A question that gets asked a lot in the various forums I’m in regarding Brigid is her relationship with the other deities in the Irish pantheon. As ever with Brigid, the answer is not straightforward.
Her father is really straightforward. The Dagda is outlined several times as her da and in my experience, both of them are happy with this situation. Well, most of the time. Who’s happy with their Da 100% of the time?
Brigid’s mother I’ve addressed in several places. We don’t know is the short answer. The longer answer is, most people working with Brigid have their own ideas, but it’s not based in lore as such. “Any woman the Dagda slept with” is basically how limited this is….
In saying that, there are a few that come up reasonably regularly. There are no stories in the lore that I’m aware of where Brigid interacts with any of the other deities outside of the lines in Caith Maighe Tuireadh (Battle of Moytura, round 2 to be precise). We tend to piece together relationships after this on the basis of common areas of interest and personal experience. I don’t think Brigid has a feud going on with any other deity, despite what some modern fiction would suggest (looking at you here, Kevin Hearne!)
So for example, since the Dagda and the Morrigan are linked in the stories, there’s a feeling that Brigid must have a relationship with the Morrigan just by virtue of hanging around her Da. People often ask are the Morrigan and Brigid ok to have on the same altar. To my mind, there’s no difficulty here, but your personal experience may vary. If it does vary, have a look inside to see why you might feel uncomfortable with the two deities being together. I mean, they’re two powerful beings, no more than any other two people in the world they might not get on all the time, but I’ve not experienced any reticence here at all. Other than Brigid wants me for herself, of course, but that’s just the way she is at the minute.
Now the three gods of skill, Credne the brazier, Luchtae the wright, and Goibniu the smith, would have a fair overlap with Brigid, with herself being so connected to smiths in particular. (If you want to learn more about the 3 of them, Jon O’Sullivan has a great course on them over at the Irish Pagan School: https://irishpaganschool.com/p/the-three-gods-of-skill well worth the money) I can see the four of them settling around a fire and comparing stories on the divilment of apprentices (divilment is an Anglo-Irish/ Hiberno-English word indicating pranks, tricks etc.), new techniques, allocation of resources etc. There’s nothing in the lore to suggest this happens, it comes from my knowledge of the 4 of them and the overlap of their areas of interest.
As well, Airmid, Dian Cecht and Miadh would fall into a similar bunch, but this time with healing. I feel like Brigid and Airmid would get on well (again, based on nothing but my own experience of them) and can see them swopping recipes for healing brews and potions and lotions. I’m not a fan of Dian Cecht myself (much that he cares whether I am or not!) and I always feel sorry for Miadh, seeing how he ended, but I’m very sorry there isn’t more in the lore about Airmid. I’d love to know more about her.
Someone like Manannán Mac Lir would be comfy having a chat as well, although once or twice in a journey I’ve experienced herself getting sea sick – that’s pure personal gnosis now, no basis in lore or general experience whatsoever – but not all the time. Cordial relations here maybe?
People like Boann or Áine I don’t see much overlap with Brigid, although there is the link with Boann and cattle. With Áine, there might be a bit of commonality with them both being linked to provinces – Áine with Munster and Brigid with Leinster and both being known to help out here and there with sovereignty issues. Or maybe I’m misremembering some of Áine’s stories there.
That’s a selection of the better known Irish deities, I think, and how I imagine they all get on together. I’ve no doubt they have their rows at times, sure doesn’t every family have those, but this notion that Brigid would be going around having long standing feuds with members of her tuath just doesn’t seem right. It would distract too much from the work to be done to support the community. And that’s it really in the end. The Irish deities come from a time when the tuath really was all-important. The survival of the community was paramount and if you had to work with someone you weren’t overly fond of to get the work done, well do it.
Now, this doesn’t mean you must get on with everyone, forgive abuse in the name of the community, forgive gross transgressions, not at all. That’s what justice is for and the Irish deities were pretty big on that as well. They had no problems with driving people out of the tuath or indeed killing them, if such retribution was justified. But I’m talking about people that maybe just rub you up the wrong way. Or have that funny conversational tick that drives you up the wall. or always wears a black hat that you feel looks ridiculous… you know the type of thing I mean? I don’t think our deities get on like a house on fire all the time, but I kinda feel like most of the time, they’ll pull together to get the damn job done!
If you’d like to learn more about the Irish gods in general, or Brigid in particular, the Irish Pagan School has plenty courses to keep you occupied, there’s even some of my own teaching up there! If not, Morgan Daimler has a good book on the deities of Ireland (Pagan Portals – Gods and Goddesses of Ireland: A Guide to Irish Deities) that has a sound basis for anyone she has listed in there.
But seriously, if you’re looking to add another deity to the altar alongside Brigid, first person to ask is herself. A bit of meditation, quiet your mind, see what she’s actually saying and away you go!
