Pagan Blog Project: Brigid

Well, I thought that I would talk about one of the goddesses I honor today Brigid. She is after all a Gaelic Goddess and the festival of Imbolic is coming up soon.

Brighid is one of the most popular goddesses within Irish mythology there are countless variations are her name. O'hOgain says that her name means 'Exalted One'. This is likely an epithet for the goddess. She is a multifaceted goddess, associated with fertility, agriculture and inspiration.

While it is difficult to know exactly what is the goddess and what is the saint, there is some things that we can know. The lore says she was the Daughter of the Daghda. Though who her mother is not that clear. She is the mother of several other of the Tuatha de Dannen, and she is said to have invented the practice of keening when one of her sons died in the second battle of Magh Turedh. Offerings for her are dairy products of some sort, the most common being milk and butter. the reason is that she is connected to Cattle.

She is a goddess that I seek to know and honor more. While I may not deal with much that she looks over, inspiration is something she can help us all out with, especailly as I am in a field that relies on creativity. Of course it could be that Imbolc is coming up that she is on my mind.

Genealogy of Brighid

The genealogy of the holy goddess Brighid,
Radiant flame of gold, noble mother of Ruadan,
Brighid, the daughter of an Daghda the Good God,
Brighid, daughter of Boanne, shining white,
Every day and every night
That I say the genealogy of Brighid,
I shall not be killed, I shall not be harried,
I shall not be jailed , I shall not be wounded,
Nor shall my Gods leave me.
No fire, no sun, no moon shall burn me,
No lake, no water, nor sea shall drown me,
No arrow of fairy nor dart of Fey shall wound me,
I am under the protection of the Gods of life,
And my gentle foster-mother is my beloved Brighid.

---

Sources

Morgan Dalmar Genealogy of Brighid: http://lairbhan.blogspot.com/2012/04/brighid.html Mary Jones:http://www.maryjones.us/jce/brigit.html

The passing of Jonas Trinkūnas

Yesterday, Monday the 20th of 2014, Jonas Trinkūnas passed away. Jonas Trikunas was the founder of modern Romuva. He was dedicated to his people, his faith, and his culture throughout his life. I am neither Lithuanian nor a practitioner of Romuva. However, his work in modern reconstructionist faiths is worthy of praise.

Lithuania was the last country in Europe to convert to Christanity and during its time as a pagan Grand Duchy it formed one of the largest realms in Europe. Though in the late 1300s, the country converted to Christianity. Jonas though worked to revive the ancient religion. As a reconstructionist, I look to my own country of Ireland but the story of Lithuania is one that has always captured my imagination.

Jonas is a man who was committed to his culture and his people. He was a true preserver of culture. He spent his time at the Vilnius University as a professor teaching and studying about his culture till the Soviet Authorities tried to stop that. He then set out to explore his country, listening to the folktales, songs and in general getting a sense of the folklore roots and culture that the soviets tried to stamp out. This is something in which as a Gaelic Polytheist, I can relate to. For England's treatment of Ireland is very comparable to what the Soviets were doing.

He was very committed to helping to revive and preserve the religion of his Ancestors. In addition to having the only english book about Romuva's traditions written up, he was also a musician and a member of the band Kūlgrinda. He helped support and was an active member of the World Council of Ethnic Religions which is now known as the European council of Ethnic Religions. Last Summer he was given the prestigious award of Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas from the President of Lithuania herself.

While I have never met the man, I live in America after all. Everything I have read about the man shows a man who despite being called krivis or supreme priest, remained humble and even shy. A gentle fellow, I do wish that I could have had the chance to meet him.

May he go to his Ancestors and Gods; and may his deeds be remembered.

30 days deity devotion: day 15-18

day 15: Any mundane practices that are associated with this deity?

As nuada is the High King and helps with justice; I would imagine that just living with justice, honor, and hospitality. While it is not a major thing to act with honor, Justice and remembering to be a hospitable host; it is something that nuada would want us to do.

