Faerie Lore and Legends

Spirit Force, Life Force, The Force, Mana, Prana, Spiritual Energy
Many see this as the all creating and destroying eternal force in the universe from which all life – whether biological or spirit comes from or departs to. Some call it the Creator, some see it as above any Creator or God/desses. Some call it a Supreme Being, others call it the Universe. Some call it “Energy” while others call it “Magic”. Some give it a consciousness while others see it as a energy field. Every religion, cult, belief system, form of spirituality and even alternative medicinal practices embrace and address it. It is seen as a variety of phenomena that is observed or experienced by some observers in a particular faith, spirituality, or religion. It is seen as the “energy” that is the life force that flows within and between all things. It is Life. It is the “breath of life”. It is seen as the continuum that unites body with the mind and spirit. It is what makes a animal be “alive”, or a plant “grow”, or a lightning bolt scream across the sky. It is the force behind gravity, science, and magic. Some see it as “vitality” or “vitalism”, “subtle bodies”, “qi”, “prana”, “mana”, or “kundalini”. Some say you can see this energy force as “vibrations”, “rays of light”, “fields”, or “auras”. It is the web of life that connects all life together. PRANA is the Sanskrit term for “vital life”. It comes from the roots “pra” meaning “to fill” and Latin “plenus” meaning “full”. It is seen as one of the five organs of vitality or sensation, as “breath”, “speech”, “sight”, “hearing”, and “thought”. It is the notion of the vital life sustaining force of all life and vital energy. Mana as a Oceanic term for the impersonal force or quality that lives within animals and inanimate objects. It is seen as the “stuff of which magic is formed” as well as the substance from which souls are made.

 
Cloud Omens
Aeromancy or Cloud Omens or Cloud Reading is a form of augury or divination outdoors in nature. The word aeromancy comes from the Greek word “aero” which means “air” and “manteia” which means “divination”. It is the divination by observing events in the air or wind including cloud shapes, weather conditions, rainbows, changes in weather patterns, storms, and atmospheric phenomena (including comets and meteors). It can also be used to foretell or predict weather or climate. Its history is popular as far back as use by the Greeks and Romans. Particular attention was paid to cumulus clouds and the shapes, sizes, forms, and pictures they would create. Clouds through history form shapes, faces, fantastic landscapes, mythical creatures, and wondrous images. Theories behind these images are based on one’s intuition trying to create an order out of randomness and some believe are reflections of the workings of the inner self. Seers look for these images not only in clouds, but fire embers, nature, water, smoke, and entrails of sacrificed animals in order to establish auguries and portents for the future. Aeromancy can be achieved by studying wind patterns such as with the seer tossing sand or dirt into the wind after asking a question and the answer being retrieved by the nature of the dust cloud. Another method involves throwing a handful of seeds and observing the pattern that the seeds form on the ground. This is sometimes referred to as Austromancy. To many ancients, the wind was the actual breath of life of their God/desses and was one of the most divine of elements. Alternatively, some believed that heated winds were the work of demons. Observing clouds is the most popular form. Some popular cumulus formations that are known meanings are the Pegasus Cloud represents the mythical Greek God Pegasus. This usually represents meaning that a person will be rising above a problem or escaping from something that is worrying them. It can also be symbolic of someone achieving something great such as in the myth where Bellerophon tried to fly Pegasus to Mount Olympus and can take on a meaning of a Olympian endeavor being accomplished in someone’s life. UFO Clouds appear like an Unidentified Flying Object in clear skies or over deserts and when refracting light from the setting sun gives such an image. Carl Jung philosophizes that modern man wants to see flying saucers as he yearns for the wholeness of the inner self symbolized by the shape of a circle. In the East these can be seen as mandalas to aid meditation to establish the inner equilibrium. These can mean wholeness and completion. Grim Reaper Clouds are usually death-like images or symbols in cloud patterns that usually represent death of the old so the new can emerge. These can be seen as positives. Angel Clouds have been seen as portents of untimely death or as a messenger or a blessing that all will go well. During Elvis Presley’s cross-country road trip in 1964, he claimed he saw a angelic vision in the clouds of Stalin and believed it meant that God was displeased with him. This face then turned into a smiling face of Jesus which he believed was a portent of his untimely death. Rocket Ship could mean a symbol of rapid movement in one’s life, breaking free of physical limitations, or explorations of one’s personal or inner space and time. By viewing patterns of clouds in the sky, it is believed that one achieves the opportunity to examine what they see and what questions the mind wants to see based on the symbology and patterning of the clouds. It is very similar in practice to the modern psychology practice of ink blot testing. Based on how a person interprets a pattern can determine much about intuition and train of thought.
One recommended method of cloud prophecy is before looking into the skies, is to ask a direct question, relax, and allow the mind to accept whatever it sees. Before making out a specific pattern, use your imagination to see what might be the connection and do some research into the meanings of different symbols.
Related forms of prophecy are “Eromancy” which involves divination by taking omens from the air, “Austromancy” as divination of studying winds and cloud shapes, “Anemoscopy” as divination by studying the winds including studying the speed, direction, and sound of the wind or observing certain objects blown by the wind. “Nephomancy” is divination by studying clouds and their colors, shapes, and positions in the sky. This practice was called “neladoracht” by the ancient Druids. “Chaomancy” is a form of aeromancy looking for visions in the sky such as in the shapes of clouds and cloud formations. “Ceraunoscopy” is divination by observing thunder and lightning. “Brontoscopy” is divination by listening to the sound of thunder. “Roadomancy” or “astromancy” is divination by observing stars, comets, and meteors. “Cometomancy” is specifically the taking of omens from comets as “meteormancy” is from meteors.
 

