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.

brig_irreg

Daughters of Daghda, a Brigidine Celtic Reconstructionist Site

excerpted from the site:

Céad Mile Faílte! One hundred thousand welcomes to my site in honor of the Goddess Brighid! I am a Celtic Reconstructionist Pagan of Irish heritage, which dates back to 1706 in the New World, and that of Eastern Band Mississippi Choctaw. Here I have tried to provide interesting and informative links to sites about Brighid. There are also pages about my devotions and spirituality to Her as a CRP and pictures of my seasonal altars dedicated to Her for offerings and meditation. Of course, my kitties have their own cozy corner as they deserve a special space for themselves. My intense political life demands its own voice on the site as it is also an integral part of my love for and having been claimed by Herself.

... I began wanting an Order of Flamekeepers where the women to whom I passed Her Flame were on the same CR path as myself. We have begun this project in our CR community under the inspiration of Kathryn Price NicDhana who is sworn to Brighid and a Flametender for many years. If you are a woman who is practicing the CR spirituality or very much interested in doing so and have special devotion to Brighid, please follow this link to our LiveJournal community of Brighidwomen. The Order is in its early formation and will be a collective effort in its foundation stages:
http://community.livejournal.com/brighidwomen/profile

Beannachdan!

S. Breen

Brigid's Cloaks

Below find info on Sara Jane Kingston's Brigid's Cloaks and other items related to the cloaks, including art, communities, a children's book... She also has a Brigit meditation CD available: http://www.brigidscloak.com/meditations.html

Sara Jane Kingston began making Brigid's Cloaks for sale last year after discovering their value as spiritual tools. You can make your own or order one from her, or from the Catholic Brigidine sisters at Solas Bhride in Kildare, Ireland.

A snippet of her story:

Brigid's CloakTraditionally, the brat bhríde, or Brigid's Cloak, was laid outside before sunset on the eve of Brigid's feastday, 1st February, and brought back in before sunrise.

Blessed by Brigid, ancient Spring goddess and saint, the dew which fell that night imbued the cloth with powers of healing and protection which lasted throughout the year.

Brigid's Cross, now usually associated with the 5th-century Christian saint, was made annually from straw or rushes and hung above the door. In pre-Christian times, it was probably a sun symbol and celebrated the power of the goddess to bring back the light at the Celtic feast of Imbolc. It holds the promise of fertility and abundance...

...As a child I had loved the story of how, when St. Brigid went to the King of Leinster looking for some land on which to build a church, he had tried to put her off by saying that he would give her as much land as her cloak would cover. Not to be daunted, Brigid asked four of her nuns to each take a corner of her cloak and as they began to walk, the cloak began to stretch in size until it was large enough to cover a substantial piece of land. The King, true to his promise gave her the land and she built her first church there. This seemingly miraculous power over land of the 5th-century Christian saint in this story holds the resonance of the more ancient Brigid, the great Celtic Land Goddess.

As I work in healing through the energy field, I used the symbol of Brigid's Cloak as a starting point to allow people to connect into seeing their own "energy cloaks" or auras by imagining that they were wearing a cloak and seeing what it was like. Was it old and frayed, heavy or light? What material was it made of - what sort of texture, or textures? And the colours - were they bright or dark or a mixture?

Go to Sara Jane's site at http://www.brigidscloak.com/ for more of her story. If you would prefer to make your own Brat Bhride, go wild--the possibilities are endless! Don't forget their use as healing tools. A cloak may be cut into smaller pieces and distributed to those in need of blessings once it has been used in ritual. Or the entire cloth laid over a sick person to aid in her recovery.

Many other sites refer to Brigid's Cloak.

