“Becoming Mary of the Gael”: a Note on the Paper (& Other Works) by D.A. Bray

“Becoming Mary of the Gael” was published in MEDIEVALISTS.NET: WHERE THE MIDDLE AGES BEGIN  – APRIL 19, 2013

The Celtic Studies Association of North America Annual Meeting – The University of Toronto, April 18-21, 2013

Dorothy Ann Bray (McGill University)

The second paper of the opening session moved away from archaeology and towards religious devotion and saint’s cults. Dorothy Ann Bray presented a paper on the background of St. Brigit’s association with the Virgin Mary in Ireland. St. Brigit is often represented as the Virgin Mary in Irish worship – this paper explored the reasons behind this phenomenon.

Texts offer a lengthy eulogy of the saint. This term, “Mary of the Gael”, has been firmly attached to St. Brigit. The Middle Irish version is based on an even earlier version and there is long tradition comparing St. Brigit to the Virgin Mary,

‘A fair both, fair dignity which will come to thee thereafter from thy children’s descendants, who shall be called from her great virtues truly pious Brig-eoit; she will be another Mary, mother of the Lord.” (‘The Old Irish Life of Saint Brigit’, Irish Historical Studies 1:2 (1938): 348)

Brigit has had a constant, insistent comparison to Mary but only in vernacular texts. The first instance appears in a ninth century biographical hymn. Naming of Brigit as the Mother of Jesus is bold and audacious but this has not received much mention by scholars. Bray has not found any women outside of Ireland so closely associated with Mary as Brigit. There was nothing heretical or especially devious about it but Bray wondered, ‘How did this arise?’. The assertion of Brigit as the mother of Christ was explained in 1955 as an Irish convention of symbolically sharing in motherhood. However, this doesn’t explain why other Irish saints are not associated with the mother of God. Some saints are associated as a sister but not Mother.

What about the laity? They would be the most likely audience of these hymns. When the cult of Mary in Ireland began is indeterminate but there is an indication that there was worship of Mary as early as the sixth century in Ireland and that a cult was well in place by the seventh century. Devotion to Mary carried Eastern influences; she was often referenced to the Queen of Sheba. Sheba became interpreted as a kind of Mary. In the East, she is celebrated more as the Queen of Heaven, in the West, she is worshipped more as the Mother of Christ. Jerome, Augustine and other theologians reinforced Mary’s role as a mother. Augustine grounded his thoughts on Mary in scripture, and the new “Eve” was the Church, not Mary. Under the influence of Ambrose, Augustine regards Mary as a model disciple. The emphasis on Mary as the Mother of Jesus is in line with earlier medieval views of martyrology. Most hymns to Brigit were heavy on praise and light on biography and in Latin hymns she is described “like” Mary but not taken to the complete level of identification as in Irish texts. Mary as the Mother of Christ was a powerful symbol in Irish devotion.

Related articles of interest by D. A. Bray:

• Bray (Dorothy Ann):, "Secunda Brigida: Saint Ita of Killeedy and Brigidine Tradition." In: Cyril J. Byrne, Margaret Harry, and Pádraig Ó Siadhail (eds.), Celtic Languages and Celtic Peoples: Proceedings of the Second North American Congress of Celtic Studies held in Halifax August 16–19, 1989, 27–38. Halifax 1992.
• Bray (Dorothy Ann): "Saint Brigit and the fire from heaven." In ÉtC 29 (1992), pp. 105-113.
• Bray (Dorothy Ann): "Further on white read-eared cows in fact and fiction." In Peritia 19 (2005), pp. 239-255. On the possible association  of the red-eared fairy cows of the Irish Otherworld and the wild cattle of Chillingham. 
• Bray (Dorothy Ann): "Ireland's other apostle: Cogitosus' St. Brigit." In CMCS 59 (Summer 2010), pp. 55-70
• Bray (Dorothy Ann): "The Vita prima of St. Brigit: a preliminary analysis of its composition." In Narrative in Celtic Tradition (2011), pp. 1-15
• A pithy review of Christina Harrington's Women in a Celtic Church, Oxford University Press, 2002. This review includes reference to other important Brigit papers of recent years. Published in the Medieval Review.
• The full text of "The Image of St Brigit in the Early Irish Church" may be found at the Monastic Matrix site. The Image of St. Brigit in the Early Irish Church in Études celtiques (1987). 24 (1987): 209-215.
• For a fuller list of her publications, click here. 

