A snippet from Erin nighean Brìghde's Imbolc Advent 2018. (For the whole post, click here.)

Imbolc Advent 2018

Brighid’s return is immanent once again!  Gabhaim Molta Brìde!  All Praises to Brighid!

I want to sink into the contemplation and mysticism of the season, feel it work on my soul, and guide my spirit.  I consider myself to be practicing a mystical path, meaning that I find my greatest sense of spiritual ecstasy through direct communion with the deity who guides me, who is Brighid.  It is understanding that spiritual guidance can be given through communion, insight, intuition, meditation, contemplation, signs, deep readings, poetry, song, music, chant, dance, nature, solitude, and silence.  It is a simple practice of showing up and being present, listening and watching, digesting and reflecting, committing and enacting, and yet is difficult to encapsulate, describe, or discuss.  In my contemplative mystical practice, I seek to go beyond the outward-directed worship of deity, and also beyond the passive reception of prayer petitions into the realm of active participation in the mysteries by reaching out soulfully to them, finding them within me, and listening for guidance in enacting them in the world with my body, mind, and spirit.  I am feeling called to participate in the mysteries of Imbolc and Brighid, and so follow the ancestral path of myth and folklore to take me to the Well of Memory, searching for Imbas, inspiration, in how to enact this participation...

Posted on January 14, 201

"Saint Brigid of Kildare Life, legend and cult" by Noel Kissane

Ooh! I have not heard of this book before. But here it is, for you to ogle.

Saint Brigid of Kildare

Life, legend and cult

---

Noel Kissane

Despite being the female patron saint of Ireland and one of the most remarkable women in Irish history, St Brigid has always been an elusive figure. Some scholars have argued that she never existed as a real person but was merely the Christian personification of the cult of a pagan goddess of the same name. This book reviews all the evidence – history, legend and folklore – and concludes that while she has many of the attributes of the goddess Brigid, she was certainly a real person. The book also reviews her cult and veneration in Ireland and overseas, from her lifetime down to the present day, as attested by placenames, holy wells and folklore, and also by the large numbers of churches (Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland), schools and GAA clubs dedicated to her.

Noel Kissane worked in the National Library of Ireland for over thirty years, where he held the positions of Education Officer and Keeper of Manuscripts. His doctorate was for his edition of the Metrical Life of St Brigid. His previous books include The Irish face (Dublin, 1986), Parnell: a documentary history (Dublin, 1994) and The Irish famine: a documentary history (Dublin, 1996).

Saint Brigid of Kildare, Life, legend and cult by Noel Kissane, Four Courts Press (2017).

Paperback €22.45

ISBN: 978-1-84682-632-0
June 2017. 360pp; ills.

Tooting My Horn

I know I have posted a couple of times about this upcoming conference and you have likely gotten the message, but I got a great surprise when I read the introduction to today's post featuring yours truly. So I thought I would share that with you.

Land Sea Sky Travel shared a link.

5 hrs · Stone Mountain, GA, United States · 

Our most requested presenter was by far Mael Brigde. We were so tickled when she said yes to our request to join our conference. We've been itching to work with her for a good fifteen years or so since I first experienced the beauty of a Brighid Flame Tending practice. Can't wait!

Kindling Brigit's Flame

On Imbolc 1993, Mael Brigde launched the first modern Brigidine flame-tending group outside of the Catholic Church—the Daughters of the Flame. In her class she will speak of her own path with Brigit and her experience of leading a multi-faith group of women devoted to Brigit. She will touch on the history of Brigidine flame-tending, ancient and modern, and will address issues connected to modern flame-tending. These span the practical: how not to burn the house down while I’m asleep? to the personal: how do I come to know Brigit? to the ethical: how do we represent our understanding of Brigit to the world?

Mael Brigde will discuss the importance and difficulty of discovering the roots of various assumptions about Brigit, such as the origins of her perpetual flame, and how new understandings may at times challenge our beliefs. She will address how her changing understanding of Brigit affects her devotion and practice.

Finally, she will talk about the way flame-keepers care for each other as part of their practice, and speak to her priorities in tending both the flame and flame-keepers. We will have the opportunity to sing two Brigidine chants together, and there will be a chance for participants to express their intentions and uncertainties around flame-tending and starting a flame-tending group.

