Imbolc Spellbook
Invoking Brighid, Irish goddess and saint
An Invocation to Brighid
Brighid of the awakening days, offer me hope. As maiden of spring, you give me the promise of new life, with the herbs and the trees and the living green. May I believe.
Brighid of the sacred flame, give me fortitude. As protector of hearth and home, you give me courage to gather here with you, to make my hearth holy once again. May I burn brightly.
Brighid of the healing waters, help me surrender. As guardian of the flowing streams, you encourage me to flow and ebb, connecting to the primal rhythms, within and without. May I unknow.
Brighid of the tender Earth, guide me back to her. As wise woman of the Earth, bring me to her so that I may remember how our roots are nourished here. May I tend.
Brighid of the awakening days, offer me hope.
Brighid of the sacred flame, give me fortitude.
Brighid of the healing waters, help me surrender.
Brighid of the tender Earth, guide me back to her.
Held in the embrace of your shimmering mantle.
This day and each sacred day.
Welcome to this sacred turning.
Brighid’s cross woven as a offering to one of her holy wells. Photo by Alma McKinley
As we move into the season of Imbolc, spring in Ireland, we begin with the celebration of Brighid’s birthday. Brighid, Irish goddess and matron saint, was born both in her goddess form and in human form, on the beginning day of Imbolc. Today her birthday and her life is celebrated as her feast day and is a nationally recognized bank holiday in Ireland!
Brighid has guided my way on for over 25 years. We found each other when I was called to study at Brighid’s Academy of Healing Arts here in Ireland, located at the time near Kildare, a place deeply associated with Brighid. Since that time she has been a companion and teacher, wisdom holder and life guide for me, as she is for so many. I walk in her footsteps as herbalist and midwife to healing, as a hearth-tender and a devoted protector of the Earth. She guides my words every day and I light a candle for her blessing on those in need, at my altar each morning.. She holds me close in her mantle of loving embrace when my heart feels broken. She dances with me in celebration and gratitude under full moons and around community fires. Her hands guide mine in creating remedies and soups. Her voice flows with mine as we wildcraft herbs from the hedges and garden. She is ever with me.
In one of my long term classes last weekend I asked the participants to gather in small groups and share what they loved about Brighid and to create a collaborative story to bring back to the group. Two groups brought in her aspects of alchemy at the forge of transformation: the power of her anvil hitting the metal to change from one form to another, the warmth of her smith as a place of community gathering and safety, the magic and possibility held in co-creating with the flame. She reminds us that we, too, can forge transformation and hold sanctuary for community.
Another group spoke of Brighid’s work as a social activist, tending to the marginalized and oppressed and spoke of Brighid today, as an activist in America, maybe even Minneapolis, walking amongst the crowds, offering herbal first aid and nourishment and misneach (courage) with her presence. She does walk with us and amongst us ever so.
I will share more about who Brighid was and is, and would love for you to weave your own story of how she is helping you remember who you were before patriarchy, before white supremacy, before rampant capitalism.
Who were you when you lived in rhythm with the season known as Imbolc and the quarters of the moon as your calendar? How can you be her/ them/ him again?
May you feel the subtle awakening stirring under the still-silent earth. May you remember the magic and possibility co-created at your hearth. May you tend to the oppressed and marginalized as an action of devotion. May you light a candle for Brighid’s birthday and for the renewal of life, within and without.
Abundant love, Tonja x
PS Thank you to those who are able to financially support my work, my heart is so full! I am grateful to all my readers/ subscribers and am happy to share this Spellbook complementary to you.
Snowdrops, an emblem of Brighid returning as maiden of spring, blooming in my garden
Imbolc Spellbook Inclusions
From Brighid Herself
Reflection Spells and Rituals for Imbolc
Embodying Brighid with the Elements
Spellwork with the Herbs
Guided Four-part Breath with Brighid
From Brighid Herself
From Brighid Herself: “I am a daughter of the Tuatha de Dannaan, the ancient race of Ireland who was connected to the land in such an intimate way that we were said to have been fairy or magic or Otherworld. I am a healer, allowing the wisdom of the herbs to teach me so that I am may teach others. I am a muse to poets and bards and all peoples who use words to move through life. I am a woman of the forge and transform metals from one substance to another. I am a keeper of a sacred flame that still burns in Ireland, thousands of years later. I am a sacred woman, as you are. I am.”
