Brigid's Way Celtic Pilgrimage -- 7-16 July 2013

Brigid's Way walk will take pilgrims to a number of sacred sites many of which are linked directly to St Brigit.

Led by Delores Whelan and Karen Ward.

info@brigidsway.ie

Flame-Tending Groups--Let Us Know Who You Are!

I know there are many Brigit Flame-Tending groups out there, of many different stripes. I would love to hear who you are, what your emphasis is, whether you are open to new members, and how to get in touch.

Please leave a comment here or email me at the address mentioned in the About Me write-up to your left, and if you would like to be listed, anonymously or not, I will include you in a follow-up post. (If you don't want to be listed, I would still be interested to hear from you.)

Blessings on your practice.

Saint Conleth of Kildare, May 3

The redoubtable Marcella, once of Under the Oak, now of Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae and Trias Thaumaturga, reminds us that 3 May is the feast day of Brigit's first bishop, Saint Conleth of Kildare. She has drawn together various notes about him on Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae:

On May 3 we celebrate the feast of Saint Conleth, first Bishop of Kildare. The following account of his life has been distilled from Canon O'Hanlon's Lives of the Irish Saints, Volume 5, pages 69-95.  A post on the description by Cogitosus of the tombs of Saint Brigid and Saint Conleth at Kildare can be found at my other blog Trias Thaumaturga here.   

ST. CONLETH, OR CONLAID, BISHOP AND PATRON OF KILDARE DIOCESE. [FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES.]

     

To read the full posting, click here.

Brigit: Sun of Womanhood book launch & arts festival in Chicago

For Immediate Release
contact: Joan Forest Mage
www.LifeForceArts.org


Brigit: Sun of Womanhood
book launch & arts festival
Saturday, May 11, 2013
6 - 10 pm
Free admission
Info:
info@LifeForceArts.org

Please join us for a festival honoring the goddess Brigit as we celebrate the publication of Brigit: Sun of Womanhood, a new anthology of poetry and essays edited by Patricia Monaghan and Michael McDermott, Saturday, May 11 from 6 - 10 PM at Life Force Arts Center, 1609 W Belmont, Chicago. Admission is free. For more information please contact Joan at Joan@LifeForceArts.orf or 773-327-7224.

Poets, storytellers, singers, dancers, musicians and ritual artists, including some of the contributors to the anthology, will perform in this festival celebrating the creative spirit in honor of Brigit, the Celtic goddess of inspiration, poetry and the arts. As part of the evening, we will remember the late Patricia Monaghan for her many contributions writing and teaching about the Goddess and Divine Feminine.

Brigit: Sun of Womanhood offers a holistic picture of Brigit from her beginnings as a Celtic Goddess to her role as a Christian saint. Readers will be transformed by this inspiring collection. This newest anthology from Goddess Ink publishers is edited by Michael McDermott and Patricia Monaghan and features writers from Ireland, Scotland, Canada and the US including Carol Christ, Sr. Rita Minehan, M. Macha Nightmare, Dolores Whelan, Joan McBreen, Matthew Geden, Szmeralda Shanel and many others, reflecting the widespread influence of Brigit.

Presenters for this event include:
Janet Berres- A tribute to Patricia Monaghan
Amy Christensen- Songs for Brigit
Louise Cloutier- Song dedicated to Brighid
Shauna Aura Knight- Sung poem
Joan Forest Mage - Dance: Water of Life, excerpt from "Myo means revive"
Michael McDermott*- Brigit Prayers & Poems
Kiel Milner – Brigit galdr (name sung in runes)
Eileen Rosensteel*- Poems: Forging & The Bard of Black Earth
Szmeralda Shanel*- My Blood Song (essay)

* = contributing author, Brigit: Sun of Womanhood anthology

"This wonderful collection of essays, poems, reflections, meditations and scholarship brilliantly captures the complexity, richness, and fertility of Brigit’s traditions." ---  Mary Condren, author of The Serpent and the Goddess: Women, Religion and Power in Celtic Ireland

"Brigit, Sun of Womanhood, is a comprehensive and compelling collection of fiction, poetry, essays and photographs that celebrate Brigit in all Her many manifestations as ancient Goddess, legendary Catholic abbess and saint, and modern-day archetype of the divine female. The stories shared in this anthology will delight and inform, whether or not one’s ethnicity is rooted in Celtic traditions. This book opens the reader’s eyes and heart to the magical, multi-faceted aspects of this Goddess’s legacy and the potent medicine She offers." ---Mary Saracino  co-editor of She Is Everywhere! Volume 3: An Anthology of Writings in Womanist/Feminist Spirituality (iUniverse 2012) and the author of the novel, The Singing of Swans (Pearlsong Press 2006). For more information visit:www.marysaracino.com.

