wiintertides
Newbie
Posts: 14
Pronouns: She/her
Religion: Irish polytheist
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Post by wiintertides on Apr 10, 2015 21:18:08 GMT -6
I've seen quite a few people who work with Brighid around tumblr and thought maybe they'd floated on over here haha. She seems to be a quite popular deity and I figured we could use a thread to talk about UPG and anything really to do with Brighid. *shrugs*
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Post by Allec on Apr 11, 2015 16:03:52 GMT -6
Well, my strongest UPG about Brighid is that she's very gentle and welcoming--though can protect fiercely when need be. But she's more inclined to back down than to punish, if that makes any sense. I think she's so popular because she is use to people of various faiths coming to her for various reasons with various beliefs--all which she accepts. I guess you could call her a Goddess of Interfaith work?
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Searlait
Junior Member
Posts: 63
Pronouns: She/Her
Religion: Gaelic Polytheist
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Post by Searlait on Apr 12, 2015 16:50:53 GMT -6
I've been honoring Brighid for a little while, and I've noticed she really likes milk-based offerings, as well as stuff like oatmeal, which I tend to offer whenever we have any in the house. But despite that, I can't really get a hold on her personality just yet. Some more stuff for me to dwell on. My style of honoring is more passive, anyway.
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Post by saintfelicity on Apr 13, 2015 7:28:59 GMT -6
(FTR I tend to use the Brigid spelling, obviously both are right, but I've forced myself to just use one because of screwing up my Tumblr tag for her, ha. I'll also say that I "honor" Brigid, I don't "work with" her, but that's personal preference for not using the phrase "work with" because I see the Dé as mentors. Possibly, I work for them. Your mileage may vary, of course, and there's been lots of discussion on this elsewhere, and this thread obviously isn't the place for it. Just some disclaimers about my own practice!) I honor a few deities but Brigid is my greatest love. What I find interesting about her is that in the reading and research I've done so far - which, since I've only been formally practicing for a little over a year is not as extensive yet as it could be - is that she was clearly beloved in Ireland but she doesn't seem to feature particularly prominently in the myths and research. I wonder if a lot of the sheer force of Brigid comes from St. Brigid of Kildare. A lot of people UPG that the goddess and the Saint are the same, and therefore you see a lot of prayers and motifs for St. Brigid being adapted for Brigid of the Tuatha Dé. The more I read, the more I tend to agree with the theory put forward on page 91 of James MacKillop's Myths and Legends of the Celts: Obviously, I don't think it can be quite this clear cut especially with some of the more fantastical stories of St. Brigid, as well as St. Brigid's feast day being placed at Imbolc. Equally obviously, this isn't something we can ever really get a hard answer on. I'm eager to do some more research, particularly historical research of St. Brigid. Since traditions for the two are so intertwined in Gaelic Polytheist practice, I'm interested to see what I can tease out that might be "more" Brigid the goddess', so that I can give both Brigids their due. This is probably going to be a major facet of how I fuse some of Catholic tradition in my practice, which is the other half of what I'm aiming for alongside my art/magic-focused practice. Given the amount of information we have about her and her very warm presence, I think it's only natural that she's so popular. The only thing that gets my hackles up is when people refer to her as "a great deity to start with." She's not a starter Pokemon, she's a goddess, for fuck's sake. UPGs ahoy - Allec I totally see what you mean in that she's more inclined to "back down" rather than "punish," although I'd personally think of it less as "backing down" and more as letting you screw stuff up yourself if she's seeing you don't agree with her. I find that she's very patient, but very firm. Since we've been talking about river spirits lately, to use a river metaphor - she's one that's wide, strong, deep, very powerful. She moves forward with a lot of purpose and strength and is solid in her convictions, but gods help you if she gets angry. I think there's also something to a metaphor of her being slow burning coals that can be stoked. She's associated with spring, of course, but I personally associate a lot of fall and wintry things with her - cinnamon, cocoa, pines, crunchy leaves, that kind of thing. But I think that has less to do with seasonal associations and more to do with comfort associations.
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aondeug
Full Member
Posts: 141
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers, He/Him/His
Religion: Thai Theravada, Irish polytheism
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Post by aondeug on Apr 13, 2015 11:49:07 GMT -6
I associate a variety of feelings with the gods. Which are either just my very strong emotional reactions to thinking about them, them actually around and going "YOU", or some strange mix of both. Bríghid feels like sitting in front of a fire place. Nice and warm. Very, very warm but not unpleasantly so. It is very homely and calming. Like being at home with a mom or something.
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Searlait
Junior Member
Posts: 63
Pronouns: She/Her
Religion: Gaelic Polytheist
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Brighid
Apr 13, 2015 17:56:58 GMT -6
Post by Searlait on Apr 13, 2015 17:56:58 GMT -6
saintfelicity Do you know of any myths in which Brighid appears? I'm having trouble coming up with any.
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Brighid
Apr 13, 2015 20:36:54 GMT -6
Post by Allec on Apr 13, 2015 20:36:54 GMT -6
saintfelicity Yeah, I agree with your wording better than mine. Kinda like a parent watching their child screw up instead of intervene, so the child can learn the lesson first-hand.
