Cross-Quarter
Brigid's Day
Thig an nathair as an toll = The serpent will come from the hole
This is a time of blessing the seeds…
Of calling forth & rekindling the sacred fires…
Our ancient symbol of invigoration…
Of becoming…of rebirth…
So let’s rise in our thinking to inspire Brigid…
Goddess of the forge, of poetry & healing…
To come & inspire us…
That we may heal ourselves & each other…
That we may see our creativity become fertile…
Enflaming us with the passion of our purpose…
Making us fertile ground for the promise of spring…
Holy water…Sacred flame
Brigid we invoke your name
Bless my hands, my head, my heart
Source of healing, song & art.
I know, it’s easy to forget at this time of year when the skies are steel grey, & the ice crystals bite, that stirring in the harsh wind, is the spark of spring – waiting - to be ignited by the passion of our purpose…Can you feel the energy of the earth…Quickening…I feel it groaning & stretching in the earth of my body…Like a snake trying to shed its skin…I just want to be a molting bird…Dancing in the silent belly of February…
The She in We awakens…So much to do…So much to Be…Can you feel Her growing rhythms…Her song ever sung…‘Being is Becoming’…
She…has many names…Today we call Her Brigid…Celtic Goddess of the forge, of creativity & poetry…Great One of healing…whose Feast-Day marks the waxing light…called by some, Candlemas, others, groundhog’s day, still others, Imbolc…the lambing season…The time of year when the Belly of the Great Mother Quickens with the growing light…
A time to purify & get fertile…So let’s charm the plow…Kiss the candle…& gather the wood to kindle a need-fire…as a welcoming beacon…to call back our dormant power…to heat up, our potential, & re-seed our creativity…as we add fuel to the fire of our community…One spark warms us all…A purifying fire, that burns clean & opens the way to the true power of love & light from deep within us…
She is singing in our memory, from the ancient & immortal tribes of our past lives…From all the quarters of the Cosmos…Inviting us to come & warm our kindred circle…To bring, all dimensions, into the eternity, of our lives, now…
Together we will thaw the Winter & rouse the mysteries growing within…
~hag
Imbolc! on the ‘I Think Speech‘ podcast
Today & everyday, dear friends, we must be like the groundhog & look for our shadow.
The Cross-quarter betwixt the Winter Solstice & the Vernal Equinox is not only intuited, & out-pictured in nature, but is determined by a cosmic conversation. Using the Sidereal zodiac which shows us what is actually being said in the heavens right now, not 2000 years ago, This cross-quarter happens when the Sun comes to 15 degrees of Capricorn, & that hits 7 February. But most folks celebrate today on the fixed date of 2 Feb. which in our modern age we call Groundhogs day, when the fate of winter rests on the shoulders of a furry rodent.
But in the time of the ancient Mystery Schools it was a time of initiation, a time of purification & re-dedication.
For the Celtic tribes, who were very much in touch with the cycles of the season, this is called Imbolc – which means in the belly – it’s the lambing season.
After the cold dark winter where folks barely survived by eating their store of root vegetables. Now the milk begins to flow, the butter can be churned & the cruds give much needed nourishment. They call it Celtic Spring – the time of year when the belly of the great mother quickens with the growing light.
It is dedicated to the Triple Goddess Brigid, holding the power of the Maiden, Mother, Crone, associated with the mysteries of the sacred well connected to purification, & with the fires of the forge, to call in the will of the Sun.
Here is a presentation about Brigid I did a few years back at the Theosophical Society Called: ‘The Mysteries of the Celtic Goddess.’
Later, of course, Brigid’s tradition was adopted by the Church & attached to Candlemas & the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary - The 40th day of the Christmas-Epiphany season. Joseph & Mary brought the child into the Temple to make the offering, & when Simeon & Anna the prophetess, saw Him, they knew the prophesy of ‘The Chosen One’ had been fulfilled.
