About Brighid & the Four Fires
Brighid is a Goddess of the Gaelic pantheon known as the Tuatha Dé Danann (Tribes of the Goddess Dana). Her name has both been said to be the title “Exalted One” as well as to mean “Fiery Arrow.” Brighid is a fire goddess, the daughter of the Daghda, known as the good god. She is also the keeper of Holy Wells, and as thus she is a Goddess of water as well as fire.
Brighid was historically considered to be a triple goddess ~ Patroness of Poetry, Smithcraft, and Healing. In contemporary worship, many refer to these aspects as the Fire of the Head (inspiration), the Fire of the Hands (creation), and the Fire of the Hearth (restoration/healing), respectively. Some words with common origins as her name include bride, bridge, and brigand.
The fourth fire was kindled through her birth as a human on earth, circa 452 C.E., at the crossroads between the wane of pre-Christian deity worship of Brighid the Goddess and the growth of Christianity. The woman Brigit’s compassion and sense of social justice moved her to abundantly feed the hungry, graciously heal the ailing, and justly free the wrongly imprisoned. All of this has led many in Ireland and the Gaelic Diaspora to recognize her fourth fire as the Fire of the Heart (compassion). Her elevation to sainthood provided an opportunity for graceful transmission of the worship of Brighid the Goddess to the more-acceptable honoring of the woman as a Saint of God. In this manner, she acted as a bridge through difference and separation.
Brighid is celebrated on her Feast Day, Imbolc or Féile Bríd, the first day of spring (February 1), and is associated with the bursting of seeds and the flowing of milk in ewes and other livestock.
Art by Jessica Braun-Ferris