A Druid’s Web Log – The First Fires of Spring

By the time you read this, for most the festival in honor of the Goddess and Saint Brighid will be passed. Known as the “midwife of Mary” she was also the most popular pan-Celtic Goddess of ancient times. A Fire Goddess, her festival marks the beginning of spring in Ireland. Here in New England, on February 1, there is no hint of spring as we are under a severe snow warning.

But before Christians morphed her festival into “Candlemas”, named for the Sunday when new candles were brought to church to be blessed, there was a completely Pagan observance, which seems to have happened at the first quarter Moon, usually around February 12. That date coincides with the Lunar New Year of Tibet, China and Asia. Consequently, it’s not too late to celebrate the Goddess of the return of the light and the first fires of spring.

Imbolc or Imbolg means “in the bag”, as in the full udders of the ewes. Another name for the holy day is Oimelc, “ewe’s milk” so Imbolc is basically a milk festival. In ancient times no one could pop down to the supermarket for a gallon of milk in the middle of winter. Sheep naturally stop giving milk in September or October and they only give milk again about three days before giving birth. I asked a local sheep farmer when the sheep give birth here in my area and he said: “around February 15”. For a long time, I thought that was because of the colder climate here, but now I see that we are right in sync with the ancient Celtic pastoralists.

Like Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Brighid (a contemporary of Saint Patrick who some say was a reincarnation of the ancient Goddess) talked to animals. She was said to have tamed a wild boar that was terrorizing a village by simply speaking with it, and when she whistled wild ducks and a wild fox came to her call. She was so in tune with Great Nature that all creatures craved her loving touch.

According to tradition, where Brighid walks the ice melts, and snow drops are the first evidence of her passing. She wears a cloak of green that she spreads as protection over the land, the animals and the people.

On the eve of her special day, it is a tradition to put out a “brat”, a cloth that is spread on the shoulders of the sick all year, so she can bless it as she walks by. A candle in the window or by the door lets her know how to find you (I like to leave a thick candle in a glass bowl in the entranceway). The brat is spread on a windowsill or on a nearby bush, to catch the dew as she passes. Dew is a liminal fluid, neither water nor ice, fitting for the Goddess and Saint who appears at the midpoint between Samhain (Halloween) and Beltaine (May Day), the holy days that mark the onset of winter and summer in ancient thinking.

Rushes or wheat are woven into solar crosses, to capture the power of the Sun and the grain. They are hung in the home and hidden in the eaves for luck.

Whether we celebrate on February 1 or on February 12 we should all meditate on the message of Brighid, the Goddess who spreads Her cloak of protection upon the land. How can we spread our own spiritual cloak to help the land, the animals and the people?

There are actions we can all take to be like Brighid; wearing a face mask to protect ourselves and others from the ravages of Covid, living simply, using less and recycling more. We can donate to a wilderness preservation group so the animals who share this planet with us have a place to live, or become actively involved in local forest rescue efforts. We can be river keepers, and vote for politicians who champion the needs of the land and the people. We can nourish the bees; we can buy more organic foods to lessen the load of toxins that are spreading on the soil and water.

On a personal level we can preserve and protect our friendships – when we emerge from this pandemic these will be more precious than gold.

I have been blessed to attend a few bonfires with friends during Covid, we sat at a safe distance from each other and talked across the flames. Fire is an ancient human need; for a million years it has signaled family, safety and tribal unity. Where there was a fire there was protection from the terrors of the dark. Fire brought us nourishment and medicines. It fed our minds and hearts through the songs, poetry and tales that we shared across the flames. Fire was the agent of transformation; the place where stone was transformed into metal and spirits were uplifted as prayers were offered to the ritual fire and to the hearth.

We still keep small sacred fires burning, the presence of a lit candle tells us that we have entered sacred space.

The dark winter of Covid is not yet over. We need to work to keep our inner fires burning and keep nourishing our passions and our creativity. Brighid, the triple Goddess of Poetry, Smithcraft and Healing is the ideal helper to call upon as we await the flowers of spring.

