Brigit and Blindness

Votive offering representing eyes.

Musée Archéologique de Dijon

On hearing that a friend and follower of Brigit is developing cataracts, I remembered reading a number of tales of Saint Brigit that concern blindness. I wanted to look back through those stories to see if there was anything that might be of use for her. I often find some subtle insight offered if not in the tale’s intended message, then in some detail within it. This is a personal thing, and I doubt we would all find the same meanings, or any at all, necessarily. I have not offered all of these to her—it is probably not the time—but I will offer a few to you in case they are of use.

***

Brigit is no stranger to blindness. In a gruesome story from the 8^th century "Irish Life of Brigid", the Bethu Brigte, Brigit blinds herself in order to block her forced marriage. She is miraculously healed with the aid of a stream created by her own staff, but all attempts to marry her against her will are ended. (She takes violent eye-related revenge on one of her brothers for his malicious part in all of this.)

There are many references in her Lives to Brigit healing the blind. In Faughart, her supposed birthplace, one of her bullaun stones has the power to heal spiritual blindness.

But she didn't always cure the affliction. In the Leabhar Breac (Speckled Book) of the 15th century, it says, “She bettered the sheep: she tended the blind: she fed the poor.” Tended does not necessarily mean cured. If caring for, and not curing, is what is meant here, this suggests to me that there are times when she finds it preferrable to leave things as they are. In looking at my own life, I know that, painful as it is, sometimes we don’t gain the outcome we want and pray for—yet sometimes another outcome, very much unwanted, leads to a different blessing altogether.

A couple of her tales hint at this.

Once, Brigit relied on a blind man to assist her when no one else was able¹. Inspired by a vision, Brigit wished to have the whole Roman ritual and liturgy brought to her. Three times she sent disciples to Rome to fetch it. Twice they returned having forgotten everything they learned. The third time she included with the disciples a “certain blind protégé” of hers who was blessed with the ability to remember everything perfectly. En route the pilgrims met with a storm and dropped anchor; they were afterwards unable to retrieve it. Drawing lots, the blind man was given the job of diving deep to recover the anchor, but although the ship was freed, he did not return. He was lost until the crew met the same difficulty on another day, being forced to drop anchor in the same place. When they hauled the anchor aboard he climbed up with it, carrying the Roman Rite and a bell that came to be known as the “bell of the blind son.” This story was meant to show Brigit’s support for the Roman versus the Irish Christian traditions,which I suspect wasn’t a big interest of Brigit’s, given when she lived. What I find interesting, though, is that the only person with the wisdom and vision to perform her miracle is the one man without sight.

Colgan, in his Trias Thaumaturga, Vita Quarta S. Brigidæ, tells a particularly moving story about blindness (also related in O’Hanlon’s Life of St Brigid):

“One evening, she sat with Sister Dara, or Daria, a holy nun, who was blind², as the sun went down; and they talked of the love of Jesus Christ, and the joys of Paradise. Now, their hearts were so full, the night fled away whilst they spoke together, and neither knew that so many hours had sped. Then the sun came up from the Wicklow mountains, and the pure white light made the face of earth bright and gay. Bridget sighed, when she saw how lovely were earth and sky, and while she knew that Dara s eyes were closed to all this beauty. So she bowed her head and prayed. She extended her hand and signed the dark orbs of the gentle sister. Then the darkness passed away from them, and Dara saw the golden ball in the east, while all the trees and flowers glittered with dew in the morning light. She looked a little while, and then, turning to the abbess, said: “Close my eyes again, dear mother, for when the world is so visible to the eyes, God is seen less clearly to the soul.” So Bridget prayed once more, and Dara’s eyes grew dark again.”

1Life Of St. Brigid, First Abbess Of Kildare, Special Patroness Of Kildare Diocese, And General Patroness Of Ireland by the Rev. John O'Hanlon, M.R.I.A. (1877)

2Apparently she was blind from birth.

Animated Brigit!

AwesomeeHappyChappy posted this bouncy celebration of Brigit's acquisition of land for her monastery:

Brigit's Cloak & An Ancient Yew Forest

Jo at Celtic Memory Yarns wrote a year and a half ago about putting out a brat bhride for the first time, and also about her visit to an ancient yew forest in Killarney. (Also a lot of other things. For the full post, or to subscribe to her blog, go here.)
Monday, April 04, 2011


Of Brigit's Cloak, An Ancient Yew Forest, Bee Judgements and Bould Actors (excerpt)

I should have thought of it sooner, of course. Isn't it always the way, that you have studied something for years, and yet you never apply its practicalities to your own life? That back of mine wasn't getting any better, and I was still unable to sit at the computer - or anywhere else for that matter - for more than two minutes at a time without discomfort.

With time to think (a rare commodity), I remembered that the morrow was Feb 1, Brigit's Day, Candlemas, Imbolc, whatever you call it in your corner of the world. And that very day, a friendly woman who runs a great coffee house in Macroom town square, had said her family had always put out the 'Brat Bride' on the eve of her festival. I'd been checking for old customs and traditions as usual, for De Next Book, and noted this down carefully as evidence of the old ways still continuing in West Cork. Somewhere between twilight and dark, the rusty penny dropped in my own brain.

Why not put out the Brat Bride myself, and see would it help the back any? (It's pronounced 'brah breed-eh' by the way.) This is a length of ribbon or cloth placed on a friendly bush on Brigit's Eve where the dew or rain can fall on it, and Brigit herself can confer power upon it as she passes. Next day it is brought back into the house, dried, and kept carefully for the year ahead, to apply to anyone suffering from pain or injury. What better to use than the Advent Lace Shawl I'd knitted along on with Zemy during December? Just the right sort of thing to appeal to Brigit, I felt.


