„In ancient times, #Ireland was renowned for the skill of its physicians, particularly their herbal-lore. #Mythology tells us not just of famous battles, brave warriors and tragic love stories, but tales of miraculous #healing, too.
Of all the #Irish Gods, the most well-known and beloved of them all were those who practised healing, such as #Brigid, #Lugh, Dian-Cecht and his son Miach, and daughter Airmid, who was greatly skilled in herbal lore.“ #Celtic
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/p/march-wise-woman-or-witch
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: There are many examples of the hare having connections with the #Otherworld in #Irish #mythology and folklore. Hares are associated with #spring, thus with the Goddess of the season, and represented love, fertility and growth. In Europe, that Goddess was Eostre, after whom Easter is named, but in #Ireland #Brigid is the Goddess of Spring, or Imbolc.
Source: https://substack.com/@aliisaac
#Celtic#LegendaryWednesday#WyrdWednesday: There are many examples of the hare having connections with the #Otherworld in #Irish #mythology and #folklore. Hares are associated with #spring, thus with the goddess of the season, and represented love, fertility and growth. In Europe, that goddess was Eostre, after whom Easter is named, but in #Ireland #Brigid is the Goddess of Spring, or #Imbolc.
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: There are many examples of the hare having connections with the #Otherworld in #Irish #mythology and #folklore. Hares are associated with #spring, thus with the Goddess of the season, and represented love, fertility and growth. In Europe, that Goddess was Eostre, after whom Easter is named, but in #Ireland #Brigid is the Goddess of Spring, or #Imbolc, which starts on February 1st.
Source: https://buff.ly/4aO9zLe
#Celtic#FolkloreSunday: The #Cailleach has handed over to #Brigid, yet she is unsettled, and does not sleep. She is struggling to adjust. Meanwhile, Brigid is stirring into wakefulness, taking her time to come to full cosciousness, and into her power. There is turbulence as they slip between roles. We see it in the weather, we feel it in ourselves.
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/
#Celtic#TempleThursday: The red-eared white #cow is a magical creature which features in many Irish stories, and up until 1935, still roamed the #Irish countryside. Lisa Lawrence claims it may have been the preferred animal sacrifice to appease the Gods in pre-Christian times when bad events occurred, such as when crops failed. The Goddess #Brigid is associated with cattle, and so is the Saint Brigid; as an infant, she was fed solely on the milk of a white, red-eared #cow, as she was too pure to consume regular food sources. Here, as in Corc's story, the cow is tended by a woman, but not just any woman, a pure and virtuous virgin. As Lawrence describes it, 'the white red-eared cow has ceased to nourish sacrificially devotion to the goddess Brigid, and begun to nourish symbolically devotion to Saint Brigid'.
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/
I love that Ireland's female patron saint, Brigid, is receiving new attention because Ireland itself has changed so much — and cultural shifts cast holy people in new lights, so that we see new facets of their contribution to us.
As Irish poet Laura Murphy says, “Brigid is about signalling a new era based on her principles of equality, unity, truth, compassion and love.”
"So why has it taken so long to commemorate her, when her male counterpart, Saint Patrick, is celebrated in more than 200 countries? Over the past two decades, Ireland has experienced drastic social, political and historical reckonings.”
“Many of these have coincided with the waning influence of the Catholic church, from allowing same-sex marriage in 2015 to the legalisation of abortion in 2018, a campaign in which Brigid, who helped women terminate their unwanted pregnancies, was frequently cited."
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: Ancient pagan religions were matriarchal; they believed in the Goddess and Mother Earth, and venerated the ability of the female to bring forth life. The year was counted by lunar cycles, unlike today’s Gregorian calendar, of which there were thirteen, and also thirteen menstrual cycles in a year. https://aliisaac.substack.com/
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: #Brigid was later adopted by the Christians and absorbed into their doctrines when the local people refused to give the goddess up even though they accepted the new religion. As Saint Brigid of Kildare, she was honoured by nineteen nuns lighting and maintaining a perpetual, sacred flame, which continued until the suppression of the monasteries in the sixteenth century. Although it is believed the origins of this custom lie much further back in forgotten ancient pagan ritual.
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: #Brigid is according to Patricia Monaghan ("The Red-Haired Girl From The Bog") more a title than a name. The "Sublime" is a tribute to the great mother goddess, who was also worshipped elsewhere as #Eithne, #Dana & ev. #Sul. She was the central figure of the gods in the period of matriarchy, which ended in the #IronAge. And she is still today the bridge (English bridge is derived from Brigid) between the ancient faith & Christianity: here as a goddess, there as a saint.
#Celtic#MythologyMonday: #Brigid was later adopted by the Christians and absorbed into their doctrines when the local people refused to give the goddess up even though they accepted the new religion. As Saint Brigid of Kildare, she was honoured by nineteen nuns lighting and maintaining a perpetual, sacred flame, which continued until the suppression of the monasteries in the sixteenth century. Although it is believed the origins of this custom lie much further back in forgotten ancient pagan ritual.
Source: https://aliisaac.substack.com/
"The idea of food magic may seem strange, but for our ancestors, it was an act of faith in blessings to come. That’s what I love about these old-world rituals. In sympathetic magic “like begets like” so fires create warmth, light increases light, golden round pancakes bring on the sun and feasting begets more feasting! A cause for culinary celebration indeed!"
Nua-#CelticSoulJourney: „In the distant past #CroghanHill emerged as an island from the surrounding lakes, a sacred place where water, earth and sky met. The Hill, reminiscent of a breast, appears to have long been a place of the sacred feminine. The old #Celtic name for the
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Nua-#CelticSoulJourney: #CroghanHill is the remains of an extinct volcano and rises from the Bog of Allen in the midlands of #Ireland in Co. #Offaly. Seen from #Uisnech, the pointed summit coincides with the midwinter sunrise. In pre-Christian times, #Brigid as Brig, Bree
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