Brighid and Me: Experiences with the Goddess

I`ve just received my contributor's copy in the mail--Hollee Swann's new 48 pp pamphlet,

BRIGHID AND ME: Experiences With the Goddess.

It is a series of articles by devotees of Brighid, and I am thoroughly enjoying reading the offerings. What a brave and lovely group of beings!

Hollee had wanted to do a book on Brigit but, on researching the subject, decided she'd be simply rehashing available materials. Instead when she reluctantly let go of the project, she was inspired to collect the stories of some of Brigit's followers and offer them to the world.

In honour of Brigit's attributes as a healer, and Hollee's mother, who is in a care home with late stage Alzheimer's, donations from the sale of the book will go to the Alzheimer's Society.

£4.50 per copy. £4.10 for 3 or more copies in one order
Postage at cost. Overseas postal rates on request.
Email: helen(AT)goddessdance.co.uk for ordering and payment details. (Replace (AT) with @ )

Do You Recognize This Brigidine Church?

I found this photo on the internet, on a Russian site--I am quite unable to read Russian. Do you by chance know where this building is, and what it's called? Ta!

(Here's the link.)

Hrana Janto Brigit Illumination

There is so much amazing Brigidine art upwelling into the world these days! Another fine example: this illumination by Hrana Janto.

„Untersuchungen zu den ältesten Vitae sanctae Brigidae“

There is online a German language thesis, written by Karina Hochegger, which compares the earliest life of Brigit (Cogitosus, 650 CE) with the Vita Prima Sanctae Brigidae (750 CE). These texts have different aims and means for achieving their goals, as described in Lisa Bitel's excellent book, Landscape with Two Saints. For those German speakers amongst us, I link you to „Untersuchungen zu den ältesten Vitae sanctae Brigidae“. Below find her abstract.

ANHANG

ABSTRACT

This thesis shall provide a comprehensive and detailed analysis of the two oldest Lives of saint Brigid of Kildare, the “Life by Cogitosus” and the so-called “Vita Prima”. It will also illustrate the most important findings concerning the intentions of the presumed authors in writing these Lives. Dating of the Life by Cogitosus to the third quarter of the 7th century appears to be appropriate based on the reference that Muirchú makes to Cogitosus and his work. Cogitosus was likely an intellectual member within Kildare’s monastic society and he would have been able to write. His political aim in creating a Life of saint Brigid and establishing her as one of the main saints was to strengthen both the influence and power of the monastic centre and its parochia. The Life contains accounts of miracles describing the beauty and greatness of the church of Kildare, the sepulture of Brigid and her bishop Conleth, and the wonders that supposedly took place after Brigid’s death. This would inspire believers from across Ireland to make pilgrimages to Kildare. The reason for establishing the Life may have been the competition between the two main churches of Ireland during the 7th century, Kildare and Armagh. Both of them wanted to spread their power and their parochia. There is no proof of a direct relationship between Cogitosus and the Uí Dúnlainge, the ruling dynasty of Leinster at that time. But it is clear that the expansion of the sphere of control of Kildare was on behalf of the governance of Leinster. There are compositional and structural aspects which support McCone’s theory that the Vita Prima came after the Life by Cogitosus, in the middle of the 8^th century. This is because passages from the Life by Cogitosus can be found at the end of Vita Prima and because of the friendly relationship between Patrick and Brigid, the two main saints of Armagh and Kildare. Despite the efforts of Vita prima’s author to create a thorough account of Brigid’s travels, there can be found inconsistencies throughout this Life. The author also neglected Kildare, and emphasized Brigid as a nomad saint; he intended to establish a national saint in Brigid by compiling miraculous stories in order to illustrate her nationwide political-ecclesiastic influence.

Karina Hochegger
angestrebter akademischer Grad
Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. phil.)
Vienna, 2009

Maud Gonne and the Daughters of Ireland

From 1916: The 1916 Rising, Personalities and Perspectives, an online exhibition by the National Library of Ireland:

Maud Gonne’s most notable contribution was to the establishment in April 1900 of Inghinidhe na hÉireann (Daughters of Ireland). The organisation was solely for women and adopted Saint Brigid as patron. Its agenda was political, social and feminist: it opposed the Irish Parliamentary Party and Home Rule, opting instead for full independence, but supported the Irish-Ireland movement, the concepts of self reliance preached by Sinn Féin, free meals in schools and women’s suffrage. It organised programmes of distinctively Irish cultural activities and promoted national self awareness. From 1908 onwards it published Bean na hÉireann (‘Irishwoman’), a nationalist womens’ journal. In 1914 Inghinidhe na hÉireann was absorbed into Cumann na mBan, the women’s auxiliary of the Irish Volunteers, although some trades union members then opted to join the Irish Citizen Army. In its time, Inghinidhe na hÉireann helped to politicise a generation of Irish women, many of whom afterwards participated in the 1916 Rising.

