Dearest Brigid, who can be summoned with many names. Brighid, Bride, Bridey, Brigit, Brigantia or even Saint Brigid of Kildare. Goddess of fire and flame, possibly the most powerful and well known of all the Celtic pantheon. Her mythology takes many paths and over the centuries has changed as different stories become enmeshed with each other. Her many faces through time are often contradictory but show a fascinating web of connectedness.
Brigid is associated with the element of fire, in all its aspects and glory. The many facets of this element and how it interacts in our inner and outer worlds.
As the Goddess of inspiration she is the fire inside of us all. Our inspiration, poetry and vital energy; the force that moves us forward towards our goals. Our inspired wisdom and skill, all stem from this fire within, and Brigid is the goddess who tends it.
As the Goddess of smith-craft and healing , she gives the ability to mold fire and bend the element to our will.
Smith-craft as always been associated with magick and the supernatural, and blacksmiths were held in high regard throughout the Celtic world as were the healers and their skill and ability to save those around them.
As Goddess of the forge, she oversees justice, law and order, and the attribution of punishment. She protects the rights of women and upholds the peace as a warrior with her fiery arrow and offers strength and protection to any who fight for justice.
But perhaps the most important aspect and certainly the most well known is of Brigid who brings the Sun.
The festival of Imbolc has been celebrated for centuries. It was especially important in the budding agricultural world of the Celts; where a long winter could mean death and starvation. Imbolc is celebrated on the first days of February, half way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The animals would begin to calve and the mothers milk would begin to flow. As the Crone releases her grip on the Earth, the plants would begin to grow once more. The celebration of life returning and of Spring on its way is the celebration of Brigid; as the maiden arriving and as the great mother welcoming it in.
This festival day is still celebrated throughout the Celtic world today and is also celebrated as Candlemas in the Christian world. Our Goddess Brigid became St Brigid of Kildare, patroness of Ireland and the Mother of Saints. A fire was kept burning in her honour for hundreds of years at her convent in Kildare.
Whichever way you choose to honour her; as Goddess or Saint, Brigid is the fire that burns within us, the fire in our hearths and the fiery sun in the sky. She will forever bring you light and warmth on your journey if you but let her in,
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