Outside the front door it went, to be carefully draped around the bay tree which stands there in a pot. Didn't dare to place it any further afield, as the wild winds would certainly blow it to Tir na n'Og and I'd never see it again. Brought it in duly on February 1, dried it, and laid it across my bed that night. Possibly it was going to happen anyway, especially with the physiotherapy I'd been getting, but my back started to improve right away.

Now it's in a place of honour on the spinning chair, ready for the next emergency. Old ways are good.


So much recovered did I feel that we headed down to Killarney in search of a very ancient yew forest, the only one remaining in Ireland, and one of just three in Europe overall. It has all kinds of official protective status now, but for me the important thing was that it had been there back in the mists of time, when trees were highly valued and believed to be the holders of considerable magical powers. Oh of course we know better these days. How could a tree be stronger or better for us than a computer chip, for heaven's sake? What benefit could a bush possibly bestow that modern technology cannot?

Here's just a glimpse of the edge of that ancient wood, which was old when the Tuatha de Danann walked this land. You'll get more when we go back in brighter spring weather to do a serious photoshoot. But let me share with you a very very venerable quotation which I discovered recently while researching De Next Book. The speaker is Fintan the seer, who claims to his hearers that he survived the Deluge and has lived in Ireland ever since, seeing kings come and go, landscapes change, while he lives ever on.

‘One day I passed through a wood of West Munster in the west. I took away with me a red yew berry and I planted it in the garden of my court and it grew up…’ Now you can't get more west Munster than Killarney, and I think that Fintan is surely speaking here of this selfsame ancient yew wood of Reenadinna, now within Killarney National Park. It gives you a strange feeling to stand silently amid those trees and moss-covered rocks, and think how long this forest has been here. Of course the individual trees grow and die (though yew has a very long life, sometimes a thousand years), but new ones spring up from their roots or their fruit, and the forest continues in an unbroken tradition.

Song and Image: A Beautiful Rendition of "Song to Brighid"

Shaman Light by Amanda Clark

A lovely circumambulation:

I was doing a "Brigit" search a few minutes ago and found a YouTube video of Lisa Thiel's "Song to Brighid", from her album Invocation of the Graces. I wasn't mad about the video portion but I wanted to add the video to Brigit's Sparkling Flame, realizing I had listed it before but never shown it. So I went searching for a version I liked better.

Before I tell you what I found, a bit about Lisa from her
webpage:

Brighid by Lisa Thiel

"Lisa is a priestess of Brighid and Kuan Yin in the Fellowship of Isis and honors the old Celtic Wheel of the year. She is also an accomplished astrologer, tarot reader and interpreter of dreams. 'My work is inspired by my dreams and visions that come from my spirit, my sacred dreams. My music and art are the gifts of the encounters with my soul.'"

I am happy to share her Brighid song with you.

To my delight Boudicca17368 had put together the song with some amazing imagery, all by the same woman: one Amanda Clark.

I must see more of this Amanda's art, said I! A quick search (Brigit bless the internet), and I was at her blog: earth angels art. (See also her website.)

According to her Fine Art America profile, "Amanda Clark lives in a country village in England UK. She is mainly a self-taught artist and comes from an artist family. She...gained a National Diploma in ceramics and surface pattern in the early 1990's...and is inspired by folklore and myths and the peacefulness of beautiful landscapes with a twist of fairytale and magic. She paints in acrylic and watercolour creating depth and pattern to the beautiful colours in her creations. She has also illustrated four books and is currently painting and line drawing for her 5th book about magical herbs."

There is a little surprise in all of this, though.

When I found Amanda's blog and went to see her pictures there, I discovered that an hour previously she had listed Brigit's Sparkling Flame, specifically the post "Goddess of Smithcraft (with emphasis on Blacksmithing)", on her own blog! Round and round the garden with our teddy bears! And she had done this only moments after I posted it.

A little more digging around revealed that Amanda is a follower of this blog. (Hi, Amanda!) And interestingly, when doing my Amanda search, I discovered another Amanda Clark in my own country of Canada who is...a metalsmith. (I'm getting a little dizzy now.)

So! On to the video.

Goddess of Smithcraft (with emphasis on Blacksmithing)

Blacksmith Woman

For the smiths among us, and those Brigidines interested in knowing more about the smith side of the goddess, there is available online BLACKSMITH PRACTICE: EM 862 (War Department Education Manual).

Metal Web News provides the manual with links to the various chapter. Or you can download it from scribd, sans links.

I draw your attention to this one piece, but in fact Metal Web News has a host of other articles branching out from their Blacksmithing page, as well as a Forge-Foundry-Casting page with lots of pictures and how-to information.

For chat about blacksmithing, go to the John C. Campbell Folk School Blog's "Blacksmith Shop" and get in on the conversation.

Wander over to Blacksmithchic.com, the website of Lorelei Sims (Artist and Blacksmith) for a look at her work, her farm (Pasture Prime Commune!), her book (The Backyard Blacksmith), her dogs...Heck, she even has blacksmithing t-shirts, including my favourite, the Fire Goddess T-Shirt:

For those who like video, go to Anvilfire.com (a rich site and host of three smith-related blog rings) and check out their in-depth review of the Forge and Anvil TV series and books hosted by Alan Rogers in 1995. Good news! The series is now available on DVD.. You can catch lots of blacksmithing videos on YouTube as well, from the amateur, like christopher5361's homemade forge video, to the professional, such as the previews of Bob Rupert's TV shows (Blacksmithing with Bob Rupert). Check out "Let's Make a Nail." If you like what you see you can buy the DVDs from the makers here.