Day 16: How do you think this deity represents the values of their pantheon and cultural origins?

nuada is the high king, and he respents the ideal king to the Irish. The high king was an actual position of gaelic Ireland, who in theory ruled over all of the Irish. While in reality they had little power, nuada is the ultimate high king. He rules the whole land with a hand of silver, a hand of honor.

day 17: How does this deity relate to other gods and other pantheons?

The most obvious deity that he is compared to is Tyr or Tiw, the germanic god of war and valor. Both gods after all did lose their hands for similar reasons. Tyr lost it to the monster Fenrir while nuada lost it to the Formorians. They both represent justice and honor. Though the obvious difference is that nuada is a king while Tyr is not.

Day 18: How does this deity stand in terms of gender and sexuality? (historical and/or UPG)

He does not seem to care about either as long as one acts with Honor, Hospitapitly, and Justice.

30 days of devotion: day 10-14

Day 10:Offerings – historical and UPG

I am not sure of what would have been offerings. Morgan Daimler over at Living liminally, suggests fish, beer and guiness. I would imagine swords could be given as an offering or dedicated to him. Doing volunteer service could also be seen as an offering for him.

Day 11:Festivals, days, and times sacred to this deity

I am not aware of any particular festival for Nuada. Though I imagine there might have been a day dedicated for him.

Day 12:Places associated with this deity and their worship

Brugh na Boyne, the well of Nechtan, and the Hill of Tara are associated with Nuada.

Day 13:What modern cultural issues are closest to this deity’s heart?

Nuada is the High King, justice, war, wisdom and even water are all part of him. Good leadership and ruling well is clsoe to his heart. Social Justice is thus important to him. He is also connected to water, so helping to keep water health and clean would be something that is close to him.

Day 14:Has worship of this deity changed in modern times?

Well, he has stopped being worshiped lately. so I am not sure how he might have changed.

[PBP] An Assessment of my path

The new year has come and we are now near the end of the second week in January. So I thought I would do an assessment of my path.

An Ancient Religion

There are many groups under the pagan umbrella, but I do feel comfortable with this path. It is what I gravitated towards when I truly looked into paganism. I did not come from wicca or any similar derivied path, such as Druidry. I came to what felt right to me, and this path, this gaelic polytheistic path is just that.

As a reconstructionist, I look to the past, how the ancient Irish would have practiced. As a polytheist, I believe that all the gods and goddesses are separate individuals. For practices, I keep to the four main fire festivals. I also work on providing offerings to the Sacred Three, Deities, Spirits and Ancestors. This is important to me as it helps me thank one or more of the Sacred Three, a thanksgiving if you will. Doing this more often is something that I want to do more of.

Resolutions, Habits, New Beginnings

The new year has come and the first week of it is gone. Like many people I have made resolutions during this time. I put them into three catagories or themes: Health, Religious, and Occupation. why themes? because by focusing on a theme I can change the little things over time to fit things that come up.

Health

I am not in the best of health, so one of the biggest things I am working on changing is getting into shape. I am a picky eater and hate trying new food, yet I am going to do just that. my diet is just miserable, so I am slowly going to add more and more healthy food to it. I will be eating more fruits and vegetables.

I am also working on doing more exercise throughout the year. With school starting back up, I hope to try and learn some Yoga before I graduate and perhaps climb my school's rock wall. But the biggest thing is to do more exercise often. I often put it aside as I am lazy, but I do need to keep in shape.

Religious

One theme I have for this year, and partially why I started this blog, is to learn more about my religion of Gaelic Polytheism. Thus I hope to be more religiously active. If I can, I might see about having my family together for the four major fire festivals. I am also taking a course on world religions which might give me inspiration for my own faith.

Occupation

Finally, I should be leaving college this may and hopefully entering the work force. naturally there are a lot of things related to this, resumes, job, and so on. For me, I hope to have my own website done sometime by summer. As a web designer, I will need my own website, even if I do not have much work to show, I will still need my own. I am planning on making my senior projects good enough that they can get me a job and hopefully my own place eventually.

