IMBOLC 2020 A JOURNEY WITH BRIGHID
Imbolc or Brighid’s Day, celebrated on February 1st, is one of the four cross quarter Gaelic festivals on the Celtic Wheel. It is associated with the East direction, the element of air, the Rowan Tree and the waxing moon. In Christianity it is celebrated as the feast day of St. Brighid. It falls between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox marking the beginning of Spring and the time when the Goddess Brighid returns from her long journey through the underworld. This year Ashwini Nakshatra will rule the day, a nakshatra related to healing and the awakening of consciousness which seems really synchronistic.
The word imbolc means “ in the belly” and there is a stirring of new life, a promise of renewal, of hidden potential, of earth awakening and life-force emanating that is palpable during this time. The baby lambs are getting ready to be born, the buds are beginning to appear. It is the feeling of dreams and of new beginnings, a time to let go of the past and focus on the future and inspiration. In ancient times this would have been celebrated on Lunar Imbolc (full moon 2/8) as they followed the Moon Calendar in those days.
Brighid is a Triple Goddess (Maiden, Mother & Crone all in one but separate) and during Imbolc she is in her Maiden phase. She is a goddess of healing, poetry, smith craft, midwifery, fire, the hearth & home and she brings fertility to the land. On this festival day it is common in Ireland to weave Brighid’s Crosses (four arms represent the 4 directions and the 4 sacred tools mentioned below) from Reeds and hang them above the threshold of your home. It is also custom to hang or tie a blue cloth or ribbon known as a Brat Bhride ( Bridhid’s Mantle) on a tree outside of your home on Imbolc Eve (January 31). It was said that during the night Brighid would bless the cloth and it would be used for fertility and for curing illness in the coming year.
Brighid is the only Goddess to continue on, after Christianity came to Ireland, and become a Saint. She is a faery goddess and one of the Tuatha De Danann, ancient mystical race of Ireland and tribe of the Mother Goddess Danu said to arrive in Ireland from Atlantis in 3000 BCE. This magical race, that many of us descend from, brought with them 4 sacred tools, the Sword of Truth, the Sphere of Light, the Cauldron of Plenty and the Stone of Destiny which sits atop the Hill of Tara today reminiscent of the Shiva Lingam.
It has also been said that Brighid is the light born of the darkness making her the daughter of the Triple Goddess, the Morrigan. The story goes that the Morrigan straddled the River Boyne ( Irelands sacred river similar to the Ganges) and made love to the Dagda (High King of the Tuatha De Danann) to restore his Sacred Masculinity, which she did, and in return he impregnated her with Brighid (bright, strong, exalted one). She was born in a threshold (doorway) which makes her of this world and the otherworld. A threshold is a symbol for liminal space, a place where one thing ends and another begins which is why her cross hangs above the doorway of our homes. Liminal spaces are synonymous with ancient Irish culture and have been used to access the other world, almost as if walking through a veil. Some other examples of liminal spaces would be where the ocean meets the land, sunrise and sunset and mists to name a few.
As saint she was said to be born in 432 AD to an Irish Chieftain father and servant mother, she was born into slavery. It’s also said that she refused all nourishment as an infant until she was given the milk of a white cow with red ears, a faery cow. She was known for giving belongings away and helping the poor very similar to St. Francis of Assisi. She went on to become a nun and Brighid and her sisters formed a monastery on the sacred site of Kildare (church of the oak) where in the past the Druids practiced their rites beneath the Oak trees and legends say that the Goddess Brighid was also worshiped there. The Priestesses of Brighid tended to her flame and the nuns today continue to tend to it making Kildare a place to honor the Goddess and Saint. The flame was out for about 400yrs because the Bishop in power at the time (1220 AD) thought it was too “pagan”. In 1996 it was relit by the Brigidine Sisters and has been burning ever since. There are many wells throughout Ireland where she can be worshiped too. The Celts didn’t write anything down because of their nomadic nature so there is vast lore out there that may differ from place to place.
One of my favorite stories of her as saint was when she approached the King of Leinster asking to purchase land for her monastery. He denied her at first but then she asked again saying “ give me as much land as my cloak will cover.” He laughed and agreed. She brought helpers with her and asked each one of them to grab a corner of the cloak and walk in opposite directions. The cloak kept growing and growing and spread across many acres. The King was amazed and dismayed and immediately became a patron of Brighid’s Monastery and eventually converted to Christianity.
My personal journey with Brighid began in 1977 (June, the month of the Oak Tree, Brighid’s Tree) when I was born. I was given the name Theresa, after my mother, and 3 days later she changed it as she was filling out the birth certificate, to Danielle Bridget, named after her sister and my grandmother on my fathers side. I grew up with my cousins and nan calling me Bridget, not sure why but the middle name stuck. Growing up Catholic she was my Patron Saint, my personal saint. I was completely obsessed with all saintly stories and Mother Mary, not to mention my rosary bead habit, lol. I collected them and at one point had a shoe box full under my bed. To me the saints were magical, close to the Divine, full of mystery and supernatural powers and those things spoke to a deep place inside of me even as a small child, I couldn’t get enough. There wasn’t much info on St. Brighid except for the miracles she performed with butter and food and also her close relationship with St. Patrick.
