This post gives an overview of my book, with quotes from readers (including Orlagh Costello and Morgan Daimler, who contributed a foreword and afterword), and links to buy it.
My book, A Brigit of Ireland Devotional - Sun Among Stars, became available in late August 2021. (Oh, happy days!)
It is a book of honouring, celebration, and inspiration, It serves as well to inform and challenge, and is well provided with resources for the reader who wants to go further. It is stuffed to the rafters with poems, charms, blessings, and prayers, a daily ritual, essays both on my own shifting understanding of Brigit and on topics of some debate about her and her history, recommended books, courses, and so on.
Something I am very grateful for are the thoughtful foreword by Orlagh Costello of the blog and Facebook group, Brigid's Forge, and the afterword by Morgan Daimler, author Pagan Portals – Brigid Meeting the Celtic Goddess of Poetry, Forge, and Healing Well and A New Dictionary of Fairies: A 21st Century Exploration of Celtic and Related Western European Fairies (etc!).
Orlagh and Morgan are among the smartest folk I know on the topic of Brigit (and much else besides), and I have learned a lot from them. I hold them in great affection and respect.
A couple of brief quotes from them:
"I can’t imagine reading this poetry and remaining untouched. I can’t imagine allowing this book to lie, languishing and ignored, at the back of the shelf. I can’t imagine allowing this book to pass you by."
from the foreword by Orlagh Costello, founder of Brigid's Forge
"Mael Brigde’s Sun Among Stars is an essential weaving together of poetic inspiration, personal experience, and Brigid herself. Having read this book, you [will] have travelled along a pathway with the author, learning about who this enigmatic and powerful goddess is not from cold facts but from the heart of someone who has a strong connection to the source. It is at once contemplative and deeply personal, educational and reflecting the evolution in understanding and belief that we all go through over time. For this alone it is an invaluable addition to the corpus of material on Brigid … Let the goddess or the saint or simply Brigid speak to you through the author’s words as you step into a deeper understanding…"
from the afterword by Morgan Daimler, author of Pagan Portals – Brigid Meeting the Celtic Goddess of Poetry, Forge, and Healing Well
What people are saying about A Brigit of Ireland Devotional – Sun Among Stars
"I have had the honor of speaking alongside her at a number of online conferences dedicated to Brigit. The last presentation of hers that I experienced was an hour-long reading of her poems [from Sun Among Stars], each blending into the next. It was an amazing experience that will always stay with me."
Gemma McGowan, Singer, Priestess of Brigit, Kells, Ireland
"It is a unique challenge to bridge the ancient past with the modern, and the Christian with the Pagan, but Mael Brigde does so with ease and grace. She tells the story of Brigid through remarkable poetry that is as much prayer as it is verse. This gorgeous text could be used as a guidebook for a Brigid devotee through different holidays and times of life. A must have for all lovers of Brigid."
Courtney Weber, author of Brigid: History, Mystery, and Magick of the Celtic Goddess and The Morrigan: Celtic Goddess of Magick and Might
"[Sun Among Stars] reflects the long and deep journey that Mael Bridge has made with Brigit in her many guises … [Her] journey is a deeply embodied one, reflecting insights gleaned during her studies which have become a living part of her. She encourages readers/students to grasp this possibility for themselves as they engage with the material.
"This work offers a portal into the mysteries of Brigit and the possibility of readers grounding her qualities of compassion, courage, love, wisdom and fearlessness in their own unique ways in their current lives.
"Thank you for this important and comprehensive work."
Dolores T. Whelan, author of Ever Ancient, Ever New – Celtic Spirituality in the 21st Century, and co-founder of Brigid's Way Celtic Pilgrimage
"Mael Brigde is a long-time friend and a deeply dedicated devotee of Brigid. Her work with the Daughters of the Flame has been an inspiration to me for decades, and her poetry is clear and powerful. Her writing has consistently been a beacon for me, like the sunlight upon which Brigid hung her cloak. If you love Brigid, whether as Goddess or Saint, Mael Brigde’s poems will have words to deepen and broaden your connection with her."
Erynn Rowan Laurie, author of Fireflies at Absolute Zero (poetry) and Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom
"Mael Brigde has meticulously researched the life, myths and legends of Brigit, Goddess and Saint to create this beautiful heartfelt book of contemplative poetry. The prose in her introduction and conclusion are both eloquent and honest. We, the readers, are gifted myriad ways to rekindle the eternal flame of Brigit in our hearts and homes. Míle buíochas – a thousand thanks."
Dr Karen Ward, Moon Mná Ireland, co-editor of Soul Seers - an Irish Anthology of Celtic Shamanism, and co-founder of Brigid's Way Celtic Pilgrimage
"Poetry is sacred to Brigit, so I can't imagine a more lyrical or lovely way to enter into her heart. Meet these devotions with a contemplative spirit, and allow their wonder and joy to sing to your soul."
Carl McColman, author of An Invitation to Celtic Wisdom, and Christian Mystics
"Sun Among Stars is an expression of one woman’s devotion to a goddess who contains multitudes. Brigit is healer and muse, soul-smith, midwife at the threshold of transformation. In these pages you will find prayers to form a daily liturgy, poetic tales to tell by candlelight, woven words to reach for when the soul falters in its faith. Read them aloud. Let their internal music take you swirling through time to the hearthside of the bards. Mael Brigde is their kith and kin, and her work here is as multitudinous as Brigit herself."
Lunaea Weatherstone, author of Tending Brigid's Flame: Awaken to the Celtic Goddess of Hearth, Temple, and Forge
A Brigit of Ireland Devotional: Sun Among Stars Paperback – by Mael Brigde
Moon Books (Sept. 1 2021)
336 pages
ISBN-10 : 1789046955
ISBN-13 : 978-1789046953
To purchase, please click here.
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