Mael Brigde's Bio: 
Mael Brigde is the founder of the Daughters of the Flame, a Brigidine flame-tending group which lit its first candle on Imbolc, 1993. She has since then only grown in her devotion to and appreciation of Brigit, and in her devotion to the women and men who follow Brigit. Mael Brigde began writing poems and prayers to Brigit very early on and has collected many of these in her upcoming book, Sun Among Stars: Poems & Prayers to Brigit of Ireland. She began publishing a general interest Brigit blog in 2004 (Brigit’s Sparkling Flame), and a Brigit poetry blog in 2015 (Stone on the Belly). She launched a major review of Brigit-related books in 2010 (“A Long Sip at the Well”), and in 2015 wrote “The Mythical Pairing of Brig and Bres: Its Origins and Meaning in Cath Maige Tuired (Revised)”. Both of these papers are available for free download through Brigit’s Sparkling Flame or Academia.edu. Mael Brigde lives in Vancouver, Canada.

You can find Mael Bridge at:
Here on Facebook: Mael Brigde

Website: http://www.obsidianmagazine.com/DaughtersoftheFla…/index.htm

Her Blog: http://brigitssparklingflame.blogspot.com

Images:

Carol Burnett By NBC photo by Elmer Holloway-stamp is faint. (eBay item photo front photo back) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Oak Leaf by Pria Graves

Internet home of the Daughters of the Flame

Daughters of the Flame: Keeping the perpetual flame for the Goddess Brigit

OBSIDIANMAGAZINE.COM

"Brighid: Her Flame Burns Brightly" Registration Now Open

Land Sea Sky Travel

15 hrs · Stone Mountain, GA, United States · 

Land Sea Sky Travel is delighted to announce that registration is now open for our upcoming online conference, Brighid: Her Flame Burns Brightly.

Pricing
$40 USD - Land Sea Sky Alumni
$40 USD- Before January 15th, early bird special!
$50 USD- After January 15th

Additionally, a Conference Pass is available for $325USD, which provides access to all eight conferences. This offers an overall savings of $125USD, since our Beltane and Samhain two-day conferences are $75USD each.

Scholarships Available
To apply for a scholarship, please email us a note, including why this conference is important to you, and what you hope to get out of it. There is no need to provide financial reasons for needing a scholarship. You may apply to other conferences in the future, even if you have received a scholarship from us in a past.

Wisdom of the Ages
To help us honor and host the youngest and eldest voices in our community, this conference is free to individuals under 21 and over 71 at the time of the conference. Please email us and ask for your Wisdom Of The Ages Pass. You may attend as many of our 2018 Year With Our God conferences as you wish on this pass.

Viewing Parties
Viewing Party passes for groups are a cost-effective and fun way of attending. Passes are $100USD for up to 10 people, and $200USD for larger groups. Each guest receives a Digital Download Welcome Packet, as well as a recording of the conference. Plan on gathering your guests together to watch the conference in person on a single screen. To take advantage of this, please send a separate email, including a list of your guests with their respective email addresses.

What's Included
Your registration gets you into our all-day online conference, held on Zoom, to watch our five

"Keepers of the Flame Twenty Day Vigil & Journey with Goddess Brighid" with Heidi Wyldewood

Upcoming at Imbolc: a self led course for women that will appear in your inbox a bit at a time over the twenty days. All I know about it is what you see here.

This is from the "About" page:

Heidi Wyldewood is facilitator of healing journeys, mentor, priestess, walker between the worlds and a sacred activist.  She is a keeper and creatrix of wild medicine and womb wisdom traditions, living life from the heart, often with the soles of her bare feet on Mother Earth.  Her main areas of interest and understanding, which she weaves into her sharings, are Goddess traditions; womb wisdom, both ancient and new; Toltec, Inkan and Celtic shamanism; symbolism within fairy tale, myth and folk lore; Earth Magick; yogic philosophy; mysticism, female empowerment and sacred sexuality...

...Heidi is the creator of the Brighid Path Essences, the founder of the New Forest and Southampton Red Tent and currently the UK Coordinator for the Worldwide Womb Blessing.  She is also the author of the Red Thread Journal.

Barefoot Heartsong

with

 Heidi Wyldewood

ReMembering               EmPowering               TransForming

embracing the cycles of earth, sun, moon and womb  

walking the wild, wise way

Mentoring, healing and education for women - teachings born of indigenous shamanic practice, earth magick and womb wisdom traditions

Join Heidi Wyldewood and Lou Hayden as they follow the tradition of priestesses keeping vigil over a Sacred Flame, the flame of Brighid.  Take a sacred journey with her, alongside a circle of sisters, learning some of her history, her symbols, songs and wisdom.

