Brigid and the Blessing of the Candles
meditations on Imbolc for your holiday pleasure [Reposted from 2024]
Inside: Reposting my Imbolc essay from last year because I worked really hard on it and I think it’s worth looking at again. Read it to find out: What Imbolc means for witches; all about the goddess Brigit; rituals you can practice at home to celebrate the holiday; and find out what’s so sexy about jumping over a candle, inside!
What is Imbolc?
On February 1st, the eve of Imbolc, Cailleach the crone drinks from the well of youth, and becomes Brigit (pronounced Breed).
Imbolc is the pagan holiday of awakening. For the ancient Gaels, Imbolc marked the first day of Spring and is known as the holiday of Brigit: Celtic triple goddess. One aspect of Brigit is a prophetess, a guardian of fire, inspiration, and poetry. Her second self is a goddess of healing and medicine. Her third aspect is the goddess of smith-craft or metallurgy.
Her name means fire, angel, power, or craft. In Scottish Gaelic, the word for fire and angel is the same: aingeal.
As the pagan world was converted to Christianity, the goddess Brigit became a holy woman, a saint. At her birth a column of fire jet forth from her brow illuminating the lonesome sky.
When she died, her shrine was tended by nuns who kept a constant flame burning for centuries.
Brigit, Fire, and the Modern Pagan
If you have a fire place, on Imbolc Eve, rake the ashes flat and smooth, then leave a dish of offerings for Our Lady of Perpetual Fire nearby.
If the next morning you get up and see the mark of a wand in the ashes, it means you have Brigit’s favor.
If you find a footprint in the ash, be joyful because it means that Brigit was with you during the night, and that she will bless you this coming year.
If there are no marks in the ash, you may have offended the goddess. Burn offerings of incense and bury an egg where three streams come together (or three roads).
As the goddess of fire, Brigit is also the goddess of energy. In 2024, we might give thanks for the light that illuminates our nights, the gas that powers our stove, and whatever source of energy makes your car go…
…I think a good way of giving thanks is to consider how that energy comes to us, and honor the cost it requires of the earth by not wasting it, and standing up for environmental justice.
Fun fact – happily unrelated to fossil fuels – you know those images of pagans jumping over a fire… well, that’s because in the pagan world, evil spirits could be repelled by people showing them their genitals! And, “at the famous Celtic bonfire festivals women used to stride over the fire, exposing their vulvas to the beneficial influence of the flame, and blessing it with their own power.” [1]
I know what I’ll be doing Imbolc eve! (Don’t worry, Founders, it won’t be over your spell candles, lol.)
Brigid, Lady of the Beasts (and Bees)
As many of you might know, the tarot card Strength is often called the Lady of the Beasts, and Brigit is that lady! Brigit is associated with bulls, bees, cranes and sandpipers, bears, and snakes. Perfect tutelary deity for the Strength year.
There’s a famous Scottish hymn for the Feast of Saint Brigit, “sung to a serpent which is supposed to emerge from its hollow among the hills,” on Imbolc. [1] When I first heard it, I thought it was troubling, and wasn’t sure I wanted to sing it. It goes like this:
On the day of Bride of the white hills The noble queen will come from the knoll, I will not molest the noble queen, Nor will the noble queen molest me.
Ummm, okay.
Well, actually I found out that the “queen” in reference is Brigit in the form of a bee… or a snake.
In Scotland, the snake emerging from its knoll was supposed to be a first sign of winter’s thaw (kind of like the ground hog here in the US).
But in Ireland they don’t have snakes (rue on St. Patrick for that), so there the “noble queen” was a bee. Bee makes even more sense right? A knoll is shaped like a hive. And we don’t want to “molest or be molested by” bees.
So feel free to sing this song with gusto.
Rituals for Awakening the Blessings of Brigit
Brigit is the awakening of spring. She steam from the warm wet earth. She is apple blossoms, ewe’s milk, inspiration, poetry, craftsmanship, healing, fertility, and abundance. Brigit is a great spirit to have on your side.
So if you want to celebrate Imbolc and call Brigid in, here are a few ideas:
DEFINITELY leap over a fire, or at least a candle, and make sure you’re not wearing any knickers as you do it (carefully!)
Purify your house by carrying fire through every room and chanting the hymn to Brigit. (Subscribers you can hear the chant by listening to the voice over - I sing it for you there).
Bless your candles for the year by praying over them, saying how you’d like them to work, performing the chant (above), and giving them a few pinches of the offerings I’ve listed the offerings below in the subscribers section.
Make a corn or a rag dolly and leave outside to be blessed by her healing powers.
In the evening, rake the ashes in your fireplace, and offerings for Brigit and chant:
Tonight I shall rake the fire.
Tomorrow I will receive it alive.
Help me, Brigit, Brigantia, Bride
That my fires may never die.
Blessed Imbolc, everyone! May our fires, united, bring warmth and healing to the world.
Love,
Amanda
P.S. If you want to read what I wrote about Brigit 2023, which goes way deep, have a read here.
[1] This essay leaned heavily on the excellent article by Seamas O Cathain, “Hearth-Prayers and other Traditions of Brigit: Celtic Goddess and Holy Woman,” JRSAI Vol. 122 (1992): 12-34. University College, Dublin.
Reminders:
READING GROUP: Monday, 02/03/25, 6pm PST. Reading from Dean Spade’s book Mutual Aid. Links to text below. Here are the questions for closer reading, two of which I got from this super cool website Radical In Progress (maker of radical study guides!):
What is mutual aid and what makes it different from other forms of assistance? How does mutual aid relate to the concept of solidarity?
What are the ‘two big jobs’ of social movements, and what do they look like in action? For this question, think about how both of these jobs manifest in each of the case studies.
What kind of radical person is the practice of mutual aid aiming to create? Do you see yourself being able to become someone like that?
FULL MOON IN LEO RITUAL, Monday, 02/10/25, 6pm, PST. More info soon.