The Descent of Brighid (redacted by Erynn R. Laurie)

The Descent of Brighid

(redacted by Erynn R. Laurie)

Every day and every night

That I say the descent of Brighid,

Daughter of Daghda

Mother of the Three Gods,

Anamchara,

Guide in darkness,

Ever-flaming star,

I shall not be killed, I shall not be harried,

I shall not be put in cell, I shall not be wounded,

Neither shall She leave me in forgetfulness.

No fire, no sun, no moon shall burn me,

No lake, no water, nor sea shall drown me,

No arrow of fairy nor dart of spirit shall wound me,

And I under the mantle of Holy Brighid.

Brighid to enfold me

Brighid to surround me

Brighid to comfort me

Brighid is my light and everlasting life,

Body to body, form to form, breath to breath,

Throughout all time and eternity.

While doing this Erynn flicks water to the cardinal directions, the sky and the earth, and draws the ringed cross on her breast.

Original: from Carmina Gadelica, Alexander Carmichael.

Image: Brooks's Comet of 902 (i.). (Drawn by W. R. Brooks.) Public Domain.

“Herb Healing Charm” by Mael Brigde

Herb Healing Charm

delight of eye

friend of cattle

magic lies within

I pluck you

—great thanks—

sing your charm into

my ailing form

comely herb

blessed of Brigit

Goddess of Healers

do your tender work

Note: “Herb Healing Charm” – This poem corresponds to Lus (Flame/Herb), a letter in the medieval Irish script called the ogam. The first two lines are translations of the word ogams “lí súla” and “carae cethrae” which are applied to this letter (Laurie, Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom, pp. 63-64).

Image: “Herb Robert Geranium robertianum in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.” Photo by Joli - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 

“Herb Robert was once widely used to treat a range of medical conditions. The leaves were crushed to make compresses for bruises and wounds. It was taken internally for diarrhoea, peptic ulcers and bleeding, and applied externally to treat inflamed gums and herpes. The plant has also been used as a natural insect repellent and to obtain a brown dye. Although rarely encountered in contemporary herbal medicine recent research suggests (H)erb Robert may lower blood sugar levels, making it a potentially useful treatment for diabetes.” Ireland's Wildlife.

“Brighid Dreams the Poet” by Erynn Rowan Laurie

Brighid Dreams the Poet

 by Erynn Rowan Laurie 

I want a poet

with words of honey

and bitter dregs

of red Hungarian wine

dressed in the bones of birds

with wild

ecstatic eyes

and feet that dance the bonfire's rim

I want a poet

with many souls

souls of mice

and tigers

souls of ravenous

hungry ghosts

and the singing souls of rivers

of wallowing, bellowing buffalo

souls of moths, and geckos

I want a poet

with eyes of crystal shards

that see through flesh

and spy  the hearts of trees

and mountains' bones

with thin, strong fingers

to pluck the hawthorns' bloom

in Beltain's dawning dews

I want a poet

with ballads for breath

and chants

to scatter fear from the deeps of night

or call the wren

from her nest

with spells to lay children to sleep

and bind the rising moon

I want a poet

with fur and claws

and hot, panting tongue

thirsty

and seeking the spring

Erynn's book of poetry, Fireflies at Absolute Zero, is available from Hiraeth Press. It won the won the Bisexual Book Award for Poetry in 2013.

“Fireflies at Absolute Zero is a map of a life, written in location and longing, its calligraphy the surreal moments between dream and waking. The poems are shaped by myth, the Gaelic poetic tradition, dream worlds, personal history, and the grey-green landscape of the Salish Sea. From snowfall in the Hoh rainforest to the sensuality of a lover’s touch, the poems span decades of a life in motion, finally finding a home between the mountains and waters of the Pacific Northwest.”