Jill Smith: Brighde of the Isles

Check out the English webzine Goddess Alive: a new magazine of Goddess celebration.  Now into its 17th issue and its 8th year, if you peek back to issue 2 you will find fine paintings and an article about Brigit in the Hebrides, all by Jill Smith. Art from the series Brighde of the Isles was used on the cover of the Friends of Brides Mound CD, Songs of Bride.

“Brighde is an ancient creative force/goddess who later merged with St. Bridget of Kildare in Ireland to become something of both of them, yet more; and in the Hebrides she has her own distinct character.”

(For photos, ferry schedules, weather forecasts, jobs, events, and more for the Hebrides, click here to get to  Western Isles of Scotland.)

Cill Dara Historical Society

The  Cill Dara Historical Society site has a number of goodly bits on offer. An article on Brigit, a history of the area, a collection of old postcards, including the market square, the round tower, and the interior of the church. I do wish these were clickable to see larger images but alas, no.

Also included are a table of annals (plus bibliography), from 484 when Brigit founded the monastery to 1539 when the “Carmelite friary in Kildare (was) suppressed on 3 Apr. The friary was surrendered by the prior. It consisted of a church, belfry, dormitory hall and two chambers. Kildare also owned a messuage, a garden and a close containing one acre, as well as a cottage and six acres of arable land in the vicinity.”

The site is hosted by Kildare.ie--the County Kildare Community Network--with everything from community events, forum, and business directory to  an A-Z of County Kildare Websites. Check it out before you visit!

Book of Kells...Cartoon???

The Secret of Kells

Here is a note of enthusiastic recommendation from one of the Daughters of the Flame:

Dear Ladies,
I watched this film last night and it blew me away. It was astonishing. I was drawn into this gorgeous world. The animation if nothing else is stunning. But the clever way there was always something celtic on each frame, be it a swirl or design was brilliant. The story was lovely too. And the faerie was very sweet. My husband isn't sure what to make of this film. Not sure what to say, other than he loved the art (he's an artist so duh!) but he's out on the rest of it. I'd give it full marks.

The trailer is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTPAvY4y0pY

The official website is here: http://www.thesecretofkells.com/

I'm sure you can get it from any store, Amazon would have it for sure. We got it from our local dvd rental.

I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!

Blessings,
Vanna

And here is the trailer itself:

Downloadable Medieval Texts & A Research Guide to Irish Literature

Two sites of interest for those eager for medieval Irish texts (etc!).

(1) In Parentheses:

In Parentheses is devoted to distributing texts, translations, and commentaries from a wide variety of areas and disciplines in an elegantly presented form.

These include:

Papers in Medieval Studies
Arthurian Series
Chinese Drama Series
Medieval Canadian Series
Medieval Castilian Series...
....Greek Series
Medieval Irish Series
Medieval Italian Series
Medieval Latin Series
Linguistics Series
Japanese Series
Malayan Series....
....Vaguely Decadent Series

Medieval IrishSeries
The Colloquy with the Ancients, tr. Standish Hayes O'Grady (480K PDF)
The Vision of Adamnán (Fis Adamnáin), tr. C.S. Boswell (80K PDF)
The Irish Æneid (Imtheachta Æniasa), tr. George Calder (244K PDF)
The Voyage of Bran (Immram Brain), tr. Kuno Meyer (59K PDF)
The Feast of Bricriu (Fled Bricrend), tr. George Henderson (152K PDF)
The Destruction of Dá Derga's Hostel, tr. Whitley Stokes (156K PDF)
The Pursuit of the Gilla Decair and his Horse, tr. Standish Hayes O'Grady (92K PDF)
The Tain, tr. L. Winifred Faraday (312K PDF)
The Vision of MacConglinne (Aislinge Meic Conglinne), tr. Kuno Meyer (120K PDF)
The Wandering of Ulixes Son of Laertes (Merugud Uilix Maicc Leirtis), tr. Kuno Meyer (52K PDF)
The Death of the Sons of Usnach, tr. Eleanor Hull (98K PDF)

Of Related Interest:
Giraldus Cambrensis, The Conquest of Ireland, tr. Thomas Forester, rev. Thomas Wright (476K PDF)
Giraldus Cambrensis, The Topography of Ireland, tr. Thomas Forester, rev. Thomas Wright (400K PDF)
Modern Irish Flash Cards 4500 words (928K PDF)

(2) The Kelly Library at U of T maintains a Research Guide to Irish Literature.

Included: Location of each work in the Kelly Library.

Last updated in November 2009. PDF version

• Starting Out
• Biography
• Middle and Old Irish Writing
• 20th Century Writing
• Blasket Islands Writing
• Women's Writing
• Seamus Heaney
• Contemporary Writing
• Fiction
• Poetry
• Drama
• Finding Journal Articles

Brigit and Celtic Libraries on LibraryThing

LibraryThing is a wonderful site for lovers of books.

A home for your books.

A community of 1,000,000 book lovers.

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Catalog your books from Amazon, the Library of Congress and 690 other world libraries. Import from anywhere.

