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Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Tooting My Horn



I know I have posted a couple of times about this upcoming conference and you have likely gotten the message, but I got a great surprise when I read the introduction to today's post featuring yours truly. So I thought I would share that with you.

Our most requested presenter was by far Mael Brigde. We were so tickled when she said yes to our request to join our conference. We've been itching to work with her for a good fifteen years or so since I first experienced the beauty of a Brighid Flame Tending practice. Can't wait!
Kindling Brigit's Flame
On Imbolc 1993, Mael Brigde launched the first modern Brigidine flame-tending group outside of the Catholic Church—the Daughters of the Flame. In her class she will speak of her own path with Brigit and her experience of leading a multi-faith group of women devoted to Brigit. She will touch on the history of Brigidine flame-tending, ancient and modern, and will address issues connected to modern flame-tending. These span the practical: how not to burn the house down while I’m asleep? to the personal: how do I come to know Brigit? to the ethical: how do we represent our understanding of Brigit to the world?
Mael Brigde will discuss the importance and difficulty of discovering the roots of various assumptions about Brigit, such as the origins of her perpetual flame, and how new understandings may at times challenge our beliefs. She will address how her changing understanding of Brigit affects her devotion and practice.
Finally, she will talk about the way flame-keepers care for each other as part of their practice, and speak to her priorities in tending both the flame and flame-keepers. We will have the opportunity to sing two Brigidine chants together, and there will be a chance for participants to express their intentions and uncertainties around flame-tending and starting a flame-tending group.
Mael Brigde's Bio: 
Mael Brigde is the founder of the Daughters of the Flame, a Brigidine flame-tending group which lit its first candle on Imbolc, 1993. She has since then only grown in her devotion to and appreciation of Brigit, and in her devotion to the women and men who follow Brigit. Mael Brigde began writing poems and prayers to Brigit very early on and has collected many of these in her upcoming book, Sun Among Stars: Poems & Prayers to Brigit of Ireland. She began publishing a general interest Brigit blog in 2004 (Brigit’s Sparkling Flame), and a Brigit poetry blog in 2015 (Stone on the Belly). She launched a major review of Brigit-related books in 2010 (“A Long Sip at the Well”), and in 2015 wrote “The Mythical Pairing of Brig and Bres: Its Origins and Meaning in Cath Maige Tuired (Revised)”. Both of these papers are available for free download through Brigit’s Sparkling Flame or Academia.edu. Mael Brigde lives in Vancouver, Canada.
You can find Mael Bridge at:
Here on Facebook: Mael Brigde

Images:
Carol Burnett By NBC photo by Elmer Holloway-stamp is faint. (eBay item photo front photo back) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Oak Leaf by Pria Graves
Daughters of the Flame: Keeping the perpetual flame for the Goddess Brigit
OBSIDIANMAGAZINE.COM

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