The Door Into the Dark: Memories of an Irish Smithy

The Forge

All I know is a door into the dark.

Outside, old axles and iron hoops rusting;

Inside, the hammered anvil’s short-pitched ring,

The unpredictable fantail of sparks

Or hiss when a new shoe toughens in water.

The anvil must be somewhere in the centre,

Horned as a unicorn, at one end and square,

Set there immoveable: an altar

Where he expends himself in shape and music. 

Sometimes, leather-aproned, hairs in his nose,

He leans out on the jamb, recalls a clatter

Of hoofs where traffic is flashing in rows;

Then grunts and goes in, with a slam and flick

To beat real iron out, to work the bellows. 

Seamus Heaney

1969

The other evening I was listening to a podcast from RTÉ.ie (Raidió Teilifís Éireann) which reminded me of Brigit, and thus of you. She was not mentioned, but one of her areas of expertise was the basis of the story: smithcraft. 

The Door Into the Dark, a fifteen minute excerpt from a longer documentary by  MaryAnn Vaughan, shares the memories of Pat Vaughn, Co. Waterford, of his father's forge, which closed in 1992. I enjoyed it so much I put images to it and saved it as a video to share with you all. If you like it, you might check out some of the many other shows at Documentary on One: 

'Documentary on One is the home of Irish radio documentaries and the largest library of documentary podcasts available anywhere in the world. We tell stories in sound, mostly Irish ones, and each documentary tells its own story.'

BLACKSMITH SHOP

I liked the bellows operated by rope.
A hand or a foot pedal – I don’t remember.
But that blowing and blazing of fire!
And a piece of iron in the fire, held there by tongs,
Red, softened, ready for the anvil,
Beaten with a hammer, bent into a horseshoe,
Thrown in a bucket of water, sizzle, steam.
And horses hitched to be shod,
Tossing their manes; and in the grass by the river
Plowshares, sledge runners, harrows waiting for repair.
At the entrance, my bare feet on the dirt floor,
Here, gusts of heat; at my back, white clouds,
I stare and stare. It seems I was called for this:
To glorify things just because they are.

–Czesław Miłosz

Translated by the author and Robert Hass

For those who want more, there is a truncated but interesting documentary on the Tradition of Blacksmithing in Ireland at Audioboo. (The intact portion is 86 year old Eamon Madden, master blacksmith from Athenry, interviewed by Ella McSweeney.)

"Think at the forge, work at the anvil."

"A blacksmith's children are not afraid of sparks." (Danish proverb)

Hymn to Brigit & Brigit Candle Cross-Stitch

The original version of this hymn is a prayer to God, not Brigit, collected by Alexander Carmichael in the Carmina Gadelica. I came across it in Esther de Waal's book on Celtic Christianity, Every Earthly Blessing, and was much moved by the text. In my efforts to memorize my modified version to use as a prayer on rising each morning, a tune began to attach itself to the phrases. I offer it to you now with a collection of images, mostly from old postcards and archival photos, but also including:

• images from the website of the Brigidine sisters of Australia
• hearth drawings by E. Estyn Evans
• the Solas Bhride hearth (photo by Erynn Laurie)
• Judy Chicago's Saint Bridget plate from The Dinner Party
• my own very humble clay crèche of Brigit, her cow, and the triple flame
• a Brigit candle cross-stitch design by Donna Amaral of the Daughters of the Flame
• a painting of a Renaissance woman blacksmith by Francesca Miller
• a photo of friends drumming around the fire in Haiti
• Mayra Gomez carrying Brigit's flame (from the AFRI website)
• a woman blacksmith in Sulawesi

I include Donna Amaral's cross-stitch pattern here. Please credit her wherever you may use it. Donna was an early and dedicated member of the Daughters of the Flame whose generosity and joy were a great inspiration and support to all who knew her. Her death was a great loss to us all.