 "This anthology is a deeply intelligent, wise, and alluring immersion into the living presence of Brigit, a creation of ritual space that is both ancient and immediate." ---Charlene Spretnak, author of Lost Goddesses of Early Greece

The mission of Life Force Arts Foundation (LFA) is to advance the field of spiritual art through artistically excellent exhibits, events and publications that explore the art-spirituality connection. We define spiritual art as visual, literary or performing art that flows from spiritual practice, strives to connect the audience with Spirit, and creates spiritual awakening, healing, or evolution. We focus on the arts as a common ground of human expression, where artists and audiences of diverse spiritual traditions can honor each other, and share their personal and collective experiences of the spiritual aspect of life through the arts. LFA's goals are to develop spiritual artists, the spiritual arts audience, and the spiritual arts community. The Foundation operates Life Force Arts Center (LFAC), Chicago's spiritual art gallery and performance space, which presents artistically excellent, spiritually based visual art exhibits, dance, theater and music performances, author book signings and workshops with artists who are experts in spiritual artmaking.

Online Paper: Brigit of Kildare and the Liminality of Women's Spiritual Power

Many of you will know the American theologist Edward C. Sellner through his books on Celtic saints ( eg Wisdom of the Celtic Saints) and on the anam cara (Celtic Soul Friend). Here is a paper by him that you may find of interest: “Brigit of Kildare, Golden Sparkling Flame: A Study in the Liminality of Women's Spiritual Power”.

Posted on Ohio State University's Monastic Matrix (a scholarly resource for the study of women's religious communities from 400 to 1600 CE), it was first published in Vox Benedictina: A Journal of Translations from Monastic Sources 8/2 (1991): 265-296.

An excerpt:

"Sometime in the 1180’s, the mediæval churchman, pilgrim, and story–teller Gerald of Wales visited Kildare in Ireland, made famous, he says, by the “glorious Brigid.” There, as he tells us in the controversial book he wrote after his tours of Ireland, he found Brigit’s fire, said to be inextinguishable:

"It is not that it is strictly speaking inextinguishable, but that the nuns and holy women have so carefully and diligently kept and fed it with enough material, that through all the years from the time of the virgin saint it has never been extinguished.

"Gerald of Wales, of course, was not the first pilgrim to visit Kildare, but he has provided us with one of the most vivid accounts of that monastic site and the legends associated with it centuries after the death of its foundress. Judging from his books on Ireland and Wales, he evidently discovered, as many of us do when we travel to foreign shores, that the holy places and the tombs of the saints often provide “a location for the healing, forgiving, and guiding powers of God.”

"Pilgrimage is one of the oldest spiritual traditions, shared by all the great religions of the world. The practice of pilgrimage has been a part of Christian spirituality since the first apostles, after the death of Jesus, returned to those places in Galilee associated with his memory and learned, as they fished and ate meals together on the seashore, that he was still very much alive. While pilgrimages may result in encounters with the Holy One, they can also be painful journeys into the unknown, far from family and friends and all those things that give us a sense of self–worth and identity. This experience of being in the wilderness, of being betwixt and between, is described by Joseph Campbell as characteristic of “liminality,” a state in which the person striving for maturity and wisdom crosses a threshold into the unknown, meets many obstacles as well as helping spirits along the way, and returns home as “master of two worlds” with a “treasure” or “blessing” that is shared with the community. According to Campbell, all the great myths of humankind have these elements describing how a person becomes a hero, which is to say, more fully human (and, from the Christian perspective, more god–like). Victor and Edith Turner, authors of Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, describe pilgrimage in those terms: as a “liminoid phenomenon,” a boundary experience that applies not only to foreign travel and rites of passage, but “to all phases of decisive cultural change.” “It has become clear to us,” they say, “that liminality is not only transition but also potentiality, not only ‘going to be’ but also ‘what may be.’