Maybe you are really interested and want to take a course. There are lots of places to do that now, though the craft nearly died out at one point in North America. How about rounding your knowledge out nicely at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina? Besides basic blacksmithing the school "provides experiences in non-competitive learning and community life that are joyful and enlivening. Located in scenic Brasstown, North Carolina, the Folk School offers year-round weeklong and weekend classes for adults in craft, art, music, dance, cooking, gardening, nature studies, photography and writing."

Renaissance Lady Blacksmith by Francesa Miller

You have to snoop around a bit to get a lead on all the smithing courses, depending on where you live. There are a couple of lists online (eg here) but they aren't exhaustive. You might do best to search "blacksmith" "school" and the name of your area, or you may miss something small but good nearby, as all the larger ones crowd to the top of the search results. If you love horses, you can get a diploma as a farrier at Olds College in Olds, Alberta (a really lovely area to squirrel away for two years, I should think). Another is the Maritime Farrier School in Truro, Nova Scotia, which also is a beautiful spot to be. Or if you want something that will take you from basic blacksmithing to wildly creative art- and armour-making, try Thak Ironworks in Floradale, Ontario.

And once you've got a start on your craft, you may want to join a blacksmithing association, such as the Vancouver Island Blacksmith Association. ("VIBA a non-profit society formed for the sole purpose of keeping blacksmithing alive in British Columbia. Members demonstrate at various local events including major annual events at the Fairgrounds, and at other local country fairs, Heritage Festivals, and schools. VIBA also hosts workshops featuring professional smiths.")

Of course, Brigit is not only a goddess of blacksmiths. There are whitesmiths, bronzesmiths, silversmiths, and so on. I leave it to you to search out some good contacts (and perhaps provide us with links).

Antiques

Finally, you may just want to admire or purchase metalcraft, new or antique. Or how about new but modelled on antiques? Mark Shier of Gaukler Medieval Wares is one smith who delights in talking about his wares, and who takes great care in creating copies of ancient handicrafts, as well as selling antiques--coins, belt buckles, and so on. And yes, you could afford a lot of them. Why, I bought a handmade (and perfect!) bronze sewing needle from him for 7$.

Mark's creations

In his words, "Gaukler Medieval Wares makes jewellery and metalwork in ancient and medieval styles, using the methods and materials of the past. I do custom work, as long as the design is medieval or earlier. We also sell authentic ancient and medieval antiquities. All antiquities pictures have a white background, and all of my work has a black background."

Versatile Blogger Nomination

Oops. I just knocked over a vial of water from Brigit's well in Kildare, grabbing it instead of the mouse. Worry not--it's capped.

This is an interesting thing. Yesterday I received a note from Runningwave, one of the Daughters of the Flame.

Dearest Mael,

Since I admire your blog and want to support your spread of Brigit's flame of inspiration around the world, I have you nominated for The Versatile Blogger Award.

You are one of the writers whose creativity inspires me and has encouraged me to see the world in new ways. Being a part of the Daughters of the Flame for a long time now has given me a community of women who want the Peace and Awen of Brigit to be known and adored.

My own blog post and all the nominations are posted here: http://runningwave.blogspot.com/2012/08/with-admiration-to-my-fellow-artists.html

I've posted a link to your blog on my own, but you are truly not under any obligation to post back. I just wanted to honor all of the creativity you share on this space.

Very sincerely,
~runningwave~

Thanks to you, runningwave, for your appreciation of Brigit's Sparkling Flame. It occurs to me, too, that the sloshed over holy water was a tiny runningwave all its own. A nod to you, as it were.

Sweet blessings of Brigit on you, this day and every day, this night and every night.

Booklets for Sale

A reminder from Hollee Swann:

Brighid and Me

Experiences with the Goddess Written by devotees from around the world.

Pathways to Elen

Written by Followers of the ancient, British, antlered Goddess.

£4.50 for 1 book; £4.25 each for any 2 books

£4.10 each for 3 or more booklets on one order

Postage at cost

Profits from sales to Alzheimer’s Society

& Woodland Trust

To read extracts or order, visit www.goddessdance.co.uk

OK, This is Just Plain Weird: Post-Apocalyptic Brigit?

I won't even begin to address the "all things fire and warfare" bit. I hesitate to post this but if I can tell you about Brigit socks, surely I can't hold this one back... I haven't read it, so I can't say if it satisfies all its claims. If you read it, let us know!

Brighid's Cross, by Cate Morgan

One woman with a job to do. One gorgeous hacker with a plan. One apocalypse. Any questions?

Aika Lareto is a descendent of St. Brighid in her incarnation of all things fire and warfare in a time when heroes were revered as gods. In 2025, this means Aika is hunted by all things demon and government. All she wants is to get on with her work as guardian of the dregs scraping out a fringe existence in London’s blitzed underground—the lost, forgotten and the just plain ignored.

Declan Pryce is the hacker who finds her first. Quite a feat, considering current ruling government conglomerate Dreamtech has issued a bounty on Aika’s head for her ability to bypass their security systems.

When she escapes Dreamtech’s net, the vote is unanimous—Aika is a liability in need of immediate resolution—dead or alive is entirely her choice.

No choice, really. She’ll take death over disloyalty every time. Declan has a plan that doesn’t include falling for an impossible woman in an impossible situation. She has plans of her own that don’t leave room for a love life.

