Brigid - Divine Responsibilities

Divine Responsibilities

In her English translation of Irish myth, Lady Augusta Gregory (Gods and Fighting Men, 1904), describes Brigit as "a woman of poetry, and poets worshipped her, for her sway was very great and very noble. And she was a woman of healing along with that. And the meaning of her name was Breo-saighit, a fiery arrow."

Her British and continental counterpart Brigantia seems to have been the Celtic equivalent of the Roman Minerva and the Greek Athena (Encyclopædia Britannica: Celtic Religion), goddesses with very similar functions and apparently embodying the same concept of 'illuminated state' and beauty.

She is the goddess of all things perceived to be of relatively high dimensions such as high-rising flames, highlands, high spirits and love; and of activities and states conceived as psychologically lofty and elevated, such as wisdom, excellence, perfection, high intelligence, poetic eloquence, craftsmanship, transcendental abilities, druidic knowledge and skill in warfare. In the living traditions, wheather seen as goddess or saint, she is largely associated with craftsmenship, Pagans and Catholics. A number of these associations are attested in Cormac's Glossary.