• for a simply beautiful painting of Brigid's Cloak as the land of Eire, go to Barrie MacGuire's listing at http://www.maguiregallery.com/barrie/brigidscloak.htm. Barrie is also a quilter, and has included a video of his paintings of quilted Ireland. Go to his homepage to view it. http://www.maguiregallery.com/barrie/barrie.htm
• "St. Brigid's Cloak" a prayer circle for Christian women flame-keepers, dedicated to keeping the fire of St. Brigid of Ireland burning bright in the world today. Local members in Las Vegas, Nevada have an annual St. Brigid's Food Drive for the Poor in November and December.
• "Brigid's Cloak", a children's book by Bryce Milligan, published by WhipperSnapper Books.
• The Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, Inc says of St. Brigid's Mantle: "In very traditional homes, two devout practices are still observed on the Eve of St. Brigid's Feast Day (February 1st). A strip of cloth called "brat Bhride" (Brigid's mantle) is hung outside the door. A loaf of oat bread baked in the shape of a cross and a sheaf of straw are left on the windowsill. For on that night, Brigid travels through the land with her red-eared cow bestowing blessings on those who keep the old ways."
• Sr. Mary Minehan of Solas Bhride says, "I also remember my mother having an ulcer on her leg. A customer told her to leave out a piece of cloth on the eve of Brigid’s feast. There was a belief that St. Brigid left her curative powers on the cloth on the eve of the feast day. I can’t remember if it cured mam’s sore leg but I remember the faith and belief she had in Brigid. I have learnt since that the cloth is called the Brat Bríde. The custom is being revived in Kildare, so my earliest memories are of Brigid the protector, Brigid the healer."
  

Sweet Blessings on you all this Beautiful Bealtaine!

Two Hundred Years of Rekindled Flame!

This Imbolc marks the second centenary of the rekindled Brigidine order of nuns--the Congregation of Saint Brigid.








The Oak planted by Bishop Delany

Celebrating Heritage and Horizon Brigidine Bicentenary1807—2007

On February 1st 1807 Daniel Delany, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, gathered six women catechists in Tullow, Co. Carlow and established the
Congregation of St. Brigid.

They were Eleanor Tallon, Margaret Kinsella, Eleanor Dawson, Judith Whelan, Bridget Brien and Catherine Doyle. The Brigidine Annals record that he was not founding a new Congregation but rather refounding the Sisters of St. Brigid.

To show continuity between the old and the new, Bishop Delany brought an oak sapling from Kildare and planted it in the convent grounds in Tullow.

“From every seed sown and cultivated by love we shall be sure to reap a harvest”, was one of his sayings to the early sisters.

In 2007 the Brigidine Sisters and the wider Brigidine Family throughout the world will celebrate the harvest, plant seeds for a new horizon and continue to further compassion and justice for humanity and the earth.

from the Solas Bhride site

"My Tribe" Brigit Communities...

In addition to LiveJournal Brigit communities, there are "My Tribe" communities as well. (In both cases these communities or their members are often connected to the Daughters of the Flame, Ord Brighideach, the Ladies of the Flame and doubtless others I have never heard of.)

The Brighid's Hearth,
Brigid's Hearth
Brigidh, Our Lady of Fire


& many related groups! A Brigit-lover could spend all day just noodling on the net. (Not recommended at the expense of all else. But what the heck...)

Live Journal Brigit Community

Look on LiveJournal and you will find a LOT of talk about Brigit. Or at least, a lot of Brigidines talking!

Check this:

The following communities are interested in "Brigit".

brig_irreg - Brigid's Irregulars
brighiddevoted - Devoted to Brighid
brighidwomen - Daughters of Brighid - Flametenders
brigidshearth - A Celebration of Brigid
brigidswell - Brigid's Well: Exploring the Celtic Mysteries
flame_keepers - Brighid Flame Keepers

and many related communities.

Solas Bhride Pilgrimage

Solas Bhride is a small Christian community in Kildare, Ireland which is devoted to Celtic Christianity as exemplified by Saint Brigit of Ireland. The Catholic Sisters who live there are part of the Brigidine community, and a renewal of a long tradition of tending Brigit's flame.

Many places of contemplation and prayer bear Saint Brigit's name in Kildare and the surrounding countryside. The foundations of her ancient fire temple have been restored, the mother church of the Church of Ireland bears her name, wells and statues do as well.

If you cannot go to Ireland to visit Brigit's Kildare, go on a virtual pilgrimage online at the Solas Bhride site.

Daughters of the Flame

Brigit's Sparkling Flame is maintained by the Daughters of the Flame, a group of women who tend Brigit's Flame every day of the year.

From our introduction:

On Imbolc, 1993, the Daughters of the Flame lit a fire in honour of the Goddess Brigit and the saint Bridget, modelled after the perpetual fire which once burned in Kildare. We share the task of tending the flame, on a twenty day rotation; each woman tends the fire in her own way, so that it is a solitary devotion linked to the devotions of a larger group. On the twentieth day the Goddess Herself keeps the flame alive. Instead of burning in one grove, temple, or monastery, it burns on personal altars, desks, and picnic tables in countries east and west, south and north.