If they’re incredibly lucky, it just might work.

Product Warnings

Contains a hot hacker with a penchant for redheads, battles with demons, a little light torture, explosions and a heroine willing to do whatever it takes to do her job.

Kildara Centre & Brigid's Well (Course)

The Australian Brigidine Sisters have in Malvern, Victoria the Kildara Centre with many facilities including a non-residential conference centre, Brigidine archives (and better still, an archivist to help you find what you need there), and so on.

They annually offer Brigid's Well, a course for Adult Searchers.

From their site:

The association between water and spiritual power can be traced back to the Bronze Age, and water (the well) is very prominent in most Celtic Mythology. Large bodies of water, such as lakes & rivers, were important sites for ritual activity. Many archeological discoveries today witness to the ways in which people in those very early times threw jewelry, weapons, body amor, all sorts of high quality metal work into the lakes to appease their gods and goddesses.

There are countless wells scattered across Ireland named after Brigid, and associated with these wells is healing, nourishment, hospitality and blessing for people in need. One can easily imagine the water from those wells, water that is sacred, coursing through mother earth and reaching the Antipodes and flowing through our Australian waterways.

The story in the Scripture of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well and the transformation that occurred in both through their interaction has become the symbol for our Brigid's Well Program at Kildara Centre.

It is no accident that today Kildara Centre, is situated on a very ancient aboriginal site consisting of a huge underground spring. Imagine it as a watering hole for our indigenous sisters and brothers in ancient times. Today it is covered with layers and layers of concrete, buildings, roads etc., yet evidence of its existence and movements is still clear, its dampness quite pervasive, and its power ever present.

Brigid's Well is the name given to our Program for Adult Searchers. In various ways, this Program offers :

life-giving interaction
creative prayer experiences
opportunities for personal growth
discussion of current issues
to break open the Word
involvement in issues of justice
deeper understanding of God
to explore the Celtic tradition
to re-interpret Brigid
to develop various concepts of spirituality
a place to share views in safety and freedom
an alternative to institutionalised religion
some religious experience
assistance to find meaning
counselling
spiritual direction

We have established a Brigid's Well Community which engages in attempting to break open the Word raising issues of injustice in the wider community, and in breaking open the lives of Brigid and Delany discovering what their stories have to offer us today.

This community also hosts some of the sessions of the Program and plans for the following year.

Download the 2012 Programme booklet.

It all starts with lighting a match.

A Letter from Erynn
Winter Solstice 1996

It all starts with lighting a match. A simple thing, really. When the match is touched to the candle wick, I offer quiet prayers with upraised hands before the altar. Quiet seems to be the focus of those days. To keep the flame has been a calming and centering process, a ritual of no-ritual, a meditation on quiet and the flickering quality of candlelight.

I have not had major revelations on the days and nights of my shift since I began, back at the founding of (Daughters of the Flame). Instead, the flame has been a steady, connective presence. I take the spark from the woman who precedes me and pass it with care to the next woman on the list. I imagine that the earliest priestesses of this light were bound together with similar silence, their only sounds the crackling fire in the sacred hearth, the murmurred prayers, the rain falling softly outside.

What did they do together in their devotion, I wonder? Did they lie at night in darkened chambers, composing poems? Did they tend a garden of healing herbs? Were the sparks of the sacred flame carried to a forge where bright blades were beaten out in her honor? Were their days spent carrying wood, or later, when the wood was gone, bringing dried peat into the enclosure to keep the flame burning? I think they knew the wisdom of chop wood, carry water as a path of spirit. I think, in some ways at least, they were like me. There are wild hazel nuts on my altar. They come from Lincoln Park, down the hill from my house. A red silk cloth, woven with gold, from the sari of a Hindu saint covers the small shelf that is my altar. There is a black and white photocopy of the triple Brighid from a Celtic League calendar taped to the wall above. Seashells, which are used in Ireland and Scotland to decorate the Brighid dolls of imbolc, are scattered on the cloth, piled at the foot of the red glass candle. Rowan and juniper berries are mingled in a small wooden bowl, for protection and for purification. There is a sprig of cedar here as well, with its tiny brown seed pods. This reminds me of the land on which I live, the spirits of Puget Sound. Ogham fiodh, burned into hazel twigs, lie in a pile here awaiting her pleasure, and a tiny cup of hazel honey mead. These are the tools of my poet's art.

I do no magic at this altar, I raise no power here. Instead, there is poetry in my house. Notebooks open, scribbled lines that try to capture the flash of a dream's image or the subtle light of an autumn afternoon. I meditate on the continuity of the flame, one hand to another, one match lit in prayerful attitude.

Sometimes I miss my shift for one reason or another. I look at the calendar a day late and feel a pang of regret, a little embarassment at the fact that I am human and fallible. Despite my flaws, I continue to tend the flame. There will be another shift in a few days, and I can redress the accidental neglect at that time. I've never felt that Brighid was unforgiving of my occasional lapses. Somewhere in the world, some sister remembers and carries on. She starts with lighting a match.

-Erynn

(Letter from Erynn Rowan Laurie. Art by Rowan Hagen.)

RTÉ, the St. Brigid’s Cross and the significations of domesticity

Ciarán Swan of The Design Research Group ( Design, Representation, Society ) posted this intriguing essay on 14 May 2007. I am including the full post here but only one of the graphics. Please follow the link to the original posting to see the other two images:


Incalculable good, irreparable harm: RTÉ, the St. Brigid’s Cross and the significations of domesticity.

