...I am ready

I have all the offerings.  The tools are prepaired and gathered.  Tonight I call on Brigid the high one for an audience and a blessing. 

The Cup, the Harp, and the Hammer #6

As of today I have finished the nine days of devotionals to Bridgit in preparation for convocations.  I am currently preparing for the first of three rites.  This first one is about meeting with the Goddess herself and gaining her blessing.  My plan was to do the ritual tomorrow night, however, I am still waiting for some of the offerings needed to arrive in the mail.  Specifically the pieces of bronze I ordered.  I also need some iron and silver, but these are generally easier to come by.  Since my last post I haven’t noticed any changes within me, and my meditations have been uneventful, but satisfactory. 

                Also as of today I have finished my 3^rd semester of nursing school.  This frees up time that will now put to use on my clergy training, Winter solstice ritual crafting, and of course on the Convocation of the court of Bridgit.  In Mid January I will begin my 4^th and final semester of nursing school.

The Cup, the harp, and the Hammer--compassion

Day four of my daily devotionals, and the meditation was back to being a still image of the high one seated in her throne.  I have noticed that since I started these devotionals I am feeling much more compassionate than usual.  It’s a nice feeling.  Some examples of what I am referring too would be the woman at the gas station, wearing angry bird pajama bottoms, old tennis shoes, a dirty white old winter jacket and a burger king crown on her head.  She was going from customer begging for change.  I felt a wave of compassion for her.  Another example would be the other day when my b’loved was being very critical of how another woman dressed at a party we had been to.  Though I could see the point my b’loved was making I couldn’t help but feel compassion for the woman, who ‘s clothing choice, though uncouth, wasn’t so bad as to deserve such derision.  (to cleaify the woman was not known to us nor around when the conversation took place)   In the past these are situations that probably wouldn’t have elicited much of an emotional response from me.  This week however I found myself wishing there was something I could do to benefit them.  I can only attribute the change to the devotional work I am doing.  Compassion is a great thing to have.  However like all emotions it needs to be in moderation.  I am curious to see if this new found compassion is some sort of “rebalancing” the goddess is giving to me, that I am regaining the compassion I lost, or is it a new thing entirely.  Right now I think it’s a rebalancing, or re finding an aspect of the person I was before my now ex wife slowly stole it away. 

The cup, the Hammer, and the Harp #5

Not much to report about today.  I ran through the ritual smoothly  I have it completely memorized now and it flows easily.  During the meditation portion my mind had difficulty staying focused and it ran after thoughts constantly.  A result of this was my ironing out some ideas for the Winter solstice ritual I will be leading in a few weeks.  This however was not the intention of the meditation. In the end I was able to buckle down and sink into an altered state of mind and focus.  Again I pulled up an image of the goddess in my mind. 

The Cup, the Harp, and the Hammer #4

This morning found me in front of my shrine for day 2 of the Bridget devotionals.   The rite was the same as the day before.  This time though when I was visualizing the image of the goddess, she was sitting on a throne as before,  but the throne began to spin in a circle slowly.  I tried to hold the image still in my mind, but couldn’t seem to be able to.  It “insisted” on turning.  I kept trying to hold it still, but this then caused the image to change so that the goddess disappeared and all I saw was an empty throne…which still insisted on spinning around slowly.  When I stopped trying to hold it still in my mind, the image of the goddess returned.  What else could I do, I simply focused on this image of the goddess in her rotating throne. I am not sure how long I worked with this imagery, but I know that about 30 minuets passed from the time I started the work to the time I left my shrine and went into the kitchen to make myself some breakfast. 

The cup, the harp, and the hammer. #3

Today was the day 1 of the nine day devotional I am doing to the goddess Bridget.  I sat at my indoor alter, upon it was a framed picture of the goddess and a Bridgit’s cross I made last Imbolc.   There are a number of other items on my alter but for this work they are not important.  I rang the bell that sits on my alter nine times, as is my custom to begin all meditation and ritual here.  I then went through the devotional outlined by Rev. Corrigan.  I meditated on my inner image of the goddess for a long time.  Much of the imagery incorporated what was laid down in the text, but there were some details that were all my own.  At times I lost my focus, as thoughts of the impending school finals and the need to study, or of the poor clinical review I was anticipating today, rudely came barging into my mind. However I was able to let them go and come back to the beautiful image of the goddess.  It seemed to have a calming effect for me.  I am thankful for that.  Now post clinical review, which went as I suspected (though I still passed the clinic), I find myself wanting to go back to that space.  There was peace and beauty there.  Needless to say, I am looking forward to tomorrow, where I will continue the devotionals.   

 

Readers, please feel free to comment or ask questions.

 

The cup, the harp, and the hammer #2

After my last post, I decided I wanted to consult the kindred if this working with the goddess Bridgit is some thing I should do.  I got a positive response.  When I asked if I should begin the workings this December I got a very strong positive response.  So I have been memorizing the short daily devotional to Bridget in preparation for nine days of devotional work.   I will do this before I begin my convocations.  I will be making some adjustments to my home shrine to be a bit more focused on this working as time permits. 

Brid thuas lin, Brid thios linn
Brid maidir linn
Brid inar gcroi