Brigid: Saint and Goddess.

In Kildare, Ireland’s town square, a perpetual flame is kept lit and housed in a statue that pays homage to the Pagan and Christian conceptions of Brigid. Festivities for La Feile Bride in Kildare started on January 29th and will continue through February 5th.

Here are a collection of quotes on this holiday.

“Perhaps on this Imbolc, Brighid will ignite some fire in me that will illuminate ways in which I can better align myself with the rhythms of the earth. Perhaps I will see in the mind of my heart some memory of a simpler time; an ancient world that my spirit belonged to, and still belongs to. Perhaps when that happens I will think of the ewe, and the newborn sheep, and I will see in them something true about the world, about myself, and about the Great Mystery to which we all belong.” - Teo Bishop

“Brigid is a time to honor how the potentialities hidden in the year to come, potentialities that can with skill and wisdom be transformed into what is visible.  If we are uncertain as to what they are (and how can we not be?) we can invoke Her in whatever aspect seems most appropriate, and ask Her to help them manifest in a good way, and as gently as possible.  But if the blows from Her hammer within the forge are mighty ones and Her fires overwhelmingly hot, know it may take such blows and such heat when the material to be shaped into its inner promise is strong and perhaps also recalcitrant.” - Gus diZerega

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“Brigit’s holiday was chiefly marked by the kindling of sacred fires, since she symbolized the fire of birth and healing, the fire of the forge, and the fire of poetic inspiration. Bonfires were lighted on the beacon tors, and chandlers celebrated their special holiday.” - Mike Nichols, The Witches’ Sabbats

“The fire of Brigantia was both the fire of fertility with the earth and the fire of the sun, which gradually gained in strength as the days lengthened. The lighting of bonfires or candles was an expression of magical encouragement to the sun, as well as a sign of rejoicing at the more abundant light. Traditionally, Imbolc marked the point after which it would no longer be necessary to carry a candle when going out to do early morning work.” - Alexei Kondratiev, The Apple Branch: A Path to Celtic Ritual

“I’d sit with the men, the women of God, There by the lake of beer, We’d be drinking good health forever, And every drop would be a prayer.” – Saint Brigid’s Prayer

Many blessings to you this holiday! Be sure to check out the seventh annual Brigid in Cyperspace Poetry Reading in your travels around the web tomorrow, I’ll see you by the lake of beer!

Brigid: Saint and Goddess.

In Kildare, Ireland’s town square, a perpetual flame is kept lit and housed in a statue that pays homage to the Pagan and Christian conceptions of Brigid. Festivities for La Feile Bride in Kildare started on January 30th and will continue through February 6th.

Here are a collection of quotes on this holiday.

“This weekend marks a turning point in the Celtic year. February 1st is the festival of Imbolc, announcing the arrival of new life: never more needed, and never more welcome. The whole month of February is also called Mí na Féile Bríde (Month of the Festival of Brigit). In Celtic myth, Brigit was goddess of poetry, healing and smithwork: in Christian history she was an abbess and saint. Her traditions are preserved today in ritual, story, artefacts and her Christian Lives stories.” – Mary Condren, The Irish Times

“Lichtmesstag (or ‘light mass day’), originated from pagan customs. It harks back to the Celtic festival of Imbolc, celebrated on February 1 in honour of the goddess Brigid, who supposedly dealt with purification and fertility at the end of winter. People then marched in a procession with torches to fields to ask the goddess to cleanse them. In Luxembourg, children walk the streets in small groups with their candles and self-made lanterns. Today, though, they use electric bulbs on their candles instead of real flames.” – 352 LUX MAG

“In the northern hemisphere the time around February 1-2 is a potent time. On the Celtic wheel of the year it is Imbolc (meaning “in the belly” and also refers to the lactation of the ewes), which is one of the cross-quarter days falling between the Solstice and the Equinox. Imbolc marks the first day of spring in Ireland, the time when the very beginning of earth’s stirrings and awakenings from winter can be witnessed. As the days slowly lengthen and the sun makes her way higher in the sky, the ground beneath our feet begins to thaw. The earth’s belly softens and the seeds deep below slowly rumble in the darkness. New life is getting ready to sprout forth.” – Christine Valters Paintner, Patheos

“Candlemas” is the Christianized name for the holiday, of course. The older Pagan names were Imbolc and Oimelc. Imbolc means, literally, “in the belly” (of the Mother). For in the womb of Mother Earth, hidden from our mundane sight but sensed by a keener vision, there are stirrings. The seed that was planted in her womb at the solstice is quickening and the new year grows. Oimelc means “milk of ewes”, for it is also lambing season.

