Introduction
I am delighted by the breadth, depth, and beauty of this deck.
As always, there are things I quibble with, and I'll mention one or two below. But in general I find much more to like in Brigid - Celtic Goddess and Matron Saint of Ireland than to quarrel with. For instance, it takes in more of Brigit's cult than usual, leaning into aspects of her that we don't normally pay attention to, and so gives us more scope for contemplation. As well, rather than ignoring incontrovertibly Catholic aspects of Brigit and paganising the bits of Saint Brigit that we want to retain, she is allowed to be celebrated equally. (For instance, in the cards which show family members of both the saint and the goddess.)
This is important not because I have a fondness for the saint, personally, although I appreciate it for that reason, too, but because it's a step towards a clearer representation of who Brigit really is. Just as we protest the Christianisation of pagan elements of our stories, we need to acknowledge the modern tendency to paganise Christian elements, and look instead at what her roots truly are.
This clarification of roots isn't completely adhered to in Brigid - CGMSI. There are elements, such as the tradition of tying rags to trees at her holy wells, which come from the saint's cult but which are also, or exclusively, attributed to the goddess. But you'll find similar mixing of attributions in nearly all of the popular material about her – it's natural that traditions will be blended together over time – and there is less of it here than generally. So, for someone like myself who values knowing where ideas come from, and who loves the saint and the goddess equally, this is an enormous plus side to this deck and booklet.
The details
There are 52 cards in the deck. This is not a tarot but an oracle deck. There are no suits, no major and minor Arcana. It is divided into sections of from 3 to 8 cards. These sections cover her symbols, attributes, gifts and legends, and so on.
Karen Ward conceived of the deck and wrote the accompanying 62 page booklet. Each card has a number, a name, and an associated aspect. For instance, card number one is "Noble Name – Divinity" and the image is of a woman with various versions of the name Brigit superimposed on her.
There is one page for each card. The top, with the name and image, contains messages for the reader: "Find out what your name means. Your leadership skills need to be nurtured. You have the gift of 'common touch' with the ability to relate to many. Begin your sacred work now." Below this is a discussion of the concept, in this case Brigit's name. It culminates in a question: "What does your name mean, who gave it to you and why? May Brigid inspire you to embrace your name with new insights and delight. There is power and a divinity there to be discovered." You can see that there are a variety of perspectives offered for each concept and you are free to choose what speaks to you, comfortably or uncomfortably, within those offerings. I have found some of the cards I've drawn to be particularly thought-provoking on subjects that I am grappling with in my own life.
The artwork by Bernie Sexton is sublime. The images alone invite contemplation and can take the reader to some very interesting places. Several strike me as being particularly beautiful and one such,"The Element of Water" (card 11), makes me wish I could talk with the artist about her inspiration for the image. Others are straightforward, such as a raised fist in a circle of Irish knot-work, against the background of a golden sun, found on number 13, "Activist." I love that such a card exists, along with Peacemaker and Earth Keeper, Powerful Vocation, Charitable Deeds, and Sunbeam Miracle… cards that take us to places so critical in these times and help us to reflect on how each topic is relevant in our own lives.
Although there is a suggested layout for readings, I've simply been pulling individual cards and sitting with their image and message for days or, in the case of the first one I pulled, shortly after my mother died, months. (That card was number 33 – "Keening.") I have found this a rich path into meditation.
Do I agree with every interpretation or representation of Brigit in the booklet? No. For instance, the assertion that "Goddess Brigid's Fire Temple, Kildare was incorporated into Saint Brigid's monastery" (number 23, "Fire Temple"), and the underlying assumption that Saint Brigit herself was originally a druid, is well enough rebutted in the academic literature to be left out or at least couched as a hypothesis. And there is the occasional tendency to do what I myself did in places in my own book about Brigit, and mix the two strands, goddess and saint, as if they were the same story. This leads to such things as attributing the role the saint plays in protecting children – but not the goddess, in any of the lore available to us – to "her perceived inability to save her own (the goddess's) son" (pg. 43).
But the reality is, I'm not going to agree with everything in any book about Brigit, and some things, like the story of the goddess having a perpetual flame and the saint having been druid, are almost universally embraced by popular writers; there is no getting away from them. It's up to us as readers to learn as much as we can about where our information comes from [1] and to keep an open mind about everything we read. What I have to do as a reviewer is to step back and ask, "Is this a book I would give to a friend who wants to grow closer to, or know more about, Brigit? Does it have substantial value?" And in this case the answer is unquestionably, "Yes.”
Note [1]: Morgan Daimler's book, Pagan Portals – Brigid, is an excellent jumping off point for learning where our ideas about Brigit arise from; Christina Harrington's book, Women in a Celtic Church – Ireland 450 - 1150, gives an in-depth explanation of the origins of the goddess fire-temple story and the dearth of material supporting it.
Images: A selection of cards and the booklet from this deck. Photo by Mael Brigde.
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