Cloud Omens

 
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Wishing Trees
“Wishing Trees” are very common throughout Ireland, England, and Scotland. They are usually individual trees upon which “folk magic”, “folk spells”, “faerie offerings”, or “prayers” are offered. Sometimes it is particular to a specific species, where the tree lives, or how it looks. Many times they are associated with faeries or a particular Deity. They are very common alongside sacred wells in Ireland and the UK. The practice usually involves petitions or offerings made to the tree, a nature spirit associated with the tree, a Saint, a God/dess, or the ancestors with a request for a wish to be fulfilled.

Coin trees involve the offering of coins to a particular tree. These are often hammered into an old trunk, branch, or small tree. Sometimes these are oaks, rowan trees, hawthorns, ash, or thorn trees. Some hawthorns serve for fertility magic such as a common one in Argyll, Scotland by the Ardmaddy House. Sometimes hundreds of coins are hammered into the bark and wood with the belief that a wish will be granted for each of the coins added. A similar one that is well known is the sacred well of ST. Maree in Loch Maree, Gairloch, Scotland has hundreds of coins hammered into it. Also all over the Yorkshire Dales, such as in the pictures shown here I took during a hike, are found hundreds of coins offered to nature spirits and/or faeries for a granting of a wish.

Clootie Wish Trees (a.k.a. Cloughtie or Rag Trees) are found next to sacred wells throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. This involves the practice of tying a piece of cloth, often called “clouties”, “clooties”, or “cloughties” to ask for an answer to a prayer, a wish, and/or a petition. As the rag decays, so will the illness; or so will the petition come true. It is a form of sympathetic magic. One of the most well-known “wishing trees” is the Madron Well in Cornwall. With the Madron well, a sacred well of healing, it is believed that as the cloth rots, the ailment that one is seeking a cure for disappears. Even Charles Darwin recorded the finding of a “wishing tree” in his travels in Argentina called “Walleechu” which was treated by the local inhabitants as a Deity. It was festooned with offerings such as cigars, food, water, and cloth hung from the branches by bright strips of colored thread. A popular wishing tree in Hong Kong is the “Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree” near the “Tin Hau Temple” in Lam Tsu where paper is tied to an orange and thrown up in the trees that stick will grant the petitioner a wish. The wishing tree next to Brigid’s Well in Kildare is a common tree for petitioning healing requests.

The Wishing Tree at Tobar Ghobnatan Holy Well
not only consists of rags, but trinkets, rosaries, jewelry, prayer cards, toys, personal effects, and other items given as offerings. You can see these at Tobar Ghobnatan Wishing Trees. The concept is to leave behind something of yourself or someone that you love who is in need of prayers, healing, or petitions. The concept with the rags is that when it decays so will the illness that it represents. This is a kind of sympathetic magical rite.

