By Fire Well and Tree

  Okay, you're right. they're all my favorite.  But Imbolc is different! No, I really mean it.  Imbolc holds many memories of awesomeness on my path, as does my relationship with Brigid (or Bridhe or whichever other spelling you want.) When I first embarked on this path, it was because I wanted to be more familiar with the spirituality of my ancestors. my immediate ancestors were varieties of Christian (Evangelical, Catholic, or Methodist) but i wanted to go back further. One branch was Irish and since that was the cool white ethnicity i explored it. The others were varieties of German and English, which in my mind had historical baggage i didn't then want to engage with. So from the beginning, Bridhe was it.  even when I meandered into heathenry later (having made some peace with that ancestry) and even Vodoun for a bit, she was a constant.  I became a  flame keeper  (next shift February 11).  I made sure I had a fire pit at my new home, I have t...

 Sunday is for the bringers of light. Many of those who bring the light of knowledge are also healers, so that is also an emphasis here. Photo by  Alina Vilchenko  from  Pexels Lightbringers You who bring the light of knowledge and healing Bridhe, fiery arrow and Angus mac Og, the light in the coldest night Belenos of the starry mantle Baldr the light that shines in the darkness Eir, gentle hands of healing Apollo, encourage us to Know Thyself Lightbringers, I give thanks for the night And ask your blessings, protection, and wisdom for the day

 I wasn't sure I was going to make it through my daily devotional work!  So every day, I single out a different "class" of deities to honor. I'm a bit Jungian in my approach. People everywhere face similar challenges, and thus "deify" things that are important to help them meet those challenges. To me, though, this is not the same as a soft polytheism ("All storm gods are one storm god") in that I think they are different spirits. But we all need to worry about health, crops, warfare, death, and other things so we would all have spirits reflecting the other cultural contexts of wherever we are. Even though my own personal focus is Celtic and Anglo-Saxon, my community honors more than that, and as I sometimes do oracular work, I thought it important to at least have introduced myself in the event that I needed to contact someone from another pantheon. I chose which spirits based upon the names of the days of the week, which are very similar in both ...

 Well, of course I got behind. But instead of giving up (as I am so close!) we'll just get caught up um...soon. :)  Cheating a BIT today, and using my "standard" daily devotional prayers, maybe punching them up a bit.  On most days it's a quick saying of the last two lines (bolded), but if I have time it's the full thing.   Nature Spirits Spirits of Rock and Soil of Leaf and Stem Of Skin and Blood Of Light and Shadow of Hearth and Home Natures spirits I give thanks for the night And ask your blessings, protection, and wisdom for the day.