New: Imbolc Ritual and Practice by Orlagh Costello

 

Imbolc (Imbolg) Ritual & Practice The Fire Festivals Ritual Series by Orlagh Costello at the Irish Pagan School

From the Irish Pagan School page for this class and ritual: 

"Class Series providing practical rituals for all seasons, as we work through the Fire Festivals Cycle in the Irish Tradition:

"Have you ever wanted to do a ritual to authentically celebrate the Irish Fire Festivals (Samhain, Imbolg, Bealtaine, or Lúnasa)... but weren't sure what to do or where to start? 

"Each session in this series will cover the basic associations and practices for each festival to give you a good grounding with regard to the ancient Imbolc (Imbolg) traditions in Ireland. Then you'll move into the main event - a ritual attuned to those associations, including guided meditation and original Irish language prayers.

"This ritual can be personalised afterwards for your own use, but will give you a solid framework right now, which you can develop further as your personal practice grows."

Click here to learn more and to sign up.

Image: Candle and sheaf of oats from IPS site.

LAST DAY to sign up! Orlagh Costello's Five-Week Brigit Class

Wow! There is so much amazing Brigit related stuff that I am actually holding back on some posts because I think I've been posting too much! Gone are the days when I had to comb the internet to find something related to her that was worth passing on to you folk.

This one is too good to pass by, and I only wish I hadn't been so absorbed in other things that I didn't think to post it sooner.

This is the LAST DAY to sign up for Orlagh Costello's five-week Brigit class: Brigid in Ireland
through Lora O'Brien's Irish Pagan School.

It will be good.

Brigit Classes with Mael Brigde

It is nearly Imbolc, and it is a time each year when I have been busy doing Brigit work for a couple of months. Readying the newsletter for the Daughters of the Flame 🔥 is a big part of that, and working with my flame sister, Nichole, to find out who is keeping her shift for another year and who is not. Assigning shifts to new members. And making contact with all manner of individuals on their journey with Brigit.

Some of the most rewarding of those contacts are with the folk who take my Brigit classes. There are many opportunities to reflect and build on our concept of and relationship to her in the classes, and I am moved by the depth of the reflections each student offers.

As the evenings draw nearer to Imbolc, many of us wish to deepen our connection with her. If you would benefit from some quiet contemplation of Brigit over the next days or weeks, my three Brigit courses may provide a safe place for you to do so.

The first two, Discovering Brigit and Stepping Into Brigit, focus on our ways of seeing and understanding her and exploring our connection with her. The third, an intensive and much longer course, immersed us in the reading and writing of poetry, under the mantle of Brigit, with an exploration of the poet in Ireland.

If you want to learn more about the classes, you may find them here. If you would like to learn more about me, go here. If you do take Discovering Brigit, remember that there is a coupon at the end for a substantial discount on the following class, Stepping Into Brigit.

May your Imbolc be a blessing, and may your gradually manifesting spring be a season of growth and insight.

Sweet blessings,

Mael Brigde

Online Brighid Course with Orlagh Costello

Irish Pagan School

 21 April 2019 

 

Introduction to the Goddess Brighid

€40  / $45  US

Online Course on the beliefs, Irish mythology, folklore and magic of the Irish Goddess Brighid and Saint Brigid - with native devotee and Pagan Catholic Practioner, Orlagh Costello.

Talking about her devotions to Brighid, Orlagh says:

"As a solitary practitioner and a lot of what I do has developed over time rather than being told to me or taken from a ritual book etc. I don’t tend to take part in group rituals or do things in public, my practice is centred around my home, my work, my own head rather than anything else. A lot of it might appear to be things that I do anyway, but it’s not. It’s very different to me to be cleaning the house and cleaning the house in preparation for a visit from herself. The intent is different. The attention to detail is different. The feel of the room afterwards is very different."

Learn the history and heritage of this fascinating Irish Goddess and Saint, from the perspective of someone who has grown up immersed in the vibrant culture of knowing and honouring her, and developed that into a personal practice firmly grounded in the authentic Irish traditions.

Your Course access enrollment includes:
-- Class Presentation Slides
-- Class Video
-- Class Audio
-- Class Chat Log/Resources

- Course Photo - Brigid's Crosses in Kildare Town, Courtesy of Alanna Butler Gallagher

Get It HERE: http://ed.gr/bdmon

Orlagh currently describes herself as a Pagan Catholic. Her main relationship in the Irish Pantheon is with Brighid, in whatever form She chooses to present Herself. Orlagh runs a group on Facebook dedicated to Brighid - called Brigid's Forge at https://www.facebook.com/groups/318562765289760/ and women's circles in the Clonmel Red Tent. She is a moon mother with www.wombblessing.com and practices reiki & reflexology for fun. By day, she masquerades as an engineer.