The reasons for rekindling are many. It is a celebration in our own lives of Her triple aspects of poet, healer, and smith. It is one effort to address the need for a global network of magical prayer, with special emphasis on some of the traditional concerns of Brigit. These include peace and reconciliation, sharing of wealth so that all will flourish rather than protecting wealth for a few, guarding the land and the creatures which nourishes us and share our lives, being tender with and caring for ourselves and each other. It touches on the need of individual women for a focus and a community through which to develop our personal spiritual practice, to reduce isolation and aid in developing our thought and learning while maintaining the autonomy of working as a solitary, if that is what we prefer or how we find ourselves due to life circumstances. It is, however, very much a self-motivated discipline, both in terms of tending the flame and in connecting with others in the group.

Although members have primarily been neo-pagans, Daughters of the Flame is open to any woman who is called to light her flame.

The Daughters of the Flame are happy to be tending Brigit's Flame alongside the hundreds of others who do so, including the Catholic order of Brigidine Sisters, and Ord Brighideach, which is open to both women and men. If others wish to start their own groups the Daughters of the Flame would be happy to assist with advice and moral support.

Ord Brighideach--The Order of Brigid

this group was started by a member of the Daughters of the Flame who wanted to make service to Brigid available on a large scale to women as well as men, strictly through the internet. they have been going for several years now, and must have hundreds of flame-keepers. have a look at their extensive website at:

http://www.ordbrighideach.org/

Brigit of Song & Laughter

The Order of St. Brigit of Celts:
Scottish Nobility Re-Enactors Guilde & The Merrie Wreath Consort Renaissance Minstrels
i wouldn't assume that the information about St. Brigit is especially, er, proveable, but what a wonderful bunch of lively friends of Brigit! lovely garments and banners and music and loyalty to Mary Queen of Scots--who could ask for anything more? have a look at their photos and if you are in their neighbourhood...raise the haggis, i guess!

http://www.stbrigit.com/Brigit01.html

Tending Her Flame

sketch by Daughter of the Flame
Hawthorne, in Australia

to our knowledge there are three groups actively tending Brigit's perpetual flame at present, after a hiatus of a few hundred years. the flame of the Goddess had burned for no one-knows-how-long in Cill Dara--Kildare, Ireland--the Cell of the Oak. as Christianity took root the Goddess was replaced by the Saint, Her flame tended instead by nuns, who kept it for hundreds of years.

in 1993, on the same day--Brigit's Feast of 1 February--a group of Catholic Brigidine nuns and a largely Pagan group of women, unaware of the others' activities, relit Her perpetual flame in Ireland and in Canada. the second group, the Daughters of the Flame, live in many areas of the globe and take turns tending the flame every 20 days. the Catholic sisters have groups in several countries besides Ireland, as well.

some years later, a member of the Daughters of the Flame created Ord Brighideach, a solely online group that would make shifts available to women and men and in great numbers.

if you know of other groups who tend Brigit's perpetual flame, we would love to hear of them. please leave a comment at the end of this posting.

the Brigidine sisters in Ireland don't have a website, but can be contacted at this address:

SolasBhríde,
14 Dara Park,
Kildare, Ireland

you may wish to join their lay group or come on Imbolc for the great festival of Brighid each February. their sisters in Australia can be found at:
http://www.brigidine.org.au/

the Daughters of the Flame can be found at:
http://www.obsidianmagazine.com/DaughtersoftheFlame/

and Ord Brighideach's site is:
http://www.ordbrighideach.org/

Catholic Brigidine Sisters in Australia

The Brigidines of Australia
from their site at: http://www.brigidine.org.au/#

Reading and responding to the signs of the times led Daniel Delany, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, to establish the Congregation of the Sisters of St Brigid (Brigidine Sisters) in 1807. In the shadow of the penal days in Ireland the need for education and revitalizing the faith was stark. Six ordinary Irish women came together in Tullow on the first of February to begin this work. The fledgling congregation was placed under the patronage of Our Lady and St. Brigid and Bishop Delany planted a sapling from the oak at Brigid's abbey in Kildare as a sign that the work begun by Brigid had sprouted again. Over almost two hundred years the Brigidine Sisters have continued to read and respond to the signs of the times, branching out to various parts of the world to work in education, ever-widening pastoral ministries and to work for social justice.

Continuing active engagement in the wide-ranging issues of right relationships, equal access to the world's resources and other issues of justice have given rise to the following commitment:

As Brigidines, we stand in reverence
for the community of life
and we will continue to work
to further compassion and justice
for humanity and the earth.