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We interrupt the normal flow of insane antics to mark the most holy day on the calendar, Imbolc. This is the festival honoring Queen Brighid the Bright (you may know her from such incarnations as The Blessed Mother, St. Brigit, or Mother Nature).
Queen Brighid the Bright is the ancient goddess of the forge, of fire, and of creativity. She is also the goddess of home and hearth, which I guess makes her a proponent of family values. Her festival, marked these days with a silly Pennsylvania groundhog and with the much more logical Candlemas, heralds the return of the sun, the earliest dawning of spring.
Long may she offer her fires to our souls, our work, and our homes!
Bridghid of the mantle, encompass us.
Lady of the Lambs, protect us.
Beneath thy mantle gather us.
And restore us to memory.
Foremother of our foremothers, Foremothers strong,
Take our hands in yours.
Remind us how
To kindle the hearth.
To keep it bright, to preserve the flame,
Our hands within your hands,
Your hands upon our hands.
To keep the light, both day and night.
The mantle of Bridghid about us,
The protection of Bridghid upon us,
The memory of Bridghid within us,
Keeping us from harm, from ignorance, from heartlessness, this day and night, from dawn until dark, from dark until dawn.
So might it be.
ANNE
THE MERLIN OF BERKELEY SPRINGS
Portrait of Queen Brighid the Bright by Brian Froud, from Good Faeries, Bad Faeries, Simon & Schuster, 1998. Also available in limited edition print, signed by artist.