Journey with Brigit, Goddess of Poetry: An Online Course with Mael Brigde

It's open!
After a change of hosts, registration for my course, Journey with Brigit, Goddess of Poetry, is open at last! This is an intensive course that both nourishes the writing (and reading) of poetry and connects the participant to the poet in Ireland, and poetry in our lives.
The classes come out one a day, and you are welcome to move as quickly or slowly as you like through each lesson.
I look forward to connecting with some of you in this forum.
Blessings on your pen!
Mael Brigde

Our Lady of Multiple Personalities

A couple of comments made by participants in one of my Brigit courses triggered a new understanding of how Brigit can help us today.

Many survivors of trauma, particularly childhood trauma, have learned to cope with their mental and emotional injuries by dissociating, by disappearing from a particular emotion, moment, memory as best they can. Sometimes this manifests as more than one personality to deal with the varied pressures of life.

One of the conundrums that faces many Brigidines is the question of who exactly is Brigit. Is she a goddess who became a saint? A saint reinterpretted as a goddess? A single goddess with three aspects (of smith, healer, and poet), or three goddesses, three sisters overseeing each of these arts, as the 9th century text Sanas Cormaic tells us?

Instead of this being a problem which must be solved or lived with in some way, this can be a beacon to those of us who struggle with past traumas in ways that invite us to split off from ourselves. For it is clear today that this powerful saint and these powerful goddesses, though unique and very different from one another, reside together in a single phenomenon that bestows much good on our world.

So to Brigit, Our Lady of Multiple Personalities, I give thanks and praise. To each Brigit, solid and real in herself, I give praise and thanks.

Blessings.
Mael Brigde



Notes:

eMentalHealth.ca has a useful page on dissociation, it's symptoms and treatments.

from the site of International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation:

What is dissociation?

Dissociation is a word that is used to describe the disconnection or lack of connection between things usually associated with each other. Dissociated experiences are not integrated into the usual sense of self, resulting in discontinuities in conscious awareness (Anderson & Alexander, 1996; Frey, 2001; International Society for the Study of Dissociation, 2002; Maldonado, Butler, & Spiegel, 2002; Pascuzzi & Weber, 1997; Rauschenberger & Lynn, 1995; Simeon et al., 2001; Spiegel & Cardeña, 1991; Steinberg et al., 1990, 1993). In severe forms of dissociation, disconnection occurs in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception. For example, someone may think about an event that was tremendously upsetting yet have no feelings about it. Clinically, this is termed emotional numbing, one of the hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder. Dissociation is a psychological process commonly found in persons seeking mental health treatment (Maldonado et al., 2002).

Dissociation may affect a person subjectively in the form of “made” thoughts, feelings, and actions. These are thoughts or emotions seemingly coming out of nowhere, or finding oneself carrying out an action as if it were controlled by a force other than oneself (Dell, 2001). Typically, a person feels “taken over” by an emotion that does not seem to makes sense at the time. Feeling suddenly, unbearably sad, without an apparent reason, and then having the sadness leave in much the same manner as it came, is an example. Or someone may find himself or herself doing something that they would not normally do but unable to stop themselves, almost as if they are being compelled to do it. This is sometimes described as the experience of being a “passenger” in one’s body, rather than the driver.

There are five main ways in which the dissociation of psychological processes changes the way a person experiences living: depersonalization, derealization, amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration. These are the main areas of investigation in the Structured Clinical Interview for Dissociative Disorders (SCID-D) (Steinberg, 1994a; Steinberg, Rounsaville, & Cicchetti, 1990). A dissociative disorder is suggested by the robust presence of any of the five features.


Image: Triple Goddess by Mael Brigde (1990).

Pause (Brigit, Thanks)

I am loving spending time online answering the comments people are leaving on my Brigit courses.

Every time I am caused to slow down and contemplate her and her connection in our many lives, to reflect on her aspects or stories that have such meaning and provide inspiration and guidance, I feel as though any cliff I may be walking close to seems more like a stunning vista then a threatening brink. Every time I read how she has touched others and what they have done with their insights and inklings, I well up with happiness.

Thank you for your blessings, Brigits, sisters and saint!





Image: St_Birgit_Nieuwegracht_Utrecht (by Brbbl [CC BY-SA 3.0 ]