"With that understanding in mind, let us take a pilgrimage to Celtic lands and to the home of Brigit, who was considered the patron saint of travelers and pilgrims during the Middle Ages. As a soul friend with whom that ancient tradition of spiritual guidance is very much identified, she has something to teach us about women’s leadership as it emerged in the early Celtic Church. Her legends and stories also reveal much about the actuality and potentiality of women’s spiritual power in our own churches today. Brigit, the powerful Christian saint associated with a Celtic goddess, is a study in liminality, for she lives on the boundary between pagan mythology and Christian spirituality, between what was and what will be. Described in one of the most ancient Christian Celtic hymns as “ever excellent woman, golden sparkling flame,” and by the Irish poet Padraic Colum as “she who had the flaming heart,” Brigit will show us that not only is her monastery associated with flames of fire, but her life and ministry as well—a flame of holiness that continues to blaze and give us light even though the fires at Kildare of which Gerald of Wales wrote have now been extinguished."

For those who have the original version of Wisdom of the Saints and would like the updated introduction, this is available through Northumbria Community for four pounds. For an online article by Sellner on soul friendship (anam cara) visit the site of Aisling magazine.

St. Brigid's Skull

St. Brigid's skull has done some travelling, apparently. This may be appropriate for a woman who travelled widely when she was alive, visiting many areas in Ireland and, according to legend, establishing a number of religious communities.

Say the writers at Orthodoxwiki:
"She died at Kildare around 525 and was buried in a tomb before the high altar of her abbey church. After some time her remains were exhumed and translated to Downpatrick to rest with the two other patron saints of Ireland, St. Patrick of Ireland and St. Columba of Iona. Her skull was extracted and brought to Lisbon, Portugal, by two Irish noblemen, where it remains."

But in fact, if this is indeed her skull, not all of it remains there. Wikipedia informs us that a "fragment of this skull was brought to St Bridget’s Church, Kilcurry in 1905 by Sister Mary Agnes of the Dundalk Convent of Mercy." The website of St. Brigid's Parish of Killester, Dublin tells of a portion of St. Brigid's cheekbone that is housed there:

"In 1929 a small portion of St. Brigid’s skull was brought back to Ireland and placed here for the veneration of the people. At the time it came as a great surprise to the majority of Irish people that this relic existed, and that it had been carefully preserved in Portugal, where for hundreds of years the Portuguese had almost made St. Brigid their own.

"The Holy Relic is preserved in an unpretentious church in Lumiar, a small town outside Lisbon. King Dinis had a small convent of Cistercians founded there during his reign, at a place called Odivelas, a few miles outside Lisbon and quite near Luimar.

"In 1276 the Bishop of Lisbon decided to build a church at Luimar and he placed it under the patronage of the nuns at Odivilelas. When King Dinis heard that three Irish knights were bringing St. Brigid’s head to Portugal, he wanted to have it preserved in the convent of Odivelas, but Divine Will decreed otherwise; it was placed in the church at Lumiar, where it remains to this day.

"The three faithful knights remained with the Holy Relic for the rest of their days, and when they died they were interred in tombs let into the wall of St. Brigid’s chapel.
The inscription reads:

Here in these three tombs lie the three Irish knights who brought the head of St. Brigid, Virgin, a native of Ireland, whose relic is preserved in this chapel. In memory of which, the officials of the Table of the same Saint caused this to be done in January A.D. 1283

"A portion of the skull was given to the Rev. Father Traynor of Killester, under seal of the Cardinal of Lisbon, on November 16th 1928 for Killester Church. The Archbishop of Dublin approved it on November 26th 1928, and on Sunday 27th 1929, the solemn ceremony of translation took place."

In January 2012 the relic was removed from the reliquary, which was undergoing maintenance, and locked away in preparation for St. Brigid's Day ceremonies. The reliquary was subsequently stolen; it is only by chance that the relic itself remained at Killester for the faithful.

A short video on YouTube takes us to the chapel in Portugal which houses the larger portion of the skull attributed to St. Brigid. 

Online Study Group Starting: The Rites of Brigid: Goddess & Saint by Seán Ó Duinn

Ani Greenwood will be leading a women's study group of Seán Ó Duinn's The Rites of Brigid: Goddess & Saint beginning very shortly. Ani has been a member of the Daughters of the Flame for twenty years, and a member of a much newer flame-tending group, Nigheanan Brighde, for the last year. Wishing a more active investigation of the aspects and culture of Brigit with her sisters, she has set up a Yahoo group Brigid Study for Flamekeepers, which will commence in mid April.

