The Groundhog, Brigid and the serpents

Originally published: 2/1/2017 on Weebly blog


This Saturday marks the celestial midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. We celebrate it on Thursday as Groundhog Day - the day when the sleeping fertile earth begins to awaken. That's a version of the Celtic tradition of watching for serpents (the life force) to emerge from hibernation under the wintered earth, and it's a version of the Old Hag of Winter - the Old Bone Mother - gathering her last bit of firewood. It's a charged time on the Celtic medicine wheel because it marks the opening of the door to the direction East - the door of new life and springtime. It's the time we "plant the seed of hope." Here is a simple prayer or ceremony you can do: What is your hope? Plant it with prayer- ask for it to be brought into being.

This is a great time to ask for and welcome a new pattern, a new way of living, a great time to ask for old patterns to finally be erased. In Celtic shamanic tradition, these few days are dedicated to Brigid, the goddess of healing, grieving, inspiration and smith-craft (otherwise known as "making useful things for this world").  These four powers are linked - they feed one another, and when one is weak, it weakens all the others. The other word for grieving is emotional fullness. The other word for inspiration is vulnerability to Spirit, also known as trust. The other word for healing is flowing of the waters.  If you are struggling anywhere in your life, it can be moved by attending to one of the four, and so often, the attention needs to go where we may least expect it. You can make a simple prayer to the East - asking it to help activate each of these four powers in you so that in you so that you can live fully. Place your hands over your heart as you make this prayer because this is the location of the "Cauldron of Calling" that empowers our actions in this world.

May your soil be warmed by beauty, wonder and awe,

​Jaime

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Spiritual Power of the Receding Hairline

Image
For father’s day I will be shaving off the nub. As a trained theologian, it is time for me to put down the books and take spiritual action. For those who need to know, the nub is that humiliating last patch of hair just above the forehead, the last scrap of youth clinging to an otherwise balding head. I'm shaving it off. Here is why. Many men have experienced the crushing realization that their hairline is receding. It makes no difference if they are young or old, if it has happened glacially or with the suddenness of a wildfire laying bare the forest. The moment when the man faces the truth is what the 18th century German theologians aptly termed Aufschrei den Verlust von Haarleukoplakie Steifigkeit, loosely translated as “the mournful gasp over the loss of hairy stiffness.” The Germans dealt with the moment of realization by drinking dark beer and moving several pews closer to the rumbling organ in church, but in our time we are peppered with hair replacement products promising
Read more
Image
Dear seekers after the Spirit, Now four people have sent me this video of Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, telling me how amazing it is. Finally I watched it and they were all right, it’s astonishing. Now I get to become part of the viral spread of this video by recommending it to you. It’s 18 minutes long, and it is well worth it. I’ve made some comments below as a response to the video. Taylor is a brain scientist who describes her own experience of having a stroke, and how this event opened her perception about the workings of the brain. She points out that each side of the brain essentially creates its own reality and those two different realities are only barely connected by a thin (but exceedingly wondrous) membrane. The left brain’s world relies on the sense of “I” and therefore a sense of being separate from everything else. It observes everything as objects outside itself. The right brain relies on a sense of oneness with everything, a sense of expansiveness and inclusion. Each brain li
Read more
Image
Dear Solstice Drummers, If you attended my Winter Solstice Drumming/Ceremony at Wisdom Ways, thank you! I promised you a few musings on the Reindeer Runes, and here they are below. By the way, if you purchased a script of the show, the runes in the script are in an inncorrect order. My aplologies about that. The runes in your program, and below, are in correct alignment. If you would like to purchase a script that contains the text from this year's show as well as last year's "Blessing," please send me an email at jaime@drummingthesoulawake.com . There's alot more in the script than actually made it into the show, thankfully - or you would have been there for four hours. When I began working on this solstice event, I considered using the classic Scandinavian/Celtic runes. Hundreds of books have been written interpreting these runes in wildly different ways. While the runes are a powerful meditation tool, they come from a time and culture far removed from our own.
Read more