Brigit in Winter

 

Ashli of Clann Bhríde asked this question on Facebook, and it got me thinking:

"How do you like to incorporate Brighid into the winter season?"

My reply to her:

Hmmm. I don’t really change the things I do, but I am aware of the season on a deep level, a time of retreat and reflection, or at least the strong desire for them! As so much of the earth quietens to live through this time in semi-suspension, there is room to reflect on the essence of dark and silence. Brigit is in there, dark and quiet, yet there behind the prayer, moving in the flame, bringing warmth to the chilling of my body and my heart. As we move closer to Imbolc I watch for her movement beneath the ice, for her fingers to stir the frozen waters and begin the slow walk toward spring, light, summer, and busy, busy growth. I like her at this time of year, poised in her threshold stance above two seasons, two ways of being in the world.

Image: of ice on blackberry bush, with a few red and green, frozen leaves. By Mael Brigde.

Ten Titles (and Thirteen Books) for Brigit

I am revising my online course, Discovering Brigit, and wanted to update the brief book list included there. These books are the ones I would point people to first, for a variety of reasons. Recall that I have a slew of unread and therefore unreviewed Brigit books, which I hope to get to over the next year and a bit. But for now, I’d like to share this with you.

Only one, Ó Duinn’s Rites of Brigid, is out of print, but you should be able to get that on interlibrary loan.

Top Ten Books for Starting Out with Brigit (Also Awesome for Oldtimers)

Bitel, Lisa M. Landscape with Two Saints: How Genovefa of Paris and Brigit of Kildare Built Christianity in Barbarian Europe (2009). (Nonfiction.)

Brigde, Mael. A Brigit of Ireland Devotional - Sun Among Stars (2021). (Poetry and essays.)

Clann Bhríde. Book of Hours - For Daily and Seasonal Practice (2013).

Curtayne, Alice. Saint Brigid of Ireland (1954). Reissued (2022). (Nonfiction.) 

Daimler, Morgan. Pagan Portals Brigid: Meeting the Celtic Goddess of Poetry, Forge, and Healing Well(2016). (Nonfiction.)

Freeman, Philip. Two Lives of Saint Brigid (2024).

Minehan, Rita CSB. Rekindling the Flame: a Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of Brigid of Kildare (1999). Revised (2022). (Nonfiction.)

Mole, Chris, et al. Brigantia Vol. 1 (2021) and 2 (2024). (Graphic novels.)

Ó Duinn, Séan OSB. Rites of Brigid - Goddess and Saint (2004). (Nonfiction.) 

Phillips, M.A. Rituals of Rock Bay Series:  (Fiction.)

Book 1: River Magic (2020); Book 2: Hearth Magic (2021);

Book 3: Forest Magic (2021);

Image: "book lot on table" by Tom Hermans on Unsplash.

The Three Lesser Known Brigs of Irish Lore

"The Three Brigits of the Ulster Cycle & the Forgotten Origins of Neopagan Theology" is a lovely article by Christopher Scott Thompson. If you have heard references to Brig Ambue, Brig Briugu, etc., but not gotten much more of their stories, this is a good place to get the skinny, with some Celtic Twilight extras that link to that old NeoPagan trope, Maiden, Mother, and Crone.

Christopher pulls the material together nicely. Be sure to read the comments below for a little extra clarification.

Here is a teaser from the article:

"Brig Ambue was the wife of Celtchar MacUthechair of the Ulster Cycle, but she was sometimes referred to as Brig Brethach or “Brigit of the Judgments,” supposedly because she gave a famous legal judgment in correction of her father Sencha mac Ailella, poet and judge to Conchobar MacNessa. The name Sencha is very similar tosenchas, a word that means lore or tradition. This is especially significant because the references to Brig Ambue come from the Senchas Mor or “Great Tradition,” a medieval collection of Brehon law.

Brig Brethach was her mother, the wife of the same famous judge and poet.

Sencha’s mother was Brig Briugu or “Brigit of Hospitality,” but the glosses to a story called Din Techtugud identify this Brig as the Brig Brethach who corrected Sencha’s false judgment.[4]   

Three Brigits: the mother, wife and daughter of a famous poet whose name actually means Lore or Tradition, and who are known mostly from a book called the Great Tradition.

We are not dealing with scattered references to women named Brigit, but with a second trinity of Three Brigits. Unlike the more well-known trinity of three sisters from the Mythological Cycle, these three are from the Ulster Cycle. As such, they are described as being human women- but their connection to the goddess is now unmistakable, and they are probably best described as avatars."

Christopher Scott Thompson is a member of Clann Bhride and writes "The Loop of Brighid" column for Patheos.