We see the connection between the Buddha & Jesus of Nazareth in the stories of Asita & Simeon. When Asita, the great Indian sage, saw Siddhartha as a young child, before he had reached Buddhahood, he was able to recognize what the child would become. It was Asita’s heart’s desire to see the Buddha before he died, so he wept because he was an old man & would not live to see him become the Buddha.
According to Rudolf Steiner’s indications in GA 114, Asita - the wise seer was then reborn in the time of Jesus as Simeon, whose names means ‘the God-receiver.’ He was visited by the Holy Spirit & told that he would not die until he had seen the Christ. He was the “just and devout” man of Jerusalem according to Luke 2:25–35. On taking Jesus into his arms he uttered the Nunc dimittis - a hymn of Praise.
He then gave Mary a prophecy “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
In ancient Greece this Cross-Quarter was connected to The Festival of Persephone & Demeter, called Thesmophoria - celebrated exclusively by the woman, in an elaborate 3 day ritual.
In addition, the ‘Festa Candelarum’ in Rome commemorated the search for the Spring Goddess Persephone, by her mother the Goddess of Life, Demeter. Another festival symbolizing the return of the Light.
The myths of Sleeping Beauty or Theseus & Ariadne, for example, relate to the release or liberation of the light (Dawn of the year) by the “solar knight”.
Spiraling down the evolutionary line, the ancient romans called it Lupercalia, a feast day that was very much like Mardi Gras. The ancient Romans celebrated this festival in honor of Lupercus, & Feralia the god & goddess of fertility & shepherds. A theme of purification was also present. And there was a custom of the Vestal Virgins offering cakes made with wheat from the old crop so that the following crop would be fruitful.
Yes, as you know all too well by now, I can go on-&-on with all the connections…
But when we come down to it, these Seasonal shifts are callings to stand at the Threshold of liminal time - where our true purpose & the world's deep hunger meet…
We, each of us, is free, of course, to ignore these milestone moments.
Maybe you are blanketing a kind of amnesia, & don't remember what you came here in this life to do? Could it be you don’t see the signs?
Carl Jung once said: "Whatever is rejected from the self, appears in the world as an event.".
What will it take for us to collaborate with the forces of change?
~hag
2 February 2024 – “Speaking with the Stars”
a Solar Eclipse Convergence:
‘Piercing the Veil to Resurrect the Grail’
6 – 9 April 2024
(Saturday evening thru Tuesday morning)
At the stunning Saint Raphael Retreat Center in the heart of Totality - Dallas, TX.
Hosted by Associates of Mysteria Mystica Americana (MMA)
Mystery-Pageant written by Cognitive Ritual Founder: Hazel Archer-Ginsberg,
Master Chekhov Teacher: Lisa Loving Dalton - Guiding, Managing, Choregraphing
Grand Master of MMA: Richard Cloud - The Quest, Michael, the Misraim Dienst
Roundelay/Song Circle: Ultra-Violet Archer
TO REGISTER
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Brigid's Day is a kind of raw celebration within the cold climes of its Celtic origination out of the old pagan mysteries, Imbolc. Yet, on exactly the same day, the Nathan Mary went to Jerusalem in order to experience the presentation of her Child in the Temple as the Lord of Israel. It was forty days after his birth. Simeon the Righteous was there to receive the Child. He proclaimed the Consolation of Israel, no less, and predicted that the Mother would experience this "Piercing of the Heart" for a third time, which was when the Boy was twelve. Simeon had met his culmination from a former incarnation, which was very close to the Buddha's last incarnation, and was able to predict the Mother's own when Her boy was twelve and found behind in the very same temple. She wondered why he had remained, and then realized His mission was the one first foretold by Angel Gabriel.
Wonderful. My wife and I live close to the tradition of the bard, trying to belong to our “not belonging” at the edges of a world that has lost its own centre. My wife is of direct Irish descent well into the her own deprogramming out of Catholic dogma and processing of generational trauma that goes along with that deeply magical heritage. And even though I write and teach deeply about this field, it will be lovely for her to connect with the work of a woman—I’m sending her this right now.