Brigid, Goddess of Imbolc

Brigid, Goddess of Imbolc

Goddess of Poetry, Smithcraft and Healing

Brigid ~ Helena Nelson Reed

On February 2^nd, we celebrate Imbolc, the second gateway of the Wheel of the Year. Imbolc is one the four main Celtic Fire Festivals, sacred to Brigid, the Goddess of poetry, smithcraft and healing. She is a goddess of Fire and Water. As Rumi says, “Love is the Water of Life. And a Lover is a Soul of Fire. The Universe turns differently when Fire Loves Water.” Brigid brings this passion to her creativity.

At this 2^nd gateway of the year, we begin to envision what the new Light and energy born at Winter Solstice might become. We are still in the beginning times, so go gently.

Imbolc means 'ewe's milk' because this is the time when spring lambs are born and the mother ewe's milk comes in. The lamb's birth promises returning life and light to the world, despite the snow and frost that still linger in the land. Spring finally arrives at Spring Equinox around March 21^st, when the Light and Dark are equal and the Earth begins to warm up and then fully blossoms at Beltaine on May 1^st. 

 

Since it is still dark and cold outside, Imbolc is also a season of introversion, silence and vision. The unknown spark born at Winter Solstice is beginning to take shape and form. If we envision what this new life is growing to be, we can hold it in our intention and nurture it into being in the spring. This is where our celebration of Ground Hog Day comes from—the ancient prophetic signs in nature were seen and understood. Weather magic and prophecy are just a few treasures of this season.

At Imbolc, Spirit lights us up so we can see the possibilities of our future. Christians call it Candlemas, and we can light candles and make wishes and set intentions, visualizing what we intend to manifest this coming year. It's important to remember that we are here to participate in the world, letting our spiritual light shine out. We have to honor this gift and grace that is offered us by re-dedicating ourselves to our purpose. We have to put in the time and effort to manifest our vision or else the energy gets dissipated and lost. 

 

Since Ibolc is such an introvert festival, it has been associated with women's mysteries, although it speaks to the feminine spirit within both women and men. It's a time to go down to the well of our inspiration and renew our creative spirit. Like the Divine Feminine Spirit, we create our vision in the Imagination/quantum field so it can manifest.

 

Brigid, the Celtic goddess of the fires of the forge and the hearth, of poetry, healing, childbirth, and unity, is celebrated in many European countries. She is known by many names, including that of Saint Brigid who is, perhaps, the most powerful religious figure in Irish history. Her cult was so powerful that the Celtic Christian Church had to adopt her as a Saint, and the Roman Catholic Church followed suit, for her people would not abandon her. Along with St. Patrick, she is the patron Saint of Ireland. St. Brigit is often referred to as Muire na nGael ‘Mary of the Gael’. The name Brigit itself means either ‘Fiery Arrow’, ‘Bright One’, or ‘High One’ in the ancient Celtic language, referring to her solar aspect, as she is a goddess of Light and Flame. 

 

Brigid, Brigit or Brighid (pronounced Breed) is an important Celtic Triple goddess, changing form from Maiden to Mother to Crone. She is the patroness of poetry, healing and smithcraft, all different forms of using the creative fires of life with practical and inspired wisdom. As a solar deity Her attributes are light, inspiration and all skills associated with fire. Although She might not be identified with the physical Sun, She is certainly the benefactress of inner healing and vital energy.

Robert Graves calls her 'the White Goddess' but she's not all sweetness and light—she has her dark side, especially if we don't hold up our part of the bargain. She is a Muse that inspires, but can also be fickle if we prove unworthy of her gift. We must do something with that gift of creativity or we will lose it. 

Brigid of the Woods

 

Brigid is a goddess of natural springs, those magical places on the Earth where sacred and life-giving waters suddenly flow out of the Earth. A gift of Life from Mother Earth. Ireland is full of springs and wells named after the goddess Brigid. As Water deity, Brigid is the patroness of healers, with many healing springs and wells dedicated to Her throughout the British Isles. Symbolically, water is a portal to the Otherworld and a source of wisdom and healing. Water is also associated with psychic ability, music, and poetry. Natural bodies of water were also sacred to her, particularly where three streams joined together. There is a saying that Brigid rewards any offering to her, so offerings of coins were often tossed into her wells...the forerunner of the modern custom of throwing a penny into a fountain while you make a wish. 

 

One of the most popular tales of the goddess Brigid involved two lepers who appeared at her sacred well at Kildare and asked to be healed. She told them that they were to bathe each other until the skin healed. After the first one was healed, he felt only revulsion for the other and would not touch him to bathe him. Angered, Brigid caused his leprosy to return. Then she gently placed her mantle (cloak) around the other leper who was immediately healed.