Unfortunately, some pilgrims to the sites don’t realize how the spell or magic works. You can see this when they tie a piece of a plastic bag on the tree. Plastic will take forever to decay, and so will the illness it is to represent. If only they knew! In addition to the rags, others leave coins, jewelry, rings, prayer cards, figurines, toys, personal effects, and clothing items such as belts, shoes, garments, and trinkets. The cloutie and Wish trees found at Tobar Ghobnatan are considered to be dedicated to the Matron Saint of Ballyvourney and sacred Bee-Keeping mistress, Saint Ghobnatan holy pilgrimage site and monastic settlement known as “Tobar Ghobnatan”. This is the legendary home of St. Gobnait/Ghobnatan. It is located a kilometer south of the village of Ballyvourney where her church Móin Mór (a.k.a. Bairnech) was built.

Brigid’s Well #1, the “Wayward Well”, Kildare, Ireland

Brighid’s Holy Wells in Kildare
* Kildare, Ireland
The Goddess or St. Brigid has two holy wells in Kildare? She certainly does. Some say that one of the wells belongs to the Ancient Goddess Brigid, while the other well belongs to St. Brigid. Both are sacred, both are holy, and both hold Brigid’s magical healing waters.

Well #1 is the ancient “original” sacred well of Brigid. Well #2 is the dressed-up sacred shrine and park of Brigid with her well. They were two distinctly different entities … an Ancient Goddess whose ethereal Godly presence could manifest as a human female and the actual magical human nun turned Saint who was the personification of the Deity. One and the same? could be. Two differently distinct entities who share the common thread? very possibly.

Two wells … that seems to be the case. One for the Goddess and One for the Saint? I would say “both” wells contain “both” the Saint and the Goddess in them. I’ve come to notice a pattern with this, that the “ancient” Pagan “original” well is often offset from the “Christian” one. This seemed to be the case when I went to see the Madron well in Cornwall, England (though technically that one had “three” – the original one buried in the marsh, the Pagan “original” one offset from the one underwater, and the Christian well house.).

There are many Brigid wells in Ireland as well as Britain. As wells were the sacred sites of veneration in the Druidic faith, many also have an associated sacred tree with them that is covered with votive offerings. These are often called “Wishing Trees”. Trees covered with “clotties” or ribbons of cloth are done as a prayer for healing or a spell to obtain something. Pilgrims come here to get in touch with the well inside themselves. Wells are sacred places where people for thousands of years have come to pray, worship, and reflect.

Pagan and Holy wells are often seen as the entrance to the womb of Mother Earth, the source of life. Each holy well is always related to healing, and each well usually has a specialty that it performs. Brigid’s wells are pretty powerful for healing sore eyes. Brigid is associated with all healing. Her girdle is capable of curing all disease and illness, and this well is rumored to make “the blind man seeing, the dumb girl speaking, etc.”

Brighid’s Holy Well #1 a.k.a. “The Wayside Well”
The first well is the ancient Pagan sacred well of the Goddess Brigid. It is located just next to the car park of the Japanese Gardens. This well/spring itself feeds and nourishes the Gardens themselves. This is the spring source whose waters run off and feed the newer well. It’s not really decorated and is simple, rustic, ancient, and silent. Seemingly forgotten. It has only an inscription sign in Irish that translates as “St. Brigid, Mary of the Gael, pray for us.” However, it is still a major focal point for pilgrimages and ceremonies.

The Brigid Eve ceremonies (January 31st) start at a small fire set up just outside the Japanese Gardens car park with a chanting to the Goddess Brigid, which is followed by a candlelit journey of contemplation about the Goddess and the Saint and the spirit that weaves them together. The candlelit journey goes to this well and ends at the second well. It is customary to gather this well water in a bottle because of its strong healing properties and, in exchange, to leave an offering for the spirits and faeries who dwell there.

“Tobair Bride” / St. Brigid’s Well, Kildare, Ireland

Brighid’s Holy Well #2 a.k.a. “Tobair Bride” (St. Brigid’s Well)
The second well is the “supposed” Christian well of St. Brigid. It’s the tourist one. It’s the “Official” one. This is the one in the tourist guides, signposts, and advertisements. It is located in a landscaped grotto at the end of a short lane close to Well #1. The local Catholic clergy moved Christian devotion and practices to this site in the 1950s, supposedly out of concern for people’s safety in accessing the original well, which was at the bend in a narrow, busy road. It is here that the Roman Catholic healing well is located. While pilgrims often visit both wells, this is the well where an involved ceremony, similar to the “stations of the cross,” is conducted. Pilgrims reflect on the Goddess and/or Saint Brigid and how they weave together.