New Year’s Eve, 1961 7.00 p.m. and the first words to be heard by a grateful nation on Telefis Éireann were the following read by Éamon de Valera.

“I am privileged in being the first to address you on our new service, Telefis Éireann. I hope the service will provide for you all the sources of recreation and pleasure but also information, instruction and knowledge. I must admit that sometimes when I think of Television and Radio and their immense power, I feel somewhat afraid. Like atomic energy, it can be used of incalculable good, but it can also do irreparable harm. never before was there in the hands of men an instrument so powerful to influence the thoughts and actions of the multitude”.

And accompanying those words was a simple stark image that was to remain the visual signifier for RTÉ for the best part of three decades afterwards.

This was the St. Brigid’s Cross. This symbol woven from rushes or straw was a feature of Irish houses for centuries. The first record of it dates from the 17th century, although some believe that the genesis of the Cross was in pagan sunwheels. But in it’s more recent incarnation it has an interesting symbolism which links in part to the mythos around St. Brigid who is the second patron saint of Ireland and as a woman embodied a range of significations. According to legend St. Brigid wove a cross in order to convert a dying man to Christianity.

Édith Cusack, head of Women’s Programmes was the one to suggest the use of the Cross as the symbol of Telifis Éireann.. (worth noting that Telifis is in fact a neologism developed by the actor Éamonn O Guallai from tele (from afar) fis (vision).

Between 1988 and 1989 a new logo replaced it which dispensed with the St. Brigid’s Cross. This generated sufficient controversy due to that feature that it lasted only one year. There was no St. Brigid’s Cross in the next logo used, but in 1993 it was reintroduced as a visual projected against stones from the entrance to Newgrange. This elision of two rather different times from Irish history and culture is interesting in itself, but

Again it vanished for five or six years only to reappear in a similar fashion in 1998.

But this wasn’t the first time the state utilised the symbol. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the Department of Health used it on much of their printed material. In this instance it was a hand rendered illustration of the straw cross accompanied by the Irish name of the Deparment in Gaelic type. In truth the symbol worked well on the printed page, with a clarity that lent itself to black and white printing.


READ MORE!

Call for Submissions for Brigit Anthology

Here is something interesting--a call for submissions for a new Brigit anthology from Goddess Ink.

Call for Submissions for a new publication from Goddess Ink:

Brigit: Fire of Womanhood

edited by Patricia Monaghan and Michael McDermott

It is with great enthusiasm that we invite you to submit a proposal as a part of an anthology of work to be published by Goddess Ink (www.goddess-ink.com ). This anthology, comprising works about the Celtic Goddess and Christian saint Brigit, will be edited Patricia Monaghan and Michael McDermott, scholars and devotees of Brigit.

This call for proposals is being sent to a carefully selected group of scholars and religious practitioners. If you know of someone who might be interested in contributing to this anthology, please contact us at BrigitAnthology@gmail.com.

We are seeking submissions in any printable form, including but not limited to:

 Scholarly essays
 Personal essays
 Poetry
 Interior artwork (including small line drawings, in black and white)
 Cover and Back artwork (color)
 Chants
 Invocation

Deadline for submissions: July 1, 2012 Submit.

Planned publishing date for the anthology: Imbolc 2013. The anthology will be published by Goddess Ink. Contributors will be compensated with one contributor’s copy of the anthology.

Please direct inquiries to BrigitAnthology@gmail.com

To submit: for prose submissions, please send 150-word abstract outlining your approach to the subject; other submissions should be sent complete, with limit of 3 poems or chants per author. Include 150-word biography.

We thank you for your interest in this project.

Michael McDermott and Patricia Monaghan
Co-editors, Brigit: Fire of Womanhood

Goddess Ink: books for the heart and mind

La Féile Bhríde--AFRI-Style

Action From Ireland (AFRI) has long had a close association with the Brigidine sisters at Solas Bhride in Kildare. Of themselves they say "Afri engages in development education in a world in which the gap between rich and poor continues to widen and in which war, violence and militarism continue to wreak havoc on the lives of millions of people".

It isn't surprising then that their colourful and passionate celebration of Brigit's feast day has a somewhat different slant than many. Embedded below is the three-minute video from their post that describes that day, "Impressions from Afri’s Féile Bríde 2012". (See if you can spot Sr. Mary Minehan in the ceremonies.)

When you have read that post, noodle around to the homepage and have a look at some of the projects AFRI has on the go.

Solas Bhríde Development Project

It is worth noodling back now and again to websites you think you know. I was surprised a while back to learn that Solas Bhríde is planning a grand development. In response to the great influx of pilgrims over the last few years, a centre with hermitages will be created on land purchased in 2007, costing a projected €4.75 million. (Follow the above link for a quick computer-graphic tour of the proposed facility.)

It will have:

• Reception and exhibition space
• Conference room
• Four self-catering hermitages
• Spirituality education and library area
• Hospitality room
• Chapel / prayer room
• Spiritual accompanying / counselling room
• Meeting room
• Residential facilities for two staff members
• Ancillary service and utility spaces

"The Hermitages will provide an opportunity for pilgrims to stay and experience solitude and quiet in a nurturing atmosphere.

"The design of the Centre is inspired by the evocative imagery of Brigid’s legacy and legends and is centred on ecological concerns. The Centre and gardens will be integrated into a natural landscape with a meditative garden, labyrinth and cosmic walk.

"The many thousands of pilgrims and visitors who come to Kildare and experience the rituals and celebrations at St Brigid’s Wells will be further enriched by the new landscape and its meditative and uplifting features."