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Post by saintfelicity on Apr 14, 2015 5:59:31 GMT -6
Searlait Off the top of my head there's this super short reading list, which mostly just consists of Cath Maige Tuired and a verse in the Book of Invasions. That said, there's some good stuff about St. Brigid in there which you might like if you're interested in exploring the intersection of the goddess and saint. I can also refer you to some chunks of books I've read that have a bit of discussion - - James MacKillop, Myths and Legends of the Celts, in chapter 4, "Goddesses, Warrior Queens and Saints" (disclaimer that I'm about halfway through this book, I'll let you know if I find more!)
- Marie-Louise Sjoestedt, Gods and Heroes of the Celts, in chapter 3, "The Mother-Goddesses of Ireland"
- Dáithí Ó hÓgáin's encyclopedia / dictionary The Lore of Ireland has separate entries for both the goddess and the saint under "Brighid"
A lot of these tend to reference just those two myths, though - Cath Maige Tuired and the Book of Invasions. It seems a lot of the other indications we have of her importance come from many rivers and hills throughout Ireland that are named after her. Of course, those three I listed are some more beginner overviews (but are super super good to own if you don't have them!) and I haven't dug in to bibliography yet, so sometime in the future I'll be sure to update.
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seamu5
Junior Member
Posts: 55
Pronouns: Barbarian
Religion: Gaelic Polytheism
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Brighid
Apr 14, 2015 6:09:30 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by seamu5 on Apr 14, 2015 6:09:30 GMT -6
Ashbash, you summed up my thoughts perfectly. I differ a bit with punishment since I tend to associate the wooden spoon with her too. If anyone has grown up with an old Irish woman you will fear the wooden spoons. My great grandmother had one and could whip it out faster than you could think.
I tend to think that the saint and goddess are of the same stories, but I can guarantee that there were new converts to Christianity that shared her name. But that is that and this is this when it all comes down to it. I just find it hilarious that my UPG has her as the Holy Mother of Ireland and that saint myth has Brigid as the holy foster mother of Christ.
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Searlait
Junior Member
Posts: 63
Pronouns: She/Her
Religion: Gaelic Polytheist
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Post by Searlait on Apr 14, 2015 9:40:45 GMT -6
Came across a kid's book at work today about St. Brighid's Cloak, which I thought was curious timing. You think she's hearing this discussion? Haha.
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Post by saintfelicity on Apr 14, 2015 17:28:46 GMT -6
Ashbash, you summed up my thoughts perfectly. I differ a bit with punishment since I tend to associate the wooden spoon with her too. If anyone has grown up with an old Irish woman you will fear the wooden spoons. My great grandmother had one and could whip it out faster than you could think. HA I LOVE IT I can totally see that.
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Windy
Newbie
Posts: 31
Pronouns: She/Her
Religion: irish polytheism
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Post by Windy on Apr 23, 2015 7:24:46 GMT -6
My UPG with Brigid is that she takes care of/ watches over workers and laborers. It made sense to me, her being a Blacksmith. I call her my Queen of working girls. I think she likes it. ^.^
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Post by saintfelicity on Apr 23, 2015 17:47:33 GMT -6
^ Just FYI, in some areas including where I'm from "working girls" is a euphemism for prostitution, so, probably just a good thing to tread carefully on haha.
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ryeduck
Junior Member
Posts: 63
Pronouns: he/his/him
Religion: TBD
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Post by ryeduck on May 11, 2015 18:45:44 GMT -6
This morning I honored a single deity rather than the gods as a whole for the first time. Of course, it was Brighid that I honored as she is the most approachable of the Tuatha De. My moods have been rather screwy for the past couple days (thanks depression) and I was starting to get worried and discouraged about things. I felt that I could really use that feeling of warmth and comfort that is usually associated with her. So I lit a candle for her and made an extra cup of coffee in case she decided to stop by and listen to me rant for a little while. I don't know how she takes her coffee or if she does at all, so I made it with milk and sugar just in case. Well, after my little rant I headed to work a little calmer. My work day went very smoothly, unusually so. Things were slow and I was able to take things easy. My mood has started to stabilize a bit as well. I'm thinking Brighid might of actually heard me and helped me out a little bit today so that I can make sense of the things going on in my head. Of course, at the end though there was a tiny little hiccup as if it were Brighid saying "Don't forget this is work. You won't have it this easy everyday." Thanks for that reminder. But yea, Brighid seems pretty amazing. Definitely giving her an offering to thank her for today and I'm looking forward to honoring her in the future.
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Post by saintfelicity on May 12, 2015 7:05:00 GMT -6
This morning I honored a single deity rather than the gods as a whole for the first time. Of course, it was Brighid that I honored as she is the most approachable of the Tuatha De. My moods have been rather screwy for the past couple days (thanks depression) and I was starting to get worried and discouraged about things. I felt that I could really use that feeling of warmth and comfort that is usually associated with her. So I lit a candle for her and made an extra cup of coffee in case she decided to stop by and listen to me rant for a little while. I don't know how she takes her coffee or if she does at all, so I made it with milk and sugar just in case. Well, after my little rant I headed to work a little calmer. My work day went very smoothly, unusually so. Things were slow and I was able to take things easy. My mood has started to stabilize a bit as well. I'm thinking Brighid might of actually heard me and helped me out a little bit today so that I can make sense of the things going on in my head. Of course, at the end though there was a tiny little hiccup as if it were Brighid saying "Don't forget this is work. You won't have it this easy everyday." Thanks for that reminder. But yea, Brighid seems pretty amazing. Definitely giving her an offering to thank her for today and I'm looking forward to honoring her in the future. This is so funny! I did nearly the exact same thing last week, I was feeling poorly and made her an extra latte. She is so lovely to sit with.
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