Brighid’s Flame

* Kildare, Ireland *

For well over 1,000 years, if not 2,000 years or more, the sacred fire of the Goddess Brigid (now St. Brigid of Ireland) has existed and kept holy/sacred by her followers, priestesses, and/or members of her Order. In Ancient times, the Priestesses of Brighid kept her flame eternally lit with 19 Priestesses keeping vigil that the flame was never extinguished.

As Christianity spread through Ireland, the Goddess Brigid was so integral to the Irish population that She could not be eradicated and thereby made a Saint by the Catholic Church. In the 6th century C.E., A nun iconified as “St. Brigid” came to Kildare and built a nunnery/monastery and school on the same site where the Brigid Priestesses were keeping vigil at the Fire Temple eventually absorbing and taking over the duties of the Priestesses now brandishing the torch for Christianity while keeping the Pagan faith alive just hidden.

Through many Viking conquests, raids, and wars, the original wooden church, monastery, and foundation were eventually rebuilt as a stone Cathedral by the 13th century. Giraldus Cambrensis wrote in the 12th century that the Flame was attended by twenty “servants of the Lord” at the time of St. Brigid with Brigid herself being the 20th.

When she died, the number went down to 19 with each of the nuns taking their turns at night, and on the 2oth night, the nineteenth nun would put logs on the fire and St. Brigid would miraculously tend the fire which never went out. By the time Giraldus wrote that the fire had been continually burning for 600 years, and thereby never had its ashes cleaned out, nor did the ashes ever seem to increase in size. Surrounding the fire was a legendary hedge that no male could ever cross. By Legend, one of the Strong bow’s men attempted to cross the hedge and wound up going mad. Another had attempted but just as his leg crossed the threshold, his comrades pulled him back. Unfortunately, the leg that did cross became maimed and he was crippled for the rest of his life.

The magical hedge no longer exists, but in times of legend, protected the flame from male invaders by cursing them to go insane, die, become maimed, or have their penis wither. The Sisters of Brigid (Catholic nuns) continue the work in safeguarding the eternal flame in Solas Bhride which means “Light of Brigid”.Once during the 1200s, the Eternal flame was briefly extinguished by Henry of London, the Norman archbishop of Dublin who ordered it to be put out as he considered the tending process to be a Pagan practice and not to be tolerated. It was quickly relit by the locals and the Sisters continued doing this until the 16th century’s British Reformation.

During the Reformation, King Henry XIII had a campaign to destroy Catholic monasteries and in this process, attacked the St. Brigid foundation at Kildare, thereby extinguishing the flame. On February 1st of 1807, the Bishop of Kildare, Daniel Delany, restored the Sisterhood of St. Brigid and thereby re-lighting the Eternal Flame of Brigid. The Sisterhood of St. Brigid’s mission was at this point to restore the Ancient Order and bring back the legacy and spirit of St. Brigid to Kildare (and thereby the world).

The town center saw the Flame rekindled in the heart of Kildare’s Market Square once again as well, in 1993 by Sister Mary Teresa Cullen, the leader of the Brigidine Sisters at that time. From that point, the Perpetual flame was monitored and kept alive in their home and on February 1, 2006 – the flame was brought back to the center of the Market Square where it has been permanently housed in a large glass-enclosed vessel (and numerous flames kept alive in the Sister’s houses). The St. Brigid’s Flame monument, centered in the photo above, was unveiled by President Mary McAleese on St. Brigid’s Day, February 1st, 2006.

The Eternal Flame

Oisin being given the flame

Goddess or St Brigid Statue

The Goddess Brigid
a.k.a. St. Brigid of Kildare, Brigid of Ireland, “Brigit”, “Bridget”, “Bridgit”, “Brid”, “Bride”, “Mary of the Gael”, or “Naomh Brid”
As a Saint and Actual Living Person: St. Brigid – c. 451 – 525 C.E. (A.D.)
Goddess of Poetry, Magic, Healing, Smithcraft, Learning, Common People, Flocks/Stock/Yield of the Earth, and Inspiration.
Patron Saint of Ireland along with Saint Patrick and St. Columba. Early Christian Nun, Abbess, and Founder of several Monasteries.
Holiday: February 1st as “Saint Brigid’s Day, Candlemas, Imbolc, or Oimelc.

