St. Brigid & Lou Are Coming to Getcha....Are You Ready To Begin Again? ;)
Here we go…..It’s Monday 30th of January and we are finally nearing the end of this tough old first month of the year. As many of you know, on a yearly basis haha ;) I choose to wander through the month of January, acknowledging it briefly but not engaging with it too much…Lets just say I see you there January but we’re not going to have the chats and the bants haha ;) Nope…I keep all my love for February….so here she comes…only hours away and I’ve feeling ready and rearing to begin my year….
February 1st in Ireland is a special day as it sees us Irish getting excited about spring being in the air and it’s also St. Brigid’s official day of honour too. This year we’ve moved this day up a gear as this weekend coming we will celebrate it as a bank holiday in her honour so we are now making it a long weekend…..Us Irish love Bank Holiday weekends by the way, like we seem to take every opportunity to have one haha :) I’m all for it….After all life is for living not working away yet on average we work one third of our lives so I’m all for bank holiday weekends…Good job Ireland…..So next Monday everything will be closed and we will all take an extra day’s rest! Yahooo Brigid we love YOU more than we loved you before!
In my coming week, on Tuesday I will attend a community group in county Westmeath to speak with them about the story of Granny Nancy...The group so kindly have invited me to have dinner with them beforehand (like how nice) and then I will share the story of Granny Nancy and I. I’m really looking forward to delivering that talk and it’s nice to softly bring myself back into the space of doing public talks….The resting period of January has been amazing on that front as I needed to build my energy back up & now I’m ready and rearing to go again ;)
On Tuesday night if I can make it, there is a special candlelight pilgrimage in Kildare town. Starting from the Japanese Gardens, the pilgrimage will wind its way past St. Brigid’s Wayside Well where there will be a short ritual, continuing mindfully and concluding with a closing ritual at Solas Bhride. You can bring a lantern or a candle with you and from the gorgeous Japanese Garden, people will walk together in the darkness holding their light. I love how the organisers describe their hopes for this event - this is indeed the reason I hope I can make it along;
“As pilgrims we are on an outer journey to St. Brigid’s well, but the invitation is also to make an inner journey, a journey of heart, soul, mind and body.”
Just to mention something else I do on the eve of St. Brigid’s Day…. It’s a tradition here in Ireland that we hang out a scarf or ribbon outside our front doors. We can also leave it out the front of our homes, on a tree, on a wall… just somewhere outside….The reason we do this is that there is a ritual called Bratog Bríde or Ribín Bríde in which the piece of material placed outside will be passed by St. Brigid on the eve of her special day. The morning dew will sit on it and bestow a special healing remedy on it….There is a line you can say to go along with it which I like a lot….
“Spread this cloth on St. Brigid's eve, collect the morning dew. For the year this cloth will heal all that troubles you.”
The cloth is then considered to hold a special healing cure for sore throats and headaches. And we all know when we have a bad headache or a sore throat, you would do anything to remedy it. This tradition might interest you if you just wanted to give it a go. I love it and I always do it…. This is a photo of my scarf & gran’s scarf hanging outside Gran’s door in February 2021 on the eve of January 31st.
On St. Brigid’s day itself (Feb. 1st) I hope to make it across to Kildare town once again if my plans allow me…I haven’t got to fulfil my Kildare town visit since February 2020 so it will be lovely to return to my spiritual home of my new year beginnings. My usual tradition is to start the day by going to mass in the town, it is indeed called St. Brigid’s Parish after all. I used to go to mass quite regularly before Covid and again it was something I only took up after my dad died. Since Gran died, would you believe I haven’t been to mass once by my own accord. I’m not sure what that is about but it’s something I just haven’t returned to….Grief is funny like that. The things you think it will upset it doesn’t and the things you think it won’t, it does.
After mass in Kildare town I hope to visit Solas Bride, it’s a beautiful centre and the minute you walk in the front door, you just feel at peace.
