This lovely video of Michael and his grandmother making crosses is only on Facebook, though he has others on youtube.
Making St. Brigid’s Crosses with my 101 year old grandmother in 2013
YouTube videos:
Making St. Brigid's Crosses and Related…
Image: Young white man with old white woman sitting together in front of a fireplace adorned with many items. They are bent of the task of making crosses from green rushes.
Notes: Recorded in Kilcullen Heritage Centre, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare, on Wednesday 16 August, 2023, during National Heritage Week. Posted by County Kildare Federation of Local History Groups. See their website: kildarelocalhistory.ie
Image: Screenshot of opening credits to “The Real Story Brigid.” Portrait of St Brigit in stained glass.
It’s occurred to me that I should put some of my videos onto YouTube as they are disappearing from here. I’ve put up the daily ritual from A Brigit of Ireland Devotional - Sun Among Stars, and now I have uploaded a much longer and more in-depth offering, Brigit as a Constant Companion. This was my offering for Land Sea Sky Travel's Brigid - A Friend for Our Times conference in 2020.
Brigit as a Constant Companion is an immersive, guided contemplation of Brigit, an invitation to slow right down and enter into a quiet, meditative awareness of her. In these chaotic times, slowing down with our goddess is both an act of devotion and a healing. It is my hope you will find something here to sustain you. Newcomers to Brigit, those not committed to her, are welcome.
The entire recording is a little shy of eighty minutes, so you will want a comfortable place to sit or lie down, perhaps a blanket, and water to drink. You won't require any props, but may wish to bring two objects or images, one that reminds you of yourself and the other of Brigit. These may act as anchors for you, but aren't necessary.
OOPS ALERT: The contemplation begins with a body scan and silent meditation. For a brief period afterward I talked away with my mic off, until Vyviane suggested I turn it back on. She chose a good moment, and the contemplation proper is not interrupted.
PS - If you, like I, go squirrelly watching YouTube because of all the ads, try watching through a DuckDuckGo browser. You won’t see a single one. It doesn’t work for all. Some YouTube can’t be watched outside of its site. But it works most of the time.
Image: Three burning candles in water in a dark room. The words: Brigit - as a Constant Companion.
A full length video on Brigid, Goddess and Saint and her birthplace, Faughart, which is near Dundalk, Co. Louth, Ireland. It was shot at the Imbolc 2022 online event at the Brigid of Faughart Festival.
Video found on Brigid of Faughart Festival site, here.
Video credits: Steve Larkin
Elaine Ní Chiardha of Singing the Land has a beautiful song to Brigit, called "Brigid of the Flame." You can listen to the full version on YouTube or learn the chant derived from it on SoundCloud.
If you would like to learn more about Elaine and "Songs for St. Brigid and St. Patrick," listen to her interview with Amy Panetta on The Celtic Feminine Podcast.
Image: "Tara Hill, Tarahill, County Wexford, Ireland" by James Butterly (@jamesbutterly) on Unsplash.
What a beautiful event that was. I am very happy that I took a leaf from Geraldine Moorkens Byrne's book and turned my launch into a community celebration. I briefly introduced the launch, then read four short poems before sitting back to watch and listen as friends from Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Italy, and the United States read and sang from their hearts to and about Brigit. It was very moving. A joyful and precious time.
The launch was held on Zoom (with ticketing help from the wonderful Ticket Tailor) and livestreamed to Facebook Live. I am happy to say that we can watch it (or rewatch it!) any time on Facebook at Brigit's Portal (my Page) or on YouTube.
Image: Mael Brigde, a white woman in a red dress, wearing black earphones, smiles as she speaks to her computer.
To my surprise and delight, I discovered today that the wonderful Rachel Patterson, Kitchen Witch and fellow Moon Books author, made a teensy video about my book, A Brigit of Ireland Devotional - Sun Among Stars. You can find it here.
When I first contemplated this whole interview idea -- talking off the cuff?! -- I was a little nervous. Well, fairly nervous. Well, freaked.
But it is such fun and so interesting to get to speak with other people about Brigit, people who really want to know something about her or who already know her and have their own ideas and experiences to share. It really gets the old mental juices flowing.
This is my most recent experience, with Megan Black of Round the Cauldron. Megan began her YouTube channel as a Wiccan, and has slowly become a committed Irish Pagan with a special devotion to Brigit. I really enjoyed talking with her.
Here is our conversation.
Image: From Round the Cauldron.
As the webpage says, "Féile Bríde - Brigid's Festival is a week-long series of events commencing on the eve of St. Brigid's Day, the first day of February." The festival is hosted by the Brigidine Sisters at Solas Bhride.
