mythology alert - brigid and fire

Ok ok ok so I know that I have run this figure in the ground, but I'm about to move on so indulge me one last time. This past weekend I mentioned something about Brigid being the goddess of fire. This has only been mentioned specifically once in all the reading I have been doing and it was in a rather new agey reference so I've been lead to conclude that this is a more recent attribution to her as opposed to a historically authentic connection. After all, even Oxford reference materials don't mention it. However, I am going to be keeping any visual references to fire in this piece fro two reasons. One is not a soundly based academic reason, and pretty much consists of the fact that I really like fire and think that it will be cool. The second reason though is academically based. Both Brigid the goddess and Brigid the saint are patronesses of smiths/blacksmiths. (As a quick aside, Oxford's Dictionary of Irish Mythology [Ellis 50] also connects these two Brigids so I think at this point there really is no question that they are tied together.) While they might not historically have been connected directly to fire; what is a blacksmith without that element? A smith can pound in metal all day but without fire and coals to heat the metal, he'll not have anything but a chunk of cold unharmed metal and bent up tools. so if you want to play connect the dots, fire and Brigid are at least historically indirectly connected. Therefore, the fire stays.

Brigid the goddess and Brigid the saint discussed

Originally this was part of the previous post 'rose' is in and 'air' is out, a mythological angle is discussed this blurb made the entry far too long. to get the full picture have a look-see at the former post to see how this all relates.

What you are about to read is my layman's interpretation of the connection between Brigid the Celtic goddess and St. Brigid the Catholic Saint so please excuse any discrepancies that you might see concerning the aforementioned figures. This is meant largely to inform those subjecting themselves to this blog about the connections that I draw between the two figures. Since I claim "artistic licence" on the mythological angle of The Host of the Air, I deem it only fair that the reasoning behind imagery used in the future be explained now - as I will be drawing from the background of both Brigids. I would love to hear what anyone reading this has to say on the subject. As with every other post on this blog, you do not have to be a member of blogger/Google to comment; and can even post anonymously or with a pseudonym should you so desire.

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Brigid the goddess and Brigid the saint are connected how?

You might wonder why I draw a connection between both the pagan goddess Brigid and the Christian saint Brigid. The answer is simple, for all intents and purposes they are the same. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the ancient celts worshipped a saint, or that the modern Catholic Church revers a celtic goddess. However, at some point in time the two figures were the at least similar. For example, not only do they share the same celebration day, but they are both protector/parton of very similar groups. About four years ago I wrote a paper called Celtic Christianity: St. Patrick, the Druids, and the Saints, which focused on the idea that "the ministry of Saint Patrick, the post Roman world, the Druids, and the mythology surrounding the Celtic Saints all combine to create the basis for what is considered to be the origins of Celtic Christianity." The following is an excerpt from the paper, which directly addresses the "Brigid issue."


Ian Bradley, author of Celtic Christianity and other books concerning the Celts and their culture, states that “the extent to which pre-Christian material was woven into early Celtic Christian literature is fiercely disputed among modern scholars and lies at the heart of the debate between nativists in the field of Celtic studies” (8). While the amount of influence pre-Celtic culture had on Celtic Christianity may be disputed, the fact that it did is indisputable. The influence of Druidic beliefs and Celtic myth on Celtic Christianity is most evident is in what Dáithí Ó hÓgáin, a folklore professor at The University College Dublin, calls “the cult of the saints” (202). As was the practice of the early Catholic Church, customs from pagan regions were often used in forming an area’s “local theology.” Pagan ideals were meshed with Christian ideals in an effort to win over the local populace and assimilate them into the Christian Church. To some extent, Celtic Christianity was no different in Ireland. Wherever “popular practice and belief” were not seen to conflict outright with Christian theology, they were often allowed to continue in slightly different forms (Ó hÓgáin 202). The most obvious example of this is found in the case of the Celtic Saint Brighid (Brigit). Not much actual fact is known about her, but the stories surrounding her existence demonstrate the role that pagan beliefs played in her life - or what the ancients believed her life to have been. Two main conflicting ideas concerning her life are currently recognized. The most referenced of these is found in the 12th century document by Leabhar Breac Of the Life of St. Brigit. Breac recounts that Brigit was the illegitimate daughter of the Irish king Dubthach by his valued bondmaid. Raised by a “wizard” and his consort, she was eventually placed under the watch of a certain Bishop Mél. Later, she was given the rights of a bishop with eight “virgins” under her, in her care (Breac 55, 67). This is the only source I found that cites her as a bishop. Others describe her as an abbotess, but most sources agree that her order resided on land that had once been consecrated for pagan religious purposes. Despite its unusual location, which was possibly the location of an ancient goddess’s temple, Miranda Green, the author of many books concerning Celtic religion, states that St. Brigit’s “convent” was “jointly for women and men” (43). If what Miranda Green asserts about Brigit’s religious establishment is true, than her order defies the conventional ideals of Early Christianity and alludes to the order of the Druids. Druidic priests and priestesses are believed to have worked side by side, while Christian monks and nuns dwelled and worked in separate self-sufficient communities. The celebrated Brigit is also unique in that she shared her name with an ancient goddess. Ó hÓgáin suggests that perhaps she was originally not so celebrated as a saint for her accomplishments, but the original success of her “cult” and the vast numbers of her followers was due to this connection with the pagan deity. He hypothesizes that if she did indeed “Christianize a pagan sanctuary” as legend tells, than to the locals her role as abbotess took on an “aspect of a mother-goddess” (202). Even some Christian writers as late as the 5th century referred to her as “another Mary,” and today she is often called Muire na nGael, or “the Mary of the Irish” (Ó hÓgáin 202).
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My Deductions