I have to admit that, although I'm sure it will be very valuable, it sounds a bit overwhelming in comparison to the small house and welcoming attention of the two individuals I met there years ago. The experience would be a very different one indeed. On the other hand, it promises to give back to the sisters some of the privacy and solitude needed for a life of prayer, as opposed to a life of tour-guiding. : )

The sisters had hoped to turn the sod this past Imbolc, but insufficient funds held them back. Not for long though. They plan to sign the contract and turn the sod by the beginning of summer.

To see where they are at in the fund-raising (not too bad!) click here and to make a contribution, click here.

Best of luck to the sisters and the many Brigidines who are working on this project. I hope one day to visit the new centre, which though different will no doubt be wonderful.

Handmade St. Brigid Statue

I have to admit this statue doesn't appeal to me personally--I am a lover of iconography and sacred statuary, yet somehow I have never found a statue of Brigit, either as goddess or as saint, which really satisfies my aesthetic sense of her. That's me. You may take to this one.
Said to be handmade, though not specifying what material (it looks like plastic to me), the figure is made by Hank Schlau and painted by his wife Karen. 9" high, she stands holding a four-armed rush cross, a fire burning at her feet and a halo round her head.
Available for 50$ from the Catholic Company. (Check out Schlau's figure of St Francis with Medieval Trees, as well.)

Brigit's Environment

Sometimes we peer so closely at a given detail the context around it blurs away. I've been giving some thought today to Brigit's natural environment, in the area around Kildare. Here are a couple of things you might find of interest.

The plain which Brigit claimed from the king of Leinster with the old vastly-expanding-cloak trick is known today as The Curragh, and is more famous for its racehorses than its nuns. Overlooking this plain is the Hill of Allen, where Fionn MacCumhail and the Fianna of old were known to gather. On one edge of the plain is the ancient Pollardstown Fen.

The Curragh has until very recently been largely unenclosed, the greatest remaining piece of commonage in Ireland, where the beasts of the community were pastured together.

Bit by bit it is being divided--roadway, fences, turf-cutting, and so on. But much of the area is still home to a variety of wildlife and plants, as well as to sheep, horses, military personnel, and so on. Among the native inhabitants are bird's-foot trefoil, autumnal hawkbit, lady's bedstraw, wild thyme and tormentil, as well as skylarks, meadow pipits, chaffinches, snipe, song thrushes and stonechats. Rabbits have replaced the once abundant hares, and grey squirrels and foxes round out the mammalian population.

The Curragh itself is a shallow-soiled grassland resting on a deep gravel layer deposited during the last Ice Age. The many surface springs that cross it have created the marshy Pollardstown Fen, and their calcium-rich waters prevent the normal transformation of the fen into sphagnum bog. Thus the 12 000 year old fen allows a glimpse into an ecosystem now uncommon in Ireland, and one that Brigit herself would have been familiar with.

If you want to look in greater detail at the wildflowers you encounter in the hedgerows, pastures, and fen of Kildare, have a look at this elegant and extremely useful site: Wildflowers of Ireland by Zoë Devlin. It is organized so that you can find the flower before you in several ways, by its name, colour, location, family, and so on. The photos are clear and very helpful and there are links to maps where the flower has been found. Devlin is the author of 'Wildflowers of Ireland - A personal Record', from Collins Press Cork.

For an in-depth study of The Curragh of Kildare (sadly out of my price range at the moment), look to John Feehan's Cuirrech Life - The Curragh of Kildare, Ireland.

And to learn about the environmental issues facing check out the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland's page on Pollardstown Fen, "Examinind the Relationship Between Human Activities and Climate Change in the Wetlands of Ireland: FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT", or the paper The Kildare By-Pass and Pollardstown Fen by Catherine O Donnell as well as Preservation of the Curragh, a page on the site of the County Kildare Archaeological Society.

To learn more about Kildare's hedgerows, follow this link to The County Kildare Hedgerow Survey Report. For information on a variety of issues see the blog of the Irish Wildlife Trust Kildare Branch.

Another Brigit Novel!

To my surprise and delight I stumbled the other day across an unknown (to me) novel involving the goddess Brigit. Written by English author Sarah Baylis, it is a Young Adult offering that pre-dates all the saintly novels by several years. I have added my review of this book to the previous novel posting, so please wander back there and have a look.

Brigit Hymn Made From Traditional Irish Song

American musician Craig Olson has done a slightly altered version of the traditional Irish song "Brigid O'Malley" in honour of the goddess Brigit. Nicely done, though the links to his website are maddening.

This is one of my all-time favourite Irish songs, so I will follow this version with a couple of traditional ones, first in Irish, then in English.

In its original state, a love song to a woman and not a goddess, here is the Irish band, The Corrs, with Brid Og Ni Mhaille (Gaelige):

And the Scottish band Silly Wizard's English language version, still traditional, still beautiful:

Brigit Reviews (Series Four): Nonfiction, Popular (Saint)

Nonfiction, Popular (Saint):

“Brigit, the Mary of the Gael”, from A Book of Saints and Wonders by Lady Gregory (1907) (Mention only.)

Saint Brigid of Ireland, Alice Curtayne (1954)

Saint Bride, Iain MacDonald (1992)

Power of Raven, Wisdom of Serpent, Noragh Jones (1994)

Rekindling the Flame: a Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of Brigid of Kildare, Rita Minehan CSB (1999) (Pilgrimage Guidebook; Guided Meditation)

The Life of Saint Brigid, Anna Egan Smucker (2007)

Introduction:

This is a surprisingly small sampling, but I like all of these books. If you could read only one I would recommend Curtayne. Unless of course your purpose was to hurriedly prepare for a pilgrimage to Kildare, in which case go with Rekindling the Flame. Oh, heck. They all have different aims, so any could be the one for you, depending on your needs.

