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Brigid: Goddess, Saint, Archetype
Brighid,
Bride, Brigantia, Brigit...She is a Celtic saint and goddess, a deity
of fire and water, and the patroness of Poetry, Healing and Smithcraft.
“Brighid
is the Triple Goddess of Fire – the fire of poetic inspiration and
divination, the fire of health and fertility, and the fire of metal working
and crafts.”
--Susa Morgan Black
Hers is not only the physical fires found in the hearth or forge, but the fires of inspiration, the fire of the vital life force rising in the land. It's the light of the sun returning and the days growing longer in spring, and the light inside of each of us.
"The
fires of inspiration, as demonstrated in poetry, and the fires of the
home and the forge are seen as identical. "
-- Winter Cymres
At the Sacred Fire: Keepers of the Flame event, we will work with her three fires as:
- Hearth Fire--The fire of healing, fertility, midwifery, and arts of the home
- Heart Fire--The fire of poetry, inspiration, divination, the light that shines from within us
- Forge Fire--The fire of transformation, the magic of ore becoming wrought iron tools
Her
Three Fires: Poetry, Healing, Smithcraft
For our ancient ancestors, for the Celts who called upon Brigid, there wasn't any fire that was not sacred. Can you step into that time? Can you imagine a time when your entire life depended on the vital fire within the earth rising in spring, when your life depended on the blacksmith's ability to transmute a lump of earth into a tool to defend your tribe, when your life might even depend on a poet's heart being filled with the fires of inspiration?
"Her
fire works directly within the Tribe itself…fueling all the creative
endeavors."
--Alexei Kondratiev, The Apple Branch
Smithcraft: The Forge Fire
"Origins
of metalworking the function of the smith has, in most traditional cultures,
acquired an aura of Otherworldly power. Because the smith transforms an
apparently useless natural feature (metallic ore) into an immensely powerful
and useful substance (metal) not found in nature, his work becomes a symbol
of the culture itself, of the Tribe’s ability to take material from
the Land and transmute it into something new, uniquely of the tribe’s
realm."
--Alexei Kondratiev, The Apple Branch
Healing:
The Hearth Fire
"Brigid
was the midwife present at the birth [of Christ], placing three drops
of water on His forehead. This seems to be a Christianized version of
an ancient Celtic myth concerning the Sun of Light upon Whose head three
drops of water were placed in order to confer wisdom."
-- Winter Cymres
Poetry: The Heart Fire
"Force,
power, meaning, invigorating essence, value, raised up, something that
imparts strength and a sense of meaning by doing so, an upwelling of force...Energy
that wells up and imparts strength and meaning…a life giving and
inspiring fire. It manifests first in the Land, awakening sleeping forces
in the hidden depths."
--Alexei Kondratiev,
The Apple Branch
"Brigit...as
patroness of the forge and consort of smiths, she guarantees the protection
of weapons—actual and spiritual—to those who defend the Tribe
and deal with conflicts."
--Alexei Kondratiev, The Apple Branch
"The
well of Brid [is] the source of the primal purifying water."
--Alexei Kondratiev, The Apple Branch
Links:
http://www.druidry.org/obod/deities/brigid.html
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