The Goddess Brigid/Brigit

In honor of Beltaine, which arrives on May 1st, I decided to write a post about an important Celtic deity that is associated with spring.

Brigid is the most enduring of the Celtic goddesses. She has survived to this day as St. Brigid. She is part of the Irish gods and goddesses called Tuatha de Danaan who were originally a sea-faring race called Pelasgians that lived near the Aegean Sea. Considered a magical race, the Danaans possessed the knowledge of blacksmithing. According to the Book of Invasions, the Tuatha de Danaans were driven northward from Greece as a result of invasion from Syria, and eventually reached Ireland.

This popular goddess is also worshipped in Scotland (Bride), Britain (Brigantia) and Gaul (Brigandu) where a celebration in her honor takes place on February 1^st on Imbolc when the first signs of spring appear, usually when the ewe’s become pregnant. Brigid is a giver of plenty, and is loved and respected by ordinary people. Brigid also is a deity of learning, culture and skills, which equal the Greek Athena. Brigid is the daughter of the Dagda in some tales. A triple goddes, she is the goddess of poetry, inspiration and divination.

Brigid may once have been Brizo of Delos, a moon goddess, whose name is derived by the Greeks from the word, “brizein” meaning ‘to enchant.’ But as Brigid she is seen as a sun goddess, her name “Breosaighit” means ‘fiery arrow.’ It is not known how this change transpired. Maybe as a moon goddess, she was seen as a death aspect, and feared by humans so she was transformed into a sun goddess, a giver of life, to win the love of the humans. She may have been a goddess of metalworking as well. It is thought that she has a face that is beautiful on one side and ugly on the other.

Brigit has appeared in some form in a couple of my novels. In Beltaine’s Song, she is part of an ancient Celtic legend that revolves around the festivals of Beltaine and Samhain. Brigit represents the lighter half of the year, Beltaine. She awakes at Beltaine and sleeps during the darker half of the year, which starts on Samhain.

Kelley Heckart, Historical fantasy romance author

Captivating...Sensual...Otherworldly

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/

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All three books of my Dark Goddess trilogy are available in Print and Ebook. Set in Dark Age Scotland, I mixed history with a Samhain/Beltaine myth that revolves around an Irish clan and the goddesses Brigit and Cailleach.

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Are angels the new faeries?

I’m seeing a new trend in paranormal romance—angels. I love angels. They are supernatural beings with wings, some are good and some are evil. Fallen angels in particular have my interest because they are more complex than the ones that don’t give in to their dark side. I never thought of angels as kind and gentle. I always thought of them as capricious warriors of God and somewhat dangerous. Just like faeries.

Another popular trend in paranormal romance is faeries, but I am seeing more angels lately. Angels and faeries have a lot in common. Both are supernatural beings, some good and some evil, both have wings. Faeries come in all shapes and sizes though and angels seem to be one size. The faeries I am comparing angels to are the Irish faeries, the Tuatha de Danaan. These are the human size faeries that often appear in my stories. While some faeries have gossamer wings, the Irish faeries have feathered wings like angels.

There are some people that believe faeries are real and possibly related to the fallen angel myths. Before Christianity spread to places like Scotland and Ireland, it’s possible that people mixed up angels and faeries. Or it’s possible that Christian monks, trying to convert pagans, borrowed some of the pagan beliefs and shaped the angels to mirror faeries.

Even in recent artwork, the line between angels and faeries is blurred.

I just think that romance fans like supernatural beings with wings. And who could blame them? There is something mysterious and fascinating about angels and faeries.

Kelley Heckart

'Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic'

http://www.kelleyheckart.com

http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!

http://twitter.com/CelticChick

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Three different women, one ancient curse…

http://kelleyheckart.com/BookShelf.html

Faeries come in all sizes

I tend to forget that most normal people don’t know that faeries can be as large as humans. I just assume that everyone knows all about faeries because it’s something that I’ve got stored in my brain. But thankfully not everyone has a brain like mine filled with odd, and in some cases, useless information like faery lore. As my husband said to me, “Why don’t you learn something useful like how to read a map?” Why not, indeed.

Most of my books have faeries in them, usually the Irish fae, the Tuatha de Danaan (Tribes of the goddess Danu). These are the faeries that J.R.R. Tolkien based his elves on, and as you can see, they are human size fae. I think that’s why I like them so much. The Danaans look human and so I can relate to them. They are also shapeshifters and sometimes appear in my stories with wings.

My favorite quote about the Tuatha de Danaan: ‘Tribes of the goddess Danu are indeed tall and noble, and they can take shapes and sizes that are not their true shapes and sizes.’ W.B. Yeats.

I could write many pages on these faeries, but to summarize it, they are mentioned in the Book of Ivasions as one of the earliest conquerors of ancient Ireland, ruling for many years until the Milesians landed. The Book of Leinster records that they were ‘faery’ peoples, while The Book of the Dun Cow describes them as ‘gods, but not gods.’ After one final battle with the Milesians , the Tuatha de Danaan retreated underground beneath the mounds to the sidhe where they remain today. In the Irish language ‘sidhe’ means faery. I do have a page dedicated to them on my website here: http://kelleyheckart.com/Tuatha_de_Danaan.html

I think people think of all faeries as tiny because the only role model we have for faeries is Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. Another type of faery that appeared in my first books is an Ashray. They are found in Scotland and are water faeries. They can only be seen at night because the sunlight will melt them. They are often mistaken as sea ghosts because of their white skin. Ashrays cannot live on land and it is believed they were cursed to live under water. These fae are smaller than the Irish fae, about 4 1/2 feet tall, but are still human size.

So the next time you pick up a book with faeries in it, they might not be tiny, gossamer winged creatures, but more human than you realized.
For more information on all kinds of faeries, I have a page on faery lore on my website here: http://kelleyheckart.com/FaeryLore.html

Kelley Heckart

'Timeless tales of romance, conflict & magic'
http://www.kelleyheckart.com
http://kelleysrealm.blogspot.com/ Check out my long hair hotties!
http://twitter.com/CelticChick
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelley-Heckart/111838455604

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