Curtayne’s book, written in the early 1950s, is a detailed and broad-ranging introduction to the saint which has no time for the goddess, yet which deepens our understanding of Brigit on many levels. It is told from the perspective of a believing Catholic—ironically, a rare view in the current Brigidine literature, and therefore doubly valuable for the insight it provides. It is the first full book I read about Brigit and remains a favourite.

MacDonald’s highly portable text contains translations of a late (15^th century) Life of Saint Brigit from the Book of Lismore and an unusual prayer sometimes credited to Saint Columba (among others): the 9^th century “Hail Brigid”. Perfect for a quiet walk in the countryside, reflecting on the saint.

Jones looks at length and in an accessible style at the traditional roles and rituals of the Scottish countrywoman, and Brigit appears throughout.

Minehan, herself a Brigidine nun, has written a moving and informative pilgrims’ guide to the Brigidine sites of Kildare town and its environs.

Smucker has pieced together a small and lively (and beautifully illustrated) primer on Saint Brigit as told through the late (15^th century) Life of Brigit from the Leabhar Breac and customs and prayers related to her.

I had hoped to include “Brigit, the Mary of the Gael”, from A Book of Saints and Wonders by Lady Gregory (1907). Unfortunately, the copy I borrowed from the Vancouver Public Library in the ‘80s appears to have been withdrawn from the collection, and I don’t have another copy near to hand. Hence only a brief mention below.

Read More!

Brigit Reviews (Series Three): Plays and Poetry

Poetry/Plays:

The Story Brought by Brigit, Lady Gregory (1924) (play)

St Brigit of the Mantle, Norah Kelly (1924) (play)

Brigit of Kildare, Ann Egan, (2001) (novel/poetry) (SEE ALSO the review in the NOVELS posting)

Brighid’s Runes, ed. Rachel Mica McCann (2008) (poetry)

Introduction:

I'll be brief here as the reviews are not long, themselves. Each of the four books brings something of interest and value. Two are Christian, tinged with the rosy blush of the Celtic Twilight, one is Christian, but embraces to some degree the saint’s pagan roots, and bases the story on diligent research, and the last is NeoPagan poetry that has little to do with Brigit herself. 

The Story Brought By Brigit, Lady Gregory (1924) G. P. Putnam’s Sons (play)

T.R. Henn, in his introduction to Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World, wrote that “Lady Gregory herself could achieve a comedy as refined as her gay and gracious nature, and a tragedy, pathetic or patriotic, fitted to her vision and gifts” (pg 37). This is evident in her Passion Play, The Story Brought By Brigit. The story is tightly scripted and effective, with poems sparsely interspersed in the dialogue. The characters speak in a homey Irish manner, which at first is surprising but which becomes comfortable and pleasant, to my ear, anyway. When a minor character speaks of oppression and rebellion we can easily read English where he says Roman. But if we are hoping to get more than a glimpse of the great lady herself (Brigit, not Lady Gregory) we are to be disappointed.

The play’s conceit is that if Brigit could be present at Christ’s birth (as in Irish and Scottish folk tales), why not at his death? St Brigit arrives in Jerusalem shortly before Passover in order to see Christ for herself, but she is very seldom on stage and has few, brief lines and no role in the action. Where she does surface is in the notes at the end of the play, where the author discusses Brigit’s connection to Mary and Jesus in Irish and Scottish folklore, pointing out that whereas in Scotland Brigit is thought to have gone to Palestine to Jesus’s birth, in Irish tales Mary and her son come to Brigit. Although the play itself has nothing to say about Brigit, the notes do share some lovely images.

“Our tradition, and that of Gaelic Scotland, speak (sic) of St. Brigit as ‘the foster-mother of Christ’, and I have been told by poor women of Slieve Echtge that she succoured both the Blessed Mother and Child when they were brought here by a Heavenly Messenger for safety in Herod’s time, and that she ‘kept an account of every drop of blood He lost through His lifeftime.’”

pg vi

“The two names are constantly put together, ‘calm, generous Brigit,’ ‘mild, loving Mary.’ And in the dedication, the binding, of the young hunter ‘not to kill a bird sitting, or a beast lying down,’ he was bade remember ‘the fairy swan of Brigit of the flocks; the fairy duck of Mary of Peace.’

                                                     pg 92

Fora fine rendering of the hymn Lady Gregory includes in the book, follow this link:

Iarla Ó Lionáird - Caoineadh na dTrí Mhuire

Those interested in a play that actually concerns Saint Brigit, Norah Kelly’s St Brigit of the Mantle, also published in 1924, is the one for you.

St Brigit of the Mantle, Norah Kelly (1924) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London. (Religious Drama) 32 pp.

First produced in Gloucester Cathedral in 1923, this play is a lovely blend of Celtic Twilight Paganism and unpretentious Christian evangelism. Kelly acknowledges her debt to “‘Fiona MacLeod’ (William Sharp)” for her version of the legend of Brigit.

William Sharp was, with WB Yeats, Lady Gregory, and others, a Celtic Revivalist. This movement drew on traditional Celtic literature and art but did not reproduce them exactly, using them as the loam on which to seed a new self-image for Celtic people. As was Yeats, Sharp was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an occult group famous now for the membership of Aleister Crowley.

