Author: galros2

One of the topics suggested in a recent request I put out was to highlight the biggest mistakes I see people make when looking to work with/for Brigid. Now, it should be said, at the start of this, that this is my opinion. I say it out straight when I feel something is based on the lore, but please… it’s opinion and your mileage may vary. OK?

The first mistake I see people make is assuming because she’s listed as a Catholic saint, she’s a meek and mild martyr, a woman the Catholic Church could be proud of. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Even as a slave, in her various Lives, she was notorious for not doing as she was told. She repeatedly and repentantly gave away her owner’s goods to the poor. She pulled out her own eye rather than be forced to marry someone she didn’t care for. She went her own way and did her own thing – all examples of remarkable strong will for someone who is a slave. As well, she surely wasn’t a martyr, and died in her old age. (Well, relative old age…)

Then I see people focusing on only the “nice” aspects of Brigid. As in, she’s a healer, she’s a positive force, she’s a “nice” goddess. She really isn’t. In the lore, her main activity is mourning her son. She bring keening to the Irish and the whistle to guide us at night. She’s at home in the dark and she deals with things that are not pleasant to say the least. She works on the darker emotions – just ask any mother who has lost a child just how dark those emotions get. “light and love” she ain’t. Trust me.

There are a lot of people who practice flametending or flamekeeping as their primary source of spiritual practice. Now there’s nothing wrong with this, but Lora O’Brien (of www.irishpaganschool.com ) and I had a chat about this recently which is well worth listening to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5s_dUqeU2E. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with flame keeping, but there’s also a lot more you can be doing as part of your spiritual practice.

Now as a follow on from the above, there’s an awful lot of people who don’t realise just how practical a deity Brigid is. I mean, one of her areas of interest is smithcraft, which I consider a predecessor of engineering and if there was ever a more frighteningly practical group of people than engineering, I’ve not met them (and I am one, so I’m allowed to say that!) If you’re working with Brigid, I’d highly recommend looking at practical aspects to worship as well as the more esoteric options.

Learn about the lore. Yes, yes, ok, there’s little enough about Brigid (or Brig) in the Irish lore, but dammit, there’s more than nothing. And “little” just means it’s easier to get your head around what’s in there. There’s very few excuses here for not doing this. Know who you’re working with, surely this would be sensible anyway? I mean, you’d not go out on a date with a complete stranger without doing some checking up right? Asking round, having a look on Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or whatever? So use your common sense and do a bit of scouting around before doing something drastic here. Even if you decide she’s not for you, honestly, it’s grand. Better to learn that before you dedicate your life and lives to her than afterwards right?

And another thing. I understand the need for ritual and ceremony at times. It not something I spend much time at, but even I feel the need to do something special sometimes. And that’s grand. But have a think about what you’re committing to before you start. Have you the resources to complete a full on, ceremonial ritual once a day, week, month? If yes, grand, but be aware those resources may change, so be careful of the promises you make. If no, then don’t commit to it. A once off ritual is just grand for some things, and even if it is a daily ritual, it doesn’t need to be ceremonial. One of my rituals is to say hello to her most days. Yup, there’s a statue on my windowsill that I say hello to most days. And I say “most” here because it’s not absolutely every single day of my life and I don’t promise her that. So, you know, be careful of the rituals you promise, cos once you promise, she will expect them.

Actually the above paragraph goes for any promise you make, not just about rituals and ceremonies. I know in some corners of the internet, having a geas is a really cool thing to have, but seriously, before you commit to that, accept it, or decide you want to go down that road, read up on the lore and figure out what the usual trail of woe is in the stories. I’ll save you some time here: usually it’s a case of multiple geis, then something happens so you have to break one of them, then you die or suffer horribly. So, you know, think twice and twice again before accepting or looking for a geas. And I’m happy to stay I’ve managed to steer clear of them for the most part.

Brigid has a mother. We’re just not sure who she is. And frankly, given the way her Da got around back in the day, we can probably limit the options to “the women of Ireland”, although there are one or two front runners. You may have your favourite. That’s grand, you’re entitled to that opinion. Just remember, it is your opinion, not fact and in this case, live and let live.

