Today - searching for the hidden seed!
Imbolc - Brigid's Day. Celtic Goddess whose attributes include guardianship of the threshold ('step over, step in - and welcome!') and the hearth, patronage of the arts (especially poetry) and healing (and what a natural association they both have). Herald of fertility and birth - of both beings and ideas, and Mistress of the Forge, place of reworking and transformation..
There was a lovely interview on the Radio 4 'Today' programme this morning, with Seamus Heaney's wife and daughter. He was a great 'enthusiast' of Brigid and Her attributes - and they recounted his last words before he died suddenly; - "in a text message he wrote to my mother just minutes before he passed away, in his beloved Latin and they read: 'Noli timere' – 'don't be afraid.'
For those facing challenges today, especially those of health issues, may Brigid's fire warm your body and soul, may you find nourishment and friendship at someone's hearth and as the signs of Springtime appear (even if blanketed today under a layer of snow!) may the words of loved ones, friends and poets help you to Be Not Afraid.
From 'Crossings'
On St. Brigid's Day the new life could be entered
By going through her girdle of straw rope
The proper way for men was right leg first
Then right arm and right shoulder, head, then left
Shoulder, arm and leg.
Women drew it down
Over the body and stepped out of it
The open they came into by these moves
Stood opener, hoops came off the world
They could feel the February air
Still soft above their heads and imagine
The limp rope fray and flare like wind-born gleanings
Or an unhindered goldfinch over ploughland .
Seamus Heaney
Bridghe Doll, 2015
The light calls forth the Seed
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