From Brighid Herself: “I was born at dawn on Imbolc in the year 432 AD. I am the daughter of a servant Christian woman and her pagan Chieftain, who lived not as husband and wife but in a love-filled polyamorous Celtic relationship. I grew up in the fields of Ireland, tending to sheep and milking the cows in my Father’s dairy. My Father was a wealthy man and I often gave his wealth away to those less fortunate. When the men in the scratchy brown robes and strange hair, cut as a small expanse of lichen on the tops of their otherwise bald heads, came to offer my mother the bread and the wine, I was intrigued by this new religion. Many years later, it is true, Patrick himself, blessed me and called me an equal.”
From Brighid Herself: “I celebrate the simple things in life, the gifts of the wildwood, the moon, sun and stars and the unfurling possibility of each day. I believe in the healing power of all that we have before us. I love dandelion as a healing herb for both body and spirit. I love sleep and laughter as nourishing remedies. I give those in need healing footbaths infused with lady’s mantle, blackberry and nettle. I create healing beers with herbs from the hedgerows. I believe you are your own healer and I am your midwife to that healing. Listen and you will know. Return to the Earth and you will find all you need.”
From Brighid Herself: “I am a Sacred Warrioress. This is what it means: I give gratitude for my days and moments, even and especially, the challenging ones. I endeavor for peace in all peoples. I endeavor for peace between humans and the Earth and all of Her children. I break out of my limitations. I do not ask the question Why, yet instead query What and When and How? I channel fear into love. I do not try, I do. I release the word “should” from my vocabulary. I am strong and beautiful and wise. As you are.”
Brighid, Brigit, Brigid, Bride, Bhride. All are one.
Download a PDF of the Imbolc Spellbook HERE
Brighid the Goddess and Brighid the Saint
Brighid was so revered in pre-Christian Ireland that she manifested in human form, as a flesh and blood woman, in the 5th century. She is one of the three patron saints of Ireland (the other two being Patrick and Columcille) and is often referred to as Mary of the Gael. She is a domestic saint, protector of home, hearth and household. She is called in to smoor the fire and keep the livestock safe. In Ireland, we honor her with a bank holiday on the closest Monday to 1 February which is her birthday.
Brighid is Lady of Air, inspirer of words and truth, offering clarity and focus, mediating peace within and without. She is Lady of Fire, tending to the sacred flame, still burning in Kildare Ireland as it has for thousands of years. With this flame she reminds us of our own inner fire and she will co-tend to that with us, igniting passion and courage, transforming us into our most radiant light.
She is Lady of Water, filling us with fertile potential and flowing with creativity. Her sacred springs still flow from the womb of the Earth, healing and mingling with our own living waters. She is a protector of the sanctity of all water. She is Lady of Earth, showing us how to tend to our Mother the Earth. She herself not only a guardian of the land and too symbolized in the sacred land of Ireland herself. Brighid tended to bees, offered herbal remedies and eschewed material goods to live a simple life, abundant with nature’s gifts.
Brighid: peaceful woman, powerful woman. She is a woman of our ancestors and a woman of these times.
Brighid is the sacred feminine embodied and is a bridge between the pre-Christian, Nature traditions and Christianity, representing both as the strong and empowered divine feminine. She was a priestess, powerful and sovereign, and with the onset of the patriarchy she stayed fast and true within her womanhood, offering lessons to us how to do the same. She reminds us of the richness of our Native European heritage and through her we can discover and claim our own traditions.
Brighid is a social activist, standing with those who are marginalized, mediating on their behalf, offering her hospitality and protection to all people, all humans. She offered healing remedies to those who were displaced and shunned. She reminds us to stay diligent, not stay silent and to show kindness to strangers and those less fortunate.
Brighid and the Patriarchy
She was very clever and astute in dealing with the patriarchy and a favorite myth about Brighid is when she used her feminine magic with a greedy male landholder. She had made a vow of poverty (giving away her father’s wealth to the poor) and approached this chieftain, asking for land for her temple/ cathedral/ community, even though she could not pay. He knew of Brighid’s fame and of her hospitality, and wanted to appear generous so said to her: yes, she could have all the land that her mantle could cover. She humbly thanked him and laid her cloak on the land and asked each of her four aide women to pick up a corner of the cloak and begin walking in each of the directions. As the aide women walked to the east and the south, to the west and the north, the cloak expanded and expanded until it covered the vast area of land known as the Curragh near Kildare Ireland. She received this land, in agreement with the chieftain’s word. Her fire temple and her cathedral reside there, to this day, protected by sacred oak trees.
Her festival day, later called a feast day, is on Imbolc on Feb 1 on the Gregorian calendar (Brighid’s Day) and Feb 2 (St. Brighid’s Day and Candlemas). Cross quarter Imbolc, the half-way point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox is 3 February this year. Astrological Imbolc, the new moon, is 17 February.
