This post follows rather belatedly on the earlier reviews of children's Picture Books, etc. When I have completed the Sixth and final series (Academic/Popular Academic) I'll pin them all to the Pages tab below the title banner, in order to make them more accessible to later readers. In the meantime you can find the previous reviews and introductory material at these links:
Brigit Reviews (Series Five): Nonfiction, Neo-Pagan
Candlemas: Feast of Flames,
Amber K and Azrael Arynn K (2001) Llewellyn Publications
“The Well of Her Memory” in Red-Haired Girl from the Bog,
Patricia Monaghan (2003) New World Library
‘‘Imbolc—Brigit”, Alexei
Kondratiev, in Devoted
to You, Judy Harrow (2003) Citadel Press
Brighid’s Healing: Ireland’s
Celtic Medicine Traditions, Gina McGarry (2005) Green Magic
Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom,
Erynn Rowan Laurie (2007) Megalithica Books
Brigid: Goddess, Druidess and
Saint, Brian Wright (2009) The History Press
Brighid and Me: Experiences with
the Goddess, Hollee Swann, ed. (2010) copyright Helen Roberts Hollee Swann
Brigit: Sun of Womanhood, ed.
Patricia Monaghan and Michael McDermott (2013) Goddess Ink
Pagan
Portals—Brigid: Meeting the Celtic Goddess of Poetry, Forge, and Healing Well,
Daimler, Morgan (2016) Moon Books
Introduction
We have a mixed bag in this category, some excellent,
some I don’t recommend at all, and some I recommend with certain reservations.
A few of these reservations crop up repeatedly, in particular the failure of
authors to cite their sources and the mixing of fact with guesswork—their own
or that gleaned from other writers.
A useful guideline for dealing with one sub-category
of the latter problem can be found in the concept of UPG. (See below.
) It is a variation on a basic principle of nonfiction writing: only present as
fact what can be established as such. Represent your own ideas and those of
“the popular mind” as what they are. This does not make them less
important. Insight and innovation nourish our growing appreciation of and
connection to Brigit in the modern world. Delineating between our own ideas and
defensible traditions simply allows each individual to draw their own
conclusions, in possession of as much clear, and clearly sourced, information
as possible.
The Ks’ book, Candlemas, suffers from a lack of citations—there
are some but not many and they aren’t all useful—making it frequently
impossible to check their statements. It also suffers in offering unproven
assumptions as fact, particularly annoying when they are in doubt or disproven
elsewhere. Despite this it is a lovely jumping off point for thinking about
Brigit and the festival, with lots of warmth, imagination, and ideas for
celebration, Neo-Pagan-style.
Monaghan’s essay, “The Well of Her Memory”, offers a
well written and interesting personal perspective on Brigit and her modern
celebration in Kildare. A couple of her statements, again not cited, are
dubious, however, and I would verify elsewhere any new ideas you find here that
you want to embrace.
Kondratiev, too, at times presents imagination as fact in
‘‘Imbolc—Brigit”. Yet he does have a good background in Celtic studies and it
is a pleasure to imagine along with him. He offers numerous ways to celebrate a
Neo-Pagan Imbolc, as well. Worth the read.
I can’t speak to McGarry’s herbal information, which may be solid, but,
despite her obvious goodwill, as a book about Brigit or Celtic tradition Brighid’s
Healing: Ireland’s Celtic Medicine Traditions is very unreliable. Nor does
it have much obvious to offer around actual Irish herbal traditions. Not
recommended.
Laurie has done an excellent job in Ogam: Weaving
Word Wisdom. This book is not specifically about Brigit, but she appears
frequently in its pages, placed to an unusual degree in the context of the
Celtic mindset from which she emerged, and the Neo-Pagan landscape in which she
now finds herself. It is well-footnoted and carefully distinguishes Laurie’s
own ideas from tradition, offering modern innovations and explaining how they
adhere to or differ from what is known of the beliefs and values of the Celts.
Despite some interesting photos and tidbits, I
can’t recommend Wright’s Brigid: Goddess, Druidess and Saint. Instead of
distinguishing his hypotheses from known facts, he puts forward his own
imagined history, unsupported by evidence, quite forcibly as reality, thereby
giving a very misleading picture of things.