It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that my brother gave me a Goddess Brighid amulet which sparked a desire for me to learn more about Brighid the Goddess. At that point herbal studies and the Ogham Trees entered into my life and I started to feel the stirring within from my ancestors. In 2005 I went on my first journey to Ireland connecting with these special trees and drinking in the landscape that although was new felt so very familiar and like a home coming. Immediately there was a remembrance within and a desire to go deeper, understand more, and tap more into what was being awakened within me. This was a surprise to me as this trip was a trip to visit family on the Northwest coast of Ireland in Co. Donegal, where my people come from. That trip was the beginning of many trips to the Emerald Isle.
When I was pregnant with my first child I wore that Brighid amulet every day and felt her presence guiding me and she was right there as I crossed the threshold into Motherhood. This transition completely consumed me as I learned how to mother and to be a householder and tender to my hearth. It wasn’t until the birth of my daughter that she came for me. I had been surrounded by my grandmothers during the whole pregnancy, in total direct contact receiving instructions, so much so my daughters name Nokomis Moon, means grandmother moon. The pregnancy went on and on and culminated at 44 weeks!!! Yes, you read that correctly. This was such a difficult yet powerful time and my trust and reliance on the ancestors were the only things that got me through. No one tells you that when you are about to birth a baby it’s the most alone you will ever feel in your life, no one can birth your baby for you, it is up to you and the baby to get it done. Connecting on the astral plane and working together to both cross the threshold, one of life and one of death. Because every time you birth a baby more of you dies and ironically more of you lives.
It was no coincidence that Noko decided to come just a few minutes after midnight on Samhain, the Celtic festival that celebrates the veil thinning ( a liminal time) and the ancestors having an easier time communicating with us. As I laid in the tub just a few hours before she arrived I remember visualizing my cervix and it thinning and also thinking wow, the same thing is being reflected in the universe right now with the veil thinning. I knew in that moment why I had been pregnant for 4 extra weeks and that a big change was a coming. This was not only another initiation into motherhood but also an initiation from my ancestors and Brighid all received as I caught Noko on my hands and knees at the very edge of the bed in my bedroom. From that moment on I have been devoted to Brighid in all her forms and I see how she has been guiding me all along. The herbs and Ogham trees showed up again only now they were speaking directly to me, calling to me, no books needed just listening. She started to call me back to Ireland, whispering constantly in my ear. She guided me with my children’s eczema helping me to create creams and salves and ultimately creating Mothercraft. This is why the Triple Goddess is used on all of the products, it’s to honor her. This is why my Sitz bath is called Danu, Mother of the Gods, to honor the Tuatha De Danann and Brighid’s Well Thyroid Support to honor her endless well that we drink from. She has guided me so much as a mother and tending to my hearth, she is present in every candle I burn, every archway in my home and always in my daily ritual.
I return to Ireland yearly for a deeper connection to her and the land. Taking this time to sink into the spaces that my ancestors knew so well, be inspired by the landscape, to tend to my spirit, to connect with the elementals, the stone, the green, the holy waters, the sacred mounds etc. She calls to me, tugging at my heart and my spirit inviting me to come and be held, like really Held. I’ve spent so much time on that land and yet I discover her more and more each time I return, and she has something new to tell me each time.
It occurred to me about two years ago that I received my spiritual name at just 3 days old! This was an interesting realization as someone whose had a devoted yoga practice and study for 20 years, a teacher and many elevated spiritual experiences but never receiving a name. Brighid has, is and will always be there but more so she lives in the liminal spaces, the thresholds. She lives where the sand meets the ocean, where the sun drops below the horizon, where the mist meets the ocean. Next time you walk through your door pause and really feel into the liminality, the beginning of one thing and the end of another. It’s something we do several times a day yet without acknowledgment. May you feel Bridhid’s protection and be inspired by her gifts and know that the space between is where the magic lives.
To honor Brighid this Imbolc:
-Make a tea of Blackberry Leaf, Dandelion, Nettle and Lady’s Mantle.
-Have a fire ceremony, or light some candles
-Weave a Brighid’s Cross and hang it above your door and recite:
“ I call for the encircling of Brighid:
Protect the house and all within,
Protect the house from beam to wall,
Protect the house and the household all,
The roof and the floor and all in between.”
Traditional Prayer adapted by Lunaea Weatherstone
-Honor the element of Air and the direction of the East by burning Mugwort or incense and open and close directions starting in the East.
-Tie a blue ribbon around a tree outside of your home or on the doorknob on January 31st and use it as a healing cloth for the year.
Wishing you a sense of renewal as we awake from the slumber of Winter and our own journeys through the underworld.
Love
Danielle