This concert in Kildare was a part of that festival this year. There is some lovely music in here:
Saint Brigid Musical Celebration
Image: Earth Day poster, Solas Bhride.
Rachel Patterson (The Kitchen Witch) made a little book trailer for me. And here she be:
As I keep repeating, the sound track is a bit thin, but the film itself has great punch.
Thanks, Rachel!
It’s up! The video of my conversation with Sister Mary Teresa Cullen and and Anne Cassidy Carew Of the United Irish Cultural Centre of San Francisco. I don’t think she mentions it here, but it was Sister Mary T who lit Brigit's flame in Kildare in 1993.
UNITED IRISH CULTURAL CENTER
St. Brigid: Patroness & Prophetess. Live chat celebrating St. Brigid's Day 2021.
Image: Anne Cassidy Carew
I made this wacky 9 second video to celebrate fact that pre-ordering is available for my book. Exciting!
Pre-order here.
As I've mentioned in previous posts, Vancouver was host to a wonderful week long Brigit festival for the second time this year. Because it was online it was possible to have speakers from far afield, and one rewarding session was held on Day 3: Legends & Mythology of Brigid.
The speakers were storyteller and songster Philomena Jordan, Anthony Murphy of Mythical Ireland, and Dolores Whelan, co-founder of Brigid’s Way Celtic Pilgrimage, author and speaker. Their host was Cynthia Wallentine. The session is now available on YouTube. Check the out the Festival page for other sessions. They aren’t all up yet, but hopefully in time they will be.
St. Brigid Festival Vancouver Day 3: Legends & Mythology of Brigid
Wonderfully, Brendan Farren of Big Green Art has a video showing how to make one of my favourite shapes (1) of Brigit's cross, the three-armed version once found frequently in byres. Now, I haven't tried his instructions. I'd love to hear how you do.
"How To Weave A Three Legged Brigid's Cross" by Brendan (Video)
Brendan teaches willow weaving from basics to some pretty awesome stuff. Have a look at his website and at the very least, if you are interested, download his free booklet, The Willow Handbook.
(1) See this post for a feast of Brigit's crosses from E. Estyn Evans.
The Reverend Rowan Fairgrove, longtime member of Daughters of the Flame, spoke to South Bay Circles in California last November on "Holy Brighid, Goddess and Saint."
From her introduction:
Rowan's accomplishments are extensive (as seen below) but, for this talk, she comes to us as a Daughter of the Flame - an organization dedicated to keeping Brighid's Flame lit. For more information, click here. Rev. Rowan Fairgrove is a Wiccan, first initiation in 1971, with initiations including Gardnerian, NROOGD & Ozark Celtic (but practicing NROOGD since 1981). Her current NROOGD Coven, Owl Moon, celebrated our 15 anniversary in May. She is a Senior Medium of the American Magic Umbanda House, headwashed to Pombagira Cigana Rainha; a National Interfaith Representative of Covenant of the Goddess; an ordained Priestess of Brighid through Fellowship of Isis and is also a Daughter of the Flame. She has practiced Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism in the Inis Glas tradition (magical side). She does quite a lot of interfaith and social justice work. She is a member of the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (serving on the steering committee for our local Branch) and a Raging Granny. She is involved with the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival; a disability rights advocate, and has been a registered Green Party member since that was possible in California. She does faith-based social justice work with PACT (People Acting in Community Together), which is part of PICO CA which, in turn, is part of Faith in Action nationally. She is on the Executive Committee of the Board of our local interfaith council, The Silicon Vally Interreligious Council. She lobbies our City Council and the State legislature regularly.
Click here to watch a video of her talk on all ideas Brigit.
Image: from Rowan Fairgrove.
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I have just uploaded the full video of a guided contemplation I led in September as a belated part of Land, Sea, Sky Travel's Brigid: A Friend for Our Times conference. It took three attempts and several months but we finally managed it, and with one wee glitch it went off fine this time. (I left my mic off for a while, but luckily it was in the transition into the contemplation proper, so no harm done.
Unfortunately, Blogger wouldn't accept it as it was too long, but I was able to upload it on my Facebook Page, Brigit's Portal. Here is the direct link to Brigit as a Constant Companion. It is an immersion, nearly eighty minutes long, so set some time aside to really allow yourself to move into that quiet, contemplative space.
Blessings of Brigit on you.
Image: "Moštanica Monastery, chapel for lighting candles. Municipality of Kozarska Dubica, Republika Srpska" by Petar Milošević. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