For more information, please contact Ani through her Yahoo group. To purchase a copy of the book, go to Bookfinder.com (this link leads to The Rites of Brigid at Bookfinder.com).

"We will take the next six weeks to get an overview of the material covered in this book, then reflect on the process in the seventh week, offering feedback, suggestions for going forward and naming any particular learnings we have received in the process.

"My role will be to read - and take the conversation into corners of the book for closer reading of areas that I imagine would be of particular interest for women tending the flame of Brigid either as a solitary, or as part of a flame-keeping group of women, or of men and women...

"Whatever we raise for consideration, we each strive to listen deeply to one another, through asking questions, speaking our truth or observing/comparing what we find in the material to our experience, other reading or observations of nature and culture. Comparisons and observations from outside of the celtic
cultural context are welcome, please identify your sources. Personal gnosis is part of the mix here, and I invite you to speak freely, simply noting when what you are saying is verifiable through studies in archaeology, cultural antrhopology, history, literature, and so on.I would invite anyone with specific
areas of expertise to identify that along the way, or in your introduction...

"I hope that our readings as a group will nurture respect for our diversity of opinion/understanding, respect for the sources based on an understanding of their verifiability, and inspiration for our personal cultivation of Brighid in our lives. I hope we will share along all of these lines in our conversations."

Ghee Lamps for Brigit!

Brass Ghee Lamps
photo by Dushiayanthini Kanagasabapathipillai

This idea comes courtesy of Ogam Bear (of Brigid's Irregulars, a Celtic Reconstructionist Flame-keeping Group found on LiveJournal). Though not traditional, it is a neat idea for devotional flame-tending.

Mael Brigde: I suspect you have discussed this before and I have missed it, Ogie, but I am very interested in hearing more about this. When did you start using butter? How long does a pound of butter burn for, once clarified? What do you strain it with--regular cheesecloth? Very cool idea. Was it your own?

Ogie: On a trip up to Seattle (I believe it was before the trip that I got to meet you), I went with erynn999 to Traveller's for tea. I saw the brass Indian ghee lamps there, and realized they could reasonably be used for Flame-Tending. Unlike the Greeks' and Romans' olive oil, butter was an established part of the Bronze Age Irish diet. While they never actually melted butter down for lamp fuel like the Indians did, they at least had the means to have done so. Using a butterfat lamp ritually, one can have an active devotional practice of actual Flame-Tending (e.g. minding, refueling, trimming the wick). Thus, I decided to buy a small brass ghee lamp and a package of wicks to try it.

Clarifying butter—separating the butterfat from the milk solids and driving off the water—isn't difficult, just time-consuming, and using a slow cooker overnight makes the process very easy.

During a Flame-Tending shift, offer a pound of butter to Brigid specifically for use in a lamp. About an hour or so before bed, put the butter in a slow-cooker (mine is a small 1½-qt one) set on high with the lid on to melt it down. You'll never need to stir. As soon as the butter is melted and boiling, turn the temperature down to low so the milk solids are less likely to burn (ruining it), and remove the lid so the water can evaporate. The next morning, skim the foam off the top, discarding it. With a paper coffee filter in a cone holder set on top of a jar, carefully ladle the hot, clear butterfat into the filter avoiding the milk solids on the bottom. Discard the milk solids. You can store the butterfat unrefrigerated for months.

How much butterfat per pound of butter? I have not measured, but will do so the next time I make it. Irish Kerrygold and Plugra butters have higher fat & lower water contents than most brands and yield more butterfat. A pound of butter gives me enough butterfat for at least three Flame-Tending shifts. Note that butterfat from salted butter will burn with a yellower flame because of the higher sodium content.

Brighid Festival: February in Ontario!

The *Brighid Festival* will be held for the sixth year in Brescia University College, a women's college at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. Running from 15 to 17 Feb, the theme this year is Wisdom, Wildness and Wonder.

The weekend festival is based on the Irish model developed by Woman Spirit Ireland in the early 1990s, and comprises music, dancing, drumming, singing, ritual, and presentations on Brighid and the wider Irish/European connections. Registration is open.