As a Saint and Actual Living Person: St. Brigid – c. 451 – 525 C.E. (A.D.)  Goddess of Poetry, Magic, Healing, Smithcraft, Learning, Common People, Flocks/Stock/Yield of the Earth, and Inspiration. Patron Saint of Ireland along with Saint Patrick and St. Columba. Early Christian Nun, Abbess, and Founder of several Monasteries. Holiday: February 1st as “Saint Brigid’s Day, Candlemas, Imbolc, or Oimelc.

“As the Goddess: ” Throughout Europe, especially in England and Ireland, was the Pagan worship of the Goddess Brigid. She was the Goddess of Poetry, Magic, Healing, Smithcraft, Learning, Common People, Flocks/Stock/Yield of the Earth, and Inspiration. She is identified in Lebor Gabala ‘renn as the Daughter of Dagda and a poet; a half-sister of Cermait, Aengus, Midir, and Bodb Derg. In the Cath Maige Tuireadh, she is responsible for inventing keening while mourning as well as the whistle used for night travel.

Her British Counterpart Brigantia was the Celtic equivalent of the Roman Minerva and the Greek Athena. She is also the Goddess of all things perceived to be of higher dimensions such as high-rising flames, highlands, hill-forts, upland areas, activities depicted as lofty or elevated such as wisdom, excellence, perfection, high intelligence, poetic eloquence, craftsmanship, healing, Druidic knowledge, the home, the hearth, and skills with warfare.

When the Celts came to Ireland in 500 B.C.E., they brought with them the Druidic religion. Druidism was polytheistic with many Deities who interacted with humanity for good and for bad. It was a common practice for various Deities to be assigned to certain regions or places where a cult site would be established. One was established, as early, if not earlier than, 500 C.E. in what is now known as Kildare.

The shrine and cult were dedicated to the Goddess Brigid. In Celtic cosmology, the chief God was The Dagda Mor (God of musicians, and magic) who ruled over the people of Dana (the Tuatha de Danann or the Faerie folk). Dana was the Mother of Irish God/desses. She was also associated as “Brid” the “Poetess” which is identified with the Goddess “Brigantia” who ruled over the Brigantes – a powerful Celtic tribe in North Britain. Brigantia ruled over water and the rivers – the Brighid in Ireland, the Braint in Wales, and the Brent in England. “Brid” meant “exalted one”.

She is often referred to as a “Triple Goddess” – the Three Sister Goddesses named Brid: (1) Goddess of poetry and traditional learning; (2) Goddess of the Smith’s Art; and (3) Goddess of Healing. Through time, these three Goddesses and their attributes were merged into one figure – the Goddess Brigid. With the coming of Christianity, Paganism became absorbed and purposely phased out by the mainstream populace until eventually it was not tolerated. The Gods and Goddesses of old were diminished down to the same rank as faeries, angels, Saints, and royalty. Many of the ancient Gods and Goddesses were converted to Christian Saints by the Catholic Church as a means to dissolve Pagan belief systems. In Christian times she was converted to a Saint, after the actual St. Brigid of Kildare.

• Ni bu huarach im sheirc De,
  Sech ni chiuir ni cossena
  Ind nieb dibad bethath che.
• Saint Brigid was not given to sleep,
  Nor was she intermittent about God’s love of her;
  Not merely that she did not buy, she did not seek for The wealth of this world below, the holy one.
  Ni bu Sanct Brigid suanach

~ Saint Broccan Cloen

“As the Saint and Historical Person:” St. Brigid was the “Mary of the Gael” and only second in popularity to the people of Ireland next to St. Patrick. She was primarily associated with Kildare, the Curraugh, and the whole region of the Liffey Plain known as “Magh Life”.

St. Brigid was born to Dubtach or Dubhthach, the descendant of Con of the Hundred Battles, a Pagan Chieftain of Leinster; and to Brotseach or Brocca, A Christian Pict of the house of O’Connor who was a slave baptized by St. Patrick. St. Brigid was believed to have been born somewhere between 451-458 C.E (453 most common) at Faughart near Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland.

Some accounts state that Dubhthach, her father, was from Lusitania and kidnapped by Irish pirates and brought to Ireland to work as a slave in the same regard as happened with Saint Patrick. Her mother, Brotseach, was also believed to be a slave of Dubtach who was sold off shortly before Brigid’s birth to a Druid who lived at Faughart a few miles from Dundalk.