My paper from 2004 discussed Brigid the saint from the hypothesized angle of a Druidic priestess who adapted to fit the christian mold as an abbottess. There is certainly research to back up this angle, however, a little bit of reading done in the past couple weeks has made me wonder if the Saint Brigid and the goddess Brigid really aren't just one and the same. They are patrons of the same people groups (well Saint Brigid is patron of many more than my limited information on the goddess reveals), they share the same feast day, they share the same symbols, and all information I could find after a short search had something akin to a see "Saint Brigid/see Brigid, goddess" clause. The Catholic Church has a history of adapting the feast day dates of various pagan religions in order to ease native groups into conversion to Catholicism. If this was done with dates, was to keep it from happening with gods/goddesses or figures of great local significance? This in no way demeans or questions the religious significance of the Saints to the Catholic Church or the holiness attributed them; but with the history of St. Brigid (as written by Leabhar Breac) being questionable at best, who is to say that the Celtic goddess wasn't used as a basis for the saint. It is known that the goddess Brigid was important to the local area and turning her into a saint as part of the local theology would certainly have been a powerful factor in making converts to Celtic Christianity. From this angle, your truely feels justified in using iconography associated with both figures (shared and not) in hosts of the air.

holidays and tengwar

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas. I myself had a lovely holiday, only yours truly left town without the text that she needed to finish transcribing! New Years is a day off work, though, so it will be transcribed then. Pictures of the latest addition/substitution text to TTP will follow soon there after along with my blurb about why the goddess Brigid and the saint Brigid are the same/connected.

Bonne Année!

"rose" is out and "air" is in, a mythological angle is discussed

After much internal debate it has been decided that the poem The Rose of the World simply does not fit with the other pieces I have chosen. It's replacement (looks like I'll be transcribing again over the Christmas weekend) is a piece of greater length called The Host of the Air. there are three things your should know about this piece 1) It is beautiful and 2) It has no ties to alchemical imagery that I can find 3) It has possible ties to Irish/Celtic mythology that I plan on exploiting for all they are worth.

1) He heard while he sang and dreamed/ the piper piping away,/and never was piping so sad,/ and never was piping so gay.
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The bread and the wine had a doom,/ for these were the host of the air;/ He sat and played in a dream/ Of her long Dim hair.
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O'Driscoll scattered the cards/ and out of his dream awoke:/ Old men and young men and young girls/ Were gone like the drifting smoke.

The imagery this poem evokes, took my breath away the first time I read it. It is quite possible that this has become my second favorite Yeats poem ever - nothing can usurp The Stolen Child.

2) Pretty self explanatory. There is apparently no alchemical symbolism in this poem. there is, of course, the possibility that a mere novice such as myself is simply not knowledgeable enough to decipher any that is buried in the text. However, for the sake of simplicity, this artist will operate on the assumption that none exits in the text until proven otherwise.

