Blessed Brigid / Candlemas / Imbolc!

Blessed Brigid / Candlemas / Imbolc!

It's still winter, it's still cold and dark, but the days are definitely longer.  In some locales, the sap is starting to rise.  

Brigid is a Triple Goddess of Smithcraft, Healing, and Poetry.  

What creative sap is starting to rise in you?  

Poetry for Brigid: On-line song-learning workshop

[image: a tree on a plain against a night sky bright with stars and light. source*:]

The Sabbat mid-way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox is called by various names in different traditions: Brigid.  Candlemas.  Imbolc or Imbolg.

Brigid is a triple Goddess of smithcraft, healing, and poetry.

In this song-learning workshop on 30th January, we'll learn a song inspired by two poems by Rumi.

Join us!  Registration required.

More info: https://sites.google.com/view/stasama/

Register here: https://forms.gle/XarAkPySERY8VKXZA

Saturday, 30th January

On-Line Song-Learning Workshop: Come As You Are

We'll learn a piece together in five simple parts, then sing it together.

All genders welcome; I use gender-neutral voice terminology. You do not need to read music, but I usually have sheet music available if that is helpful for you. Come as you are!

Saturday, 30th January

7-9 pm UT/GMT (11 am-1 pm Pacific, 2-4 pm Eastern, 8-10 pm Central European)

Sliding scale

* GBP: £5 suggested fee; £1 for low earners or unpaid folks; £10-20 if you'd like to help someone else attend

* Euros: €6 suggested fee; €1 for low earners or unpaid folks; €11-23 if you'd like to help someone else attend

* USD: $7 suggested fee; $1 for low earners or unpaid folks; $14-27 if you'd like to help someone else attend

Register here:

https://forms.gle/XarAkPySERY8VKXZA

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* image source: https://wallpapertag.com/wallpaper/full/7/e/b/238858-blue-galaxy-wallpaper-1920x1080-for-4k.jpg

 

Blessed Brigid

Today is Brigid, the day on the Wheel of the Year half-way between Winter Solstice, the longest night and shortest day, and Spring Equinox, when night and day are nearly equal.

Brigid is the triple Goddess of smithcraft, healing, and poetry. Many years, right about now, I feel Her in my life woven/weaving through my creativity.

This year... This year, may I know Her in Her aspects as Smith and Healer. Worker of Justice.

And yes, also, Poet. May I be reminded, again, in my body, in my being, that creativity in the face of injustice is resistance, and necessary.

So mote it be. Blessed be.

Brigid, Candlemas, Imbolc

A good Brigid / Candlemas / Imbolc to you!

Brigid is the triple Goddess of smithcraft, healing, and poetry. What are some ways creativity, healing, or both are weaving themselves through your life?

What are some concrete things you might do to them in?

Brigid Poetry Festival: IMBOLC

Snow on trees and birdbath.  (c) 2014 Mari Elm

A belated post for the 2014 Brigid Poetry Festival.  - sm

IMBOLC

Stillness.
Once-sleeping seeds
Nourished
Under a blanket of snow
And hard, cold Earth
Now stir,
Sending tendrils yet unseen
Of fragile life
Upward, outward.
The Sun grows longer, stronger,
Fueling, coaxing
Potential withal warm light.
The Cycle begins again
And we rejoice,
Bless-ed.

(C) Rev. Mari Elm
February 2014
reprinted with permission

Queries for Brigid

Happy Brigid!

It's half-way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox, and the days are definitely getting longer.

Have you noticed?

Brigid is the triple Goddess of smithcraft, healing, and poetry.

What creativity are you welcoming into your life?

How is the returning Sun bringing healing into your life?

An explosion of light

One of the things for me about living someplace new is learning the cycle of the seasons in the new place.  The rhythms of the light, the plants, the animals.

My first winter in Edinburgh felt longer and harder than I expected.  I know one of the medications I'm on completely messes with my thermo-regulation, but still!  I thought I was reasonably cold-hardy, after some of the places we've lived during winters in the US.  Hah. This winter made me feel like a cold wimp.  Winter in Edinburgh is cold, damp, raw, and dark.  At Winter Solstice, there weren't even seven whole hours of daylight. 