There are meditations and talks galore and also get togethers to make St. Brigid’s Crosses. I will indeed get involved and take part in these like I have done in years previous. Just for anyone who might not know what a St. Brigid Cross is, they are a very popular thing in Irish homes. They are a cross made from dried reeds, rushes or straw and are not like any other cross.
St. Brigid’s cross has a square centrepiece with four radials that are woven together in a criss cross pattern in which each end is then tied with string and there’s quite a knack to making them….I always feel like it’s like knitting a cross if that makes sense…There is a lot of over and back movements and you can go astray if you are not concentrating (which is never me haha). Granny has loads of them. She like me, loved St. Brigid. The idea behind St. BRigid’s cross is steeped in Celtic tradition and for as long as I can remember even as children, we made St. Brigid’s crosses in school so they have been a part of my life and my home for as long as my memory can serve me. The reason we place them around homes is that they are meant to protect the household particularly from fire and also bad energy and also hunger….I know some of these ideas might seem far fetched but it’s amazing how instilled they are in us as Irish culture. I have to admit I love them. I’m a big believer anything that helps keep the head right and particularly anything that helps keep the home safe even if just in a belief system is good for me. As I always say the best of things in this life are unseen. The magic of a good feeling inside us is not something physical, yes you can see a smile upon my face but only I can feel the joy so therefore I really do believe in the many magic’s of this world being unseen. I place hope and faith that we do not need to see everything to believe. Of course I don’t believe in every story put out there but for me these ones around St. Brigid give me a great sense of hope and something to lean on as I have great respect for those who have travelled the earth before I ever landed here.
Also to mention the cross symbol that we know as St. Brigid’s cross was also an association of the Pagan festival of Imbolg, which was the sign that the end of winter was on its way and that we were half way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. In other words Spring was in the air and was beginning to shine it's light. And of course with spring we have beautiful snowdrops rising their heads and of course the gorgeous daffodils too….Lots of reasons to smile and looks of reasons to look up too as the brightness in our day returns as daylight hours begin to extend…Roll on the summer! Woohooo!
So that is just a few little bits of why I love St. Brigid and all she offers. I hope you enjoyed my little run through on her traditions and the few bits I’ll be trying to get involved in this week. I really am thrilled she is getting highlighted for all the good work she did in her life. I am not touching on half her story, she was a really good human, with a huge heart and was so generous and charitable to so many, that’s why I really like her too. We need more people who are doing good & are shining their light brightly so the world sees, hears and is inspired to be and do more good.
Of course the 1st of February for me represents something bigger as well than just this one day. It does indeed begin my new year and I’m very excited about that. With no pressure, only of my own doing, I’m hoping, praying and believing that this year can be a good year for you and me both. I want us to have a lovely 2023 and I really hope for both of us, we keep our health as number one and that all we love stay well and happy too. After those two bits, everything else is just bonus territory and stuff because I will never not be grateful for health…. At the end and the start of the day….our health is all that matters….As I say, my happiness I can only have when I’m well to find and enjoy my joy and equally when my family and friends are well too.
So I hope as we begin February together substack family I hope your year ahead is a year free of pain, illness and stress and that the light of the sun and the moon always shine down on you and know that you always have something bright and inspiring to look up too. Not to forget also, we have all our loved ones up there too and they see and hear everything and know what we need. They will always help us as best they can. I truly believe that and I think again, it’s about believing inside your heart not always with your eyes. As I do every night, I go out and look for the moon and look for the stars too. Luckily in Ireland more often that not they are there waiting for me no matter what hour I go out to look up to them.