There are people who claim the saint came first and the deity second and vice versa. I think it’s more likely there was a deity called Brigid and a saint called Brigid, as well as a few other Brigids in the lore, and they have overlapping areas of interest, but not identical areas of interest. There’s a grand interest for example in cattle, cos frankly, they were bloody important, but the saint is probably more interested in Jesus and the deity more interested in the Dagda. (I’m not equating Jesus and the Dagda here, mind, just showing an area where the interest probably doesn’t overlap). Also, the deity was probably more likely to be having sex than the saint.

There are a lot of folk customs about Brigid in Ireland. Don’t discount them. Brigid’s cloak, Brigid’s crosses, customs around fire, the Brídeog, etc… these are all passed down from our ancestors, and frankly, Christianity in Ireland was mostly skin deep over a deep rooted pagan tradition. So even if the traditions come from generations of Christian practice, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a pagan root to them.

Some of the folk tales, we have no written lore from time immemorial. This is no reason to discount them necessarily. Because story telling in Ireland was an oral tradition, with the great traditions of the Filidh, coming through the bards of the early days of English occupation, to the senachaí of more recent times. For an example of a modern seanchaí, look up Eddie Lenihan. He has fantastic stories, several books and pre-COVID, was still doing in person performances. He’s wonderful to see live if you can at all, but if you can catch a recording or buy his books, you’ll see the living tradition of story telling in Ireland. Not necessarily Brigid related, but it will help you understand the means of passing stories.

So there’s 11 things to watch out for. If something strikes a chord with you, or causes you to feel uncomfortable – well you are quite free to contact me to tell me how I’m wrong, but I’d also invite you to figure out why it makes you feel uncomfortable. Seriously. This isn’t intended as a personal attack, it’s more about highlighting things I see people doing that don’t site right with me. And if there’s things you think I’ve left off the list, let me know as well!

One of the topics that came up on my recent request for blog topics was ways to honour Brigid. Now I feel I’ve been fairly clear on this blog that for me, honouring her, working with her, etc comes with my daily life. The best honour I can pay her is to live a life she might be proud of. Or at least not objecting to…

But I appreciate there are people out there that prefer a different type of relationship with their deity. And sometimes it’s nice to do a bit of specific rather than generic honouring.

I suppose one of the issues I have is that I don’t see my relationship with her as needing honouring as such. I mean, we’re not equal partners in this, but I have rights as well as her. And I think that’s important to remember. Honour her first and foremost by knowing yourself. Know your boundaries, your limits, your abilities, your weaknesses. Admit to yourself who you are, what you are, where you are… be clear on all this. Trust me, it makes life in general easier, never mind relationship with deity.

But we’ll go from quick and easy to the more complicated stuff here.

So first off – lighting an auld candle rarely goes astray. I mean, if I was living in California, Oregon, Washington or anywhere else there’s wildfires raging, I wouldn’t be adding fire energy to the conflagration without serious consideration of the consequences. But here in Ireland, we’re unlikely to have those issues, even with the week of fine weather we’re currently having. Lighting a candle and just thinking about herself is a pretty straightforward and easy way to pay her respect.

Meditation is a great to connect with herself as well. I read something long ago that said prayer is when we speak to the gods and meditation is when they speak to us. Meditation is both extremely simple and extremely difficult. I find visualisation helps me a lot with meditation, but also saying the rosary can get me into a meditative state – it’s not one I usually encounter Brigid in though. Mantras can help. Guided meditations can help. You can check out the journeying methods taught at the Irish Pagan School for specific journeys to meet herself (journeying isn’t quite meditation, but it’s linked and well worth learning. But be careful and learn from a decent source. I will recommend https://irishpaganschool.com/ for this – not only cos I have a few classes on there, but I do believe this method is as careful as it can be.)

Now I mentioned praying there in the previous paragraph. Either composing a prayer of your own or using one already in the public domain, it’s up to you and the resources available to you. Prayer doesn’t always mean asking for things, praising deities is an old, old tradition as is the tradition of just reminding them we’re here. No harm in either type of praying.