And then, about a week after Brigid, there was a sudden explosion of light.  It wasn't just that the days were longer and I noticed it, it was that Wow, there seemed to be so much more light! 

Beloved Wife and I have been noticing a similar change again starting right around Beltane.  Wow!  Once again, there is so much more light! 

I first noticed this when I woke up one morning to use the bathroom and it was not just light out, but bright.  Usually when this happens, it's about 6:00 am, and I have just enough time for a snooze before the alarm goes off.  I looked at my watch.  5:00 am.  5:00 am??

Unfortunately, the cats noticed the sun was up, too, and they thought it was a fine thing...

We've started closing the shutters when we go to bed, to block the morning sun so that we might actually sleep until the alarm goes off. 

Then we noticed the light in the evening. At Beltane, sunset was a little before 9:00 pm, and it was dark enough by 9:30 that the Beltane Fire Festival folks started their pyrotechnics then.  Now it's still fully light at 9:00 pm. 

This is delightful.  But confusing to my inner clock.  Yay, vitamin D!!  But it is hard to convince myself it's time to start winding down and getting ready to bed when it's still bright out, or cloudy but fully light.  Things will be interesting come Summer Solstice, when the days are really long.

For now, I am reveling in this delightful explosion of light and in getting to know this time of year in this place.  Blessed be.

Brigid was here

Brigid was here.  There are many ways I can tell.

I can tell because the days are so much longer, so quickly. 

I can tell because the sun comes up earlier.  

I can tell because I hear different birdsongs now. 

I can tell because the sun is in different places throughout the day now than it was at Winter Solstice.  When the cats lounge in the sun in our south-facing main room, they sometimes sit on the floor now, instead of always on the table.  When I'm working at my computer, the sun hits different places in my office than it did six weeks ago.  At Meeting for Worship, the places where one should sit if one does or does not want sun in one's eyes, or on the back of one's head, has shifted. 

The sun is higher in the sky, and that seems to be changing every day. This is dramatically noticeable. 

I can tell because when I'm working at my computer and I need to turn on the office lights, it's later in the day. 

I can tell from the different things that happened at our Brigid-inspired potluck dinner party a few weeks ago: creativity, community, fun, fast friendship between a child who expected to be bored and a normally-aloof cat, lots of laughter, some silliness, learning to make Brigid's crosses (there was some swearing, a true feeling of accomplishment, and some just plain fun involved), delightful food (a beetroot and sheeps'-milk feta torte, sheeps'-milk being traditional for Imbolc/Brigid; chili with Boston brown bread (aka cornbread with corn and rye flours); salad; apple pie and apple crumble and stewed apples; lots of chocolate...).

Brigid was here.

Poetry for Brigid: "Contradance" by Judith Laura

Please check out this wonderful poem by Judith Laura!  There's also a great video following, from the weekly contra in Glen Echo, near DC, with the amazing Cis Hinkle calling and music by the fabulous Moving Violations.  (I have danced to Cis' calling, and she rocks.)

Many of you may find Judith Laura's name familiar from her poem "Hear Our Great Mother," used with permission as the invocation to the Goddess in the Winter Solstice Celebration / A Winter Solstice Singing Ritual ("Hear our Great Mother, robed in midnight, around Whose head shine all the..."). 

Enjoy!

Poetry for Brigid: Maya Angelou reading "And Still I Rise"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0

Annual Brigid Poetry Festival, 7th Year!

Or, as Anne says: "Got poetry?  Let the wild rumpus begin!"

From Anne Hill at the Blog o' Gnosis:

It is that time of year again, when bloggers around the world post a favorite poem in honor of Brigid, the Irish goddess and patron saint of smithcraft, poetry, and healing. Brigid’s feast day is February 1st, so between now and then is the perfect time to publish a poem to celebrate.

This is the 7th year of the Annual Brigid Poetry Festival.

You can post to the communal Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/BrigidPoetryFest), or at Hill's blog (http://gnosiscafe.com/gcblog/2012/01/25/brigid-poetry-festival-year-seven/).

Enjoy!

About Sarah's poem

I first heard Sarah Leuze's poem "In Wildness" read aloud at this year's Mid-Winter Gathering of Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns.  Read out loud in a powerful voice by someone who loved and loves her very much. 