This self led course for women will deliver to your inbox throughout the days of vigil, inspiring you with meditations, songs, prayers, writing and self inquiry prompts, and crafting in a mixed media format.  You will also be guided though the Fire and Water of the Three Cauldrons for personal insight, transformation and awakening.  

This course also contains two energetic transmissions, one at each end of the course.  The first one

Update on Brigid Conference

From Land, Sea, Sky Travel: an update on their upcoming Brighid conference:

Land Sea Sky Travel‎A Year With Our Gods: Brighid

Like This Page · 10 hrs · 

 

Hold tight, registration is still on the way! Did you know along with entrance into eight hours of classes from amazing presenters such as Morgan Daimler,Mael Brigde Lora O'Brien - Irish Author and Gemma McGowan you will also receive a digital download welcome pack with prayers, videos, photos and chants to Brighid and other Irish deities along with special discounts and offers from businesses on Brighid goodies? It's true! We are so excited about our digital download packets.

Our Lady of Multiple Personalities

A couple of comments made by participants in one of my Brigit courses triggered a new understanding of how Brigit can help us today.

Many survivors of trauma, particularly childhood trauma, have learned to cope with their mental and emotional injuries by dissociating, by disappearing from a particular emotion, moment, memory as best they can. Sometimes this manifests as more than one personality to deal with the varied pressures of life.

One of the conundrums that faces many Brigidines is the question of who exactly is Brigit. Is she a goddess who became a saint? A saint reinterpretted as a goddess? A single goddess with three aspects (of smith, healer, and poet), or three goddesses, three sisters overseeing each of these arts, as the 9th century text Sanas Cormaic tells us?

Instead of this being a problem which must be solved or lived with in some way, this can be a beacon to those of us who struggle with past traumas in ways that invite us to split off from ourselves. For it is clear today that this powerful saint and these powerful goddesses, though unique and very different from one another, reside together in a single phenomenon that bestows much good on our world.

So to Brigit, Our Lady of Multiple Personalities, I give thanks and praise. To each Brigit, solid and real in herself, I give praise and thanks.

Blessings.
Mael Brigde



Notes:

eMentalHealth.ca has a useful page on dissociation, it's symptoms and treatments.

from the site of International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation:

What is dissociation?

Dissociation is a word that is used to describe the disconnection or lack of connection between things usually associated with each other. Dissociated experiences are not integrated into the usual sense of self, resulting in discontinuities in conscious awareness (Anderson & Alexander, 1996; Frey, 2001; International Society for the Study of Dissociation, 2002; Maldonado, Butler, & Spiegel, 2002; Pascuzzi & Weber, 1997; Rauschenberger & Lynn, 1995; Simeon et al., 2001; Spiegel & Cardeña, 1991; Steinberg et al., 1990, 1993). In severe forms of dissociation, disconnection occurs in the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception. For example, someone may think about an event that was tremendously upsetting yet have no feelings about it. Clinically, this is termed emotional numbing, one of the hallmarks of post-traumatic stress disorder. Dissociation is a psychological process commonly found in persons seeking mental health treatment (Maldonado et al., 2002).

Dissociation may affect a person subjectively in the form of “made” thoughts, feelings, and actions. These are thoughts or emotions seemingly coming out of nowhere, or finding oneself carrying out an action as if it were controlled by a force other than oneself (Dell, 2001). Typically, a person feels “taken over” by an emotion that does not seem to makes sense at the time. Feeling suddenly, unbearably sad, without an apparent reason, and then having the sadness leave in much the same manner as it came, is an example. Or someone may find himself or herself doing something that they would not normally do but unable to stop themselves, almost as if they are being compelled to do it. This is sometimes described as the experience of being a “passenger” in one’s body, rather than the driver.

There are five main ways in which the dissociation of psychological processes changes the way a person experiences living: depersonalization, derealization, amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration. These are the main areas of investigation in the Structured Clinical Interview for Dissociative Disorders (SCID-D) (Steinberg, 1994a; Steinberg, Rounsaville, & Cicchetti, 1990). A dissociative disorder is suggested by the robust presence of any of the five features.


Image: Triple Goddess by Mael Brigde (1990).

‎A Year With Our Gods: Brighid, An Online Conference with Land Sea Sky Travel

I ought to have posted about this conference already (oops--ball dropped) but I now have even more reason to do so: I am delighted to announce that I have been invited to be one of the presenters.

To stay on top of developments, follow the Facebook page or sign up for Land, Sea, Sky's mailing list at www.landseaskytravel.com.