Apparently, much of this regard in her life affected Brigid’s views on things, especially with the concept of people being property. Dubtach, her father and his family were natives of Leinster and Fr. Swayne, the late Parish Priest of Kildare, who claims they were from Umaras between Monasterevin and Rathangan in County Kildare.

She was baptized in the Christian faith under the name of “Brid” or “Brigid”. Legend has it though that she was weaned on the milk of a white-red-eared cow, the color of the beasts of the Tuatha De Danann. Throughout her life, Brigid was especially kind to the people she encountered and was notorious in the legend for miracles to be associated with her.

One legend tells of her as a child in charge of the dairy by her mother that she gave away so much milk and butter to the poor people where they lived that none was left for her family. She knew her mother would be furious so resorted to prayer. As an answer to her prayers, when her mother visited the dairy, she found an abundance of milk and butter. She was also known to be a lover of animals and had many tales of her kindness to stray and starving dogs.

In childhood, she supposedly encountered St. Patrick. Supposedly she was brought to hear him preach and when she listened to him she fell into ecstasy. She was so dedicated to charity, taking care of common people, healing the sick, and her faith that when she reached marriage age, she instead decided to dedicate herself to religious life. Pagan lore states she was one of the guardians of the Sacred Flame and Shrine of the Goddess Brigid in Kildare.

Christian tales tell of her leaving home with seven other young girls and traveling to County Meath where St. Maccaille the Bishop resided. The Bishop was hesitant to instate the girls because of their young age into the order. During prayer, it was here that they experienced a column of fire that reached the roof of the church resting on Brigid’s head. The Bishop gave the veil to the eight young girls upon hearing of this miracle. St. Maccaille’s Church was on Croghan Hill in County Westmeath, and it was here that St. Brigid founded the first convent in Ireland which attracted many ladies of nobility as postulants and it was here that Brigid and her sisters completed their novitiate.

After completion, they journeyed to Ardagh where they made their final vows to St. Mel, the Bishop of Ardagh and nephew of St. Patrick. Brigid founded another convent here and remained for 12 years. At the Bishop’s request, she sent sisters to various parts of Ireland to establish new foundations including herself.

As St. Brigid traveled around Ireland, she visited with St. Patrick when he was preaching at Taillte or Telltown in County Meath to obtain his blessing. Throughout her travels, she conducted blessings and miracles along the way gaining Sainthood. The Leinstermen knew Brigid was from their province and constantly asked for her to return home amongst them and was offered any site in that province. She decided to make her foundation on Druim Criadh near the Liffey in what eventually grew into Kildare. She chose a spot on the ridge of clay near a large oak tree and decided to build her oratory beneath its branches. Purportedly there was already a shrine to the Goddess Brigid here. The new foundation prospered and grew quickly. Girls from all over Ireland and even abroad came to St. Brigid’s foundation to join the community. The foundation was named after the “Church of the Oak” or “Cill Dara” which evolved into modern-day Kildare. The poor, the afflicted, the sorrowful came to Kildare for Brigid’s healing, advice, and guidance.

Besides a church, Brigid built a small oratory at Kildare which became a center of religion and learning and developed into a Cathedral city with two monastic institutions, one for men and another for women with St. Conleth appointed as spiritual pastor for both of them. She also founded a school of art, including metalwork and illumination that St. Conleth presided over as well. From this was produced the “Book of Kildare” which was praised by Giraldus Cambrensis as having every page fantastically illuminated with interlaced work and a harmony of colors that it was the work of Angels and not of Humans, but it has long since vanished since the Reformation.

St. Brigid statue, Kildare

An unusual community was developed at Kildare with both monks and nuns at the same location. St. Mel, an old and doddery Bishop was appointed to watch over the foundation and ordain priests there. Legend has it that instead of professing St. Brigid as a nun, he consecrated her as a Bishop giving her all the privileges that came with the title. At some point, the legend of St. Brigid and the Curraugh came into place. She apparently requested land from the King of Leinster, and he laughed at her request telling her he’d give her as much land as her cloak could cover. She spread out her cloak, and it covers the entire extent of the Curraugh, and that is why the Irish believe the Curraugh came to be.

The Kings of Leinster showered gifts onto the convent with the privilege of sanctuary conferred on the foundation so that any law offenders seeking refuge were safe there. St. Brigid chose St. Conleth to be her Bishop. He mounted his chariot and asked for Brigid’s blessing before his journey home near Newbridge. As he raced across the Curraugh he discovered that his wheel was loose through the entire journey and believed it was Brigid’s blessing that it had not fallen off and killed him. St. Conleth was consecrated as the first Bishop of Kildare in 490. They worked very well together even though rumored to have had a complex relationship.