Rates from $265-$295.
Options to attend: Full Weekend or Saturday Only

http://www.brescia. uwo.ca/thecircle /events/brighid_ festival. html

The Circle is also planning a major Brighid Conference in May 2015. What a wonderful opportunity for diverse Brigidines to gather together to learn, celebrate, and befriend one another!

Who, you may ask, is putting this festival on, year after year?

The Circle Women's Centre for Spirituality, Activism and the Earth

The Circle Women's Centre is a program and resource centre for for women in the London community and beyond, and for students, staff and faculty of Brescia University College, Western and King's and Huron University Colleges. 

We offer:

• The opportunity for women to explore their spiritality on their own terms.
• The opportunity to be a part of a spiritual community that is outside of any particular faith or denomination.
• The opportunity for women to be enlightened and enlivened through experiential ritual, education and learning.

We do this through:

• Open Circles - monthly rituals open to all women.
• Public lectures through The Sophia Series at Brescia
• Workshops
• A resource library
• Labyrinth
• Brighid Festival
• Ritual of Re-Membering, commemorating the Montreal Massacre and all women who have suffered due to gender violence.
• MORE Than a Book Sale fundraiser- featuring gently-used books and over 20 local artisans and organisations selling their art, craft and wares.
• Networking with our online community and other women's organizations within London and beyond.

Pre-Order Discount on Brigit: Sun of Womanhood

Brigit: Sun of Womanhood

An anthology edited by Michael McDermott and Patricia Monaghan, scholars and followers of Brigit, featuring writers from Ireland,  Scotland, Canada, and the US.

Publishing date: Imbolc 2013

If you pre-order Brigit: Sun of Womanhood you will receive a special advance purchase price ($15) and free shipping in February 2013.


 http://store.goddess-ink.com/brigitsunofwomanhood.aspx

This of course is the last work of Patricia Monaghan, who died last month.

Anne Ross, Celtic Scholar

I'm a bit late learning of this, but Dr. Anne Ross, who introduced so many of us to Celtic studies and a world very different than our present one, has died. I am grateful to her for her clear, readable style and engaging approach to a subject that was to become a mainstay of my life, partly as a result of her books. She was the author of The Pagan Celts, Pagan Celtic Britain, Everyday Life of the Pagan Celts, Druids: Preachers of Immortality, The Folklore of the Scottish Highlands, and so on.

I will give you some of what I have gleaned from the web, as finding info on her isn't easy online.

****

This is what Amazon.uk had to say, in its note for The Folklore of the Scottish Highlands:

The folklore of the Scottish Highlands is unique and very much alive. Dr Anne Ross is a Gaelic-speaking scholar and archaeologist who has lived and worked in crofting communities. This has enabled her to collect information at first hand and to assess the veracity of material already published. In this substantially revised edition of a classic work first published 30 years ago, she portrays the beliefs and customs of Scottish Gaelic society, including: seasonal customs deriving from Celtic festivals; the famous waulking songs; the Highland tradition of seers and second sight; omens and taboos, both good and bad; and, chilling experiences of witchcraft and the Evil Eye Rituals associated with birth and death. Having taken her MA, MA Hons and PhD at the University of Edinburgh, Anne Ross became Research Fellow in the School of Scottish Studies, Edinburgh. She then rapidly established herself as one of Britain's leading Celtic scholars. Her seminal work is "Pagan Celtic Britain" and she has also published "Druids - Preachers of Immortality" with Tempus Publishing.

From her obituary:

ANNE FEACHEM : Obituary
Published in the Media Wales Group on 1st September 2012 (Distributed in Wales)
This notice has had 794 visitors and has one message and 12 candles.

FEACHEM Dr Anne Ross (Celtic Scholar) Peacefully on Aug 29 at her home, Dr Anne Ross of Felin Gyffin, Llandre, Aberystwyth; beloved wife of the late Richard, dear mother of Charles and the late Berenice. Public funeral service at Aberystwyth Crem-atorium on Tuesday Sept 4 at 11.15am. Further inquiries to C Trefor Evans, Brongenau, Llandre, Aberystwyth. Tel 01970 820013

****

I did find a more personal tribute to Anne from the director of the documentary Heads! (I'm afraid a quick search doesn't bring me any info on the documentary, nor does the blogger/filmaker give either his name or a website, so you're on your own for now.) Follow the first link here to see the original post, with photos:

Anne Ross 1925-2012


It has recently come to my attention that Dr. Anne Ross, one of the central figures of the film Heads!, has died.