After that, well she’s never been adverse to a glass of wine in my experience, although she does have history with beer and stronger spirits as well. If alcohol isn’t an option, milk, cream, butter, dairy products in general are no bad idea. For a bit more effort – home baking is a way to go. I mean the Dagda is the big one for food, but Brigid has the links to the hearth fire (and to me this includes the modern gas or electric oven!) so the fruits of said fire are always welcome. I’ve heard people asking how long to leave out offerings like this – honestly, I don’t think it matters and it will depend greatly on your own personal circumstances. If you have small children or animals about the place you may not want to leave out things that would be harmful to them. At the very least, try to remember to through the offering out before it goes off anyway. Not for any deity related reason, but more for hygienic issues. Equally, how you dispose of your offering will depend on what it is and your circumstances. I either throw a glass of wine down the sink or else onto the grass in a particular spot.

If you want to get a bit deeper but still keep this honouring to yourself, have a look around in your local area or community and see what needs doing. Is there a well about the place that needs weeding and clearing up? Is there an abandoned graveyard of a religious tradition you understand that needs upkeep? Is there a playground that’s covered in litter?Have a look around and see how you can do something to make things better.

You can always donate money. I’m a firm believer that energy follows money, so use what money you can to support causes in her name. Environmental issues, women’s and children’s rights, LGBT+ rights… any minority is probably a way to honour her. And this way you choose to support something you care about as well as something she cares about.

If you have the ability and resources, you can join or found a group to help with any of the above issues. Is there a well that continually gets overgrown or littered? Can you gather people together to take care of it? Many hands make light work. And setting up and running a group like this required the help of a deity in my opinion. It’s easier to herd cats than people, but a group of people tend to get more done than one person alone.

If you haven’t the resources to get directly involved yourself, promote those who do. Online activism or armchair activism is almost pejorative these days, but sharing a post to spread awareness of something is valuable as well. Basically – do what you can do. She’s hard on her tools, but she doesn’t usually intentionally break them…

You can create in her name – while she is listed as the goddess of poets, it’s really not just poetry she’s interested in and poets in Ireland were expected to do a lot more than just declaim a few rhyming couplets. So, writing anything at all. Painting, sewing, embroidering, knitting, weaving… there are a load of crafts out there that allow you to be creative and honour her in the doing of it.

I have mentioned before I believe my work as an engineer to be work in her name, with engineering being the descendant in the modern world of blacksmithing. Careers in the law, in the arts, in caring for others, in healing, in looking after the home ,in caring for children, in caring for the oppressed, caring for animals, both wild and domesticated… all these can and will honour her.

You can make her crosses – whether a 4 armed cross, a 3 armed cross, a lozenge or many other kinds.

Best of all – tune in, use your discernment and find out what she needs you to be doing. Honestly, that’s probably best in the end.

I woke this morning to find the world has lost Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I consider her a file, as Brigid was a poet. As a Jewish woman, albeit one that left her faith was not observant for many decades by the accounts I’ve read, I doubt she would appreciate the usual gestures endemic in Irish culture, linked as they are to a Christian view of the world. (I had originally typed “left her faith” in this sentence, but a friend informed me that this is not appropriate for Judaism and saying she was not observant is. Thank you to Sophia for telling me this!!) I will say that wherever she is now, I hope she gains the rest and happiness she deserves after a lifetime of work and perseverance.

Today, there will be many, many tributes paid to the great woman, a legacy she has earned. And many of them will be better worded, more informed, better researched and probably more appropriate than what I am about to write. But I’m crying this morning and mourning the loss of a file, a poet in the Brigid tradition. One we sorely needed in the US, especially given the announcement this morning that the Senate in the US is likely to push ahead with a vote on a Trump nominee. Even after the debacle in the last year of Obama’s tenure.

Why do I care about a US Supreme Court Judge?

I’ve already seen one comment on an Irish group, questioning why we care so much about someone who, after all, had so little influence on Ireland and Irish culture? Well I hope to address that in my words here – or at least partly address it.

First and foremost, RBG was a feminist. She was the second woman appointed to the US Supreme Court – in 1993. That’s within my lifetime. She was compelled to hide her second pregnancy until her teaching contract was renewed (1965). Two bouts of cancer threatened her, she prevailed. A few years back, she broke some ribs. And continued to work from her hospital bed! She thought of her country up until her last minutes by all accounts. Expressing a wish that the current president of the USA would not be nominating her replacement. Her thoughts were of others. She upheld the law. Formidable is the word here.

