131719-HEART OF GLASTONBURY-MARCH 24 - Flipbook - Page 20
BY MARION BRIGANTIA
BRIGID, GREAT CELTIC GODDESS
‘The Bright One’ or ‘The
High, Exalted One’ and so
was more of a description of
Goddess than a name. A bit
like when the Romans came
to Britannia, they asked the
locals for the name of a river
they came across, and the
original people said ‘Avon’,
because that was their word
for river, which resulted in
many rivers Avon over the
whole of Britain! So too, was
Brigid Goddess to the people
who lived here long time
ago, the people we call
ancestors.
Brigid is often seen as a
Celtic Goddess, but
although I believe this true, I
do see Her as not just a
Goddess and not just of the
Celts. For me She is
Goddess, which means that
She is all that is, the Source
of Life, the Universe, the Sun,
Moon, the Stars and Earth. I
therefore believe She was
already Goddess to the
people who lived in on the
British Islands before the
Celts came, bringing the
word Brigid to these lands.
Working with Brigid made
me realise that She became
more and more dense, the
more we people started to
‘claim’ Her. From Goddess,
She became a Goddess,
which often happened with
Goddess, because we as
humans need Her to be
something specific, a
Goddess of So She became
CONTINUED...
physically through Her
manifestation in Fire, Water,
Earth and Air.
Brigid, the Goddess of
Healing, the Goddess of
Smithcraft, the Goddess of
Midwifery, the Goddess of
Hospitality,
Goddess of Inspiration etc.
and of course Bridey, the
Maiden Goddess of Imbolc.
The fact alone that She is
Goddess of so many
qualities and aspects of life,
also shows that She
transcends the sum of all
Her names and merits.
In the context of nature,
Brigid is also seen as the
Mother of the Elements. She
is mostly known as Goddess
of the Triple Fire or Triple
Goddess of Fire; She flows
through Her many healing
wells and springs; She is the
Air that holds the breath of
life, the stillness of the seed
of Inspiration, the sound of
songs and bells; She is the
sacred Land, and the green
rolling hills of these isles are
Her mantle. So not only is
She an idea, a Goddess who
lives in the heart and soul,
but She can be felt
DESIGNED BY “HEART OF GLASTONBURY”
It doesn’t however stop
there, She became even
more dense, took on even
more form. She became
human. The stories about
Saint Brighid of Ireland, Saint
Brighid of Kildare, who is also
known as Mary of the Gael,
are endless and often so
magical that it is not hard to
imagine that the Goddess
literally incarnated into
human form, The final
manifestation of divine
energy into flesh and bone.
To work with Brigid opens up
a whole spectrum in itself as
you can work with Her on all
these levels of Her
manifestation. The way She
presents Herself on these
different levels and on levels
of connection are also
abundant and can roughly
be brought back to four
levels.
First of all, the connection
with the Divine energy that
Brigid carries, the places
where you find Her in all that
is, including within yourself.
In this energetic field we can
work with invocational,
meditation and prayer
practices
Secondly, the connection
with Her land and nature,
with the elements, by
opening yourself to the