Writing Brigit


Writing Brigit

Many years ago I wrote my first Brigit prayer. Poem. Blessing... I have been writing them ever since, but seldom publish them. Some are carefully researched and crafted, some are simple and straight from the heart. (Belated update: I did eventually publish a book called A Brigit of Ireland Devotional - Sun Among Stars. It contains many of my Brigit poems and prayers, essays, and resources.)

The prayers and blessings of my sisters in the Daughters of the Flame and other Brigit-loving women and men, living and long-dead, fill me with surprise and delight, as well.

I would like to share some of these writings with you.

Following is the one that signs off each of my emails, a reminder to guide my words and intentions with care when I write to anyone. It's as good a place to start as any.


Flame Offering

In the name of the three Brigits

I light the candle of my heart

May I offer it to everyone

gentle and steady

warm and bright



18 November 2015

“At Sea”





At Sea

the greater the net
the more the mending
the vaster the ocean
the longer the waves

i)
sew    snip    restore our nets
brats stuffed in pockets
tied on waists
keep us from harm

we enter boats
hazel frame and ox hide
bob on lisping seas

you watch over us   Brigit
drive our way
shoals of glinting backs
steady our vessels of skin
stay the billows from pouring us
a living offering to the deep

monsters of the sea
cry out your name
when danger overwhelms
resting on your steady thoughts
they find their way unhurt

ii)
on solid ground
I find myself canting
neither fluid nor firm I turn
to you again

day dawns    yawns   subsides
months stretch long then end
seasons hand   one to one  
each to the next
in orderly procession

and every twenty nights
I light your flame again

as your festival reminds us
to prepare our fishing gear
ready ourselves to face
the leaping shoals
the rhythm of your flame
guides me to wakening   to duty
to the long-made promise to live
as best I can

inviting   stilling   urging me onward
you are my compass   my rudder  
my anchor and my steady star

on the eternal shifting sea


Mael Brigde

Copyright Casey June Wolf (2015)
Currach in Dunquin Harbour (1960), geograph.org.uk - 544728

No comments:

Post a Comment