The story of Brigid's birth says a lot about her powers of vision, hope and new life.

Born at the exact moment of daybreak, Brigid rose into the sky with the sun, rays of fire beaming from her head. She was the daughter of Dagda, the great 'father-god' of Ireland.  The infant goddess was fed with milk from a sacred cow from the Otherworld. Brigid also owned an apple orchard in the Otherworld and her bees would bring their magical nectar back to earth. It is said that wherever she walked, small flowers and shamrocks would appear. 

         As a sun goddess her gifts are light (consciousness), inspiration, and the vital and healing energy of the sun.

         At her most famous shrine Brigid taught humans how to gather and use herbs for their healing properties, how to care for their livestock, and how to forge iron into tools. As for this art of smithcraft, we need both the hottest fires and cooling waters to temper our swords and our plowshares. Both these elements spring from acting with Love. As a goddess of childbirth and protector of all children, she is the patroness of midwifery.

       

           This shrine, near Kildare, was located near an ancient Oak that was considered to be sacred by the Druids, so sacred in fact that no one was allowed to bring a weapon there. The shrine is believed to have been an ancient college of priestesses who were committed to thirty years of service, after which they were free to leave and marry. During their first ten years they received training, the next ten were spent tending the sacred wells, groves and hills of the goddess Brigid, and the last decade was spent in teaching others. Nineteen priestesses were assigned to tend the perpetual flame of the sacred fire of Brigid. Each was assigned to keep the flames alive for one day. On the twentieth day, the goddess Brigid herself kept the fire burning brightly.

           The Christian monastery eventually built upon the site of her sacred shrine continued this tradition and became known as a great European center of learning and culture. Indeed, it was instrumental in preserving much ancient learning and literature during the Dark Ages. 

          The goddess Brigid was also revered as the Irish goddess of poetry and song. Known for her hospitality to poets, musicians, and scholars, she is known as the Irish muse of poetry. So Brigid is the goddess of Bards, musicians and poets, the Muse who inspires. Brigid's fire and water nurtures our inspiration, our ability to 'breath in spirit' which helps us create poetry as well as healing. She is our Muse, who inspires our soul. 

Patricia Banker ~ 3 Brigids

 

Brigid is patroness of poetry and bardic lore as well as bards themselves, who were the oral transmitters of the Celtic culture. This includes storytellers, folklorists, mythologists, balladeers, singers, composers, poets, musicians, particularly harpers, historians and clan genealogists. She provided the ‘fire in the head’ of poetic inspiration. The Bards are the surviving class of the Druids, keeping the ancient traditions alive until the present day. Bards were the honoured guests from cottage to castle, patronized and supported by a network of clientele. The word file – poet, is related to the word faic – to see. Poets are inspired by the Other World, and have the gift of prophecy. 

 

As the patroness of poetry and bardic lore, she is the primal retainer of culture and learning. The bansidhe and the filidh, Woman of the Fairy Hills and the class of Seer-poets, respectively, preserve the poetic function of Brigid by keeping the oral tradition alive. It is widely believed that those poets who have gone before inhabit the realms between the worlds, overlapping into ours so that the old songs and stories will be heard and repeated. Thus does Brigid fulfill the function of providing a continuity by inspiring and encouraging us.

Brigid was also the patron of prophets and seers. She was said to have foreseen the future of Christ when she was his nurse:

Augury
The augury Brigit made for her Foster son (Jesus)
She made a pipe within her palms:
‘I see the Foster son by the well’s side,
Teaching the people assuredly
I set the augury towards the well,
And truly that was righteous work,
The King of kings teaching the people,
Yonder I see Christ, assuredly.

          Water and Fire are both associated with divination. Celtic Seers divine by both looking deeply into water or into the flames.

As patroness of Smiths, Brigid blessed the smith with creativity and vision. Smiths in any tribe were seen as holding a sacred trust and were associated with magical powers since smithcrafting involved mastering the primal element of Fire, molding the metal (from Earth) through skill, knowledge and strength. Concepts of smithcraft are connected to stories concerning the creation of the world, utilizing all of the Elements to create and fuse a new shape. This new creation is also within Brigid's power, for she inspires us to create our life anew each year by opening our vision to our soul's possibilities.

In many ways, Brigid carries the whole blessing of the Celtic psyche—its creativity, vision, memory and power. Brigid represents the sister or maiden aspect of the Great Goddess. She has never been an abstraction but remain inseparable from daily life. The fires of inspiration, as demonstrated in poetry, and the fires of the home and the forge are seen as identical. There is no separation between the inner and the outer worlds. The tenacity with which the traditions surrounding Brigid have survived, even the saint as the thinly-disguised Goddess, clearly indicates Her importance.

Copyright Cathy Pagano 2018