Brigid of the Well... Brigit of Healing...

Up here in the mountains... in a place far, far away from the Celtic isles... is a piece of land named Twilight. There at the Well house is a special altar devoted to Brigit... an ancient Celtic Goddess.

I first encountered Her in spirit as I was journeying by myself across the USA... camping... hiking up river streams. I called it my 'Walkabout'... a three month exploration of self as I shed all the roles I had taken on during my lifetime... daughter, student, friend, employee, lover, mother, wife, tenant... all of those... melting away for the soul purpose of seeing WHAT was under all those layers of identification. It was a powerful journey of letting go... the shedding of the visible to see the jewels of the invisible.

I did not know Brigit's name until my return... when I attended an Imbolc ceremony and there She was before me. The Lady of the Well... Bridgid, Bridget, Brid, Breed, Brigantia, Brhide... a Goddess of many spellings.

Several years later, in 2002, after purchasing a piece of land up in the mountains of Northern California... I began to hold a women's gathering each year during the Imbolc season and specifically during St Brigit's feast days... it was a time to spell craft and send out our prayers... to honor Her and ourSelves...

The Well House was built over the site of the well and a permanent altar to Brigit resides inside.

Outside the Well House... in a long standing Celtic tradition... white cloth prayer ties known as Clooties (clouties, cloughties) are tied to the shrubs.

Traditionally, these were/are tied at sacred wells... the cloth was/is dipped in the waters and then affixed to a bush or a tree (Cloutie Tree)... whatever spirit, saint, divinity... resided in the waters was invoked to help heal the person for which the Clootie was for. Some say that as the fabric rotted, so the ailment disappeared.

Here at Twilight, there is no sacred spring that emerges from the earth... the well is 460' below the surface... the water comes up cool, clear and it is volcanic in its constituency... it is all that we have and for that I am grateful !

Anyone, at any time, can tie a cloutie here at Twilight. I always suggest that the first prayer tie is for self... as one cannot help others without first insuring our own well being.

Wish-ing you well !

***

"On the Feast Day of beautiful Bride
The flocks are counted on the moor.
The raven goes to prepare the nest,
And again goes the rook."

(Carmina Gadelica, Volume 1, by Alexander Carmicheal)