Perhaps one of the most complex and contradictory Goddesses of the Celtic pantheon, Brighid can be seen as the most powerful religious figure in all of Irish history. Many layers of separate traditions have intertwined, making Her story and impact complicated but allowing Her to move so effortlessly down through the centuries. She has succeeded in travelling intact through generations, fulfilling different roles in divergent times.

She was, and continues to be, known by many names. Referred to as Bride, Bridey, Brighid, Brigit, Briggidda, Brigantia, There are also many variations on pronunciation, all of them correct.

Brighid is the traditional patroness of healing, poetry and smithcraft, which are all practical and inspired wisdom. As a solar deity Her attributes are light, inspiration and all skills associated with fire. Although She might not be identified with the physical Sun, She is certainly the benefactress of inner healing and vital energy.

Also long known as The Mistress of the Mantle, She represents the sister or virgin aspect of the Great Goddess. The deities of the Celtic pantheon have never been abstraction or fictions but remain inseparable from daily life. The fires of inspiration, as demonstrated in poetry, and the fires of the home and the forge are seen as identical. There is no separation between the inner and the outer worlds. The tenacity with which the traditions surrounding Brighid have survived, even the saint as the thinly-disguised Goddess, clearly indicates Her importance.

As the patroness of poetry, filidhecht, the equivalent of bardic lore, are the primal retainers of culture and learning. The bansidhe and the filidh - Woman of the Fairy Hills and the class of Seer-poets, respectively, preserve the poetic function of Brighid by keeping the oral tradition alive. It is widely believed that those poets who have gone before inhabit the realms between the worlds, overlapping into ours so that the old songs and stories will be heard and repeated. Thus does Brighid fulfill the function of providing a continuity by inspiring and encouraging us.

The role of the smith in any tribe was seen as a sacred trust and was associated with magickal powers since it involved mastering the primal element of Fire, moulding the metal (from Earth) through skill, knowledge and strength. Concepts of smithcraft are connected to stories concerning the creation of the world, utilizing all of the Elements to create and fuse a new shape.

Brighid is also the Goddess of physicians and healing, divination and prophecy. One of Her most ancient names is Breo-saighead meaning fiery arrow, and within that name is the attribute of punishment and divine justice.

Three rivers are named for Her - Brigit, Braint and Brent in Ireland, Wales and England, respectively. In modern Britain today She is shown as the warrior-maiden, Brigantia, and venerated not only as justice and authority in that country, but also as the personification of Britain as is seen on the coin of the realm. There is a story, coming from the 12th century, in which Merlin is inspired by a feminine figure who represents the sovereignty of the Land of Britain. She causes his visions to reach through British history, on, so it is said, to the end of the solar system. Taliesin also describes a traditional cosmology, inspired by Brigantia.

She is central to many heroic myths, especially those concerned with underworld quests and sacred kingship. This seems to relate to Her concern for the development of human potential.

Tales of the Irish Goddess Brighid originate in the most ancient Irish mythology, said in medieval manuscripts to be from the "time of the Deluge".

Five successive groups were said to have invaded Ireland, in waves, and Brighid was a member of the fifth, the Tuatha De Danann, the People of the Goddess Danu. They were the immediate predecessors to the Sons of Mil, the next group of invaders who became the ancestors of the modern Irish. The Tuatha were said to have been a people of magick wonders, learned in all the arts and masters of wizardry.

Although all the other invaders reached Ireland by ship, the Tuatha were said to have reached Ireland in dark clouds through the air, to have alighted on the mountain of Conmaicne Rein, and for three subsequent days to have cast a magickal darkness over the face of the sun.

Brighid was the daughter of The Dagda, the "Good God", now revered as the patron God of the Druids, and was said to have been a poetess; her two sisters, also of the same name, were said to have been women of healing and smith-work.

Her worship, through the ages, has thus focused on her as a triple Goddess of Fire: the fire of poetic inspiration and divination, the fire of healing and fertility, and the fire of metal-working and crafts.

During the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, fought between the Tuatha and the Fomoire, a people on Ireland when the Tuatha arrived, Brighid's son, Ruadan, was sent to fight, and was killed in battle. Brighid came to bewail her son, and is therefore said to have been the first to engage in caoine (keening) for the death of a loved one, and thus also became the comforter of all mourners.

The ancient Irish worship of Brighid was so powerful and so enduring that it was transferred, under Christianity, to St. Brigit, said to have been ban-drui, or a druidess, before her conversion, and who was reported to have been born in 455 A.D. in County Down, to a druid father, known as Dubhtach, who raised her in the ancient ways.

Her religious community at Kildare, a name based on druidic symbolism, being cill-dara, the Church of the Oak, is still maintained.

In addition, St. Brigit's feastday was grafted onto the ancient pagan festival of Imbolc, held from the eve of January 31st through the day of February 1st, sacred to the Goddess Brighid.

To fully grasp the significance of Imbolc it is necessary to understand the life-and-death struggle represented by Winter in any agrarian society. In a world lit only by fire the snow, cold and ice of this season literally holds you in its grip, only relaxed with the arrival of Spring. Although the Equinox does not arrive until later and Spring is celebrated with Ostara and Beltane, Imbolc is the harbinger and the indication that better times are coming.

During the cold months, certain issues become pressing. Is there enough food for both humans and animals? Will illness decimate the tribe, especially in the case of the young, the old and nursing mothers? And what of the animals whose lives are so crucial to our own? One of the most burning questions would be with the pregnant cows and ewes since their milk is used for drink, for cheese and curds which might mean the difference between life and death.

By Imbolc these animals will have birthed their young and their milk would be flowing. Milk, to the Celts, was sacred food, equivalent to the Christian communion. It was an ideal form of food due to its purity and nourishment. Mother's milk was especially valuable, having curative powers. The cow was symbolic of the sacredness of motherhood, the life-force sustained and nourished. This was not a passive cow giving milk but an active mother fighting for the well-being of her children.

Imbolc divides Winter in half; the Crone months of Winter are departing and the promise of the Spring Maiden is around the corner. This holiday eventually became modern day Candlemas with Saint Brigids' Day and the Feast of the Purification of Mary being celebrated during this period of time. This celebration was definitely a feminine festival. Women would gather to welcome the maiden aspect of the Goddess as embodied by Brigid. Corn cakes made from the first and last of the harvest were made and distributed and this practice remains a part of Her celebration.

In Celtic Christian lore, she was further said to have been the midwife and foster-mother of Yeshua, also known as Jesus Christ, and to have been a helper and friend of his mother, Miriam, also known as Mary.

Her worship has therefore continued uninterrupted in Ireland and throughout the Celtic lands, down through the ages to the present time.