Imbolc is translated as “first milk or lactation” and is a time when the first sheep are being born and so fresh milk is once again flowing. Imbolc is the first day of spring in the ancient Irish calendar and is the name of the entire spring season (February, March and April). The seed that lay held in the Earth since Samhain is now quickening, as new life stirs and grows.
The tradition is to burn or bury last year’s cross before hanging a new one
Reflection Spells and Rituals for Imbolc
Brighid of the awakening days, offer me hope. As maiden of spring, you give me the promise of new life, with the herbs and the trees and the living green. May I believe.
Take a walk in nature and even through the snow and the cold, notice sbutle signs of renewed life appearing (remember to look up as well as down). Even if there is not green without, where are you feeling the greening?
What gives you hope?
Brighid of the sacred flame, give me fortitude. As protector of hearth and home, you give me courage to gather here with you, to make my hearth holy once again. May I burn brightly.
Put a simmer pot on your hearth to bless it. You can use any aromatic herbs and spices on hand. A combination that I have been doing is rose, cinnamon, mugwort and bay (all of those except cinnamon from the land where I live). To get your simmer pot simmering, add about 2 TBSP of herb to 3 or 4 cups of water in a pot. Bring to a low simmer and allow the scent to bless and cleanse your sacred hearth (kitchen!) space and beyond.
What does it mean to you to be a hearth-tender?
Brighid of the healing waters, help me surrender. As guardian of the flowing streams, you encourage me to flow and ebb, connecting to the primal rhythms, within and without. May I unknow.
Connect with the moon in her waning stage (2- 17 February) and allow yourself to surrender into unknowning, as she is mirroring by giving up her light to be held in the wisdom of the fertile dark.
Visit a flowing water source and listen to its lullaby (or roar!). Be present with the melting snow listening to its sounds of transformation.
What can you let go of needing to know? How does this make you feel? Curiosity instead of control? Excitement instead of fear?
Brighid of the tender Earth, guide me back to her. As wise woman of the Earth, bring me to her so that I may remember how our roots are nourished here. May I tend.
Take a barefoot walk on the winter Earth. Your body and spirit yearns for this connection. (yes, even in the snow… it can be quick!).
To what will you devotedly tend?
Brighid of the awakening days, offer me hope.
Brighid of the sacred flame, give me fortitude.
Brighid of the healing waters, help me surrender.
Brighid of the tender Earth, guide me back to her.
Held in the embrace of your shimmering mantle.
This day and each sacred day.
Symbols of Imbolc: three different Brighid crosses, a brideog made of rushes, hearth fire and snowdrops
Embodying Brighid with the Elements
Connect with Brighid through the Elements to embody her in the physical realms.
To begin you may want to select an aspect from the Element that corresponds with your sun sign to begin and work with her in that aspect for at least a moon cycle, experiencing her there, within and without.
Air signs= Aquarius, Gemini, Libra
Fire signs= Aries, Leo, Sagittarius
Water signs= Pisces, Cancer, Scorpio
Earth signs= Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn
Acknowledge Brighid in the Element of Air:
• Wake up at dawn and greet the day, acknowledging Her presence in the new light
• Write a poem
• Breathe Her in, share your breath with Her
• Sing
• Make and burn incense made with Her favorite herbs: dandelion, rose, blackberry, nettle
Acknowledge Brighid in the Element of Fire:
• Take time at noon, acknowledging Her presence in the peak of day
• Light a candle, kindle a hearth
• Do something that requires courage
• Dance
• Take a vigorous walk in Nature
Acknowledge Brighid in the Element of Water:
• Pause at sunset, acknowledging Her presence in the liminal twilight.
• Give thanks for water: out of your tap, rain, wells, oceans
• Indulge in a ritual bath or footbath
• Make a cup of herb tea with her favorite herbs: dandelion, rose, blackberry, nettle
• Comfort the sad, aid the sick
Acknowledge Brighid in the Element of Earth:
• Before sleep, acknowledge Brighid and ask for her protection
• Offer hospitality
• Plant a tree (plant many!)
• Tend to the Earth: re-use, recycle, pick up litter
• Make your home a sanctuary
Symbols of Brighid
There are countless traditions associated with Brighid around Imbolc, as each parish in Ireland would celebrate this time and Herself in specific ways. A few resources to delve more into the specific traditions around Ireland is The Rites of Brigid: Goddess and Saint by Sean O’Duinn and Brigid: Goddess, Druidess and Saint by Brian Wright. Mary Condren wrote The Serpent and the Goddess which delves into the Age of Brigit, although is more academic and Christian in nature versus a folkloric collection of tradition.
