What do you think about the Christians stealing the Goddess Brigit and making her a Saint?

BRIGIT OF THE CELTS

-------------------

Brigit was one of the great Triple Goddesses of the Celtic people.

She appeared as Brigit to the Irish, Brigantia in Northern England,

Bride in Scotland, and Brigandu in Brittany. Many legends are told

about Brigit. Some say that there are three Brigits : one sister in

charge of poetry and inspiration who invented the Ogham alphabet,

one in charge of healing and midwifery, and the third in charge of the

hearth fire, smithies and other crafts. This catually indicates the

seperate aspects of her Threefold nature and is a neat division of

labor for a hard-working goddess.

Brigit was probably originally a Sun Goddess, and a charming story

of her birth is that she was born at sunrise and a tower of flame

burst from the forehead of the new born Goddess that reached from

Earth to Heaven. It was likely She who inspired the line in the famous

Song of Amergin: "I am a fire in the head." Her penchant for smithcraft

led to her association by the Romans with Minerva/Athena. As a warrior

Goddess, She favored the use of the spear or the arrow. Indeed, various

interpetations of her name exist including, "Bright Arrow," "The Bright

One," "the Powerful One" and "The High One," depending upon the region

and the dialect.

As a Goddess of herbalism, midwifery and healing She was in charge

of Water as well as Fire. I don't beleive that anyone has ever

counted all teh vast number of sacred wells and springs named after

or dedicated to this Goddess. A story is told of how two lepers came

to one of her sacred springs for healing and She instructed one Leper

to wash the other. The skin of the freshly bathed man was cleansed

of the disease and Brigit told the man who was healed to wash the man

who had bathed him so that both men would be whole. The man who was

healed was now too disgusted to touch the other Leper and would have

left him, but Brigit herself washed the leper and struck down the

other arrogant fellow with leperousy once more before he could leave.

Offerings to the watery Brigit were cast into the well in the form

of coins or, even more ancient, brass or gold rings. Other sacrifices

were offered where three streams came together. Her cauldron of

Inspiration connected her watery healing aspect with her fiery poetic

aspect.

Brigit is clearly the best example of the survival of a Goddess

into Christian times. She was cannonized by the Catholic church as

St. Brigit and various origins are given to this saint. The most

popular folktale is that She was midwife to the Virgin Mary, and thus

was always inviked by women in labor. The more official story was

that She was a Druid's daughter who predicted the coming of

Christianity and then was baptised by St. Patrick. She became a nun

and later an abbess who founded the Abbey at Kildare. The Christian

Brigit was said to have had the power to appoint the bishops of her

area, a strange role for an abbess, made stranger by her requirement

that her bishops also be practicing goldsmiths.

Actually, the Goddess Brigit had always kept a shrine at Kildare,

Ireland, with a perpetual flame tended by nineteen virgin priestesses

called Daughters of the Flame. No male was ever allowed to come near

it; nor did those women ever consort with men. Even their food and

other supplies were brought to them by women of the nearby village.

When Catholicism took over in Ireland, the shrine became a convent

and the priestesses became nuns but the same traditions were held

and the eternal flame was kept burning. Their tradition was that

each day a different priestess/nun was in charge of the sacred fire

and on the 20th day of each cycle, teh fire was miraculously tended

by Brigit Herself. There into the 18th century, the ancient song

was sung to her : "Brigit, excellant woman, sudden flame, may the

bright fiery sun take us to the lasting kingdom."

For over a thousand years, the sacred flame was tended by nuns,

and no one knows how long before that it had been tended by the

priestesses. In 1220 CE, a Bishop became angered by the no-males

policy of the Abbey of St. Brigit of Kildare. He insisted that nuns

were subordinate to priests and therefore must open their abbey

and submit themselves to inspection by a priest. When they refused

and asked for another Abbess or other female official to perform

any inspections, the Bishop was incensed. He admonished them to

obediance and then decreed that teh keeping of the eternal flame

was a Pagan custom and 6rdered the sacred flame to be extinguished.