She was a file, as Brigid was

The word in modern Irish means poet. (And as a Brigid follower, we know that “poet” doesn’t just mean someone who writes poetry.) Anyone who has read or heard some of her judgments will realise that she understood the power of words. But in our history, the filí were not just poets. They were the judges, the givers of law, the upholders of the law, the developers of the law.

Our own Brigid was deemed deity of the filí. Her namesakes in the Ulster cycle were the mother, wife and daughter of Senchas (translated as lore or tradition). (Her namesakes:Brig Ambue: Cowless, Brig Briugu – Hospitality, Brig Brethach – Judgments) Brigid cared about the law, cared about right judgement. Brig’s husband, Bres, in Caith Maigh Tuiread, was brought down in the first instance by a wrong judgement and lost his kingship over it. (Brought down by a satire spoken by a true file)

A file? Really?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a file in the Irish tradition, in the Brigid tradition. She was a poet, working with Brigid’s legacy. By legacy, I mean working with the law, changing it,when it was deemed unfair. Particularly when it came to women. RBG was a liberal leader – not so far left or liberal as I’d like her to be. Nevertheless, the senior liberal judge on the Supreme Court in the past few years. She fought for equality for women. And yes, her remarks on the protests of Colin Kapernick and his fellow protestors were not supportive. Disappointing, but if even our deities are imperfect, then how can we expect more from our human heroes?

Because Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a hero of mine. A personal hero – she worked and fought in a male dominated profession, as I do. She paved the way for others to come after her – as I hope I do. She spoke out and voted with her conscience – as I hope to always do. As a judge in an increasingly conservative court, she persisted, she persevered, she continued on. She accepted the weight of expectations on her and didn’t retire, but kept going to the end.

Conclusion (yeah I couldn’t think of anything better)

This great woman was 87 when she passed away and she is a massive loss to the US, to this world. She showed us a way to fight the inequalities of the system, she showed us a way we might follow if we so choose. Hers is not the only way, but it is a way. It is the file‘s way, following in Brigid’s footsteps.

There are Jewish traditions and no doubt family traditions that her nearest and dearest will be following right now. If our grief is hard and long, imagine what those who knew her and loved her personally are feeling?

For those of us who admired her from afar, this is a time when “thoughts and prayers” might actually be appropriate. For myself, I will be lighting a candle in her honour today. And I will reflect on how I can use her example to further my own work in this world.

What can we do to continue her legacy and improve upon it?

One of the questions that came up in my recent request for topics to write about on this blog was how my perspective and practice on Brigid has changed over time. It’s difficult to answer this one – so naturally, I decide to tackle it on a Sunday afternoon when I’m feeling a bit knackered and miserable. Glutton for punishment, sometimes, me!

In all seriousness though, it does no harm to look back and reflect sometimes, so here we go.

If I look back over my life, Brigid has always been there, certainly since I started school. In primary school, making crosses and hearing stories of her piety, her generosity were all part of St. Brigid’s Day, February 1st. As a teenager, I strayed away from her, and indeed religion in general, as I grew and tried to integrate things I knew to be right and the teachings of the church as I was presented with them. I will also say, I found St. Brigid to be fairly generic at this point anyway. Sure she was a virgin, she was humble, she was pious, she was kind… her stories appeared to me to be typical of the female saints.

In recent years however, I’ve realised those stories are not the same as other saints. Brigid didn’t die a martyr, she founded monastic communities, the first one with a group of women (shock, horror!!). She was ordained a bishop – officially accidentally, but we’ll take it. She wasn’t a meek healer, called to cure any brought before her, she put the onus on the sick many times to do something themselves, or else she made them well by assuming they were so, and such was her power that the world bent to her will. She is a better role model than I would have thought for the modern world.

