Imbolc 2007

SACRED FIRE OF THE HEARTH ©
by Lady Raven Ariana

Northern climes welcome Imbolc in with cold temperatures and often ice and snow. The Day is waxing but remains under the tutelage of Night. The balance will be reached at the Spring Equinox when both are equal. After the Equinox, the Day’s reign begins.

Our Irish ancestors burned peat in their hearth fires. They warmed themselves, cooked, gathered, and shared stories around this central fire. Peat fires are still within the living memory of some of the immigrants who moved to the North American continent.

Recipes are shared of family soda bread along with the stories about how Grandma made it on her peat fired hearth. I have a few particularly fond memories of a familial soda bread recipe shared with me by an elderly Irish Catholic nun. She knew of my shamanic interests and would tease me with Traditional Gaelic sayings that I did not possess the language skills to understand. She would kindly translate.

One of her wry questions concerned her own name, Sister Bridget Clare. She would ask me if I knew who St. Bridget was? I was delighted to answer her with my own fondness for the Goddess Bride and the knowledge that this Goddess is also St. Bridget! I ‘d share my knowledge of the Tradition of the Sacred Fire-Keepers and Hearth Tenders and my joy that this practice has been revived.

When Sister passed on her familial soda bread recipe to me, she also gifted me with rich memories of growing up in Ireland and time spent with her Grandmother. When Sister was a girl, her Grandmother still kept hearth and home in the Irish Traditional way. The bread was put in a “bastible” pot for cooking on the peat fire. A “bastible” pot is basically what is known as a Dutch oven in modern times. Cast iron, with tripod legs and a lid, the “bastible” pot could be hung directly over the fire.

Many people would be surprised to find out that Traditional Irish soda bread does not have some of the ingredients that they might have been told make up a Traditional recipe. Eggs, orange zest, whisky, honey, raisins, and other dried fruits are not original to the Traditional breads. Instead these ingredients might make a cake for a special celebration such as Easter.

Traditional Irish Soda Bread is made with wheat flour, baking soda, soured milk or buttermilk, salt, and butter. Baking soda came to the Irish in the 1840s and this is when the Traditional Irish Soda Bread got its start. The bread rapidly became a mainstay with Irish meals. It was generally cooked every couple of days, often daily with large families. When raisins were added to the bread the result was called “spotted dog”.

The hearth provided warmth and subsidence to the family. This “Old Celtic Blessing”, demonstrates the connection of light, hearth and fire.

An Old Celtic Blessing
May the blessing of light be on you —
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart
till it glows like a great peat fire.

You can find this and other blessings at:
http://islandireland.com/Pages/folk/sets/bless.html

Light and warmth sustain life. Partnered together they also repel predators. Fire is a transformative agent that is able to provide life-nurturing environments that nurture people and their companion livestock during inhospitable seasons. Warm weather and increasing daylight bring hope to people living in harmony with the Land and Seasons. The collective hope that is shared is “that all will be well with the Seasons and support all the Life that sustains us”.

Fire is also an alchemical force. Metal is forged in Fire. Tales are told in companionship with Fire. Healing elixirs are distilled with the help of Sunlight and Fire. Sustaining warmth and food are provided with the help of Fire and Sunlight. Fire/Sunlight are catalysts and become allies for those living in more extreme Northern/Southern latitudes.

In climates closer to the Equator, Fire is still an ally! Sunlight is also an element to be considered. Fire provides heat for cooking, forging metal, and distilling healing-potions. Fire also protects us from predators. Fire, linked with sunlight, allows humans to live in many climates. The hearth, where food is prepared and consumed is vital. The Sacred Hearth and Fire are essential and sacred allies to many cultures around the world.

This brings us back to the Sacred Hearth and Bride: Lady Bride, Goddess Brighed, St. Bridget, Lady of the Bright Arrow, Poetess, Smithy, and Healer. Whichever names you or I choose to call her, she is Lady of the Sacred Hearth. She heals, creates, nurtures, stimulates imagination, inspires shining words, and presides over the Hearth, the heart of a home.

To learn more about Bride’s Fire and Sacred Fire Keepers:
http://www.ordbrighideach.org

To learn more about Traditional Irish Soda Bread:

http://www.bookguy.com/cooking/Sodabread.htm

http://www.irishclub.org/soda-appl.htm

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/2Kitch/1Home.html

A nice article about hearth and peat fires in Irish culture:
http://www.comhaltas.com/education/Treoir/1998Tr4/Fire.htm

Blessings:

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/Blessings/Bless.html

http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/corpus/Carmina

Group promoting Irish heritage preservation:
http://www.craobhcrua.org