“Brigit, excellent woman, a flame, golden, delightful. May she, the
sun-dazzling, splendid, guide us into the light”

–St Broccan in the 7th century


FEBRUARY 1st is the holiday of the first fiery threshold of spring in Ireland,
when the sunlady Brigit is welcomed back into the home. It is a hopeful day for
the Irish, marking the first glimmers of light and the beginnings of the spring
quarter of this dark half of the year. Here in northern Michigan we have dwelt
far too long in the dark banishment of winter, with only the light from our
hearths to remind us of the sun. In my home at School-On-the-Hill, near the
snowy pigeon river wilderness, all our comfortable chairs are pulled in around
the isinglass woodstove. Here is where we can see, feel, and believe in the
warmth of a summer sun over these long months of winter. Here is where we watch
as the maple logs release their solar memories from many summers past.

In the olden days on Brigit’s eve, the Irish would lime-wash their cottages
bright, build a big fire, and lay down clean straw for the animals that often
shared their homes. In County Mayo preparations for welcoming in the new
sunchild Brigit included wrapping a sheaf of golden straw in the garment of the
householder with the most dangerous occupation (i.e., the cloak of a fisherman.)
This straw baby bundle was held tenderly in the father’s arms, as he waited
outside the south summer door of the cottage for his family to announce: “She
is welcome in!”

Yet there is more to the embodied spirit of Brigit than meets the eye. She is
the bridge between many things. In Christian lore her servant-mother gave her
birth on Feb 1 in the doorway of a queen, with “one of her two foots over the
threshold of the house, the other outside.” Many Irish homes today still have
Brigit’s sunwheel cross - dating from ancient Neolithic times - hanging over
their front door thresholds today. Her fiery turning cross is there to remind us
all that the wild wheeling cosmos and stars are never far removed from the fires
of our own hearth and home. She is ancient 3-fold goddess: of fire for the
smithies to work their transformations; of healing & midwifery for the mothers;
and of inspiration for the druids and poets. But Brigit has most likely survived
today because she is the people’s own spirit, bridging domestic with wild,
mundane with divine. I try and remember this as I gather another armful of wood,
smoor the fire
once again, and cross over my threshold to spread ashes in the snow.

Seamus
The 3-fold Path: Labor Day 2009
http://users.ameritech.net/jjkells/