Legend has it that Brigid gave all the vestments which Conleth used for saying Mass to the poor. He became upset with her as he got them in Italy, so Brigid prayed, and vestments exactly resembling those given away immediately manifested, and Conleth was appeased. In 519, St. Conleth decided to go on a pilgrimage to Rome without St. Brigid’s permission or blessings, and he didn’t get very far before being killed by a wolf near Dunlavin in County Wicklow.

No one knows for sure when St. Brigid died, but she was believed to have reached age 70, and is purported to have died between 521-528 C.E. Story has it that upon her deathbed, Saint Ninnidh, or “Ninnidh of the Clean Hand” attended her to administer the last rites of “Ireland’s Patroness”. She was interred at the right of the high altar of the Kildare Cathedral with a costly tomb erected over her. After her death, the monastery flourished.

Around 650, the first “Life of St. Brigid” or “Vita Brigitae” was written by a monk named Cogitosus. Both St. Brigid and St. Conleth were buried in the Church with ornate shrines of gold, silver, gems, precious stones, and ornamentation. In 836 A Danish fleet of 30 ships arrived in the Liffey and another in the Boyne that plundered Kildare with fire and sword carrying off the shrines of St. Brigid and St. Conleth. However, it was said that in premonition of this event, in 835, the order hid the remains of St. Brigid in Downpatrick. Unfortunately, the Danes attacked and plundered Downpatrick as well. To protect her body and remains, the priests buried her in a secret place only those priests knew which has now been lost.

In 1185 St. Malachy sought out St. Brigid’s burial place which was supposed to have been buried with St. Patrick and St. Columba claiming to have found their resting places. He petitioned Pope Urban 111 to reinter the remains of all of them to Down Cathedral and did so on 9 June 1186 during the Feast of St. Columcille. During Henry VIII’s reign, during the Dissolution, the new shrine was desecrated, and the relics of the Saints were scattered except some were saved from destruction. The hand (some accounts state the head) of St. Brigid now rests in Lumiar, Portugal (near Lisbon) in a chapel devoted to her in the Church of St. John the Baptist. Another of her body parts as a relic is located in St. Martin’s in Cologne. St Brigid’s Day.

Current Observations of St. Brigid: St. Brigid is highly revered in Roman Catholicism, especially in Ireland and England. In addition, many Eastern Orthodox Christians venerate her as one of the great Western saints before the schism between the Eastern and Western Churches.

St. Brigid and the Goddess Brigid are celebrated on the 1st of February, the Pagan feast of Imbolc, the Festival of Spring celebrating the coming of fertility to the land. It is common to make a Brid’s bed and Brigid Cross in celebration. An eternal flame called “St. Brigid’s Fire” is kept in her honor and since the beginning was tended by 20 “servants of the Lord” with Brigid being the 20th attendee. Since her death, she miraculously tends the fire which never goes out, but is still aided by 19 sisters or attendees keeping the flame alive.

The flame has been kept alive uninterrupted for over 1,000 years with only one interruption in the 1200s when Henry of London, Norman arch-bishop of Dublin, ordered it to be extinguished as he believed this to be a Pagan practice. It was immediately re-lit by the locals but finally extinguished during the Reformation.

St. Brigid Crosses are still weaved to this day as a symbol of sun worship representing the sun in the center with rays of light coming from it in the shapes of the arms of the Cross. St. Brigid has two Sacred Wells and a Wishing Tree in Kildare. She has numerous wells associated with her throughout the world, the most notable being in England and Ireland. These were sites of veneration for the Druidic faith, and many had an associated sacred tree or commonly referred to these days as a “wishing tree” where votive offerings of cloth were tied for healing or prayer petitions. Brigid’s girdle is capable of curing all diseases and illness and so the waters of her well and the sacred trees are pilgrimaged by people from all over the world for healing. As earlier mentioned, St. Brigid is next to St. Patrick in popularity with the Irish and has dedicants, dedications, shrines, and orders to her throughout Ireland and Britain.

