and fresh as the rose.
Ah, 'twasn't Brigid would waste all her days in such follies as these -
Christ was the Lover she worshipped for hour after hour on her knees;
Christ and His Church and His poor, - and 'twas many a mile that she trod
Serving the loathsomest lepers that ever were stricken by God...

To see the whole post, and go through the archives which contain many a gem, please go to:

http://brigid-undertheoak.blogspot.com/2011/10/brigid-daughter-of-duffy.html

Unfortunately, Blogger is misbehaving and I can't hyperlink that for you, but I'm sure you know what to do!