{"id":4169,"date":"2014-02-01T11:44:52","date_gmt":"2014-02-01T16:44:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/dreamgates\/?p=4169"},"modified":"2014-02-01T11:58:06","modified_gmt":"2014-02-01T16:58:06","slug":"on-brigids-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/02\/on-brigids-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Brigid’s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"-<\/a>This is the day of the High One, the Exalted One. That is the meaning of Brig, from which the name Brigid (also Brigit, Brighid, Brigantia of England and Brigindo of eastern Gaul) derives. The church made the goddess a saint, one of the most beloved saints of Ireland, with various biographies, the best of which is recollected in Kildare, where the flame of Brigid burned constantly until Henry VIII, and burns again today. She is a power of the land, and of the deeper world, that the church and the people can agree on. In Ireland and in Scotland, you feel her presence in stones and trees, in high places and in deep wells.<\/p>\n

In the stories told at Kildare, the woman Brigid is born at sunrise, as her mother stands straddling a threshold, one foot out and one foot in. When Brigid\u2019s head comes out, the sun\u2019s rays crown her with flame. We can see why she is the patron of people who open doors between the worlds \u2013 of shamans, seers and poets \u2013 and of all who work with fire, in the peat, in the forge, in the cauldron of imbas<\/em>, the fire of inspiration.<\/p>\n

Marija Gimbutas wrote of her (in The Living Goddesses<\/em>): \u201cBrigid is an Old European goddess consigned to the guise of a Christian saint. Remove the guise and you will see the mistress of nature, an incarnation of cosmic life-giving energy, the owner of life water in wells and springs, the bestower of human, animal and plant life.\u201d She is \u201cMary of the Gael\u201d, and she is the Triple Goddess and Robert Graves\u2019 Three-fold Muse. She is patron of poetry, healing and smithcraft. In Scotland she is Bride, and the White Swan and the Bride of the White Hills. In the Hebrides she is the protector of childbirth.<\/p>\n

Lady Augusta Gregory, Yeats\u2019s friend, described Brigid in Gods and Fighting Men<\/em> as “a woman of poetry, and poets worshiped her, for her sway was very great and very noble. And she was a woman of healing along with that, and a woman of smith’s work, and it was she first made the whistle for calling one to another through the night.” We are now entering the prime time of this High One, when nature awakens around February 1.<\/p>\n

She may appear as a snake from beneath the earth, even in Ireland, the country without snakes:<\/p>\n

This is the day of Bride<\/em> the Queen will come from the mound<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the time of Brigid\u2019s feast of Imbolc which coincides with the lactation of the ewes and the first signs of spring. You know the lambs are coming soon. You see snowdrops pressing up from the hard earth, perhaps through its white mantle. You offer the gifts of the goddess to the goddess: you pour milk on the ground, you bake and leave out special cakes. To she who spins and weaves life itself, you offer woven fabrics or offer a cloth \u2013 a handkerchief, a scarf, a pillowcase \u2013 to be blessed as it rests on the earth overnight. To this bringer of fire, you light a candle and offer your heart’s flame.<\/p>\n

In the old country, in the old way, young girls carry her images – straw dolls or brideogs – in procession from house to house, and the goddess is welcomed and decked with finery. The dolls are laid on in \u201cbride beds\u201d, with a staff or wand of power resting beside them. At Imbolc, as on other days, you may raise the High One\u2019s energy with poetic speech. Best to do this by a stream or a spring, or (if you know one) a sacred well. She does have a fine love of poets and those who bring fresh words into the world.<\/p>\n

There is a legend that, in one of her womanly forms, Brigid married the great poet Senchan Torpeist,\u00a0\u00a0foremost among the learned fili<\/em>\u00a0(bards) of Ireland. It was this same Senchan, it is said, who recovered the great poem known as the T\u00e1in B\u00f3 C\u00faailnge\u00a0<\/em>(The Cattle Raid of Cooley) when it was feared lost forever, by raising the shade of the druid poet Fergus to recite all of the verses.<\/p>\n

Among the bevy of Celtic blessings in the great repository know as the Carmina Gadelica<\/em>, collected by Alexander Carmichael in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland around 1900, some of the sweetest call on Brigid. In \u201cWomanhood of Brigit\u201d (#263 in the Carmina Gadelica<\/em>)<\/p>\n

Brigit of the mantles
\nBrigit of the peat-heap
\nBrigit of the twining hair
\nBrigit of the augury.
\nBrigit of the white feet
\nBrigit of calmness
\nBrigit of the white hands
\nBrigit of the kine.<\/p>\n

Many kinds of protection are then asked of Brigid \u2013 safety from death or injury or mishap in many forms. Next comes a verse that makes it plain that Brigid is regarded, among all else, as a guardian of sleep and dreams:<\/p>\n

Nightmare shall not lie on me
\nBlack-sleep shall not lie on me
\nSpell-sleep shall not lie on me
\nLuaths-luis<\/em> shall not lie on me.<\/p>\n

I need someone more learned in Scots Gaelic than myself to translate Luaths-luis<\/em>. Its literal meaning seems to be something like \u201cfast-moving lice\u201d for which our modern phrase might be \u201ccreepy-crawlies.\u201d In the \u201cBlessing of Brigit\u201d (numbered #264 in the Carmina Gadelica) we have words that might please the Lady on her feast day, or any day:<\/p>\n

I am under the shielding
\nOf good Brigit each day;
\nI am under the shielding
\nOf good Brigit each night.
\nBrigit is my comrade woman,
\nBrigit is my maker of song,
\nBrigit is my helping woman
\nMy choicest of women, my guide<\/p>\n

Brigid’s Day is also a fine time for courting, and a time to dream, and seek guidance from dreams.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Art: “St Brigid’s Path” by Carlos A. Smith.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the day of the High One, the Exalted One. That is the meaning of Brig, from which the name Brigid (also Brigit, Brighid, Brigantia of England and Brigindo of eastern Gaul) derives. 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He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4169"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5892,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4169\/revisions\/5892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}