Invoking Brigid
A match flares to life, and a woman’s voice speaks:
In Brigid’s name, I light my flame …
Alone at her kitchen table, she tenderly applies match to candle,
and the twilight-darkening room is illuminated in a golden glow.
Brigid is my protector, Brigid is my maker of song …
Lifting a cup in a ritual gesture,
she sips pure sweet milk in grateful communion.
Brigid is my sword and my shield, Brigid is my guide …
Who is this Brigid so lovingly invoked? To her devotees worldwide, she is goddess, saint, muse, and spirit companion. Brigid crosses the borders of theology, appealing to those who worship in both grove and church, circle and convent. She brings with her the traditions of the past, evolving naturally into the living faith of the present and beyond.
The rekindling of interest in Celtic spirituality in recent years has its roots in many sources: widening acceptance for diversity of beliefs, increased respect for earth-centered traditions, and a longing for connection with ancestral ways. Celtic spirituality is very much an earthly path, connected to the daily and seasonal cycles of time, as well as the timelessness of poetry, creativity, and magic. The supernatural and the mystical have never been lost. The Celtic tradition honors many deities, both local spirits of a particular place and those who bless a wider realm of universal understanding. Of these holy ones, Brigid shines brightest. Her influence is invoked to bless all aspects of life, from midwifery to metalcraft.
I am a priestess and flamekeeper vowed to Brigid. The purpose of this book is to present her as a fiery force in the world today, specifically as an inspiration in the lives of women. Modern devotion to Brigid is a combination of tradition and revision, and that’s as it should be, though perhaps it’s more accurate to say “add-vision” rather than “revision.” I encourage you—and Brigid encourages you!—to add your own lore to the store of knowledge about this goddess who encompasses so much. New aspects of the divine will always be revealed, and faith will always evolve to stay alive and relevant.
I offer ways to weave a daily relationship with Brigid, to bring her into your home, your work, your creativity, and your soul. Some of these are traditional and some are intuitive, drawn from my own experience of knowing Brigid and listening for her guidance. What we know about Brigid isn’t written in stone—or rather, it isn’t written just in stone. It is written in stone, water, and wind. It is written in flame.
My Journey to Brigid
My thoughts, my words,
My deeds, my desires,
My will, my wonder:
I offer all in gratefulness.1
Having a close relationship with the Goddess is a deeply personal and subjective thing. She comes to you in the form that speaks to your heart. She shows you how your life is meant to unfold. This book is about finding out who Brigid is for you, so it seems right to begin with who Brigid is for me.
As a teacher of goddess-centered spirituality, I’ve often watched women search in a conscious way to find a matron goddess. The Goddess, it is said, has 10,000 names, and all her myriad aspects can be bewildering. The idea of having one particular aspect of the Great Goddess who walks beside you on your path is empowering and mystical. For some women, the call is immediate and clear: a goddess’s name is spoken and a deep echo of that name resounds within the soul. For others, different goddesses step forward at different stages of the woman’s life. Artemis leads a young woman warrior into righteous activism. Yemaya sings lullabies in harmony with a new mother. Cerridwen brings wisdom and vision to the transformations of maturity. Inanna stands at the gate of the underworld when the time comes to drop the veils and release the earthly.
When I first became aware of the Goddess in the early 1980s, she came to me as the moon—an ever-changing goddess, light and dark and light again. This resonated with my own restless nature, and the concept of the Triple Goddess, when I learned of her, made sense too. She is Maiden, Mother, and Crone, all in one and separate, and it’s a mystery that can’t be comprehended in any rational way. I like mystery, in the deepest sense of that word. Mystery is the foundation of faith for me—to accept that some things just can’t be analyzed or defended logically and yet are profoundly true. The vastness of the sacred feminine, going back so many thousands of years, filled me with awe. Holding a small replica of the Goddess of Willendorf in my hands, I felt a shiver of recognition.
Having awakened to the Great Goddess of 10,000 Names, I naturally wanted to know some of those names better. Like many women, my first knowledge of goddesses came in childhood with the Greek and Roman myths. Looking at them through adult eyes, it was as if faint pencil sketches suddenly sprang into richly detailed paintings. In particular, Persephone spoke to me. I felt a strong affinity with the pull between her upperworld and underworld aspects. As I grew older, I understood better how Persephone’s descent each year isn’t a punishment or a sacrifice. In the underworld, she is queen. She has a purpose that calls forth her skills and her power. She comes into her own. She offers divine service.