Brighid’s Cross
One of the most popular traditions is to weave a Brighid’s cross on or around the turning into Imbolc. The most popular is the four-armed cross which bridges pre-Christian elemental and solar aspects with traditional Christian cross symbology. I also love to weave the three-armed cross which may represent the sacred elements of earth, sea, sky. And each parish might have their own variation of the cross, there are many! The crosses are hung above a threshold or doorway, invoking Brighid’s protection over home, hearth and household. The cross from the previous year is taken down and given back to the Earth as an offering or burned in the fire, and the cross for the new year is hung.
Brat Bhride or Brighid’s Cloak/ Brighid’s Mantle
At dusk on any of the relevant dates moving us into the season of Imbolc, a custom is to leave a blue cloth (think sky blue variations of color which are Brighid’s blue), woven of natural fibers, draped over a bush or hung on a tree branch. This cloth will receive Brighid’s healing breath as she moves, re-awakened after her winter slumber, throughout the land. Whatever land you are on, call her in, she is there. Allow the cloth to be infused from sunset to sunrise with her healing breath. Use the brat bhride throughout the year as needed within your home and community for illness, birth, death and other relevant rituals of healing.
Brighid
You were a woman of peace,
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light into the darkness.
You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace cover those who are
Troubled and anxious, and may peace be firmly
Rooted in our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all creation.
Brighid, you were a voice for the wounded and
The weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us,
Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into greater wholeness
In mind, body and spirit.
-Traditional Irish Prayer
The Brideóg
The Brideóg is a small doll representing Brighid. It is fashioned from rushes or oat stem or wheat, and sometimes wrapped in a blue cloak of cloth. The Brideóg is carried by a girl, a young maiden, chosen to symbolize Brighid. The maiden would dress in white and wear a crown of rushes and carry a Brigit’s Cross. Traditionally it was customary, in many parts of Ireland, for groups of young girls, who were sometimes disguised or clad in white, to go from house to house with the Brideóg singing and dancing, welcoming Brighid’s return. The householders would give the girls a gift for Brighid, often eggs or bread, a sweet or a coin.
Brighid’s Oak Tree
Another symbol of Brighid is the oak tree. She established first her temple then her monastery within a grove of towering oaks in the place called Kildare today, which translates to church (kil or cill) of the oak (duir). The oak is also a sacred tree in the ancient Irish Ogham alphabet and calendar.
An excerpt from my book Wild Irish Roots: A Seasonal Guidebook of Herbs, Ritual and Connection: The mighty oak symbolizes fortitude and the courage to persevere, especially when times are the most trying. It is a champion and a protector. And, too, because oak is so strong and stubborn, its inflexibility can often be its downfall as it loses limbs easily in storms. Oak reminds us to stand in our strength yet release the rigidity that can often keep us from true growth.
Oak is the ninth tree of the calendar and is the tree of the Summer Solstice. Its wood is used to kindle the midsummer bonfires. Duir in Irish and representing the letter D in the Ogham alphabet, oak was important to the Celtic priests and priestesses, known as Druids, and their rites and ritual were often conducted in sacred oak groves. Oak is a symbol of Brighid: she built her most prominent monastery in Kildare, which means church (cilll in Irish) of the oak. Her pre-Christian temple was believed to be in the same place, surrounded by the towering oaks, which are still there to this day.
Oak trees live to be very old, potentially over 1,000 years or more, and it can take up to 60 years for an oak to produce a full crop of acorns. The acorns were an important food source in prehistoric times and, in to recent times, are still roasted and used as a coffee substitute. The leaves and the bark of the oak have antiseptic, astringent and anti-inflammatory properties. The acorn is a powerful symbol of fertility, especially of the creative aspects of the mind.
Spend some time forest bathing with a majestic oak. Sit against its massive trunk, feel the scratchy, worn bark on your cheek. Collect acorns and plant them in the Earth and offer acorns to others to plant. We and the Earth need more trees so desperately and the simple act of planting trees can heal us all.
The dandelion lights its spark
Lest Brighid find the wayside dark.
And Brother Wind comes rollicking
For joy that she has brought the spring.
Young lambs and little furry folk
Seek shelter underneath her cloak.
-W.M. Letts
Spellwork with the Plants
Brighid was an herbalist and engaged with the wild weeds to nourish and heal body and spirit. These herbs offer vital components to overall vitality and wellbeing today, as they have for thousands of years, growing in our own backyards, along the hedgerows and in meadows and fields. These herbs are wild and free medicine that our ancestors have used for millennia, they are part of our DNA and are beckoning us to receive their nourishment and medicine once more.
