Clann Bhríde, or the Children of Brighid, is a small group of people who have come together to build a religious structure and practice devoted to the Celtic goddess Brighid and Her Mysteries.
Clann Bhríde relies on a solid foundation in history, surviving folklore, tradition, and myth. However, this foundation is only the beginning. The ancient Celts depended on history and lore, but placed even greater emphasis and reverence on Imbas, inspiration, and adaptation.
As members of a modern-day Western society, we seek inspiration and contemporary creation, and to use the various tools of scholarly interpretation of texts, creative work, and synthesis with other religious insights to build upon the foundation of history. Although we do not consider ourselves Celtic Reconstructionists, our goal is to create a spiritual path focused specifically on Brighid and Her Mysteries, grounded in history and informed by inspiration. Through Clann Bhríde, we hope to share our understanding of Brighid and our way of honoring Her and to cultivate a practice that is relevant to our lives today and that would also be recognized as authentic by any ancient devotee of Brighid.
While the work of researching and pondering evidence is a guiding practice for us, Clann Bhríde is not a path of scholarship, but of devotion. We do not feel that we have to “prove” anything. We do not consider our theories to be hypotheses that must be tested and proven wrong or right. Instead, we are interested in using such questions to fully explore these and other ideas about Brighid, Her origins, Her nature, Her work, and our relationships with Her.
Undertaking the effort to build a structured path, and researching the Celtic cultures through which we discovered Her is part of how we worship Her, how we draw closer to Her. Research and learning are devotional acts for us, but they are not the end product of our efforts. Our research is a tool in the development of a living practice, and we are using it to build the structure and substance of a contemporary spiritual path that has to be relevant to the real world and has to actually work for real people, for us.
The heart of this path is to try to understand Her, Her work, and the Call She has given to us, the Call to do Her work. Brighid has work to do, and She wants us, needs us, to help Her do it.
The question each of us must ask ourselves is this: “What work must I do for Brighid?” Or “What is Brighid trying to do through me?” Or “How can I best serve Her?”
As we continue to build our practice, we will bring our thoughts and personal theories to life, as Brighid Herself brings the fire of inspiration into words and works of art, and into our stories.
-by Aster Breo and Finn
Contact us at:clannbhride@gmail.com
Clann Bhríde 