One difference between devotee and priestess is the offering of service. To offer my life in service to the Goddess, however she wished to use it, was the vow I wanted to take as priestess. But like someone who wants a long engagement before the wedding, I waited many years before taking that vow. I heard a whispering around the edges of my consciousness, felt gentle tugs at my sleeve. Some piece was missing, though, something that would snap it all into focus for me.
In the early 1990s, my path came to a crossroads, with significant changes in several realms. To get some clarity, I had a diloggún reading with Yoruba priestess Luisah Teish. Sitting in my living room, her gaze direct and discerning, she said that I was a daughter of Oshun, the orisha of love, beauty, and delights. The oracle declared that I was called to commit myself to the path of priestess, and that Oshun would welcome me into her tradition if I wished. But the first step was to consult my ancestors. Their approval and blessing would be needed if I were to proceed down this path. I was tempted—and terrified. The idea of a strong religious community, of living teachers in a living tradition, was something that had called to me since childhood. Teish and I parted with the understanding that I could get in touch with her if I got the nod from my ancestors.
And here is where Brigid enters the story. I asked my ancestors, and they said without hesitation that I needed to study and follow my own ancestral spiritual heritage, and not go haring off in such a wild pursuit of something sparkly in the distance. (They know me well.) So, I asked, what is that heritage then? You’re already following it, was the reply. You just don’t know its roots. Paganism, Wicca, earth-based worship, magic, divination, the yearning for mystery that had been pulling my soul-boat along all these years—these were all found in Celtic spiritual traditions. And the Goddess? She was there too, and in such powerful aspects that to merely say her names was a chant of awesome power: Áine, Danu, Cailleach Bheur, Ériu, Banba, Macha, the Mórrígan, Epona, Dea Matronae, Arianrhod, Rhiannon, Cerridwen.
Brigid.
There she was, the Triple Goddess of my earliest love for the sacred feminine. A goddess who changed in aspect, who had her finger in so many pies that even my restless nature could never be bored. A goddess who blessed, comforted, strengthened, fed, inspired. A goddess who was present in the most homespun tasks and in the eternal mysteries of transformation. A goddess of words, by which I earned my living. A fire goddess. A water goddess. An earth goddess. It was as if she had always been there, but I just hadn’t seen her.
Now it felt like the most natural thing in the world to take vows for life as her priestess. She whispered a new priestess name that means “oak of Brigid.” She guided me to get oak leaf and Celtic spiral tattoos, permanently marking me with her symbols. She inspired me to work with metal in creating goddess rosaries. She told me to create a sisterhood of priestesses who were all in sacred service, each in their own way.
In other words, she told me to get busy—because Brigid is all about doing, not just being, though the being is vital as well. When the time came, she told me to get busy writing this book. And here we are.
About This Book
Among her many attributes, Brigid is a goddess of poetry. In the ancient Celtic sense, this wordcraft encompasses history, lore, ancestral memory, charms, and prayers. Poetry is the path of creative imagination, moving from thought to thought as if following a line of Celtic knotwork, in and under and through and back to the beginning again. This is the path I follow in these pages.
Chapter 1, “The Source of the Flame,” introduces the goddess Brigid and her people, the Celts, and tells the tale of Saint Brigid, which may surprise you a bit.
In the next three chapters, you’ll come to know Brigid through three aspects of her sacred flame:
• Hearth: The Welcoming Flame opens the door to receive Brigid into your home, to protect and make sacred all the activities of everyday life. Food magic, hospitality, and house-blessing are some of the ways Brigid keeps your home fires burning.
• Temple: The Devotional Flame explores Brigid’s allies, seasons, symbols, and sacred places. You’ll meet Brigid’s sister goddesses, both Celtic and worldwide, and learn about the timeless custom of flamekeeping and other ways you can offer your devotion to Brigid within the temple of your heart.
• Forge: The Transforming Flame shares ways in which Brigid transforms and inspires through craft and creativity, healing of body and spirit, the power of words, and tempering your skills into personal excellence.
The final chapter, “Tending Your Flame,” brings it all together and celebrates your connection with Brigid and her place in your world.
I’ve invited nineteen wisewomen to add their thoughts about Brigid—nineteen for the priestesses who each tended Brigid’s flame in one-day shifts. On the twentieth day, the Goddess tended the flame herself.
It is my hope that you will know Brigid not only as a goddess to be worshiped but as an anam cara, a soul friend. Brigid stands in this world, and the Otherworld, and between the worlds, and in all aspects of life, wherever she is made welcome. Let us begin to welcome her now.
1. Adapted from verse 42 of Alexander Carmichael, ed., Carmina Gadelica, a collection of folk prayers and incantations.