Brigid, bright shining red one and Imbolc

Yes, a ceramic Teapot! 

Rabbit rabbit to wish you good luck for the new month!

The Calleigh and Brigid by Sue Ellen Parkinson

Brigid is considered the patroness of poetry, smithing, medicine (midwifery,) arts and crafts, cattle and other livestock, sacred wells, and the arrival of early spring.

As of 2023, Brigit's Day was declared a national holiday in Ireland.

Imbolc, another term for this day, was to celebrate the earliest spring milk in the sheep...which in our area in North Carolina don't lamb for another month. But ancient ways cannot be ignored.

Brigid was honored as a goddess first...of smithcraft, poetry and healing. The most miraculous events in her life were retold at this time yearly. All of our first histories were oral history. Until someone started writing down the old stories. So earliest stories may differ from place to place.

The Catholic church came into Ireland later (you've heard of St. Patrick?) and there soon was this wonderful Saint Brigid. Her good works seemed very similar to the goddess Brigid. There was a physical well where healing might take place. And an eternal fire that was tended by the followers of the Saint, only women allowed. The story was that they would tend the fire for 19 days, and then on the 20th Brigid herself would keep it burning. The original well still exists, and the place where fires were tended.

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.

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A Brigid statue at a well, Ireland.

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I also bring my deepest love to those who are suffering from political power moves that are cutting into the lives of innocent peoples. And a huge level of gratitude for those who are standing up and resisting.

Reposting a favorite painting, by Wendy Andrew

The Buddhist monks on The Walk for Peace

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This is an approximation, I think. But you get the point.

It's September!

 Somehow this beginning of the month is harder for me to write about.

I've been procrastinating, and now it's here. 

Don't know why, because Autumn is always my favorite month...fresh crisp air and leaf colors...kids going back to school, a new year in a way.

I've never felt it was the dying time...but maybe it is. So perhaps I should be embracing the dying of things. After all it happens to all of us, and even more often to our various appliances. I'll think of the term for that soon. Planned obsolescence. 

Mt. Pisgah, Blue Ridge Parkway 2013

The cycle of life. That's a term which we can all relate to. Think of the song Circle of Life in The Lion King.

And a bit more artistic, I found this source of all of Van Gogh's works, on Open Culture.

Very timely when considering how many of us become somewhat (or more) depressed with wintertime greys and low light levels in the northern hemisphere. Seeing such beauty expressed on canvas by a man who clearly had a rather depressing life, gives a bit of joy to me.

OK rabbit rabbit. I'm all for increasing the amount of good luck in everyone's lives!

Baby bunnies raised by my son's family in CT several years ago.

And Happy Labor Day...celebrate as you choose.