30 days of deity devotion: days 5-9

I know I have not kept track with these lately, so lets try and get back on track.

day 5:Members of the family – genealogical connections

He is the son of Echtach. He is said to have five children: Tadg, Caither, Cucharn, Echtge, and Etaram. Tadg links nuada to the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill. Though who the mother is of these children is not entirely clear. A few sources say that his consort was Macha. Which would link her with the Morrigan.

Day 6: Other related deities and entities associated with this deity

As the king of the Tuatha De Dannen, nuada is connected with many of the other gods and goddesses, and other various beings in Irish mythology. Through his son, the druid Tadg, he is connected to the hero Fionn. During the second battle of Maige Tuired, he gives up his leadership as king to Lugh to lead the Tuatha to battle. The physican Dien Cecht works to heal his loss arm slain by the formions in the first battle. So ultimatly, as the king, he is connected to most beings.

Day 7: Names and epithets

His most famous epithet is Airgetlamh, silver hand/arm. I have not managed to find other epithets for him.

Day 8: Variations on this deity (aspects, regional forms, etc.)

There are several variations that deserve mention. The scholar O hOgain connects him to nechtans, through nuada necht. This would give him a connection to water. He also connects him to Elcmar. In particular he claims that he was the orginal owner of Brugh na Boyne and thus Boyne. This seems like a regional variation on the god for me, but I do believe there is some connection between them.

There is also some possibility of him being connected to the Gaulish god Nodens. If this connection is accepted, then the dog would be one of the animals associated with him. But I am not sure how well this is supported.

Day 9: Common mistakes about this deity

The only one that I am aware of is for him to be considered a sun god because of the movie The Wickerman.

Death and respect

The other day, P.S.V.L had a post about the meaning of Funerals that I thought was interesting and as I had talked about the Afterlife for the first week of the Pagan Blog Project, I thought I would do a response to this.

I will agree that this lack of respect for Death is a part of the overculture that most of us in the West hear and see. I watched some videos about Dia de Muretos in mexico recently, and the treatment of death is quite different from how it is dealt with in America. Death is not thought of really; it also a somber event.

However, what i saw in the videos on Day of the Dead is IMO a better treatment for the dead. It is a party for the dead. Food is left at the house altar and the graves of the deceased. The three days of day of the dead while it is filled with merry making, is still for the dead. This is similar to Samhain that many pagans celebrate as well.

The fact is that in the west, we tend to ignore the dead for the most part; which does not help us when dealing with death or dealing with our ancestors. Samhain, Dia de Muretos and similar events for the dead; while not funerals themselves does help with remembering the dead and making sure that we keep them in mind.

30 days of deity devotion: day 3 and 4

Symbols and icons of this deity

There are two main symbols associated with nuadu. The first is his silver hand.The second is his sword which is one of the four treasures of the Tuatha de Dannen that they bring to Ireland.

A favorite myth or myths of this deity

the story of how he got his silver hand is probaly my favorite.

nuadu fought against the chaotic Fomorians and in one battle; his hand was severed from his body. The laws of the Tuatha De Dannen stated that only the perfect should be the kings, so he humbly and willingly abdicated as king. This is when half-formorian Bres reigned as king of the Tuatha. During this dark time, the physcian Dien Chet made nuada a silver hand.

This shows his humility, as well as his duty to justice and righteousness. It is a story that I always find interesting. It also is a great advice, for when you are not fit for your job you should be willing to step aside. The next person may be like Bres, or may be like Lugh but be like nuadu and know when to give up power.

30 days of Deity Devotion: #2

How did you become first aware of this deity?

I am not quite sure when I exactly became aware of Nuadu. He was one of the first deities I became aware of though when I started to venture down this path as a Gaelic Polytheist.

30 days of deity devotion: Day #1

I have thought to do for the month of January 30 days of deity devotion. I might do a few more of these later in the year for the other gods and goddesses I honor, if this one is recieved well. Though for the month of January I am going to cover, Nuadu.

A basic introduction of the deity

So who is Nuadu? He is one of the kings of the Tuatha de Dannen. He is a moral character and his stories show this about him. As such, he tends to deal with justice and honor. Famously he stepped down from kingship when he was found unfit to be king.