It blew me away.  My breath caught.  Tears came to my eyes.  I knew right away this was the poem I'd been waiting for, for this year's on-line Brigid poetry festival. 

I'm grateful to Robert for permission to reprint it here.

p.s.  For a copy of Sarah Leuze: a collection of her poetry, fiction, and a memoir - with photos and biographical notes, please contact her estate, below.  

Poetry for Brigid: "In Wildness," Sarah Leuze

In Wildness

You do not have to suffer.
You do not have to mimic the great martyrs.
You do not even have to know who you are.
You only have to be happy in the wild beauty of the world;
You only have to love what you love, unfettered and unfurled.

Let the untamed call of the loons come to you from across the lake in the afternoon;
Hear the thrilling rush of wings overhead as the wild swans head home to the lagoon.
Let the rock dove coo to you softly each morning from its city perches;
Listen for the song sparrow's call each evening from the forest edges;
Let even the humble robin sing to you each day from the grass and hedges.

Whoever you are, no matter how insignificant, how despairing, know this:
In wildness is the resurrection of the soul, and the preservation of the earth.

February, 2009

Revised October 29, 2009

Copyright © by the Estate of Sarah Leuze, 2010. All rights reserved. Any correspondence should be addressed to Robert Leuze, Executor, Estate of Sarah Leuze, 245 West 104th Street, 16C, New York, NY 10025. Reprinted here with permission.

6th Annual Brigid Poetry Festival

It's the 6th annual Brigid Poetry Festival! All over the internet! 

I found out about this a few years ago through Deborah Oak Cooper, Reya Mellicker, and Anne Hill. 

A quick web search of Brigid poetry brings all sorts of results for this year's festival.  

Enjoy!

Blessed Brigid to you!

A happy and blessed Brigid to you!

Brigid is the Goddess of smithcraft, healing, and poetry. How is She moving in your life today? 

If this is Imbolc, Candlemas, or Brigid, to you, what does the holiday mean to you?

Recent work (January and February)

Now that February is over, and given that I asked for spiritual help for one of my February events - and also given that I've done a terrible job of posting here about how events have gone - I thought I would do just that. :)

2009 started off much calmer than the end of 2008, thankfully. And then my ministry work got busy again quickly.

In January and February, I hosted my usual Full Moon Meetings for Worship (followed by potluck tea). They've been smaller lately, and in some ways both more mellow and more intense. I'm hoping to get some community built up around these so that folks might continue to meet even after I move in August, if that's still a need in the community.

January also saw the start of my second semester at Cherry Hill Seminary. This term I'm taking two more very cool classes - Understanding the Ritual Experience, and the Psychology of Gender. Both are very interesting given my academic, cultural, professional, ministerial, and religious backgrounds in Catholicism, Judaism, Quakerism, feminist Witchcraft, psychology, women's studies, trauma theory, trauma recovery, and pastoral counseling. Yet again, Pagan geek heaven. There's also another Quaker in one of my classes, which is great, because then I'm not the only one speaking from a Quaker perspective or the only one trying to explain relevant Quaker things. And my instructors are wonderful, as are my classmates.

From one event in January, I then went to facilitating four in February: Full Moon Meeting for Worship; Brigid/Candlemas/Imbolc Celebration in the Roses, Too! Tradition; and two Singing the Goddess workshops.

The Brigid celebration was also small. The potluck was just really nice, and in particular gave me the opportunities to experiment with soup-making without following Mark Bittman's instructions to the letter, and to get to know a few people, whom I like but don't know well, a little better. This was neat.

And the magic in ritual was very powerful. (In typical Roses, Too! fashion, there were in fact lots and lots of tealights; it was amazing to see my living room lit up in a physical manifestation of the spiritual work and the magic we were doing together.) It's been quite a while since I've done Roses, Too!-style Brigid, and it felt really good. I've missed structuring my personal spiritual work around the cycle of the seasons in this particular way; it's good for me.

Beloved Wife and I went to Camp Adams in Mollala, OR, for the Mid-Winter Gathering of Friends for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Concerns.