Blackberry: Blackberry grows abundantly throughout the ubiquitous hedgerows of this land. It is one of Brigit’s favorite healing herbs, high in nutrients and anti-oxidants, tonifying to the
body and nurturing to the womb. You can make a tea from its leaves and flowers and a syrup from its berries. Blackberry is tenacious and its brambles offer protection to small animals as well as provides natural boundaries for fields and farmers. Blackberry shares that wisdom with us, helping us to discern appropriate boundaries in our lives as well as offering us its embrace of protection.
Dandelion: Dandelion represents Brighid more than any other herb. You will find the symbol of dandelion in the sunken garden in the Imbolc garden. Brighid is a tender of Fire and the Sacred Flame and dandelion herbally represents these elements. Just like the fire of the forge, dandelion transmutes and transforms us physically through deep nourishment, and spiritually through its gifts of courage and light. Like Brigit, dandelion is a midwife to our own healing. Dandelion leaf is a gentle bitter to stimulate the digestive and endocrine systems, nourishes the kidneys, is high in potassium and other trace minerals and may lower blood pressure.
Rose: Rose is a gently powerful healer and is beneficial added to any tea blend. Rose eases depression and uplifts the nervous system, and opens and supports the heart, both physically and emotionally. It is an amazing wash for the skin, offering a lovely blush and glow. Rose has thorns which protect and defend, just like Brighid. Rose is strong and is vulnerable, just like Brighid.
Licorice: Brighid is strong and powerful and wise. There is also an infinite unconditional love and sweetness that surrounds her. Licorice represents the strong and sweet aspects of Brigid as well as the strong and sweet aspects of our healing journey. Licorice soothes us internally and offers essential moisture and juiciness to body and spirit.
Brighid Ritual Tea
Blackberry (leaf) Rubus fructicosus: 2 parts
Dandelion (leaf) Taraxicum officinalis: 2 parts
Rose (flower) Rosa damasca: 1 part
Licorice (root) Glycyrrhiza glabra: 1/4 part
A part can be any measurement device as long as it is the same measurement device for each ingredient of the recipe. For instance a part could be a teaspoon or a cup or a pinch.
To make a cup of tea add ½ teaspoon of the herbal tea blend to 1 (8 oz) cup of water, off the boil. Make the entire process of making and drinking your tea a ritual. Engage all of your senses, as a threshold to Brighid. Invite her to join you.
Brighid’s Sacred Fire Incense
Create this loose leaf incense to invoke Brighid’s sacred fire and aspects of courage, passion and transformation found there. Burn on a protected surface on an incense charcoal.
Loose leaf herb blend:
Dandelion leaf- 2 part
Yarrow leaf/ flower- 2 part
Lady’s Mantle leaf- 1 part
Vervain- 1 part
Frankincense- ½ part
Dandelion Flower Fritters
A pint jar filled with fresh dandelion flowers, stems detached, blossoms fully opened
80 g flour
80 mL milk
5 mL baking powder
1 egg
Pinch of sea
Oil or Butter for frying
Optional items to add for sweet fritters: spoonful of honey and 5 mL of any of the following: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg. For savory fritters add fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary and oregano plus more salt, pepper and a pinch of chili for extra heat.
Dandelion flowers will close within about 20-30 minutes after being picked so it is important to make the fritters immediately upon harvesting.
Mix dry ingredients then slowly add the milk and beat in the egg. Add the sweet or savory ingredients, as desired. Dip the flower blossoms into the batter, coating well. Fry until golden brown. Best eaten immediately.
Brighid’s Anointing Oil for Transformation
9 drops of rose essential oil (5% dilution) or rose-infused herbal oil
9 drops of mugwort essential oil or mugwort-infused oil
9 drops of lavender essential oil or lavender-infused oil
Add this blend of essential oils/ infused oils to ¼ cup (2 oz) of jojoba or almond oil to invoke Brighid, the maiden, mother and crone and the ever-living cycle of transformation found with each. Allow the triple aspects support your intention of transformation. If inclined, infuse this oil in a full moon. Use with an affirmation on wrists, pulse points and finger-combed through the hair. Add to your ritual baths. Massage into your feet and your heart.
Brighid’s Healing Foot Soak
One of Brighid’s favorite ways to offer the healing herbs to those in need was through nourishing foot baths. Add these herbs to a basin filled with hot water and a handful of sea salt: tablespoon of each dandelion leaf, calendula flowers, rose petals and Lady’s mantle leaf/ flower. Soak for 10-15 minutes.