From the Facebook page:

Land, Sea, Sky Travel is pleased to announce we will be hosting a series of online conferences, A Year With Our Gods: An Online Polytheist Conference in 2018. Over the course of the year, we will be hosting an eight-part series focusing on the holy days, equinoxes and solstices, each holding a specific theme relevant to Irish and Welsh Polytheists. 

Brighid: Her Flame Burns Brightly.
Our first conference is devoted to Brighid and Imbolc and will be online, Saturday, January 27 from 10:30AM-8:30PM EST. The conference may be accessed from any phone, tablet, or computer.

The conference will provide a balanced mix of hands-on, devotional, and experimental practice with academic and lore-based studies. In addition, a chat room will be provided to facilitate building friendships and meeting others interested in Brighid. Our keynote speaker is Morgan Daimler, author of Pagan Portals Brighid, and she will be making the main presentation, Imbolc & Brighid: Old Beliefs & Fresh Views.We are also pleased to have two Native Irish women, Lora O'Brien - Irish Author, and Brighid Priestess Gemma McGowan. Two other speakers will be announced soon.

To help make it accessible to all participants, especially those who cannot commit to attending the full eight hours, a recording of the entire conference is included. Participants will also receive a digital welcome pack with exciting content from each of our presenters along with other offerings from polytheist groups and polytheist or pagan run small businesses. During the conference, we will be giving away items such as Kindle books, tickets to a future conference in this series and other exciting surprises. If you own a pagan business and would like to be involved with our Welcome Packet or Give-Aways please get in touch. We are looking for quality groups and businesses to work with.

Pricing and registration will be available no later than January 1, 2018. Like and Follow this event page for updates or join our mailing list atwww.landseaskytravel.com Full and partial scholarships will be offered for the conference along with group viewing party discounts. Registration will be offered for free to individuals under the age of twenty-one and over the age of seventy-one.

Conferences will be held in accordance with Our Hospitality Statement

http://www.landseaskytravel.com/hospitality/

Pause (Brigit, Thanks)

I am loving spending time online answering the comments people are leaving on my Brigit courses.

Every time I am caused to slow down and contemplate her and her connection in our many lives, to reflect on her aspects or stories that have such meaning and provide inspiration and guidance, I feel as though any cliff I may be walking close to seems more like a stunning vista then a threatening brink. Every time I read how she has touched others and what they have done with their insights and inklings, I well up with happiness.

Thank you for your blessings, Brigits, sisters and saint!





Image: St_Birgit_Nieuwegracht_Utrecht (by Brbbl [CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

The Name Of Brigid, by Hugh de Blacam

The following is an interesting contemplation of the use of the name Brigit in Irish communities, from the 1942 book The Saints of Ireland: The Life-Stories of SS. Brigid and Columcille by Hugh de Blacam.

Digression: a reader made the following remark, which prompted a reply from me, a point I think is important, about what is correct and not correct when pronouncing Brigit's name.

Thank you for posting this! I've always been pronouncing her name "bridjid"...oops.

Remove

Mael Brigde I don't think it's a mistake to pronounce it Bridget--that is what almost every Irish person says when speaking English. Language changes, and where Hugh would like to turn the clock back, it isn't going to happen. We also have to be careful, those of us who are non-Irish nationals, not to come off holier than thou (Irisher than thou?), which is how it can sound if we insist on older Irish pronunciations and usage, and of course there are many other regional forms of the name, such as Ffraid in Wales. I use the Brigg-it pronunciation because I read this piece a long long time ago, and I wasn't expecting to have anyone hear me say it so there would be no worries about it. But I have to admit it is a bit of an obstacle for me now. I don't want to change it, because I have been saying it for so long, but it irks my Irish friends, and I am not happy about that. So by all means carry on with whatever usage you like. There is no right way, and they all have their up and down sides.

Like

 · Reply · Just now

To which I received this response, also useful info:

Erin Nighean Brìghde Agreed. I would also note a couple other things. One, among the Irish, pronunciation might differ depending on location and dialect anyway, so is not standard, and two, the Scottish and Ulster Irish (to loop back to #1) often write the name, Brìde, which they pronounce, BREEDJ-uh (and is how I spell and say her name, and I say it this way also when spelling it Brighid, or maybe just say BREEDJ.).

