Brigit's Basket Food Drive & Community Care in the Name of Our Deities

 Thanks to Paulie Rainbow for doing this work, and for sending me the details so I can share them with you:

We are raising $500 for Food Bank of the Rockies in our annual Brigit's Basket Food Drive! Every $1 provides 4 meals for our neighbors. This year the need is so much greater and we are so happy to be a part of the solution to hunger for so many. Please donate, and share this link forward to help us help each other. Spiritways Metaphysical is again helping us out by collecting canned and dried foods at the shop, and, during their festival weekend Feb 13 & 14, they will donate 5% of their profits to our drive!

Note: They have reached their goal of $500, but donations are still open and more would definitely help.

I love it when our community pulls together in honour of our deities and works to better the lives of those around us, whether they be human or nonhuman. Many of us do this work every day, invisibly, and for that I have great gratitude. Now and then I also see collective efforts like this bearing the name of a deity. Why is this so important to me?

I think it is partly because it acknowledges to the world that our faiths are not simply about ourselves; it shows how deeply we as Neo-Pagans care about each other. But it is also because of the reinforcement and purification of intent that working in the name of my deity gives to my efforts.

When I act as a devotee of Brigit I am mindful of what in her I want to represent and manifest not only in my actions, but in the way that I execute them, the way I treat myself and the others around me, in my thoughts and emotions, as well as in my deeds. I know how this narrowing of focus has assisted me in growing past some of my less helpful habits of mind.

That's me. However we approach it, I can't help thinking that remembering our deities in our community work has got to have a positive effect.

Image: Care of Brigit's Basket Food Drive.

Brigantia #2: Funding Unsuccessful

Funding Unsuccessful Posted by Chris Mole (Creator) Hey everybody, As you'll probably have seen, we've unfortunately failed to reach our funding target before the end of the campaign, which means that none of your pledges will be collected. We're going to take some time over Christmas to go back to the drawing board and figure out what to do going forward - we still want to tell Brigantia's story, so we'll try and come up with a way of making that happen. As soon as we've got a plan, we'll let you know! We're obviously disappointed that we couldn't reach the goal, but it's hard to be too upset - we've been bowled over by all of your support for the campaign and all the nice things you've been posting about the story and artwork. Thank you all again for your time and support - we'll be in touch! Chris & Mel

Fund-Raiser for Brigit Music Research by Amy Panetta

Music Dedicated to Brigid, Ireland's Patroness

 

Amy Panetta, Organizer

Back in 2006, I was completely inspired by the story of Brigid, who is a pre-Christian goddess and saint, and a remarkable figure important to Irish culture and Celtic heritage.  I was going through a time in my life when it seemed that Brigid revealed herself to me through a very interesting series of synchronicities.  I was so taken by her that I read as much as I could about her, and ended up going to Ireland in 2008 for my own pilgrimage.  I was still enraptured by her story long after I returned to the US.  Brigid and the beautiful emerald Isle of Ireland was calling to me, so much so that I took a year-long break from teaching music to study ethnomusicology at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick in Ireland.  My masters thesis was entitled: The Feminine Face of God: Spiritual Vocal Music Dedicated to the Pre-Christian Celtic Goddess and Irish Saint, which discussed the phenomenon since the early 1990s, of songs being written dedicated to Brigid.  I was able to go to her week-long festival around her feast day on February 1st 2010 called the Féile Bríde, to participate and sing songs in the candlelit ritual on Brigid's Eve and attend all of the events dedicated to her that week, including lectures, concerts, and a peace and justice conference.  Since graduating with my masters degree, I have been giving classes to a variety of different types of groups, such as adults, fellow faculty members, and students, about who Brigid is and the songs written about her.  I continue to do academic research and have submitted proposals to speak at conferences.     

I am running this indiegogo campaign, starting on All Souls' Day, November 1, 2016 and ending on Winter Solstice, December 21, 2016, because I intend to raise funds for a research trip to Ireland for the 2017 Féile Bríde festival in Kildare, Ireland.  

By going to this festival, it will help me to continue to do research about songwriters and the songs they write about Brigid.  In addition, this trip will help me to continue to share the beautiful story of Brigid as pre-Christian Goddess and Saint that has already touched the lives, captured the imagination of so many people, and is so important to Irish and Celtic culture and heritage.   

How will my trip benefit others?

• I will provide information through articles I publish to my own research blog that can be accessible by all people with internet access, as well as in future academic journal articles.  
• The information gained will be used in the classes and professional lectures that I give about Brigid.
• This trip will help inspire me to compose my own songs dedicated to Brigid in a songbook that will be due out by February 1st, 2018!  I want to provide others with songs dedicated to Brigid to provide music for individuals and groups to use in their own spiritual practices. 
• ​Some proceeds from this campaign will be given directly to the Brigidine order of sisters in Kildare to continue to support the hermitage that they just built and finished, as well as their great work of hosting pilgrimages, events, and promoting peace, justice, generosity, and compassion, as well as Irish and Celtic heritage.  

 I thank you so much for your help in this project!  It is my dear intention that this project will inspire a new connection for both you and I!  I am excited to announce that there are several donation levels and rewards that are currently offered that will provide something of value to you, such as classes, academic lectures, and other things!  Check back often to see new rewards offered.  If you are interested in a class, they can be arranged for February or another month that works for both of our schedules.  

Please visit http://worldspiritmusic.wordpress.com for more information.

Click here to get to Amy's fundraising page.

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