The holiday is also called “Brigit’s Day”, in honor of the great Irish Goddess Brigit. At her shrine, the ancient Irish capitol of Kildare, a group of nineteen priestesses (no men allowed) kept a perpetual flame burning in her honor. She was considered a Goddess of fire, patroness of smithcraft, poetry, and healing (especially the healing touch of midwifery). This tripartite symbolism was occasionally expressed by saying that Brigit had two sisters, also named Brigit. (Incidentally, another form of the name Brigit is Bride, and it is thus she bestows her special patronage on any woman about to be married or handfasted, the woman being called “bride” in her honor.) – Mike Nichols, The Witches’ Sabbats

“I’d sit with the men, the women of God, There by the lake of beer, We’d be drinking good health forever, And every drop would be a prayer.” – Saint Brigid’s Prayer

Many blessings to you this holiday! Be sure to check out the sixth annual Brigid in Cyperspace Poetry Reading in your travels around the web tomorrow, I’ll see you by the lake of beer!

Brigid: Saint and Goddess.

In Kildare, Ireland’s town square, a perpetual flame is kept lit and housed in a statue that pays homage to the Pagan and Christian conceptions of Brigid. Festivities for La Feile Bride in Kildare started on January 31st and will continue through February 7th.

Here are a collection of quotes on this holiday.

“The earliest whisperings of Springtide are heard now as the Goddess nurtures Her Young Son. As a time of the year associated with beginning growth, Imbolc is an initiatory period for many. Here we plant the “seeds” of our hopes and dreams for the coming summer months.” – Witchvox

“Imbolc is associated in Ireland and Scotland with Bríd the mythological woman whose nineteen nuns tend the eternal fire at Cill Dara. The sacred fire is associated with Uisneach, the omphalos or spiritual bellybutton of Ireland-as-goddess, and it was there that Bríd is said to have taken the veil. Imbolc is one of four seasonal holidays in the Celtic world with Halloween (Samhain), Bealtaine and Lughnasadh.” – Brendan Patrick Keane, Irish Central

“It seems crazy that a fire Goddess be the alternative name for Imbolc.  But at least for coastal Caifornia, She might be the perfect patron for what this season signifies.  Looking around at the rushing streams, moss growing everywhere, and leaden skies, one could scarcely guess that much of California’s landscape is dominated by fire, by the fact it burns regularly, and that dousing the burns simply guarantees they will be all the worse when they come again.  As they will.” – Gus diZerega, Beliefnet

“One of the nicest folk customs still practiced in many countries, and especially by Witches in the British Isles and parts of the U.S., is to place a lighted candle in each and every window of the house (or at least the windows that face the street), beginning at sundown on Candlemas Eve (February 1), allowing them to continue burning until sunrise. Make sure that such candles are well seated against tipping and guarded from nearby curtains, etc. What a cheery sight it is on this cold, bleak, and dreary night to see house after house with candlelit windows! And, of course, if you are your coven’s chandler, or if you just happen to like making candles, Candlemas Day is the day for doing it. Some covens hold candle-making parties and try to make and bless all the candles they’ll be using for the whole year on this day.” – Mike Nichols, The Witches’ Sabbats

“I’d sit with the men, the women of God, There by the lake of beer, We’d be drinking good health forever, And every drop would be a prayer.” – Saint Brigid’s Prayer

Many blessings to you this holiday! Be sure to check out the fifth annual Brigid in Cyperspace Poetry Reading in your travels around the web tomorrow, I’ll see you by the lake of beer!

Brigid: Saint and Goddess.

In Kildare, Ireland’s town square, a perpetual flame is kept lit and housed in a statue that pays homage to the Pagan and Christian conceptions of Brigid. Festivities for La Feile Bride in Kildare started on January 25th and will continue through Febrary 3rd.

Here are a collection of quotes on this holiday.

I see and smell the first fragrant scents of spring——the yellow acacia beginning to bloom. Gradually if we walk slowly and quietly we’ll notice the subtle changes occurring in nature, here and there in the plant kingdom. Humanity needs fire festivals during the gray, wet, rainy, snowy days of winter, to chase away doldrums and light deprivation. On Feb. 2 we have Candlemas and Imbolc (pronounced Im-bolk). Both Candlemas and Imbolc are fire festivals…lighting the darkness, offering humanity hope. February 2nd is also the midway point between winter solstice and spring equinox – Risa D’Angeles, Esoteric Astrology

