Thursday, January 23, 2014

Bright goddess Brigid

As the light begins again in the turn of the wheel of the year, I am dealing with multiple physical problems. I can't even do what I most want to do to ignore them, because lying down to sleep brings one of them on. Hopefully medical professionals can help.

Brigid, whose day is celebrated Feb 2 every year, on a holy day of Imbolc. (which I originally published as Feb 1, but nobody who reads this knew I was wrong or bothered to correct me.  We've got to find some Celtic people out there to read this sometimes.)

These Brigid prayers are adapted from prayers and incantations collected by Carmichael.

Brigid Dark and Bright

In the steep and common path of our calling,
Be it easy or uneasy to our flesh,
Be it dark or bright for us to follow,
May your perfect guidance be upon us.
Brigid of the Forge, be thou a shield to us!
Brigid of the Fold, be thou our shepherd and our healer!
In each secret thought our minds may weave, Brigid of the Loom, give us sweet clarity.
In our grief or pain or sadness,
Brigid of the Well, heal us, strengthen us, stand with your mighty shoulder near to ours.
And in our joys and in our bliss, Brigid of the Hearth, Keeper of the Bread plate, Maker of Beer,
Dance with us as we waken the great round garden of the world.

And we cannot forget she taught the Irish how to keen for their lost loves, and to whistle so that in the dark friends would know each other's positions when soldiering.

I lie half awake, at least comfortable for a while, and tears start pouring out.  My cat lies next to me, her tip of tail still twitching while the rest of her settles into relaxation.  Twitch twitch twitch...just an inch of it says she's still alert.  I stay alert rather than closing my eyes.  The tears are saying, I'm not done yet...there's more to do still in this lifetime.  Twitch.


1 comment:

  1. This was new to me, thank you for sharing it. I do hope you are back o track and feeling wonderful again very soon!

    ReplyDelete

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