Another month begins … happy February 1st!
It’s a day and month with a number of things to mark
… St. Brigid’s (more about her, below) Day
… Imbolc/Imbolg, a Gaelic festival which celebrates the arrival in longer, warmer days and early signs of spring in some places
… Candlemas (the Presentation of Christ in the Temple)
… Groundhog Day
… the beginning of Black History Month
… the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the United States (1865).
When I took this photo, I was reminded of a lovely Celtic prayer based on the Caim (Gaelic – meaning a ‘circling’ / ‘enfolding’ prayer used by early Celtic Christians, based on a prayer found in the Gethsemane Chapel, Wells, Cathedral, England, still used by those who value its benefits of ‘protection’ or ‘sanctuary’), I remembered St. Brigid – one of Ireland’s patron saints. Presumed to have been an early Christian nun, abbess, and founder of several monasteries of nuns, it said that she often visited homes and farms to offer blessings of protection … “enfolding/circling” of homes and livestock.
“Encircle me this night with your presence.
Keep joy within. Keep bitterness out.
Keep generosity within. Keep greed out.
Keep love within. Keep self-seeking out.
Keep light within. Keep darkness out.”
(Celtic ‘Enfolding Prayer’)
May each of us do what we can to keep
… bitterness out, greed out, self-seeking out, darkness out,
so that
… joy, generosity, love, and light may be kept within.
© June Maffin
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