(I'd had a crazy week before - shorting myself on sleep to get everything done for school, budget reports (I'm currently serving as FLGBTQC's treasurer), and workshop prep. This turned out to be a mistake, because of course I got sick. I knew this when I was an undergrad lo these many years ago. What, I forgot or something?)

Mid-Winter Gathering was good. FLGBTQC is one of the places I feel completely loved and honored for all of me; our worship is deep and rich; and our Meetings for Worship with Attention to Business are amazing. (I'll post our Epistle once it's available; you can see past Epistles here.) Our Talent-less Show was also a great deal of fun. My special thanks go to all who serve our community; to our Planning Committee; to our plenary speakers, for sharing their experience of faith calling for justice on the same terms; and to Friend Peterson Toscano, for his work, deep sharing, and vulnerability in presenting his piece Transfigurations - Trangressing Gender in the Bible.

At Mid-Winter, I taught a 90-minute session of Singing the Goddess. It was a small but fabulous group that cheerfully tackled some more challenging pieces. I wished we could have spent more time together. When I was called on rather last-minute for the Talent-less Show, several of these Friends stood up with me and helped teach, then lead, the room in singing Ursula LeGuin and Benjamin Newman's "The Creation of Ea" (from A Wizard of Earthsea). And the room sang it in round. Awesome!

Last Saturday, I presented a one-hour session of Singing the Goddess at Our Lady of the Earth and Sky's annual Community Festival. More on that in my next post.

Poetry for Brigid, III: "the workshop," Stasa Morgan-Appel

I wrote this in the fall of 2006 in worship as part of my preparation for the workshop I was teaching at FGC Gathering the following summer in River Falls. - sm

the worskhop
stasa morgan-appel, (c) 2006

teach it from your truth
from being centered as well as
grounded
teach your experience
don’t lean over so you’re over-
balanced, overweighted at top
sink into your belly
butt on the ground, face to the sun
what do you know?
teach what you know

teach silence and breathing and bubbles
brooms, noisemakers, song
welcome the air, fire, water, earth, and spirit

walk the circle

say “this space is mine
this space is different
this is not our everyday”
this is space we have cleared out
this is space we have set aside
this is space to consciously encounter the Divine
what happens here?

what do we find in the center
what gifts of the Spirit?

what magic do we create here
to take back out into the world?
what change?

how will i walk in the world with
the transformation and change
of this circle?
what is the magic i take back
with me?
how am i changed?

what happens when I come face-
to-face with the Divine…?


sing, dance, drum, make noise,
be energy
put it all to the transformation
from the experience of the Divine

see the Goddess in your face and
celebrate Her
feel and see the Goddess in your heart and
rejoice
be the Goddess in the world


come quiet again
sink back down to the ground
with your face to the sky
what happens when you encounter
the Divine?

joy… joy… joy…
breathe
breathe until you start to come
back to the ordinary

look around the circle
eat, drink, and be merry
feel your body
bless each other
thank the air, earth, water, fire, and spirit

take them with you
back into the world
with the magic of this space
be the Goddess in the world
be the magic in the world
blessed be

be what you know

Poetry for Brigid, IIa: "Wild Geese," (J8x32) 3C (4C set) RSCDS 24

Dance may be poetry in motion. This "Wild Geese" is a Scottish Country dance, a dance form I love and which I teach. - sm

The Wild Geese (J8x32) 3C (4C set) RSCDS 24

"The Wild Geese" is a 32-bar jig for three couples in a four-couple set, from the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society Book 24.

1- 8
1s+3s set advancing & balance in line, turn partners right hand, 1s cast to 3rd place while 3s lead up to 1st place
9-16
3s+1s set advancing & balance in line, turn partners right hand, 3s cast to 3rd place while 1s lead up to 1st place
17-24
1s lead down & back to 2nd place
25-32
2s+1s dance right and lefts

courtesy of minicrib

Poetry for Brigid, II: "Wild Geese," Mary Oliver

Wild Geese

Poetry for Brigid, I: "random interview," pat lowther

For why I have a connection with this poem, see my blog entry "what i want" from November of 2007. - sm

RANDOM INTERVIEW

Pat Lowther
From: Time Capsule, Polestar 1996, p. 242.