Swann has put together a nice little pamphlet of
personal essays by various Neo-Pagans on their relationship to Brigit in Brighid
and Me: Experiences with the Goddess. I like it, and was pleased to be
asked to write an essay for it, so I leave it to you to decide if I am biased.
I’m going to cheat and not actually review Monaghan and McDermott’s Brigit: Sun of Womanhood.
It was published after the writing of the other reviews here, which have been
long delayed in publication due to health issues in my life. Rather than delay
yet longer as I read and review Sun of
Womanhood I will say only that it
exists, and that it is a collection of largely Neo-Pagan writings, though there
are offerings from Christians as well.
Daimler’s Pagan Portals: Brigit is a short (112 pg.) and very focussed look
at the goddess Brigit. If you can afford only one book about Brigit, this is
it.
Useful Terms:
When discussing books written
by authors of a spiritual bent, the terms UPG, SPG, and CG can come in very
handy.
UPG
(Unsubstantiated Personal Gnosis): Information gained through meditation,
intuition, visions, etc., which cannot be substantiated by lore or research but
is usable in the individual’s practice. Labelling as UPG helps prevent
misunderstandings about verifiable sources and preserves intellectual honesty.
“UPG” specifically indicates beliefs arrived at via mystical means, not ideas
or intellectual conclusions reached from academic research.
SPG
(Shared Personal Gnosis) — A mystical vision and belief shared by a number of
people.
CG
(Confirmed Gnosis) — Substantiating evidence for UPG or SPG may later be found
in the lore, rendering it CPG (Confirmed Personal Gnosis). These instances are
highly valued, and have served to bolster individual and community faith in the
Deities, spirits or ancestors from whom the information was received. Instances
of CG are also very important in that over time they help us learn to
distinguish true imbas from imagination. (Imbas is the
Old Irish word for “inspiration.” In Modern Irish it is spelled iomas. )
Distilled
from the CR FAQ (available online or in book form.)
Click
below to read the reviews.
Ogma was a brewer, and so was Goibhniu, the smith god. Brigid
was also a brewer, and there a many references to the consumption of beer in
medieval Celtic texts. In that context the recent find that six specially
constructed ditches previously excavated at Eberdingen-Hochdorf a 2,550-year-old
Celtic settlement, were used to make high-quality barley malt, an essential
beer ingredient. (You may recall Hochdorf as a principle Celtic site, where
among other important finds in the museum is the grave of the Hochdorf prince.)
On Imbolc, 1993, the Daughters of the Flame lit a fire in honour of the Goddess Brigit and the saint Bridget, modelled after the perpetual fire which once burned in Kildare. We share the task of tending the flame, on a twenty day rotation; each woman tends the fire in her own way, so that it is a solitary devotion linked to the devotions of a larger group. On the twentieth day the Goddess Herself keeps the flame alive. Instead of burning in one grove, temple, or monastery, it burns on personal altars, desks, and picnic tables in countries east and west, south and north.
The reasons for rekindling are many. It is a celebration in our own lives of Her triple aspects of poet, healer, and smith. It is one effort to address the need for a global network of magical prayer, with special emphasis on some of the traditional concerns of Brigit. These include peace and reconciliation, sharing of wealth so that all will flourish rather than protecting wealth for a few, guarding the land and the creatures which nourishes us and share our lives, being tender with and caring for ourselves and each other. It touches on the need of individual women for a focus and a community through which to develop our personal spiritual practice, to reduce isolation and aid in developing our thought and learning while maintaining the autonomy of working as a solitary, if that is what we prefer or how we find ourselves due to life circumstances. It is, however, very much a self-motivated discipline, both in terms of tending the flame and in connecting with others in the group.
* "A full bibliography of the genre is too vast for footnoting, but the trend is best represented by Caitlin Matthews, The Elements of the Celtic Tradition...and Peter Beresford Ellis, Celtic Inheritance..." She then lists a large number of "works with a specific Christian outlook" beginning with Esther de Waal's Every Earthly Blessing: Rediscovering the Celtic Tradition.
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