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Enter 200 books for free, as many as you like for $10 (year) or $25 (life).

Available in many languages:                       (others)

Mael Brigde has a small library listing there which includes books on Brigit as well as more general Celtic and Celtic Reconstructionist items. Numerous other folk have far larger libraries containing many books related to these topics. Groups such as Irish & Celtic Studies (For researchers and interested parties, whether formally academic or amateur enthusiasts... anything related to Irish/Celtic study or living is welcome!) and Irish Mythology provide places to ask questions and share information. Start your own group if what you are looking for isn't provided.

If you glance to the left of this posting you will find a LibraryThing widget that shows the covers of a few of the books in Mael Brigde's library.

She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain. (1873)

~ Louisa May Alcott ~

Brigit Systems, a division of Brigit Fire...

I can't resist; this is too cool. A South African fire prevention company named Brigit Systems.

We are a Proud South African based company and we are a distributor of several world class fire and security products.

Brigit Systems, a division of Brigit Fire...

We specialize in fire detection, fire supression, video surveillance and integrated systems.

Brigit's Flame: Creativity makes you grow

Building on the idea of Brigit as matron of poetry, LiveJournal hosts a community called Brigit's Flame which is of interest:

Brigit's Flame writing community is dedicated to helping people grow as writers. We run a monthly writing contest, offer peer editing, and are dedicated to making sure that every person who brings their writing to our community has their writing read and commented on. 

Every day, our community has a daily "Chatter Post", which presents community members with a new question to think about and discuss among the members. All members are invited to join in our conversations.

If you'd like to visit a great online writing community that's dedicated to helping one another, visit the Brigits Flame LiveJournal Community!

We currently only accept active LiveJournal members to our group, but you're very welcome to create a LiveJournal and join us. Anyone is welcome to our community - we accept all people from all walks of life. Be prepared to have your ideas challenged, your thoughts explored, and your creativity exercised!

History of the Community

Brigits_Flame was founded by Boundfate on March 18, 2008, as an offshoot of a preexisting LiveJournal writing community called LJ Idol. It was seen as a way to take what Boundfate liked best about the Idol community and combine it with her own ideas and approaches to make a completely different community. Where LJ Idol combines the twists, turns, and excitement of reality TV with writing in an epic six month long contest, the Flame became more of a creative workshop with a contest edge, putting the emphasis on fine-tuning members' writing.

The name comes from the Celtic goddess of creativity, inspiration, healing, and smithcraft, Briget (pick a spelling). Some people believe that the phrase "creative spark" comes from her followers, as she is often depicted with a torch. Boundfate found her a good patroness for this group, and the name has become more and more fitting as the community has evolved: we've crafted our entries with great effort; we've healed ourselves and each other at times; and, of course, we pursue the creativity that makes us better than ever.

In its first couple of months, the community was very small. Its first contest had fourteen participants, and the community itself had about 35 members total. However, the community soon began to grow, most notably by being featured in LJ Spotlight twice - once in June of 2008 and then again in September of 2009. After the first spotlight, membership exploded from less than 100 up to 700. The moderators scrambled to stay organized, adding an editing team and adjusting to the fact that there were over 100 members competing for the following month. The moderation team grew, and with an enormous amount of help and patience from members, the Flame thrived.

Brigit's Garden

Experience the Magic of Celtic Heritage at Brigit's Garden in the West of Ireland

Our Vision is to offer Brigit's Garden as a place of connection with nature, beauty and the cylces of life, and as a resource for education, reflection and creativity.

Brigit's Garden takes you on a magical journey through the sacred spiral of the seasons into the heart of Celtic heritage and mythology, making it one of the truly outstanding attractions in Galway.

Themed on the Celtic seasonal festivals, Brigit's Garden is widely regarded as one of the most spectacular gardens in Ireland set within 11 acres of native woodland & wildflower meadows. Its features include: a nature trail , ogham trees, children's discovery trail, living willow play area, an ancient ring fort (fairy fort), Roundhouse and calendar sundial , the largest in Ireland.

The Garden Café offers excellent cuisine with many vegetarian options made with organic ingredients fresh from the gardens whenever possible.

We offer a full calendar of family-friendly activities throughout the year, making Brigit's Garden one of leading family attractions in the region. Our summer camps for kids are among the most popular in Galway.

Our high-standard facilities and tranquil surroundings make Brigit’s Garden the ideal venue for hire for off-site meetings, weddings and special events. We cater to groups of all kinds, including sacred site tours and school tour groups.

A visit to Brigit's Garden offers an experience that will last a lifetime!

This Holiday weekend music & fun

►Sunday May 2nd from 2pm
Michael Folan (accordion) & friends

►Monday May 3rd from 2pm
Paul Bradley (fiddle) and Paddy Kerr (bouzouki)

Plus...Fun for kids! Pond-dipping for water bugs both days. Café will be open.

There's a lot see and do to this summer at Brigit's Garden Click here for more details!