02/02/2023
On St Brigid’s Day I think of her mother.
Broicseach gave birth to Brigid as she was coming in the door - half in, half out; and bringing in milk.
This short, simple vignette of a momentous event is stunning in its symbolism. Birth itself, between worlds; the mother so tangibly physically in her body yet also unreachable in a zone all of her own, out of this world.
The threshold between her life as it was and how it will never be the same again.
The portal for a whole new life she is about to bring forth and meet for the first time. The incoming milk to comfort, protect and sustain this baby!
Brigid herself, the symbol of fertility, birth and abundance, of light emerging from darkness.
These first days of Spring are the light at the end of the portal of Winter. We still have darkness to go but here in Wexford the daffodils are already blooming: enough that we can afford to pick one for an altar in my yoga studio this week.
The art of the mother with the child at her breast is by .
The print of Brigid the Woman is by Josephine Hardiman, Kildare.
The cross is a gift from my auntie Carmelita.
The water is from St Brigid’s well Kildare.
The book is ‘Birth and the Irish: a Miscellaney’ a substantial collection of short histories about birth in Ireland, edited by Salvador Ryan and, in a chapter by Jenny Butler, where I found out about Brigid’s mother.
