An Imbolc/St. Brigid's Day gathering, with homemade beeswax candles, homemade bread, and homemade CREAM PUFFS!
(that's violet flavored sugar sprinkled on top!)
A skit-ual by candlelight... and then a walk down the dark country road, carrying candles as little beacons....
...wearing a new favorite dress...
From one of my favorite books, Herbal Rituals by Judith Berger:
The goddess Brigid eventually came to be called Bride, the matron of poetry, smithcraft, and healing. The priestesses (and later nuns) of Brigid were known as brides, for they vowed themselves to this goddess as one would in a marriage bond and kept a sacred fire burning for her at all times.
Most likely the fire that was kept kindled at Brigid's shrine was the huge fire of a forge, which burned meltingly hot in preparation for smithcraft, the domain of this goddess. The unfailing attentiveness to the fire by the nine priestesses of Brigid (and later Hestia and Vesta) underscores fire's fragile aspect, the potential of this extremely important source of our light and heat to be extinguished if we neglect to feed it with new kindling. The brides remind us to tend to all that the fire represents: our creative lives, the passions that keep us vital and joyful, our sexuality, the love and care that kindles our hearths and invites intimacy, and the power of loving nurturance to magically resuscitate that which, left unattended, had seemed to die.
And a very wonderful cherry on the cake: while we were making our candles and eating our creampuffs, one of my very dearest friends gave birth to her first child, a baby girl! Congratulations Celeste!
(...and Happy Imbolc to all!)
