Opening for Second Sunday ~

Begin this second Sunday by lighting your first candle which you lit last Sunday, and your second candle, going around sunwise.

Recite this Flame Lighting Prayer ~

“Brìde, Excellent, Exalted One,
Bright, golden, quickening flame ~
Shine Your blessings on us from the Otherworld,
You, Radiant Fire of the Sun.”

Inspirational Reading & Song ~

St. Briget of the Shores
From Where the Forest Murmurs by Fiona MacLeod

I have heard many names of St. Briget, most beloved of Gaelic saints, with whom the month of February is identified—the month of “Bride min, gentle St. Bride”—Brighid boitiheach Muime Chriosd, Bride the Beautiful, Christ’s Foster Mother . . . but there are three so less common that many even of my readers familiar with the Highland West may not know them. These are “the Fair Woman of February,” “St. Bride of the Kindly…

Brighidine flametenders all look forward to Imbolc, or Brighid’s Day, celebrated 1 February in Ireland and Scotland as the first of spring.  In the Gaelic tradition, ewes are bred to birth and lactate at this time, snowdrops bloom, daylight begins to noticeably lengthen, ice begins to thaw; the land begins to awaken from its winter slumber.  Brìde the saint is said to visit the people on the eve of her feast day to bless homes and special objects laid out for her, such as strips of cloth saved for healing charms, and woven crosses to be hung inside to protect the home from lightening and fire.

In Scotland, this phenomenon is commemorated in a traditional tale recorded by Donald Mckenzie is his Scottish Wonder Tales of Myth and Legend called ‘The Coming of Angus and Brìde’ which can be read online here:

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/tsm/tsm05.htm

In this tale, the Cailleach Beira, Queen…

A podcast I admire has engaged in language that has hurt some of its trans listeners. Language that the producers could have edited, but chose not to.

At the same time, I’ve discovered that a polytheist group I used to think very highly of has been expressing violently transphobic sentiments about camps/conferences and women-only spaces. (I’m not linking to the places where, as I haven’t talked to members of this group since it happened so I don’t want to highlight them without right of reply – but the evidence is out there for everyone to see anyway.)

You’ll probably remember the trans-phobic incidents that took place at Pantheacon a few years ago.

All these things are connected, even though the latter two are obviously much more serious than the first. Language hurts, excludes and marginalizes, and it can create environments where certain types of behaviour become considered acceptable or unacceptable.

The…

Funeral at Kofuku-ji for AIBOs (Courtesy Independent)

Various news sources have been reporting on the funerals being held for AIBO robot dogs in Japan. Since Sony stopped repairing and making spare parts for AIBOs, the dogs have been slowly “dying out.” In response to this, Buddhist priests have been holding funeral services for them.

This may seem pretty strange to anyone outside of Japan – indeed, a lot of Japanese people find it rather odd as well. Some may even find it rather disturbing; that somehow, in treating an artificial human creation as a living thing, we have lost touch with reality and are forgetting to appreciate what makes living things truly special.

But treating certain man-made creations with the same respect as natural objects is nothing new at all in Japan. There’s a whole article on funeral rites for inanimate objects here. Objects that may be disposed of…