Brighid’s Flame

Ragnarok

Ragnarok

“Ragnarok”, “Gotterdammerung”, or a.k.a. “Doom of the Gods” or “Final Destiny of the Gods” is the apocalypse in Norse mythology. Its an important event in the Norse canon. This event will be followed by the Fimbulvetr, or the “Winter of Winters”. These three winters will follow each other with no summer. This will be a time of conflicts and feuds between all people and inhabitants on Earth, and all morality is believed will disappear. The mythos discusses that the “wolf Skoll will devour the sun and his brother Hati will eat the moon, plunging the Earth into Darkness. The stars will vanish from the sky. the Fjalar cock will crow to the giants and the Gullinkambi cock will crow to the Gods. A third cock will awaken the dead. The Earth will shudder with earthquakes and every bond and fetter will burst. The wolf Fenrir will be released. The sea will rear up because Jormungand the Midgard Serpent will write in fury making his way to the lands. With every breath, he’ll stain the soil and skly with poison. The Naglfar ship will be freed from waves caused by the serpent, and the Hymir giant will lead the giants to the battlefield. The Realm of the dead will send a second ship with Loki as the helmsmen, off to the battle. The fire giants led by Surt will leave Muspell in the south to join forces against the Gods and scorch the Earth. Heimdall will sound his horn, calling the sons of Odin and heroes to the battle. From all corners of the world – the Gods, the Giants, the Dwarves, the Demons, and the Elves will ride towards the huge plain of Vigrid to fight the last battle. Odin will engage Fenrir in battle, and Thor will attack Jormungand. Thor will be victorious, but the poison will eventually kill him. Surt will seek out the swordless Freyr, who will succomb to the giant. The one-handed Tyr will fight the Garm and they will kill each other. Loki and Heimdall, will meet a final time, and both will die. The fight between Odin and Fenrir will rage for a long period until Odin gets seized and swallowed. Odin’s son Vidar will leap to kill the wolf. Surt will fling fire in every direction and the nine worlds will burn, killing all friends and foes. The earth will sink into the sea. After the doomsday, a new and idyllic world will arise from the sea and abundant with supplies. Some of the Gods will survive will others will be reborn. Wickedness and misery will be non-existent and Gods with men will live happily together. Two humans, Lif and Lifhrasir will survive by hiding in the wood Hoddmimis holt and will repopulate the Earth. The personified sun, Sol will have a daughter at least as beautiful as she and this daughter will follow the same path as her mother. ” This cosmic event is attested in the 13th century “Poetic Edda” from early traditional sources, and the “Prose Edda” written also in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. There are several archaeological objects that depict events from Ragnarok. These are (1) Thorwald’s Cross: a partially surviving rune stone erected on the Isle of Man, depicting a bearded human holding a spear down at a wolf, his right foot in its mouth, while a large bird sits at his shoulder. This dates between 940-1000 C.E. Its believed to depict Odin, with a raven or eagle at his shoulder, being consumed by Fenrir at Ragnarok. There is also a depiction of a large cross and another image parallel to it that some state is Christ triumphing over Satan. (2) Gosforth Cross: mid 11th century, from Cumbria, England that parallel’s Thorwald’s Cross combining Norse Pagan and Christian symbolism in a similar manner apparently combining scenes from Christian Judgement Day and the Pagan Ragnarok. (3) The Ledberg Stone. 11th century C.E. from Sweden and is similar to Thorwald’s Cross featuring a figure with his foot at the mouth of a four-legged beast, perhaps of Odin being devoured by Fenrir at Ragnarok. (4) The Skarpaker Ston. 11th c. C.E. from Sweden – father grieving his dead son used the same verse as in the Poetic Edda in the engraving translating to “Earth shall be riven and the over-heaven”.

Some correlations have been made between Ragnarok and the 9th century Old High German epic poem Muspilli about the Christian Last Judgement that states the world is to be consumed in flames. Other comparisons between Ragnarok and other Indo-European peoples depict a later evolution of a Proto Indo-European belief about a cosmic winter motif between the Norse Fimbulwinter, the Iranian Bundahishn, and Yima. Vidarr’s stride compared to Vishnu’s with a special shoe to tear apart the beastly wolf. Larger patterns drawn between final battle events in Indo-European cultures including the occurrence of a blind or semi-blind figure in the themes. Other theories about the volcanic events after the death of the Gods – the sun turning black, steam rising, flames touching the heavens – may be inspired by the volcanic eruptions on Iceland. Records of eruptions on Iceland bear strong similarities to the sequence of events described in Voluspa, especially the eruption at Laki that occurred in 1783.

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