"A Bhríd (To Brigid)" by Alan Wells

A Bhríd (To Brigid) 

by Alan Wells

I bind unto myself today Brigid’s girdle of protection from illness 

I surround myself in Brigid’s cloak of protection and healing 

I carry before me Brigid’s cross of protection from fire, hunger and all harm

May I be a reservoir of Brigid’s compassion for all beings 

May I have the stability of Brigid in recognising the oneness of all 

May I have the strength of Brigid’s love for the traumatised 

May I have the openness of Brigid’s heart for the displaced 

May I know the beauty of Brigid’s peace of the eternal soul 

May I know the depth of Brigid’s connection to all of nature 

May I know the glorious perfection of Brigid’s unity with the divine 

May I know the power of Brigid’s holding of the sacredness of all things Through the belief in the Threeness of Brigid, the exalted one; 

The Brigid of Healing, the Brigid of Poetry and the Brigid of Smithcraft 

The Brigid of Justice, the Brigid of hospitality and the Brigid of the cowless

Through the faith in the Oneness of all creation 

I bind unto myself today Brigid’s girdle of protection from illness 

I surround myself in Brigid’s cloak of protection and healing 

I carry before me Brigid’s cross of protection from fire, hunger and all harm

Gurab amhlaidh é trí Bríd 

That it is so through Brigid 

A new interspiritual prayer for Brigid’s protection and healing, from "Brigid: An Interspiritual Icon for the Pandemic and Beyond - an Exploratory Study,” pg. 63. (Written in the Irish monastic tradition of the Lorica by Alan Wells.)

Lorica meaning breast-plate or body armour of protection from the Latin. One of the most famous Lorica prayers is known as St. Patrick’s breast-plate. It is also known as The Deer’s Cry and also Féth Fíada which is a term usually given to mean magic veil/mist said to have been used by the Tuath Dé to allow themselves to be beyond human sight. According to Morgan Daimler it is said of the oldest part of St. Patrick’s Lorica “this section is thought to date back, possibly, into the pagan period and to reference the magical ability to pass invisibly which was a skill of the Aos Sidhe and Tuatha De Dannan.” See Morgan Daimler, Through the Mist: A Dual Language Irish Mythology Book (Independently published, 2021), 193.

Image: Ladybug, Vancouver. June 2024. Mael Brigde.