Meditations on Brigid: Goddess of Smithcraft

Like last night's meditation on Brigid as Fire-within-Water, tonight's meditation on Brigid of Smithcraft is, for all intents and purposes, a no-go after an exhausting day. It is becoming increasingly obvious just how much Jeff's kids wear me out, and I may have to consider going back to "escaping" on Saturday mornings just to keep my sanity. In any case, as luck would have it, one of my favorite bloggers happened to post on just this theme today. It seems so perfectly appropriate that I have to wonder if one of the writers of this group blog isn't, in fact, a member of the Lady of the Stars group working through the same rotation of meditation themes as I am. But I'm more than willing to accept this happy coincidence, and share a beautiful quote from White Cat Grove's post, "Lady of the Forge" in lieu of my own meditation for the night:

The Smith is the lady of sheer, hard work. There’s nothing glamorous about it and everything of value in it. The hammer-blows tap out the rhythm of inescapable time. Life is work, time, effort.

We prefer to honor her as the lilt of words, the lure of music, the balm of the healing well, the hearth-fire and its comforts. Mercy, generosity with the ever-giving milk cow, the pale hand that feeds the poor — Brighid as Lady Liberty, welcoming the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the Lady of the welcoming flame.

Let us remember her too at the moon’s darkness: the coal and its steady, unglamorous burn, the sweat on the brow, the midwife of metal, the shaper of life through effort and boredom and pain.