How Sharp’s occultism influenced his writing would make an interesting study, but regardless, with this acknowledgement we know that we can’t assume the story “MacLeod” has written, and Kelly bases her play on, is traditional. Had she used a story collected by some diligent folklorist, or an old Life of St Brigit, a vision she’d had at prayer one night, a tale handed down by her grandmother, we would watch out for different elements, trust the material in different ways.

The legend as given is a unique take on the life of St Brigit, bearing elements that likely stem from Scottish legend but which havebeen liberally embellished.

A herdsman named Dughall and his daughter Brigit, ordinary peasants, live on the Scottish island of Iona in the Hebrides in the mid-6^thcentury CE. Only the local Arch-Druid knows that Dughall was a prince of Ireland, exiled for having allegedly made pregnant a Princess Mora. Both she and he protest his innocence—the child, she says, is an immortal, a daughter of the Tuatha De Danann¹.

A storm washes their boat ashore on Iona, killing all but the father and child. Brigit proclaims that one day she will hold “the King of the Elements Himself” in her arms. They are welcomed by the Arch-Druid of Iona who links this statement to a prophecy that “a child of the immortals” would one day “hold eternity in herarms”, neatly combining Pagan and Christian symbols and marking Brigit as an Otherworld being.

Brigit grows up in Iona. Inspired by the Druids’ offerings to a “Most High God”, she time travels “in search of a deathless love” through a gate of quicken trees (either the mountain ash or the service-tree, both in the genus Aucuparia), trees with Otherworld associations. She arrives in Palestine, in therole of the inn-keeper’s daughter²at the “Rest and Be Thankful”, in time to offer lodging to Mary and Joseph and attend the birth of Jesus. In keeping with the traditions of Celtic Otherworld adventures, she is gone for a year and a day.

The prose is delightfully “old fashioned” and well put together. In a wonderful aside, Brigit worries about the cattle of Palestine, caught in drought, and says “scarce a drop of milk will they give, and that only after the milking lassies have sung tune after tune tothem...” I don’t know about the milking lassies of ancient Palestine, but this is exactly how the Irish dairymaids approached such a problem.

It is intriguing that the heavy Pagan symbolism, given in a positive light, is accepted and absorbed into the Christian story, rather than being rejected outright as at other times and places. But be not confused, this is purely Christian in its intent.

Thestory of Jesus’s birth is of course is a familiar one to those raised in Christian tradition, but the infusion of Brigit—disobedient, sincere, and generous to a fault—and the melding of her medieval vitae with the biblical tale is delightful. Introducing Celtic saints into biblical stories (and vice versa) is not uncommon and gives a wonderfully accessible and neighbourly feel to both the saints and the stories themselves. No longer a tale of a remote time and place, it is an incident fresh and real as today’s new churned butter. Mary chastises the storm for threatening to wake her baby. Brigit offers refreshment that grows no less for the drinking. She swaddles Jesus in her blue cloak to keep him warm, and Mary responds that henceforth she will be known as Brigit of the Mantle.

In the closing scene, Brigit has returned to Iona, now blessed with the knowledge of deathless love, to bring Christianity to her “own sea-girt isle...that never more may Druid-worship sway the people’smind.” Ah, well.

Nicely done, all told, and with the various hymns prescribed for scene openings, I can see that a very pleasant afternoon could come of the staging of this play.

1In the statement that Brigit is a daughter of Pagan deities we find a nontraditional element undoubtedly introduced by either Sharp or Kelly.
2See Bryce Milligan’s Brigid’s Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story (picture book) for another instance of Brigit’s assuming this role in fiction.

Brigit of Kildare, Ann Egan, (2001) (novel) Kildare County Council Library and Arts Service, Eire.

This novel is reviewed in the previous post—Brigit Book Reviews (Series Two) but I want to mention it here because Egan, an award-winning Irish poet, has included a number of excellent Brigidine poems.

From “Dufach’s Daughter”:

the touch of her small hand

cool as a breeze-kissed petal

on my hard warrior’s palm,

the woodbine tendrils on her brow

have me within her spell, I am

bondman to my druid daughter.

To her I bequeath my sword,

its hilt aglow with rubies.

Brighid’s Runes: A Collection of Women’s Soul Poetry, Rachel Mica McCann, editor, Mica Arts, England, 2008.

When I heard about this book I imagined that the poems would have something to do with Brigit, but almost without exception, they do not. Instead, they are dedicated in a more generalized way to Goddess, sometimes to specific goddesses, such as the Cailleach, or to the process of ritual and awakening, from a woman’s perspective.

There are some very nice pieces in here. All of the poets are connected in some way to Scotland, England, Wales, or Ireland. They range in poetic experience from relative newcomer to adept, but the sensibility throughout is one of celebration, connection, growth, and joy. The youngest author is in her teens; another has gone on to the Land ofthe Dead. A very pleasant collection under the aegis of Brigit, patron of poetry.

Samples from the poems:

I have a Venus urge

for slow love making

soft kisses, smooth caresses

Autumn cooking,

pickles, stewed apples and spices.

I feel my body soften

as the gentle waning sun beckons me outside,

to pick up hazlenuts from the warm afternoon track,

so that I can bake wisdom cake.

My love for you.

Debra Hall

It was in the wreckage of kelp limbs I found you

The long crescent of your thigh,

a shade quicker than sand,

woven in the tidal reach, the tangle of sea

dried into cloth or food,

dried salt around your lips

your sea fingers

open and

close about drifted wood...

Sophia Dale