Week 4: First High Day Recap.

Imbolc:

The Imbolc ritual put on by my grove this year was led by our Arch Druid Kirk Thomas (now emeritus) on January 31st 2016,  and there were over 80 people in attendance.

This ritual was to honor the Irish Celtic Goddess Brigid and Kirk had handmade dozens of Brigid’s crosses to hand out to each guest as a token.  We held these crosses while he led a guided meditation to meet Brigid herself as the main working of the ritual. 
In the middle of that guided meditation to Brigid I had an overwhelming feeling/flash (like a flame behind my eyes) that I needed to open my eyes, NOW. When I did, I saw that a plastic ritual decoration had caught on fire.

As much as I would have loved to finish the meditation, I KNEW, there was a reason I had such an urgent pull to open my eyes. I quietly went and put the fire out. It was a strange feeling to feel sad about missing the meditation but to also to feel like Brigid had a more important mission for me alone. She had spoken to me as a fire tender.

​The ritual itself was beautiful, Kirk brought his theatrical flare to the ritual, my son walked around a corn doll representation of Brigid for everyone to see and offer too, and Brigid received offerings of goats milk, first spring flowers, Bardic song and a healthy amount of Irish whiskey to her massive fire. It was very cold outside, as we were outdoors, but nothing will stand out like that the heat and fire during that mediation for me. It is the first time I have been CALLED to action by a God. 

********************************************************************************************************************

Original free write: 

I am a member of a local grove (Columbia Protogrove) and this was the 4th High Day ritual I have been a part of with this group. One thing I would like to address first off was that I was asked to be the speaking priestess of Brigid ahead of time and so I wrote my own invocation from the heart and was very emotionally involved with this ritual. I was nervous to do this because I had not spoken out during rituals in the past but our Grove Leader asked me as I was leaning more on the Celtic Hearth culture as my own.  Before being asked this, I was inspired (I owe some inspiration to Brigid certainly) to sew a gown in white and red in reflection of my interpretation of Brigid at Imbolc time. I was also inspired, for the first time, to make a collection of decorations for our Grove ritual. I floated candles in containers of locally farmed milk. I built an earthen candle centerpiece: hollowed out some dirt and free-poured wax into it then decorated the outside with taper candles into the dirt as well. I took this time to learn how to make my own candles and dyed them red to reflect Brigid's love and fire.

In addition to all the excited prep work we had a bit of a grove leadership issue and the day of the ritual, because of this I was asked to take on even more active ritual roles. At first I was really nervous and felt unprepared for such responsibility but then I felt inspired by the spirit of Imbolc, the passion of Brigid, and the ancestral pull of Celtic Ireland and I knew I could do it.

The ritual itself went very well, my words were confident, heartfelt, and strengthened and fueled by Ogma and Brigid and although the children of the grove were loudly playing near our ritual I kept softly smiling to myself knowing that Brigid, a patron of motherhood, would understand and be honored by the playful sounds of children. Our Grove leader is of the Roman hearth culture so he allowed me to make some small changes to our offerings that I felt were more appropriate. Offerings to Brigid were local cows milk (instead of oil), and my son striking an anvil three times.

Numerous ritual guests commented on my wardrobe and told me it was a beautiful ritual when we were finished. I felt so amazingly proud of myself on every level, creatively and spiritually. I deeply believe that I had Brigid with me nurturing me, inspiring me, and giving me the right words while I spoke to our new grove guests. Imbolc attendance was the highest we have ever had for a High Day and we had several people join both our grove and ADF as well after speaking to me. I am still hearing accounts of people saying how much I affected them and I simply cannot believe it.

This ritual marks a dramatic turning point for me, this ritual is the first time I have genuinely felt the fire and passion behind my druid path, the first time I truly felt my relationship with Brigid and the first time I felt genuinely at home with the Celtic Hearth.