On Thursday night I was missing Gran and was feeling anxious about the year ahead. I’m making some huge moves this year and really I have no idea will they work. I’m taking leaps of faith (the big word of my vision board of 2018-2022 and again I’m going to try step forward and take risks on my own. Risks of placing belief in myself that I don’t even know will it work but hoping, praying and inside myself braving it against all odds that it might pay off. I want to be a full time writer. I want to write to you for the rest of my life. I want to be a full time communicator. I want to communicate to you for the rest of my life. I believe I am a healer of sorts and I want to help and heal people for the rest of my life. Since I was a child people of all ages have been sharing their stories, their struggles and their worries with me and through my thirty nine years, I think I have helped quite a few back on track when life has given them heavy crosses. I believe my gift is this. I believe what I did for Gran, to believe in her life, to sacrifice my own to learn from her, to love her and to allow her to be her, is something that is instilled in me. I have had plenty of different jobs in my life but nothing like what I feel when I speak to people about my story. Nothing to what I feel when I write. Nothing to what I feel when I receive your messages, your comments, your letters, your parcels and most importantly nothing like when I meet you in real life and can wrap my arms around you. I believe I was here to be me….as ordinary as I am. I believe my heart is the key. I have never shied away from being me, but I have delayed my moment so I could take care and love the people who needed me as they needed me and I will always choose the people I love over everything in this world.
But at this moment, I feel Granny is guiding me to be me, to believe in me and to continue believing in my gift. My amazing Facebook Family and my LWS writers family have been instrumental along with my mam Ollie, my sister, brother and my nephews and nieces and of course my tight inner circle of friends reminding me to just continue going for it so here I come 2023. One of my best friends left me a voicer note yesterday and it hit a chord within me. She said with all her heart….
“This is your moment to invest in you Lou. Invest in your career. Invest in the book. Invest in your happiness. Invest in your Joy.”
In every word she said I could hear her belief in me. I could hear her passion and encouragement like I was running a race and I just needed to hear a voice I knew, believing that I could make it to the end....This is the voice I’m going to park inside my heart and lean on it when doubt tries to make me wobble…Wobbling is natural but this is why it is so important to keep your inner circle filled with good hearts and believers. I hope my inner circle know how much they mean to me. I think they do. To the person who sent this voicer note, you know who you are, and just in case you forget, I believe in you too!…. And this is my reminder to you. To be brave. To believe. To blossom. To arise from the moment you are in and to make this year the best for you. To go for it. To step outside your comfort zone. To enjoy your life. Once we have each other, everything else is in our reach. This is my voice, this is my heart being sent to you that you can achieve anything. To reach for those goals and to believe in yourself and to make the best of 2023!
I’ve waited a long time for this moment and here it comes…..
Myself and St. Brigid and all my lovely friends and family here we come together!
Once I have you, I have everything!
Love and light and a happy new year to you come February 1st. Make your plans. Dreams your dreams. And be BRAVE! Life is not a sprint it is a marathon. Slow and steady wins the race and the small moves make all the difference! We are only on this earth once, no leaving any of our lives behind us, especially when we are well and healthy! Kick up those feet!
I’ll light a candle for you on St. Brigid’s Day and I’ll be thinking of you. I’ll be sending all my good energy and smiles to you. And no matter what, you’ve got this! And on top of that, I’ve got you!!
Until the next one,
Lou over and out x
**Play this song if you are looking for some inspiration to follow your dreams and start your new year off with a serious kick drum, a pumping piano, guitar riffs to die for and a rocking vocal….These lyrics will lift you up! This was my song of 2022 and it never failed me…I’ll be playing it all along this adventure…..Ready to head by up to those clouds….Here we come!!!!
Granny Nancy’s Book - Ireland’s Oldest Lady Who Lived, Loved and Laughed for 107 Years can be bought from here: www.livingandlaughingwithlou.com
That's again Lou for another piece beautifully written
I'll be leaving my scarf out on Tuesday night.x
Louise, I love the bits and pieces you share about your beloved Irish culture. And after these last few years you’ve got me feeling a little Irish myself! I truly hope all of your St. Brigid Day plans come to be--it sounds lovely and fun. Thanks for your love, support, encouragement, and for always lighting a candle for us and saying a prayer. You are the best! Happy New Year, Lou! xx