I never met Anne. By the time I started making my film, she was sadly suffering from dementia. She appears in archive footage, including a clip of her famous appearance on Nationwide where she spoke of her family’s terrifying experiences after receiving the purportedly cursed “Hexham Heads”. According to her son she could not remember her academic career by this stage. For many British archaeologists, however, it will be unforgettable.

Anne Ross will be best remembered for her book Pagan Celtic Britain, first published in 1967. I have a copy from the 1970s on my shelves, with this gorgeous cover:

It’s a hefty, academic work, and it became a key book in the field of Romano-British studies. But it was also widely read by hippies and freethinkers in the Sixties, who found its portrait of a wild, free, polytheistic Britain resisting the imperial rule of Rome heady despite its measured prose.

Ross was closer in spirit to her unexpected fan base than some of her academic supporters may have liked. She had a firm belief in psychic phenomena, and in her later life she often collaborated with Dr. Don Robins, an inorganic chemist who rose to prominence in the field of earth mysteries. The books she wrote with Robins were criticised by some of her former admirers,

A voluble, erudite woman with a Joanna Lumley-ish accent and a shock of appropriately Celtic red hair, Ross was a natural for television. Here she is in the 1980s BBC documentary series The Celts:

Anne settled down with her husband Richard and their children Richard and Berenice in Wales, where she was living at the time of her passing. She is survived by the junior Richard and, of course, her books, whose impact on the field of Celtic studies is matched only by the fondness with which modern students of the field talk of them.

****

Sincere condolences to her family and friends. Blessings on your journey, Anne.

Prayer Responses to Massacre of Children

The Daughters of the Flame, as many others, were very shaken by the attack on the teachers and children at school in Newtown. We organized a prayer vigil, and members reached out in many ways to others who were affected by the tragedy. I would like to share two prayers here, one which I wrote for our vigil, and one written by Kathryn Price NicDhàna. Kathryn's prayer is accompanied by a photo taken by her.

Prayer for the Grieving

Dear Mother Goddess Brigit
whose own son turned
in murderous treachery
against his mother’s people
and died

You know the grieving of our hearts

Bless us Brigit
in our anger and our shock
in our broken hearted sorrow
Bring healing to those who live
and peace to those who died

Build us whole again
Sing our rebirth
that we may live
in awareness and compassion
on this beautiful
troubled Earth

Mael Brigde

Prayer for Grieving Mothers






















Kathryn Price NicDhàna

Moving Out from Under the Oak (& Brigida Thaumaturga)

A very interesting blog on Irish saints has recently been deleted: Under the Oak, by Brigit, "an Irishwoman interested in the history of the early Irish church and the lives of our native saints". It is not findable by the Internet Archive Way Back Machine. It is gone.

Brigid has begun two new blogs, where some of the old material will be revised and represented, and new material will arrive as well. The new blogs are: Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae, where she will "carry on blogging about the Irish saints", and Trias Thaumaturga, "dedicated to the three patron saints of Ireland. There you will find most of the posts on Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid and Saint Colum Cille which were published" at Under the Oak.

Shortly before the deletion, I happened to do a search of the site and kept a few of her Brigit posts open in a tab to eventually share with you. Here is a little of what she had there: (Note: if you read the comment section below you'll see that the Brigit posts have been largely reposted. The link on the title of the article will take you to its position on the new site.)

