This year, February 3rd marked the celestial midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and for the Celts, this is “Brigid time.” It is called Imbolc (pronounced IM-olk), one of the cross-quarter days on the Celtic Medicine wheel.
Brigid is arguably the best-known Irish-Scottish deity, and one of the easiest to work with. She is most often called the goddess of springtime, because, in the British Isles, the very first signs of spring really may appear in early February. Not so much for North America. In Minnesota, where I live, visible springtime doesn’t emerge until mid to late April.
So it was always a source of consternation for me when the internet would abound with Brigid celebrations in early February. This article lays out how I’ve come to terms with that.
Brigid is most often called the goddess of springtime, or the goddess of healing, poetry and smith craft (forging metal objects). But stories about her call forth many powers: fire, water, the heavens, dawn, the earth, new life emerging, inspiration, fertility, but also grieving, compassion for the poor, and even crafty political maneuvering. This wide breadth of powers reflects the Mother-Goddess quality that Brigid embodies.
Because of her link with the emergence of the light half of the year, and springtime, the wondrous internet has offered us thousands of images of Brigid as a young, sexy flowing-haired maiden. There is some benefit to picturing sacred energies in human form—it makes them a little easier to chat with. But it’s a mistake to think of Brigid as innocent or naïve.
I love this story: 2,400 years ago, a Celtic warrior king named Brennus sacked Rome and held it for a few months. The story goes that, walking down the main boulevard, Brennus gazed up in astonishment at the many statues of the Roman deities displayed one after another. He then turned to his men and guffawed at how utterly simple-minded these Romans were—to believe that the deities looked anything like human beings. The deities are forces of the universe, far beyond human. To box them in with our human categories—god of war, goddess of intellect—was so utterly small-minded and arrogant.* So, when you read that “Brigid is the goddess of healing, poetry and metalworking,” you are actually being quite Roman, and not Celtic. This urge to classify deities, to draw lines around them, is something that the Western mind does, not the indigenous mind. In truth, this “packaging” of the Gods is a way of diminishing them, forcing them into a form pleasing to humans, a way of controlling their unpredictable power. The Celtic deities rarely fit into neat human-made categories, and that is one thing I love about them.
In more concentrated form—with more heat—Brigid of the fire brings the warmth of springtime to melt the constricting forces of winter inside the land. She calls out the new life hidden under the layer of ice. This is why she is a healer, because she unbinds the death force (death is cold), she evaporates darkness, and she melts hard, frozen, constricting winter where she finds it—whether in the land, or in the body, or the heart, or the mind. She sees underneath our story of victimization, she sees under our martyrdom and arrogance and blame. She sees the new life waiting to be called forth. Brigid is “warmth”—an elemental energy in nature, and “warmth” underlies healing in many ways. This is why she is connected with the earliest spring flowers, which sometimes arise through the snow. You can ask Brigid to come to melt whatever cold force is freezing you in place.
Heavy iron is penetrated by fire and it is unshaped—it takes on the unformed flux, heat, and color of the fire element itself. The heat of the forge needs to be intense because the iron does not want to change. So, when it is necessary to affect transformation, Brigid turns up the heat. In this way, Brigid is present in any initiatory event in our life, and in those events where we feel great resistance, she may come as a gentle flame at first, but if our resistance does not melt away, she may turn up the heat. When you are in an intense time of change, you can ask Brigid to tend to your transformation with her great healing love and expert artfulness, and affirm your trust in her skills. You can ask her to help you let go of resistance to being re-shaped.
During these early days in February, Brigid can be thought of as a solar goddess. She’s not a sun goddess, but the spirit of light itself, and all the things we associate with light: spiritual wisdom, intelligence, truth, healing, prophecy and divination. And justice: one of her most ancient names is Breo-saighead (pronounced “BREE-o SUH-yed) meaning “fiery arrow”—an image of divine justice. In the form of Brigantia—the patron goddess of northern Britain—she offers a big vision of time and the heroic quest.
So, in in the great frozen north, I like to celebrate the celestial aspect of Brigid in early February. In the cold of later February and March, I like to do healing ceremonies with Brigid—healing for people, or land, or whole nations and the human species—asking for her to breathe her new life into old dead winter—the dead ideas, the dead beliefs and ways of life that bring death to us and others.
Near the spring equinox, I like to celebrate the fight between Brigid and the Winter Hag (sometimes Brigid’s Mother), the Cailleach. This mythic fight between winter and spring is laid out in the old Scottish tale, “The Coming of Angus and Bride” (Bride being a Scotts name for Brigid). I like to celebrate the goddess of springtime in mid-April when I can see the new flowers emerging. I celebrate Brigid’s hot flame of transformation whenever a new idea comes to fruition, into shape in this world, or whenever transformation becomes difficult.
The work we can do with Brigid is limited only to the size of our imaginations and heart. Like the direction east on the medicine wheel, like dawn every day, and like the idea that comes any time of day, Brigid is ever-present and ready to help us, no matter the weather.
Note:
*Historians describe two Gaulish chieftains named Brennus. One sacked Rome in 387 BCE and the other attacked the treasury at Delphi, Greece in 278 BCE. This quote has been attributed to both of them.
I love to read your writing. You paint beautiful pictures with your words. I now understand how it is that Brigid can be called Goddess of so many things. I love how you explain her manifestation in ever warmer forms, especially here in the frozen tundra. This is all very helpful for me. Thanks!
I loved the information about Brigid, especially the knowledge of the fire that she brings to life. You were able to marry the many areas that she functions in. I had only a rudimentary knowledge. I can now utilize the information in order to bring her into my life more fully. Sending love and light.
Thank you so much for this beautiful perspective on Brigid. As minister on Sunday, my talk was on Brigid and her ability to transform our lives. Your ‘DROP OF MORNING DEW” has broadened my vision of this bright arrow. Rev Claudia
Muchas gracias! Enjoyed very much the reading and will definitely call on her in my medicine wheel and ceremonies. Thank you from Spain.
As usual, Jamie, your elegant language reveals the deep spirituality you brig to shamanism. So many thanks
You inspire me…
I have read the article on Brigid The Celtic Spirit of Fire and learned a lot. Jaime Meyer’s work is very educative spiritually since it explains the call many powers of Brigid deity such as powers of fire, water the heavens, dawn, the Earth, new life, inspiration and others. This is very helpful to us members of the Society for Shamanic Practice as we prepare for the ceremony for medicine Wheel. Thank you so much.
I love your article on mushrooms. I have been interested and a little reluctant to just jump into this, but, in the context of ceremony, it seems that the mushroom could be a very helpful spirit!
Thank you.