Today is Imbolc, the Celtic festival of light and returning green which honours the Goddess Brighid. In truth she can be honoured all over this next few weeks, so don't overlook it if you don't have time this weekend.  Mistress of healers and poets, protectress of children, mothers and the hearth and home, Brighid is a goddess who should have a place in everyone’s home, and her strong yet gentle energy blesses all she touches. Yet we must also remember, her flame is fierce. In some tales she transforms into the maiden Brighid from the ancient Crone goddess the Cailleach, the wise old one of winter, and in other tales these two do battle to force the Cailleach to release her hold upon the land. She's strong is Brighid, not some slip of a girl, but a woman grown, strong enough to be a midwife, to hold all the family, all the clan. 

We live in challenging times, and the earth needs us like never before, our communities need us, and the powerless all over the world need those who can to stand up and bring in a more caring time…we need that light that Brighid brings so desperately. Yet we also need the Cailleach, she who teaches us about long winters, about wisdom and about what it is to endure. Today I see troubled times here in the UK and the U.S. and elsewhere, and I see a need for that wisdom more than ever, as well as a need for that light.

Traditional things to do for Imbolc are to place a cloth, called a Brat Bríde, or Brighids cloak, out on a bush or tree overnight to be blessed by Brighid as she passes. This can be a powerful healing tool, to nurture and support those in need of healing. Another is to make Brighid’s crosses or Brighid’s eyes to protect the home…( a link here to how to do that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn_MG4HZVOo)  and to welcome the Goddess into your house by making an altar to her, or having a Bridie doll, and making a special bed for it. Do it all, welcome her with all your heart. Now is the time for house blessings with candles and incense, and for placing out an offering to the Goddess and the land, in gratitude for life’s return.

But a word of wisdom from the Old One in your ear- we’ll be needing that resilience for a while yet, we’ll be needing still how to learn to walk in dark places, carrying Brighid’s candle with us as we go. We all need to be light bringers now. And we all need to be wise and canny, and strong.

So Bless your homes. Bless the land and the air and the waters. Bless your children and your elders. Bless the strangers and the lost. Bless each other. Be Brighid’s living flame, shine bright, especially in dark places. Be a midwife to that new better world that we all need, and walk your talk- call in the endurance of the Cailleach and the fierceness of Brighid. Attend now to the great work, and let us all bring back the green. 

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Brighid by Dan Goodfellow www.dangoodfellow.co.uk  copies available https://www.redbubble.com/people/dangoodfellow/shop?artistUserName=dangoodfellow&asc=u&collections=326233&iaCode=u-print-photo&fbclid=IwAR2S8V4Vg_7bLTBikPo3NdgzgKqPeCcDklS07imTmdNSVHRINcQK3Ee0h7Q