As with all quarter days e.g. mid summer solstice and Halloween it was customary for customs, festivities and rituals to be enacted and these have remained an unbroken folk tradition in practice in many west of Ireland’s rural communities. One such enduring tradition marking the 1st of February are the distinct strawcraft folk rituals associated with Brigit who symbolically on the same date deposes the goddess of winter thereby marking the beginning of Spring. Loved by young and old is the fashioning of various Brigit crosses, 3 armed, four armed, diamond and interwomen which occur in pre historic stone carvings throughout Europe where they are understood to be ancient symbols of the life giving earth mother goddess. – The Fermanagh Herald

Happy Imbolc 2009! “Again, we banish winter; Again, we welcome spring!” The Wheel has turned once more, and brought us to the next holiday of the Pagan Year, Imbolc, February 2nd. A day directly between Yule and Eostre. Pagans call the day the first day of spring, since it is the time that the first sprouts show through the snow. This day is the centerpoint of the dark half of the year. – Terry Smith, The Town Talk (Louisiana)

…the history of Groundhog Day is far more complex than what it has become: a staged event in which poor Phil is observed in the glare of television cameras so our local meteorologists have a cute sound byte and a brief close-up of his blinking, bewildered groundhog face, a yearly ritual that appears on the morning news. The origin of Groundhog Day is derived from earlier celebrations held on the cross-quarter day of February 2, dates variously known as Brigid’s Night in Ireland (festival of the Celtic goddess of poetry, birth, weddings, smithcraft, and healing), Oimelc/Imbolc/Imbolg in Scotland, and Candlemas in England. The cross-quarter days (Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasa) were always associated in ancient times with divination–the veil between the worlds is believed to be its thinnest, and the balance of energies between solstice and equinox was thought to be very significant. – Peg Aloi, “You Call It Groundhog Day, We Call It Imbolc”

“Candlemas” is the Christianized name for the holiday, of course. The older Pagan names were Imbolc and Oimelc. Imbolc means, literally, “in the belly” (of the Mother). For in the womb of Mother Earth, hidden from our mundane sight but sensed by a keener vision, there are stirrings. The seed that was planted in her womb at the solstice is quickening and the new year grows. Oimelc means “milk of ewes”, for it is also lambing season. – Mike Nichols, The Witches’ Sabbats

“I’d sit with the men, the women of God, There by the lake of beer, We’d be drinking good health forever, And every drop would be a prayer.” – Excerpt from “Saint Brigit’s Prayer”

Many blessings to you this holiday! Be sure to check out the fourth annual Brigid in Cyperspace Poetry Reading in your travels around the web tomorrow, I’ll see you by the lake of beer!

Brigid: Saint and Goddess

In Kildare, Ireland’s town square, a perpetual flame is kept lit and housed in a statue that pays homage to the Pagan and Christian conceptions of Brigid. Festivities for La Feile Bride in Kildare started on January 25th and will continue through Febrary 3rd.

Here are a collection of quotes on this holiday.

“Bridget, the ancient Celtic Goddess of Poetry, Healing and Smithcraft was highly revered by our ancestors, and honoured at Imbolc (Feb. 1), a holiday marking the birth of the tribe’s sheep, essential for their milk, meat and wool. It was said that the ocean became warm on that day as Bridget, also associated with fire, put her hand into the water. At Imbolc, she was welcomed into the family home, and many wonderful customs were maintained when she was later venerated as St. Bridget, the daughter of a druid. She is much beloved in Ireland and Scotland, her powers as Goddess and saint interwoven still.” – Sharynne NicMhacha

“Before Candlemas there was, indeed, the Celtic festival of Imbolc (pronounced IMolk) meaning ‘in the belly,’ as in a pregnant ewe, but also symbolic of the earth right before spring. It is associated with the goddess Brigid, who some say became St. Brigid, whose feast day is Feb. 1. Imbolc was much concerned with fertility and weather prognostication. According to Gaelic folklore, the hag goddess Cailleach would gather firewood on Imbolc. If she intended to prolong winter she would make the day bright and sunny, the better to gather firewood. If Imbolc turned out overcast, it meant that Cailleach was asleep in her den and that there would be an early spring. Sound familiar?” – Daniel Deagler, The Morning Call

“Brigid’s protection of agriculture and poetry underscores the need to tend our inner fertility. Tending our forms of creativity is crucial to a fulfilling life. The ancients believed that gifts of expression were only on loan. We are reminded to remain grateful, and to be good custodians of artistic talents.” – Jonathan Young, The Center for Story & Symbol