A 17th-Century View of Saint Brigid: Brigida Thaumaturga

Brigida Thaumaturga, Brigid the Wonderworker, is the title of a 17th-century treatise on Saint Brigid written by David Rothe, Bishop of Ossory (1568-1650) and published in Paris in 1620. The full title is Brigida Thaumaturga sive Dissertatio partim encomiastica in laudem ipsius sanctae, partim archaica, ex sacra et antiqua historia ecclesiastica, partim etiam parenetica ad alumnos Collegiorum, in qua elucidatur prodigium ligni aridi reviriscantis ex attractu B. Brigidae Virginis, et symbolico sensu accommodatur ad antiquam quod intercesserat commercium inter Galliam et Hiberniam in rebus sacris, literariis, et civilibus, habita in Collegio Hibernorum Parisiense, Kalendis Februarii, die festo ejusdem sanctae. Parisiis apud Sebastianum Cramois sub ciconiis, via Jacobaea. M.D.C.XX.', Brigid the wonder-worker; or a dissertation partly laudatory, in praise of the Saint, partly archaeological drawn from sacred and from ecclesiastical history, and partly also hortatory, addressed to the students of the (Irish) Colleges. In it the miracle of the wood growing green again at the touch of the Virgin Brigid is explained; and symbolically applied to the ancient inter-course between France and Ireland, in things sacred, literary and civil. Delivered in the Irish College in Paris on February I, Feast of the Saint. Published by Sebastian Cramois, under the Sign of the Storks. Rue Saint-Jacques, 1620.' Now, that's what I call a title! Jason Harris of the Centre for Neo-Latin Studies, University College Cork, has made an online edition of the Latin text available here. I don't know of any English translation, but the 1911 paper below, written by Father Patrick Boyle (1849-1933), offers a summary of its contents and a biography of its author. Note that the title contains a reference to the miracle of the wood growing green again at Saint Brigid's touch, this miracle is noted in one of the lessons for the saint's office in the Roman Breviary as well in the Sarum-rite office. Also worth looking out for in the paper is the hymn which Bishop Rothe wrote in praise of Saint Brigid when her intercession delivered him from shipwreck. I have transferred the translation of this from the footnotes into the main text beneath the Latin original. It is most interesting to read of this 17th-century view of Saint Brigid, one which appears to be grounded in hagiographical tradition, for the Bishop sees his patroness as the wonderworking head of Irish nuns, distinguished for her faith and charity, a figure far removed from the goddess, social worker or environmental activist of our own times.

Charm for difficulty in breathing

Charm for difficulty in breathing

“A person who had difficulty breathing might be relieved by ortha an tachtaidh: ‘Seven of the prayers of the Son of God. And seven of the prayers of the two holy women and the angel. And the creed in honour of holy Brighid. O Brighid, come to the help of this poor person!’ At these last words the person saying the charm breathed into the mouth of the sufferer and then said seven Paters, seven Aves and the Credo.”

from Irish Country People by Kevin Danaher, 1966.

Listening Once More to "Welcome Brigid"

Welcome Brigid: mystical and celtic chant and song to the divine feminine, by Katy Taylor, with Amy Fradon and Lynn Margileth.

I mentioned this CD three years ago, with a link to the CD Baby site where you can preview it. But I have just spent a quiet hour listening to it, not as background music as I bop through my day, but really listening to every word. (Though not understanding all--Taylor sings in Irish and Latin as well as in English.)

I just want to tell you again--it is beautiful, prayerful, joyful, wonderful. Both Mary and Brigid are honoured here, with a mixture of traditional and original lyrics, rhythmic chant and high voice. If you haven't encountered it, please follow this link and you will soon learn more.

Patricia Monaghan

I have been hanging on to announce the upcoming release of Brigit: Sun of Womanhood, a Brigit anthology edited by Patricia Monaghan and husband Michael McDermott.

Very sadly, I must announce Patricia's death instead. I will reprint her husband's words here, copied from Agora. 

I am devastated by the loss of my beloved wife and partner in all things, Patricia.  I am also filled with gratitude and love for all the wonderful things said about Patricia.  She has left our lives and yet she will live long.  There is a huge hollow in me and in the life and all the things that Patricia and I did and will do.

She traveled a journey with cancer these last 2 years.  It was a journey of hope and disappointment. It was a journey that included her work, whether it was finishing the paperback version of Goddesses and Heroines, how to strengthen the Black Earth Institute, the decorating scheme for the Wisconsin house after we moved from Chicago, or how to control the temperature in the new root cellar. She was concerned that we had not yet put away the dried beans from the garden. On Friday evening, we were working on editing a manuscript until 11:30 at night.  She died at home in my arms on Sunday morning at 3:45AM.

She didn’t like to be called brave, though she was.  She didn’t at all like being called a force of nature, but she was. She didn’t like it when people said, “How can you do so much?”, but she “did” from morn ’till night.  We would work hard all day on many things and then say, “Well, at least we got a little bit done.”

