9.11.13

Brigit the Maiden Goddess of Spring

Brigit the Maiden Goddess of Spring, Poetry and Inspiration, Hearth and Home, Healing and Smithcraft, Fire and War. She is the maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess, who will move from maiden to mother to crone. Imbolc ('in the belly' Feb 1) celebrates the first stirrings of spring, the close re-birth of the goddess in her maiden form, which for me makes sense to celebrate at the Vernal Equinox Full Moon, April's Full Moon, Pink Moon, Sprouting Grass Full Moon, Budding Trees Full Moon, Fish Full Moon, Hare Moon and even the Paschal Full Moon... the first Full Moon of the Spring season (the first Full Moon after the Vernal/Spring Equinox, March 21, New Lunar Year's Day in the pre-Gregorian calendars).

Flowers: snowdrop (Galanthus, Sp. 'campanilla de invierno') for Imbolc, daddofil (Narcissus) and sweetpea (Lathyrus odoratus, Sp. 'guisante de olor') for Ostara or Eostara (from eosturmonath, eostremonath or ostaramonath, ancient German name for April, meaning Spring month, shining like a 'star'. The name 'Easter' is taken from the Spring month of Eostremonath on the Norse/Teutonic/Scandinavian calendar - known as the German calendar. In other words, Eostremonath is simply the name of the Spring month, and there is not historical evidence for such creature as a goddess name Eostre, as modern Wiccans and Pagans suggest. In fact, there is no such goddess recorded, worshiped or celebrated in either European or Scandinavian cultures. It eventually evolved into the English 'Easter' as brought to England by the Saxons. Though April’s derivation is not certain, a common theory is that the name is rooted in the Latin Aprilis which is derived from the Latin aperire meaning “to open” — perhaps referring to blossoming petals and buds. This coincides not only seasonally but etymologically with the modern Greek use of νοιξις (opening) for the word spring). Also poppy (Papaver rhoeas) is a flower for Aries. Stone: amethyst.

“ It is equally valid, however, to suggest that the Anglo-Saxon “Eostur-monath” simply meant “the month of opening”, or the “month of beginning”, and that Bede mistakenly connected it with a goddess who either never existed at all, or was never associated with a particular season, but merely, like Eos and Aurora, with the Dawn itself.” [The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain; Ronald Hutton; p.180]

Imbolc. Brigit

Imbolc: Brigit, Snowdrops and Sunshine by Scottish artist Caroline Morris

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