I will kindle my fire (Brigit Song)

I will kindle my fire this morning

in the presence of Brigit and her holy women.
Brigit kindle in my heart within
a flame of love to my neighbour
to my foe, to my friend, to my kindred all
to the brave, to the knave, to the thrall.
Without malice, without jealousy
without envy, without fear
without terror of anyone under the sun.

For the original words, collected by Alexander Carmichael, see the Comment section below.

Brigit Quilts

The previous post shows a parish kneeler with a St Brigit design on it. Discovering this craft has led me to search online for quilts made in honour of Brigit. Here is what I found.

From the site of the International Quilt Festival in London, Ontario, this vast and beautiful depiction of Brigit and her world from an unnamed church in Wexford, Ireland. Click on the  photo below for a larger image--it's too complex to take in at this size.

Next, a phoenix-inspired Goddess/Saint Brigit from American fibre artist Catherine Marie, who attempts "to interweave Goddesses into (her) own birthright of Catholicism (a challenge!)."

She says, "St. Brigid and Brigid the Goddess reside together in this large quilt. I depicted her with phoenix feathers, because her eternal fire, though first doused with the turbulent meeting of paganism and Christianity, has been resurrected, presently being tended by the Brigidine sisters of Kildare.

"This quilt was given to a friend who was battling cancer with a courageous and focused resolve.  I was hoping, in my own sense of helplessness, that the quilt could warm her as it’s image reminded all of us that there is a new beginning after the flames.

"I then thought that it could be a good image for a prayer wallhanging.  The work on that wall hanging is covered in an earlier post:  Bridging Paganism and Christianity with Brigit."

Here is the wall hanging:

C. Neely created a small, found-art quilt made from lacy fabric, a holy card and medal, ribbon and buttons--an inspiration for those of us who would like to make our own fabric celebrations of Brigit.

And for the traditional quilter, this lovely "Cross of Saint Brigit" pattern can be found in Colorful Quilts: 12 easy and fun designs by Sharyn Squier Craig, Christiane Meunier, and Others.

Wonderfully, Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur hosts a blog dedicated to saintly quilt patterns, and offers a free download of the St. Brigit block below:

Tina Cockburn made a lovely Saint Brigit's quilt:

Angie Quinby has a number of Imbolc quilt blocks at this link.

... There were more yet! Just dig around and you will find them.

Oh! How could I forget this one, by Barrie Maguire?

Parish Kneelers--Works of Art for Prayer

Perhaps everyone else in the world has always known of them, but I discovered the world of parish kneelers only recently, at St James Anglican Church in Vancouver, BC. Their small side chapel has about forty burnished oak chairs, each with a small stool tucked in underneath them. They aren't footstools, they are kneelers--pulled out when needed and pushed out of sight when not.

Each one has a beautiful hand-stitched emblem over the padded top. Inspired by these, I looked on the internet to see if I could find any stitched in honour of St Brigit. I found this one (actually two of the same pattern):

Both may be seen in person at All Saints Church, Monk Sherborne, Hampshire, in the south of England.

The site which displays this and many other Welsh and English kneelers--Parish Kneelers--is a clear labour of love. There you can learn how to make your own, where to find others, and so on. You can even upload photos of your own kneelers, should you make them.

Enjoy!

Schedule of Events for Today's Brigit Book Launch & Arts Festival

Hello All!

Today's the big day! Looking forward to seeing some of you tonight for the Brigit 
book launch and arts festival.

I have put the schedule of presentations with presenter bios and info about 
presentations on the Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/events/563309347032827/?fref=ts

and on Life Force Arts Center's website calendar: 
http://www.lifeforcearts.org/site/calendar/icalrepeat.detail/2013/05/11/5517/-/
brigit-sun-of-womanhood-book-launch-a-arts-festival-

Feel free to share!

Also, if you can't make it tonight but would like to purchase the book online 
(cost is $16.95):
http://store.goddess-ink.com/index.aspx

Any other questions/comments, please ask.

Hail, Brigit! 

Joan

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.