Patricia was a scholar, artist, spiritual practitioner, and leader and political activist.  She was a gardener and literally a path creator. One of my favorite memories is of her pulling our large honeysuckle bushes in the wet spring soil to create a path in our woods.  This creation she carried into all things, whether leading us to the goddess, to a land ethic, or to the struggle for a more just society.

There will be an informal get together at Brigit Rest (in southwestern Wisconsin) this Saturday, November 17, from 2PM to 7PM.  More like a potluck where in addition to covered dishes, bring memories or mementos of Patricia.  (Bring the covered dish, deserts and libations as well).

A formal ceremony will be held on Saturday, December 1 at Brigit Rest as well.  There will be a service at the Madison meeting hall of the Society of Friends (Quakers), likely the same day.

Let us all honor Patricia for all the things she was and will be.

*************************************************************

You may wish to visit Patricia's obituary at Wild Hunt. For memorial information, go here. 

Brigit's blessings on your journey, Patricia.

The following post is reprinted from Woman Spirit Ireland, the site belonging to The Institute of Feminism and Religion. I reprint it here because it is rare to find instructions on how to actually gather the rushes you use to make Brigit's Cross. See below for the skinny!

(The Institute for Feminism and Religion aims to explore a prophetic approach to feminism and religion, inclusive of many traditions and emerging consciousness in Ireland. We do this by providing opportunities for women to reclaim religion by engaging theoretically and experientially with the issues or feminist theology, ethics, spirituality and ritual.)

Making Brigit’s Crosses 

Merovee Guerin

Tiny Crosses

The traditional cross is made from either field or lake rushes. Made from field rushes, it loses its freshness as it dries. The lake rushes are more sturdy, and the cross a bit bigger. I also found a way to make a cross which looks from the front exactly like the traditional cross but has the advantage to keep its shape when finished. It comes from the Maori tradition. 

Field Rushes

For the Brigit celebrations the rushes are pulled (not cut). One does not need a lot of rushes never more than 40).  So I think it is worth pulling them with awareness.

Place your hand very low on the stem of the rush and pull steadily.  When the rush does not break it has a beautiful white/cream/yellow part which contrasts nicely with the deep green.  I often use this for effect in a cross.

Field rushes are the rushes one can see in any field.  But in February it is difficult to find beautiful rushes as they are often burnt by the gales.

Sometimes one might be lucky and find rushes tucked in the hedge at the edge of a field, or in a low part away from the wind.

In general I go to the forest.  It needs to be low lands forestry.  There are often big ditches in the forestry and there, are the lush rushes which will be pliable.

Wear wellies and gloves.

Enjoy!

Harvesting Lake
Rushes

Lake rushes must be harvested in June or July.  Do not leave too late as they lose their pliability and get spotted.Find a lake with shallow water.  The rushes grow in 2 feet the water.  Cut the rush as low as possible.

I usually bring a rope which floats on the water and keep the cut rushes together. Dry rushes in a well aired area. Turn them from time to time.  Keep away from direct sun.

Store in a dry place.

Before using the rushes I usually lay them in water for a few minutes and wrap them in  plastic to allow the water to soften the outside fibres and make the rush more pliable.

Go with someone.  Someone stays on the shore.

Wear some kind of foot protection.

Have fun.

Traditional Brigit's Cross

Maori Cross

St. Bridget Spirituality Centre

St. Bridget Spirituality Centre of Sherwood, Wisconsin, is an Anglican ministry inspired by Bridget of Ireland, Celtic Christianity, Hildegarde of Bingen, and other sources. Rev. Dr. Ann Barker and Rev. Chrystal J. Reichard offer weddings, religious education, faith formation, and retreat services. With an emphasis on soul companioning and the mind, body, spirit connection, the reverends have much to offer Protestant seekers of a deep spirituality.

"The Brídeog" by Casey Wolf

If you peer up at the top of this page you will see, next to the Home button, a link to a second page where you can read the short story "The Brídeog"  by Casey June Wolf. It tells the tale of an Imbolc visitation to a house with one believing, and one very disbelieving, woman.

This story was first published in  Escape Clause: A Speculative Fiction Anthology, edited by Clelie Rich (2009) and is reprinted by permission. To make it simpler to find I will add the link here.

The drawing used with the story is by E.E. Evans, and appeared on the cover of his book Irish Folk Ways (1957).