“Although Carolyn Deby has named her new performance Imbolc (in the belly), the choreographer said she’s not trying to transplant a Celtic festival to the West Coast. She’s interested in exploring how the eternal rhythms of life, death and birth celebrated by pagan Celts affect multicultural urban Vancouverites. ‘I’m interested in how people see themselves as part of the natural world,’ Deby said.” – Kevin Griffin, The Vancouver Sun

“I call it Candlemas. Some people call it Imbolc. And for me it’s the start of spring, which is not most people’s understanding of when the season starts. Candlemas is celebrated on Feb. 1 and 2, and here in Seattle the first buds are on the trees and the first green shoots are coming out of the ground already, so there are really very clear signs that something is changing. I also like to use it as a new beginning time, so instead of doing New Year’s resolutions on Jan. 1, I wait until Feb. 1, and then make some kind of intention – that I’m either going to symbolize in a collage or a pledge that I’ll make to myself. For me it’s really the start of a new year.” – Waverly Fitzgerald, The San Francisco Gate

“I’d sit with the men, the women of God, There by the lake of beer, We’d be drinking good health forever, And every drop would be a prayer.” – Excerpt from “Saint Brigit’s Prayer”

Many blessings to you this holiday! Be sure to check out the third annual Brigid in Cyperspace Poetry Reading in your travels around the web today, I’ll see you by the lake of beer!
]]> http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2008/02/happy-imbolc-2.html/feed 1 http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2007/02/happy-imbolc.html http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2007/02/happy-imbolc.html#comments Thu, 01 Feb 2007 16:19:00 +0000 Jason Pitzl-Waters http://patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2007/02/happy-imbolc.html Tonight and tomorrow is when most modern Pagans celebrate the fire festival of Imbolc sacred to the goddess Brigid, patroness of poets, healers, and smiths. Today is also the feast day of Saint Brigid of Ireland patron saint of poets, dairymaids, blacksmiths, healers, cattle, fugitives, Irish nuns, midwives, and new-born babies.

Brigid: Saint and Goddess

In Kildare, Ireland’s town square, a perpetual flame is kept lit and housed in a statue that pays homage to the Pagan and Christian conceptions of Brigid. Festivities for La Feile Bride in Kildare started on January 26th and will continue through Febrary 3rd.

Here are a collection of quotes on this holiday.

“Tonight we prepare for the visitation of Bride. She comes tonight to bring us tidings for the rest of this year. We are gathered here to honor the Goddess of Poetry, Healing, and Smithcraft. She is daughter of the Dagda, guardian of our hearth and home, an inspiration to poets and a healing Goddess who hangs Her cloak on the rays of the sun.” – Danielle Ni Dhighe, La Fheile Bride (Imbolg) Ritual

“Imbolc is rooted in an old British festival dedicated to Brigid, a Celtic goddess who later was canonized as a Christian saint. The day heralds the coming of spring and new life. It is marked by sharing of food with friends, spring cleaning and the lighting of candles.” – The State (South Carolina)

“Brigit’s holiday was chiefly marked by the kindling of sacred fires, since she symbolized the fire of birth and healing, the fire of the forge, and the fire of poetic inspiration. Bonfires were lighted on the beacon tors, and chandlers celebrated their special holiday.” – Mike Nichols, The Witches’ Sabbats

“Though we can’t see it through the cover of white, at Imbolc we know the spring bulbs have sent runners into the earth, that the ice floes on our lakes and rivers have begun to thin and move, and that the first of the young animals due in spring have been born. Many Wiccans celebrate this holiday as a group by standing in a dark room, with one small candle flame lighting their way, each Wiccan then lights their candle from that flame, until everyone in the room is bathed in the great light of their community’s bounty. Prayers are said for a gentle spring, and that stores of food and money, greatly depleted by the festivities of the winter solstice, last long enough to be supplemented by the first crops.” – Kaatryn MacMorgan, Beliefnet

“I’d sit with the men, the women of God, There by the lake of beer, We’d be drinking good health forever, And every drop would be a prayer.” – Excerpt from “Saint Brigit’s Prayer”

“I think of the approaching festival of Imbolc, the midwinter fire festival honoring Brigid, and I picture the beautiful Irish goddess up there beside her sister the Moon, also wrapped in a white gossamer cloak, both of them aglow from the cold air…offering us their gifts of healing and hope as we wait for a brief respite from the single-digit temperatures, a thaw, a day or two when the snows melt away, the buds tremble with incipient growth and all living creatures feel a small, fiery flutter deep within our beings, as we whisper, gladly, ‘Spring will come again! Spring will come again!’” – Peg Aloi, Witchvox

Many blessings to you this holiday, meet you by the lake of beer!
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