Ghee Lamps for Brigit!

Brass Ghee Lamps
photo by Dushiayanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

This idea comes courtesy of Ogam Bear (of Brigid's Irregulars, a Celtic Reconstructionist Flame-keeping Group found on LiveJournal). Though not traditional, it is a neat idea for devotional flame-tending.

Mael Brigde: I suspect you have discussed this before and I have missed it, Ogie, but I am very interested in hearing more about this. When did you start using butter? How long does a pound of butter burn for, once clarified? What do you strain it with--regular cheesecloth? Very cool idea. Was it your own?

Ogie: On a trip up to Seattle (I believe it was before the trip that I got to meet you), I went with erynn999 to Traveller's for tea. I saw the brass Indian ghee lamps there, and realized they could reasonably be used for Flame-Tending. Unlike the Greeks' and Romans' olive oil, butter was an established part of the Bronze Age Irish diet. While they never actually melted butter down for lamp fuel like the Indians did, they at least had the means to have done so. Using a butterfat lamp ritually, one can have an active devotional practice of actual Flame-Tending (e.g. minding, refueling, trimming the wick). Thus, I decided to buy a small brass ghee lamp and a package of wicks to try it.

Clarifying butter—separating the butterfat from the milk solids and driving off the water—isn't difficult, just time-consuming, and using a slow cooker overnight makes the process very easy.

During a Flame-Tending shift, offer a pound of butter to Brigid specifically for use in a lamp. About an hour or so before bed, put the butter in a slow-cooker (mine is a small 1½-qt one) set on high with the lid on to melt it down. You'll never need to stir. As soon as the butter is melted and boiling, turn the temperature down to low so the milk solids are less likely to burn (ruining it), and remove the lid so the water can evaporate. The next morning, skim the foam off the top, discarding it. With a paper coffee filter in a cone holder set on top of a jar, carefully ladle the hot, clear butterfat into the filter avoiding the milk solids on the bottom. Discard the milk solids. You can store the butterfat unrefrigerated for months.

How much butterfat per pound of butter? I have not measured, but will do so the next time I make it. Irish Kerrygold and Plugra butters have higher fat & lower water contents than most brands and yield more butterfat. A pound of butter gives me enough butterfat for at least three Flame-Tending shifts. Note that butterfat from salted butter will burn with a yellower flame because of the higher sodium content.

Brigid's Irregulars: A Celtic Reconstructionist Brigidine Order

Community Profile

This community is dedicated to the development and practice of a Celtic Reconstructionist order dedicated to honoring Brigid through flametending and other activities. We honor the decision of the nuns of Kildare to open access to Brigid's flame to all regardless of gender or religious faith. We strongly recommend members of Brigid's Irregulars be Celtic Reconstructionist if not actively sympathetic, as this is a CR order. In the spirit of the nuns' decision, however, we do not limit membership to Celtic Reconstructionists.

Multiple approaches to devotion to Brigid are an interest of several members of this order. We welcome diversity in rituals devoted to Brigid, as we believe Her multiple attributes encourage if not actively invite multiple ways of praising Her. We are currently focused on flametending as the base due to its long-established existence as a means of honoring Her, but there is a strong desire to expand. Those who wish to discuss other approaches but do not wish to tend a flame are welcome and encouraged to join the group.

Posts are friends-locked by default to provide a safer space for members to share their experiences. Membership is monitored to guard against trolls. (Editorial Intrusion: You must have a LiveJournal account and become a "friend" of this community, in that way obtaining permission to join. Members who seek to disrupt the group with provoking and unfair comments will be removed from membership. --Mael Brigde)

Our first flametending cell is completely filled. A second one can be started in the event more apply to do so. As a part of our practice, we ask that flametenders use the liturgy of the order as the basis of their shift's work. Other liturgical material, meditations or magical work may be added to it as desired by any individual, but the liturgy is intended to provide a connecting thread of poetry that unites all the flametenders of the order.

If you are interested in joining Brigid's Irregulars, contact blackfyr@livejournal.com or lysana@livejournal.com for more information.

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