Blessed Brigid is your name (video by Joseph Keane)

BOOK NEWS

Book Review – Being A Pagan: Druids, Wiccans, and Witches Today by Ellen Evert Hopman, Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2002.

My continued journey through the books by Ellen Evert Hopman brings me now to Being A Pagan, a book that is especially important to me in finding my own place within Paganism. I am finding that my teaching and practice of ecstatic trance has brought me in touch with my ancestral spirit guides, an important dimension in the world of Paganism and the magical crafts. I have not identified myself as a witch or a druid, but I do identify myself as Pagan. I am part of a close group of like-minded people who are journeying magically with the spirit using ecstatic trance. We have thought of the group as family but not as a coven or a grove. Thus, my journey continues, and this book opens many doors.

As a certified instructor of ecstatic trance that was researched and taught by the anthropologist Felicitas Goodman, I value the trance experience induced by rapid stimulation to the nervous system with drumming or rattling. My own experience with this form of shamanic trance has brought me many important spirit guides for my own personal growth, guides that often connect me to my ancestors of northern Europe. My Nordic ecstatic trance journeys have connected me to the Nordic Gods and Goddesses, especially the Goddesses Freyja and Iduun. Though I loosely identify with Asatru, the Gods and Goddesses of the Aesir, of Odin, Thor, Loki and others, I prefer to think of myself as Vanatru, i.e. the earlier Gods and Goddesses of the Vanir as I describe in my book, Baldr’s Magic.

Ellen Evert Hopman interviewed fifty people who consider themselves Pagan and/or Witches from many different situations, some Celtic Druids, others from the Wicca tradition, and some from the Faery Faith. Then there were those interviewed from several different parts of the world, Norway, Greece, Egypt, Israel, and Italy. Some Pagans were Goddess centered, and some Sacred Prostitutes. Some found themselves persecuted, a few were in the military, and others were college students. Some interviewed were artists and some writers. Then there were the different organizational structures, some solo, others in covens, and some in broader organized structures. Some members of these groups identified themselves as Unitarian Universalists. I found myself answering in my own way the questions she asked of these Pagans, and it was these answers that clarified to me how I see myself in this world of Paganism.

Many, if not most, of those interviewed were raised Jewish or in the more conventional Christian churches, Protestant and Catholic, but became disenchanted by the narrow and rigid beliefs of the church, leaving the church to first become atheists before identifying as a Pagan. I followed this route. Growing up as a Presbyterian, my initial aim was to become a minister before I became disenchanted by a number of church beliefs, of a God who identifies a specific group of people as a chosen people, and an off-planet God who created the Earth but offers an even better off-planet place in the sky, heaven. Also missing was the creator Goddess.

I believe that this Earth connection is most important in our journey to save us from demise as we journey into the New Age. This journey brings together our great diversity, ending our separation from the Earth and from all that is of the Earth, a necessary change for our survival. It is very reassuring to read about so many others who are on similar journeys for saving our Great Earth Mother.

In my personal journey through Being a Pagan I find many of the dimensions of those interviewed in this book relevant to my own journey. The stories/interviews of this book helped me define myself as a pagan/shaman. It is an important read for others in helping them find their place in the world of the coming New Age and in their relationship to paganism and witchcraft.

Nicholas E. Brink, PhD

Author of Loki’s Children: Healing Stories of Antiquity, Shamanism and Psychotherapy, Ecstatic Soul Retrieval (publisher – Inner Traditions / Bear & Co.), Power of Ecstatic Trance, Baldr’s Magic, Beowulf’s Ecstatic Trance Magic and other volumes. Facebook Site: Nick Brink’s Books

NEWS YOU CAN USE

*Below you will find the usual past Moonth’s gleanings; Archaeology, Herbs, Health, climate, Nature, Fairies, Celts, Religion, Arts, and Ethics. Enjoy the read! Reminder – you can find my speaking schedule and purchase all my books here and study Druidism here *