Brigid, The Celtic Goddess
Ireland, Wales, Spain, France.
"Power"; "Reown"; "Feiry Arrow of Power" (Breo-saighead). Daughter of the Dagda; called the poeess.
Often called the Triple Brighids. Three Blessed Ladies of Britain, the Three Mothers. High Lady Goddess of the inner flame of life, nature and creation, Keeper of the Cauldron, chalice or bowl.
Appears young (maiden), middle-aged (mother) or old (crone) to represent all of the cycles if life continuing. Represents spiraling wheels of Nature, Life and Renewal.
Another aspect of Danu: Associated with Imbolc. She had an exclusive female priesthood at Kildare and an
ever-burning sacred fire. The number of her priestesses was 19 representing the 19-year cycle of the Celtic "Great Year". Her kelles were sacred prostitutes and her soldiers brigands.
Goddess of fire, fertility, the hearth and all feminine arts and crafts, and martial arts. Healing, physicians,
agriculture, inspiration, learning, poetry, divination, prophecy, smithcraft, animal husbandry, love, witchcraft, occult knowledge.
Plants: Blackberry
Animals: Oxen and Ram.
Bridget, also called Brigantia, Brigit, Bhride, Bride, and Brid, was the beloved Goddess of the Celtic people. She was called the "Triple Bridget" as one of her aspects ruled poetry, writing, and inspiration, another one ruled healing, herbolgy, and midwifery, and the third aspect ruled the fires of the hearth, and of the smith, and the arts of smithcraft.
There are many wells, and springs dedicated to Bridget, where the devout would go to bathe and be healed. Legends tell of lepers who washed in these sacred waters and were cured of their leprosy.
This Goddess was so well loved by the people of Ireland, that they refused to stop worshipping her even after the coming of Saint Patrick, and the Christianization of the island. Therefore, the Catholic Church, to keep the people happy, declared her to be Saint Bridget, saying that she had been the daughter of a Druid who predicted Chrisitanity and was baptized by Saint Patrick himself.
At her shrine at Kildare, there was kept a perpetual flame by 19 of her Priestesses. Later, after the Christianization of Ireland, this same flame was tended by the nuns of the Abbey at Kildare, when Bridget became Saint Bridget. These nuns kept themselves totally aloof from men, and even had food and supplies brought to them from women in the nearby village.
In 1220 AD, the Bishop in charge of the area ordered that the Abbey would have to allow a Priest to come and inspect. The Abbess begged that he send a woman instead, but the Bishop declared that the nuns, as women, must be subservient to the male Priests. He then prohibited the keeping of the sacred flame stating that it was a Pagan custom and must be stopped. In 1960, the Catholic church took away Bridget's sainthood, saying that there was not enough proof that she had even lived, let alone performed any miracles!
This page has been blessed