Even then, She remained the most poular Irish saint along with

Patrick. In the 1960's, under Vatican II modernization, it was

declared that there was insufficient proof of Brigit's sanctity

or even of her historical existance, and so teh Church's gradual

pogrom against Brigit was successful at last and She was thus

decanonized. It is very difficult to obtain images or even holy

cards of ST. Brigit outside of Ireland anymore.

Her festival is held on Febuary 1st or 2nd. It corresponds to

the ancient Celtic fire festival of Imbolc or Oimelc which

celebrated the birthing and freshening of sheep and goats (it really

is a Feast of Milk). This festival was Christianized as Candlemas

or Lady Day and Her Feast day, La Feill Bhride, was attended by

tremendous local celebration and elaborate rituals. Her festival

is also called Brigit. Brigit (the Goddess and the Festival)

represents the stirring of life again after the dead months of the

winter, and her special blessings are called forth at this time.

Since She was booted out of teh Church for being Pagan, it is

incumbant upon us Pagans to restore Her worship to its former glory

especially those of us of Celtic ancestory. Here is an ancient rite

to invite Brigit into your home at the time of her Holiday:

Clean your hearth thoroughly in teh morning and lay a fire

without kindling it, then make yourself a "Bed for Brigid" and

place it near the hearth. The bed can be a small basket with covers

and tiny pillow added as plain or fancy as you like. If you have no

hearth, you can use the stove and put the bed behind it. Then at

sundown light a candle rubbed with rosemary oil and invite Brigit

into your home and into er bed; use the candle to kindle your

hearthfire if possible. Make your own poem to invite Her or use

the ancient song mentioned earlier. Let the candle burn at least

all night in a safe place. You might even want to begin the custom

of keeping the eternal flame; it is a popular custom in some

magickal and Wiccan traditions. AFter all, it's up to us now to

keep the spirit of Brigit alive and well for the next thousand

years at least!!!





By Morning Glory Zell from AMARGI Vol I. No.3 Feb. 1st 1989

Used By permission

What do you think about the Christians stealing the Goddess Brigit and making her a Saint?
Does it surprise you that they will take no responsibility for their past or present action? It doesn't surprise me.

They have become masters at denying truth.



Blessed Be...the Enlightened! ; )
Reply:Who is the idiot that asked this question? Are all christians Catholics? Why don't you think before posting a question, dumbass. Report It
Reply:what do i think of them for that?



the same way i think of them for stealing the cult of Mithras, and taking the Mithras savior, renaming him Christ, and building a cult around him, trying to suggest it's real.



nonsense. complete and utter nonsense.
Reply:DUH!

Great dissertation.

Are you going for a PHD?
Reply:Protestants don't have saints.



And your post is too long to read.



Have a good Sunday. I'm going to shovel snow.
Reply:im christian and i never heard of briget ... maybe its a catholic thing or somthing ...
Reply:It wasn't true believers, it was heathen pretending they had faith in the Messiah.
Reply:Celts, druids and goddessess evil warriers.No place for them in Christianity.
Reply:See another uniformed questioner. Christianity and Catholocism are not the same thing. Christians follow the Bible Catholics follow some Bible but mostly man made traditions. Praying to Mary, idolatry,works(rosary), having a priest forgive my sins? Last I read only God can forgive sins and the Eucharest dont even get me started on that. if we are a child of God we are then a Saint. It does not take a church. A church can do nothing all is a work of God Peace out........
Reply:I'm still offended about the Christmas/Winter Solstice celebration %26amp; Easter/Spring Equinox!
Reply:I guess I don't careat all. I lost interest on the tenth line or so.



Sorry!
Reply:it's a lot better treatment than Astarte recieved--they transformed her into the demon astaroth
Reply:you can find st bredgit prayer cards at my church and if you'd like some pictures of the church in her honour in rome, just ask or do a simple google search for st bridgits catholic church -- you'll be amazed at the amount there are.....had she not been a Christina, she'd never have been a saint. matthew himself, one of Christs apostles was a tax collector - the most grevious sinner - and yet, he turned from that life to one of God's glory.