3) Here is where Host of the Air gets fascinating. Once breath was regained after the first read, the first thing that stuck out was that the main character (O'Driscoll) constantly refers to Bridget or Bridget his bride. While this could simply be a name, it bears noting that not only is Bridget (Brighid, Bridgit/etc) the Irish mythological equivalent of Minerva or Athena; but it is also the name of a much revered saint (Brigid of Kilgare) who is considered the second patron saint of Ireland. "Mere coincidence," you say. Perhaps, but this is where I'm going to claim artistic licence. I rarely use the "artistic licence" card, so I figure that it can be used this time without much remorse. With my mythological/Irish Saint angle in mind, look below to read some fo the notes I scribbled frantically last weekend over a chicken bruchetta sandwich at Applebees (highly recommended - just hold the pesto.) It's a good thing that the hostess ushered me to a four person table, because there were papers everywhere!

The Bride/Bridget connection

O'Driscoll consistantly calls Bridget "his bride." Another name for Bridget (whom I will call Brigid from now on) is "bride." In fact in Ireland, Imbolc/Candlemas (Brigid/St.Brigid's holiday/feast day) is sometimes called Lá Fhéile Bride, thus utilizing this form of the name. More on Imbolc and Candlemas later.

Brigid the goddess and Brigid the saint are connected how?

I started to post this information here but it ended up being far far too long. be looking for a new blog post that describes this in the very near future.

So the name Brigid appears constantly, how do you know it's not just a regular person and not a goddess at all? What is keeping Bridget his bride from really being just that - the bride/wife of O'Driscoll?

This is a very valid question, and for all intents and purposes there really is no reason to not believe that the poem's Bridget is who O'Driscoll says she is - his bride. Initially, however, I have a number of problems with this.

1) It is Yeats who wrote the poem. Very few poems that I've read by him actually say what they say, especially when there in any possible other meaning and mythology or the occult could be involved. [Note: occult is being used here in its original meaning beyond the range of ordinary knowledge or understanding; mysterious.]

2) A number of key words in the poem center around festivities (bread, wine, dance, piper). People both old and young are present and cards are being played while the piper plays on. While a couple of phrases support the idea that the celebration could be a wedding and Bridget was indeed "bride."

He bore her away in his arms/ the handsomest young man there

The dancers crowded round him/ and many a sweet thing said ... But Bridget drew him by the sleeve/away from the merry bands

However, there seems more possible that it was not a wedding celebration, with constant references being made to the macabre. Last I checked, sad and doom were not words associated with joyous nuptials. Secondly, I would have to do more research on the subjects, but it seems a bit odd that old men would be playing cards (gambling?) during a wedding party. Finally, the title The Host of the Air implies interaction with supernatural beings. Why would the poem be titled that, and then spend eleven stanza discussing O'Driscoll's dream about his wedding-which-was-not? It makes more sense to attribute the dream's festivities to something tied to a supernatural being - thus building a case for Brigid the goddess.

Ok, so let's pretend for a second that Yeats Bridget the bride is the same as Brigid the goddess, why her and not some other Celtic goddess/god.

You, my imaginary audience, ask very good questions. In my mind, the answer is very simple. Whether Brigid or St. Brigid be the object of scrutiny, their jurisdictions (for serious lack of a better word) are much the same. The Celtic goddess Brigid was described by Lady Augusta Gregory (Gods and Fighting Men, 1904) as a woman of poetry, and poets worshiped her, for her sway was very great and very noble. ... Considered by some to be the Celtic equivalent of Minerva or Athena, Brigid was well loved by the Celtic peoples and the Druids. Not only the protector of poets, she also oversaw the areas of blacksmithing and healing. She was celebrated during the festival of Imbolc (one of the four pinnacle festivals of the Irish calendar) which centers around fire and purification; and marks the transition from winter into spring. Some of the information I read said that the festival was perhaps the precursor to the American holiday of Groundhog Day. Therefore, we have a couple reasons this poem could be about the goddess. Not only was she the protector of poets (Yeats was a poet), but she was also a very well loved being of spiritual significance in her time, and had a significant holiday dedicated to her honor.

As for St. Brigid, like the goddess, she is also the patron of poets/scholars and blacksmiths. While she isn't the patron of any key healing professions, she is connected to children, babies, midwives, children of unmarried parents, and newborns. Since Spring is the season of new birth, it is possible that a connection to the previously mentioned festivities in that manner. St. Brigid's feast day is February1, which is otherwise known as Candlemas. Any research done on Imbolc or Candlemas will inevitably tie one to the other; the only chronological difference I could find was that Imbolc was traditionally celebrated on February 2, however, I was left with the impression that this date was not set in stone.

And, if you are looking for yet more proof that Brigid = Bride I give you a Scottish proverb about Imbolc, translated into English.

