I'm dedicated to helping women in particular develop their spiritual path in life. I'm focused heavily on Brigid in Ireland, although not all my followers are! I teach, speak, coach and mentor people to help them along their own individual path, based on what lore we have, but also allowing for each individual path to develop as it needs to.
❄️Winter's here - Act Now!
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Obviously as a good Irishwoman living by traditional calendars (when it suits me anyway!), winter started back at Samhain for me. However, the weather has dropped significantly in the last few weeks. Between Storm Darragh dropping in on us in between two very cold spells, it's definitely wintry weather in this country right now. But it's a good reminder of a few things. 1) Winter is traditionally a time for rest and recuperation in agricultural societies. And Ireland still is fairly agricultural. Plus - it's dark by 4pm these days, so there's little enough time or inclination to leave the house. Time to curl up by the fire and relax. Dream. Engage with your inner self. 2) it also means that Imbolc is approaching. So if you were planning or thinking or had a notion about engaging with Imbolc differently this year, now's the time to start. I have opened Building a Daily Practice with Brigid as I told ye over the weekend. But there are other avenues to explore if that's not your gig. Want to spend more time with the Three Brigs in Ulster? Dive deeper into the saint? 3) Maybe you're thinking holiday gifts and want to gift someone the joy of one of my classes? If so, reach out and I'll set up the voucher for you! 4) Maybe you want to dedicate time each day with Brigid? Or reading the blog? Or just spending some quiet time in meditation and/or prayer? Email back and tell me when and how you'll do this - trust me, it helps to tell someone your plans, adds a bit of accountability to things. Maybe you're focused on survival right now. And that's ok - so are a lot of folk. Just focused on putting one foot in front of the other, surviving through til the weekend, or the end of the month, or until your next day off... It's a horrible place to be. I know cos I've been there. So I'm thinking of you! Bríd libh Órlagh Check out the links below: Patreon Website |
Hi, I'm Orlagh, of Brigid's Forge
I'm dedicated to helping women in particular develop their spiritual path in life. I'm focused heavily on Brigid in Ireland, although not all my followers are! I teach, speak, coach and mentor people to help them along their own individual path, based on what lore we have, but also allowing for each individual path to develop as it needs to.
The August bank holiday is, in my house, taken seriously. Not in a spiritual performance sort of way. In a genuinely practical sort of way. I use it - and the few days around it - to take stock of where I am. How am I doing on the goals I set at the start of the year? Not to beat myself up about what hasn't happened, but to look honestly at what has - what's come in, what's still outstanding, what I've quietly abandoned without quite admitting it. The harvest metaphor is a useful one here....
have climbed Croagh Patrick. Once. In 2001, I think, or thereabouts. It took about three hours up and considerably less time down, partly because my knees had opinions about the descent that I couldn't ignore. It was a college weekend away...) It's a remarkable experience. I won't pretend otherwise. Standing at the top of a mountain on the west coast of Ireland, with the islands of Clew Bay laid out below you, is genuinely moving - whether you're doing it for Patrick, for the pre-Christian...
For a long time, I had a problem I couldn't solve. My relationship with Brigid was growing. My Catholic upbringing wasn't going anywhere - not because I was still practising in any conventional sense, but because it's in me, in the way that anything you're raised inside is in you. And I couldn't work out how to hold both things at once. I've written about this conflict recently - the specific discomfort of being a pagan Catholic, of loving figures who belong to a tradition you've also had...