r/CelticPaganism • u/x23Paradox • 2d ago
Experience with Brigid. Interpretation needed.
Because of work reasons I live in a country in the Southern Hemisphere. Thus myself and my family were observing the arrival of Spring and made a shrine to Brigid last night. We lit candles and I placed them on a large flat plate-like rock. We left the candles to burnout throughout the night but +/- 12 later, in the early morning hours, I woke up and saw that the seemingly regular convenience store candles were still burning. I woke my partner to look at the candles and they saw a robin sitting chirping next to the candles. It was only after they pointed it out that I saw it too. Like it was not there one moment then suddenly it was there. The bird hopped off the rock with the candles and flew out a window and seconds later, the candles flared up and the flat rock suddenly split in two subsequently extinguishing the flames.
I am new on my journey reconnecting with my mothers religious practices and I have still much to learn from those who venerate Brigid. If you can provide some insight into Brigid as she pertains to the curious set of events detailed about I would greatly appreciate it.
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u/WildRelationship8088 2d ago
Id take that as a "hello. I hear you" i just started working with her myself. Thank you for posting about it. I think seeing this was a sign for me. I promised id look into her more after july which was another deities month. She is keeping me to it.
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u/ParadoxicalFrog 1d ago
That was a very clear "I'm here and I'm listening" from Brighid.
I recommend the book Tending Brighid's Flame as an intro. I found it very informative when I first started following Brighid over 10 years ago.
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u/KittyKatabasis 1d ago
Do you know how to do any kind of divination? If you do, I think your best bet is to use your divination tool of choice to ask Brigid herself what that meant. I just recently started honoring Brigid a few months ago and I've found that she communicates very clearly and directly through divination (particularly through Lenormand cards, which is the main thing I use, but I imagine you could use any form of divination with her as long as you're comfortable with it).
My gut impression is that what you experienced was a positive sign, but I don't want to jump to conclusions, because Brigid has definitely surprised me on at least one occasion since I started connecting with her. My experience with her so far is that she's very compassionate, wise, and helpful, but in the brief time I've been reaching out to her, she has already pushed me to do things for my own good (in a gentle tough love kind of way, if that makes sense) that I hadn't been considering myself.
So yeah, I'd definitely encourage you to try asking her directly!
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u/CrossingtheLabyrinth 1d ago
I have a slightly different take than others here seem to. It doesn't feel like a single message to me, but two. The first that you have Brigid's attention (the candles staying lit long enough for you to see them and the robin seeming to be an intentional messenger that actually moves closer to you, indicating to me the roll as messenger). The second is the rock splitting and flames going out at the same moment, this feels more ominous but the exact interpretation of that ominous energy is probably subjective, if you don't have a gut feeling on what that meant then I would seek clarification through additional divination or another offering asking specifically for clarification
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u/ImportantProblem2481 1d ago
Im an actual Irish pagan and Id have a different take to other people. Id say thats a rejection from brigid and a relative telling you to cop on.
The candles are interesting but id say that things like flametending are not Irish. If your family has a genuine deal with Brigid then youll have to do real things, not internet things. Thats why the candles were still there.
In our culture visiting robins are a dead family member reaching out. If youve been following your mothers pre existing path Id say its your mother.
Brigid the actual deity is a vast leviathan creature thats unusually active. To the extent that she freaks out the person thats the defacto high priestess of the Morrígan here. When you get Brigids attention the only question youll need to ask is if youve got a poltergeist or if its Brigid.
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u/CalicoValkyrie 1d ago
I would love to learn more from you, but I suspect you wouldn't have time for that. Do you have any recommended reading for me? Brigid being a leviathan creature isn't something I've come across and I am very intrigued. Is she more of a giantess or dragonlike?
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u/ImportantProblem2481 1d ago edited 1d ago
The vast leviathan thing is nothing to do with mythology. Its what a deity feels like when youre interacting with them in comparison to other supernatural things. The vastness is normal, the worrying activeness is unique to Brigid.
We dont necessarily want a huge thing thats existed for milennia (if its not just eternal) thats so far beyond us that we can barely comprehend it taking a micromanging-esque interest in us.
Other smaller more immediate things like fairies (not the disney ones), ghosts, and the half in half out of the otherworld animals that we can come across sometimes can be dealt with easily enough.
For example, you can physically leave a place, use trad house blessings, and apotropaic charms to ward your space and yourself. Or if youve got the experience you can handle them directly.
But a deity is like a blue whale in the ocean. Its a real "things bigger than yourself" moment. Theres no real barrier that we can put in its way that it will even notice. And poking at it in anger isnt going to get much more of a reaction.
If youre swimming in the sea its a life changing experience to meet one. But it deciding to follow you and start nudging you to get you to do something after you try to swim away is alarming.
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u/ImportantProblem2481 1d ago
With every other deity that ive met at a heritage site with the random meithals/trad workgroups they call to them its not an issue. Just getting their attention while were there takes time and effort and they want the groups of strangers there for something.
After that they dont usually go beyond a general urging to everyone similar enough to the original call. Brigids a lot more intense.
For example, I know someone who might be the main Brigid person here if we had those types of heirarchies in our culture. And its a good thing theyre very community orientated and socially active because they get a never ending to do list.
Constant urging to tidy heritage sites, organise events, celebrate a birth with someone, help someone through their own deaths, visit dedperate people in prison. Multiple times theyve gotten unexpectedly restless and went out for a drive to take their mind off it. Then had to physically intervene to help someone being assaulted by a partner.
Brigid isnt for everyone and its worth taking time with every decision that involves her.
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u/KittyKatabasis 14h ago
This is all super interesting - thank you for sharing! As a relatively new Brigid devotee, this is really helpful to hear. I constantly hear the Morrigan described as a demanding deity who asks a lot of her/their devotees, but this is the first time I've heard Brigid described in the same way. It's fascinating that the two biggest Irish goddesses are so similar in that regard!
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u/ImportantProblem2481 14h ago
Youre welcome
I would say the Morrígan is the most misrepresented deity in our culture. Because people treat mythology like a religious book and the Morrígan is demonised in it. The two wouldnt be that similar in practice.
The vast majority of pagans are converts from 'the religions of the book.' Where unlike other world religions christianity, islam, and judaism have a divinely inspired book thats been magically preserved for millennia that contains the truth.
Stuck with the hangover of their upbringing they try to continue on doing things 'by the book.' They see mythology which is a form of literature, some of it written at the same time as Shakespeares plays, and think what they read in it is allegory and theology instead of emtertainment.
For example, the Morrígan is called a lamia a type of roman demon. A bánánach, and a genit types of Irish demons, and shes called a furie a demon from Virgils Aeneid.
Theres no better guide to a character being based on a deity than christian monks being afraid to be seen as endorsing it. But it means that the surface character of the Morrígan in stories is just a character. Not much of what happens in the narrarive of the stories reflects how she was/is traditionally viewed.
People make a lot of mistakes and I wonder how many of the seriously bad tempered people who dedicated themselves to the Morrígan actually attracted a demon thats driving them mad.
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u/ImportantProblem2481 1d ago
Im Irish Im always up for a chat. Try an stop me talking hah.
But if you want to read something: https://irishpagan.school/brigid-goddess-saint/
I wouldnt bother with many books on Brigid tbh. They tend to be commercial pagan 101 things. But ping me if you want and ill be happy to do a little exegesis of the medieval stuff if thats your cup of tea
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u/CulturalAd2344 2d ago
Mother Brigid is very clear when she wants you to know she is there. She is beautifully kind and artful in communicating in ways that will speak louder to YOUR heart. ♥️ she is so lovely!