And then the deity came along. And I’ll admit, it’s only as an adult I realised how different the day to day practices of Irish Catholicism are different to those in other countries. I spent 11 years as a Catholic in England for example and their approach to the religion was far more stringent, strict and less fun all in all. (One parish I was in, encouraged parents to send their children to a Festival of Light to pray for All Saints on Halloween rather than allowing them to dress up and go trick or treating. Very strange to an Irish woman!) I realised that things I had always taken for granted were not Catholic in nature at all, in fact the Church didn’t really support such things in the slightest. Things like the existence of the Otherworld, of lands such as Tír na nÓg, of the stories and the histories that we were taught – not really acknowledged by the Church at all. Our activities at Halloween, May Day, and other holidays were… not Christian?

And even frowned upon? It was disconcerting to say the least.

I started reading and learning. I found out that the Catholicism practiced by my ancestors was at best a thin veneer over older practices. That other Catholic nations didn’t have the traditions of leaving cream and butter by the door. That other Catholic nations didn’t have saints, particularly female ones, that claimed land with a magic cloak. That other Catholic nations viewed what I considered harmless childhood adventures of dressing up and playing as something else…

Anyway, as part of my learning, I came across the goddess. And the goddess I was introduced initially was a triple deity in the classical sense – maiden, mother, crone. This was wrong to me, since no goddess in Irish lore appears like this. I mean, some of them appear as whatever age they happen to choose, but the notion that the triple was the maiden, mother, crone wasn’t part of our stories. So I came to what I call the “Wiccan Brigid” first. (Wiccan Brigid may not be accurate, in fact neopagan is probably more accurate, but it’s what I called that entity when I came to her first). But I could tell, this wasn’t the deity I was sensing and working with.

Then I was guided towards the UCC Celt website (https://celt.ucc.ie//) and discovered the manuscripts where our mythology comes from (well the manuscripts that captured at least part of the oral tradition anyway). I read of the triple deity, daughter(s) of the Dagda. I learned about Brigid being goddess of poets, smithcraft and healing. I found her familial connections. I found people lighting candles to her, saying it was part of an ancient tradition (and it probably is, don’t want to denegrate the flamekeeping tradition!) I found people talking about the “beautiful energy” of the deity, showing ornate, intricate altars, craft work, all things devoted to her.

And some of it chimed with me and some didn’t. The flamekeeping sounded like a great thing to do, but doing it on a regular basis wasn’t something I wanted to do. Not something I felt called to do. Some were called to write poetry and songs to her – not me. Some were called to make and paint and write and create… not me. Not to say I didn’t or don’t do these things – I did and do, sometimes. But it wasn’t the core of what I felt was needed.

Around this time as well, I was introduced to meditation in a way that worked for me. And I started meditating. Then I discovered Lora O’Brien’s work on a native tradition of Irish spirituality and started looking with discernment and consideration with all I had learned and worked on. And I started building my current practice.

It’s pretty simple actually. I am an engineer, which I consider a descendant of smithcraft, so by my daily work, I honour herself. I have a statue where I will light tealight on occasion, sometimes at her request, sometimes of my own volition and sometimes it’s not clear which is which, but sure, I can live with that. I meditate most days, and most days during meditation, I have a bit of a chat with her, sometimes more one-sided than others.

I find myself feeling very close to her by the sea and whenever I’m by the sea, I think of her, talk to her, thank her, and other things. This was a lot easier when I had a job 10 mins from the beach and COVID wasn’t restricting travel. But I’ve managed to go for a swim in the sea this year anyway, so I’m reasonably happy.

I try to do right by people in my daily life. It’s not always easy, but being in right relationship with people has become more and more important to me over time. Living as ethically as I can, working as ethically as I can, spending my money as ethically as I can… all these things are important to her and therefor to me. The energy goes where the money goes is something I try to remember. That means donating to causes I think important to her, writing letters to TDs (Irish politicians) on topics I feel important, taking part in campaigns and activities I think support her areas of concern. I also consider my work on getting more women into engineering as part of my work for her.

In short, I try to make my life my practice. It’s not so simple for me to divide up my life into devotion and non-devotion. I’m also heavily influence by my parents in this regard, who are devout Catholics, but firmly believe that while Mass attendance is important, it doesn’t outweight the duty and requirement to live life properly and in a good way. My mother calls my modern activities a “social conscience” and I suppose it is, but Brigid looks after the voiceless and asks us to help give them our voice when needed, so I try.