The serpent will come from the hole
On the brown Day of Bride
Though there should be three feet of snow
On the flat surface of the ground

So her feast celebration was Imbolc, great. I thought you said that Imbolc was about fire and purification. I don't see anything like that mentioned in the poem.

You caught me. This is the massive flaw in my thought process, and the very reason that I plead artistic license. While a reference to smoke is made once in Host of the Air I can find nothing that talks about fire, purification, badgers, or other key elements of the original Imbolc festival. Please pretend that this gape in logic does not exist.

Well that pretty much covers my Applebees notes. I did make a number of other notes that confirmed/justified the connection between Brigid the goddess and Brigid the saint and those will be following soon. And as a random side note, I have been trying to find out if the name O'Driscoll has any mythological significance, but have come up empty handed. At this moment, I'm operating under the assumption that it is a semi-common surname and is of no overall significance.

the number of a dragon's legs, alchemy, and other misadventures

A little over a week ago I was confronted with a seemingly minor problem - an illuminated letter that I loved featured a serpent like dragon with two legs. Visually it looks complete but anatomically I was afraid it was glaringly erroneous in nature. The artist on my left shoulder said "leave it ... call it artistic licence" and the horrified academic on my right shoulder pleaded that I see sense and at least do a little bit of research first. After much squabbling the two temperaments reached a consensus. Digits might be added at the tip of the dragon's wings in lieu of a third and fourth appendage. Angels sang, the sun shone bright, and finally there was peace in the land ... until last night. The subject was reopened at the prompting of a friend and I was left to wonder why on Earth a dragon would have digits at the end of supposedly massive wings. What function could they possibly serve? Not only would they be too awkward to use for grasping anything; but due to their position , they would most likely be too fragile to support any significant amount weight. What's the point?

Here is where a great literary weakness must be admitted. No matter how infatuated with European and Celtic mythology I might be, very little time has been spent exploring myths of other cultures - especially that of the Orient. As a result, the dragons with which I am most familiar have four legs (the front pair sometimes smaller than the back) and that is that. Matt suggested that perhaps Chinese myth featured a two legged dragon, and even found such a specimen in Aztecan imagery. Thus began a search. Try Googling "dragon's legs" sometime. It returns a virtual plethora of subjects - diviantART, ill-advised leg tattoos, RuneScape armor, Chinese music CDs, Crayola Model Magic ideas, art how-to tutorials - but nothing that is terribly useful. "Dragon leg numbers" results are pretty much the same. A spur-of-the-moment search for "wyverns", however, returned numerous heraldic examples of two-legged serpentine creatures.

According to Merriam-Webster, wyvern (an altercation of the Middle English word for "viper") is "a mythical animal usually represented as a 2-legged winged creature resembling a dragon." the keyword here would be "resemble." Not an actual dragon, but close enough in appearance that I would be able to get away with using it represent one. Further digging through The Alchemy Website (which I highly recommend for a fun filled afternoon) revealed a number of engravings from a volume by Abraham Eleazar that I believe is from 1735. I don't read German, so maybe you can figure it out. Alchemically, the dragon was a very powerful allegorical symbol as it represents a dual natured mercurius in the first stage of creating the philosopher's stone. Chaucer approached the subject very poetically ([Hermes] seith, how the dragoun doutless,/ Ne deyeth nay, but-if that he be slayne,/ With his brother; and that is for sayn,/ By the dragoun, Mercurie and noon other/ He understood) but leaves me scratching my head going "huh?" Thankfully good ole' Nicholas Flamel comes to our rescue in his work Hermetic Museum with his disciption if the dragon's symbolism. Looke well upon these two Dragons, for they are the true principles of beginnings of this Phylosophy ... The first is called Sulphur, or heat an driness, and the latter Argent-vive, or cold, and moisture. These are the Sunne and Moone of the Mercurial source." Flamel later reveals that the winged dragon represents Argent-vive (the female aspect of Mercurial) because it is borne away through the air ... because in a certain degree it flies away or evaporates. One should also note that the magical mercurial waters produced in this process were called dragon's blood. I have a number of thoughts concerning the alchemical role of the dragon in Yeats' Elemental Powers, but they need to be clarified just a little bit more before posting.

This blog certainly ended up in a completely different place than it started, but it has presented me with a new symbol to investigate. All that is to say, both the artistic and academic me are presently quite happy with the two-legged dragon.

Image 1: Illuminated letter "the" from The Poet Pleads with the Elemental Powers - 2008, Hilary Lindler. all rights reserved

Image 2: 142x94mm engraving from pg. 8 from Abraham Eleazar's book