SAINT BRIGID: THE MARY OF THE GAEL

Chapter II - BORN IN BONDAGE 1. The Name Of Brigid Until the past half-century, every Irish family had a Patrick and a Brigid. These were the most common names in Ireland throughout the Penal days, when the race bound itself to its persecuted tradition by constantly invoking Patrick, Brigid, and Columcille. Nowadays, Patrick is the second most common man's name in Ireland. The late Rev. John Woulfe, author of the standard work on Irish names and surnames,[1] analysed a baptismal list of 1000 children in County Limerick. In this list, there were 94 Johns and 65 Patricks, with Michael as the third commonest name (51), and William as the fourth (43); Colum did not appear at all, since the name of the third Irish Patron long since has fallen into neglect, save in Columcille's native Donegal. The list, in respect of girls' names, showed Mary 150 times, for our Lady's sacred name is borne by the eldest girl in virtually every family. Margaret came next (75), then Catherine (45), Nora (40), Johanna or Siobhan (35), and Brigid only sixth, with 30 baptisms, the same number as Julia, and only five more than Elizabeth and Ellen, which numbered 25 each. The decline in the popularity of the long-beloved name of Brigid is due to the corruption of the name into the undignified Biddy in the anglicised nineteenth century. In times when what we call the stage—Irish tradition was in vogue, "Irish Paddy" and "Irish Biddy" were figures of fun, symbols used in anti-Irish caricatures by the ill-bred, and it needed the Gaelic revival of the present century to restore the associations of the name which once stood in such high honour. Another circumstance told against the Irish name. In the Penal age and far into the past century, the English-speaking world knew virtually nothing of the saint, whose written records were locked up in the unprinted, forgotten old Gaelic books, and whose traditional memory was cherished only in the secret world of Gaelic speech, by a race that lacked schools, printing press, political freedom, and worldly respect. Accordingly, when there was any mention of St. Brigid in the English-speaking world, it was common to confuse her with St. Bridget of Sweden, who died in 1373; it often happened, for example, that people seeking holy pictures of St. Brigid were supplied from Germany with images of the Scandinavian saint through the ignorance, in continental centres of ecclesiastical art, of the existence of any other saint of such a name. The Scandinavian spelling came into vogue; and Irish children were called Bridget, when the intention was to name them after Brigid. Apparently, the pronunciation of Bridget with a sound came in with the Swedish spelling. It is not agreeable, and the beauty of the Irish name suffered. The Irish name ought to be pronounced with a hard ; that is, as "Brigg-id," not as "Bridjit." In its most ancient form, the name was spelt with a final t, Brigit, and was Latinised Brigitta. From an early time, however, and down the ages, it was spelt Brigid; Latin form, Brigida. However, the complicated matter of orthography is not ended at this point; for in Modern Gaelic—the language as spoken for the past seven centuries—the becomes silent, and the name usually is spelt in Gaelic Brighid ( Brighde), with a pronunciation "Bree-id." From this it will be seen how Kilbride and St. Bride's are derived. Accordingly, in writing English we adhere to Brigid as the correct historic and literary form. Let us pronounce it "Briggid," although we often hear people nowadays, under the influence of the revived Irish language, saying "Breeid," which is, as we have shown, fully permissible. In Munster, the pronunciation "Bride" has come into use, and often the name is written Bride, instead of Brigid. Since this development is native and natural, we can make no objection to it, and would be glad to find children christened Bride as well as Brigid, whenever a due respect for our saint is recovered. The colloquial pet form is not the ugly Biddy, but Bridie... Endnote:

1 Rev. P. Woulfe, Irish Names and Surnames (1906).

Quoted from The Saints of Ireland: The Life-Stories of SS. Brigid and Columcille by Hugh de Blacam (1942).

Image: 'Pilgrim's prayer, from St. Brigid's well, Near Buttevant, County Cork, Ireland.' by Alison Cassidy. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.

___________________________________

Well, I can't agree that the form "Biddy" is ugly, but I can understand why the writer thought so—how often we reject words that have come to symbolize our own or another's oppression. Now that I am aging up a bit, I think I shall adopt the word "biddy" to refer to myself. I am an old biddy, daughter of Brigit, and proud of it!

Image: Great Expectations: 'Pip and Biddy sitting on a bank in the Marshes', by John McLenan.  License: John McLenan   [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Live Online Church Services at St. Brigid's, Newry

If you would like to attend a mass at Saint Brigid's Cathedral in Newry, Northern Ireland, but can't manage to get there, you can view via live weblink. Or you can peek in now and look at the font and the altar and see if anyone is in there cleaning the monstrance.

Church Services.

St. Brigid's Newry

Main Avenue Newry , BT35 6EY

Telephone

+44 28 3026 2586

Website

http://www.newrycathedralparish.org/churches/5-st-brigids.html

Email

office@newrycathedralparish.org

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