It’s not easy, but it’s a lot easier to face a difficult conversation in work knowing I have her backing than doing it on my own…

When I was younger, I thought religion and spirituality were things you did on specific occasions, confined to times and places. The rest of the time, you did the best you could. As an adult, the major change in my practice is that – it’s how I live my life. It means rarely using words like “always” and “never” since I know there are occasions I would break those terms. It means looking at where and how I work and incorporating the ethics distilled into me from childhood as part of my work. It means looking at where and how I spend money and avoiding places and entities who support practices I don’t agree with. It means offering my home as sanctuary to those who need it. It means offering prayers and healing practices (specifically reiki, reflexology and womb blessing) and accepting that these offerings may be refused. It means looking at the land and taking action to heal it. It means looking at our nation and supporting action to heal it. It means looking at the world and seeing what positive difference I can make.

It might be small, but I want to leave this world a better place than I found it. And that, really, is the core of my current practice.

I know, beauty and Brigid? it’s not my usual style. But things have come up in recent weeks that has me thinking about this. It stemmed originally from a comment that Brigid has a beautiful energy that can be experienced in many ways. Now, on the surface of it, yeah, sure, energy can be beautiful. But it got me thinking on the nature of beauty and how it’s used by subsections of the population to minimise or control things. Bear with me here.

I practice energy work. A few different kinds and a few things that aren’t really part of any training at all. And yes, it can be beautiful. But it can also be messy, dark, bloody, sweaty and hard. Just because it’s energy, doesn’t mean it’s serene or calm or wise or whatever other word you want to use. Sometimes it’s screaming and yelling and dancing in a storm and forcing sound through your throat so hard you end up hoarse and exhausted. It’s not gentile. It really isn’t.

As well, I see a lot of “spiritual people”, mainly white women, comfortable in themselves and looking for positivity rather than hard work. I jokingly refer to them as the “light and love” crowd when speaking to friends. Not that there’s anything wrong with either light or love, but it can be used to keep people silent and oppressed. Have a look online for toxic positivity for the negative side of it. Essentially, this to me says someone is looking for spirituality which won’t challenge her ways of thinking, won’t change her life too dramatically, won’t cause any hurt or upset. I mean, she’s doing her best, can’t I accept that?

Sure I can – if I think someone is really doing the work. But often they’re not. Often, they’re using the motions, language of spirituality to cocoon themselves in a pleasant world with little challenge or disruption. This is not necessarily the way we grow. And very often, the thought that “Brigid has a beautiful energy that can be experienced in many different ways” comes from here. Why? Ok….

Beauty has been a way to control and oppress women for centuries. While we’re worried about appearing beautiful, we’re also often encouraged to focus our energies on this, looking acceptable and staying that way. Remaining still and stagnant in many ways. Static even. Beauty by itself is not a bad thing, but as a means to tie up energy and time and money and thoughts…. yeah, it can be a great way to keep control over women in particular.

Beauty is by default peaceful, quiet, non-disruptive, accepting… Brigid is not these things. She is fire and water, she is fight and protection, she is law and story and words. She is not peaceful. Even the Christian monks writing her Bethu Brigte couldn’t portray her as the ideal, passive Christian woman, they had to show her fire, her temper, her fight. Don’t diminish her by reducing her to beauty.

She can appear as beautiful, sure, no bother, but she can appear as anything she wants really. If she’s working in a forge, while accepting that deity isn’t subject to the same anatomical rules as humanity, she’s still likely to have strong muscles and a bit of weight behind her to handle the weight she’s dealing with in the metal. If she’s working for equality and rights of the cowless, she’s going to need to be loud and capable of dealing with conflict as it’s presented to her. Any performer, whether the bards of the Iron Age or modern comics, need to be able to deal actively with heckling, judgement, etc. She is no passive beauty, but an active force in this world.

And so, calling her a beautiful energy, to me, is a way to minimise and control her in ways not really suitable to her lore and stories. She is listed among the demons in the Dindshenchas. She is listed as have the king of boars, the king of rams working with her. She is listed as restoring leprosy to the leper who enraged her. She will not be minimised and will not be passive about the things she cares about. Don’t try to make her so.