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In Celtic Mythology, Brigid was the patron goddess of healing, poetry, and inspired wisdom. She is also attributed with fire and inspiration, and by a more tenuous connection, the sun. She is the young virgin/sister face of the great triple faceted Mother Goddess of the Celts. She was one of the more widely worshipped goddesses in the Celtic world, presiding over the holiday if the Imbolc, which signaled the coming of spring, a time where the crone of winter would be soon departing to make room for the maiden of spring. Later in history, the popularity of this goddess and her festivals proved to be too hard for the Christian Church to suppress. So rather than punish her many worshippers, they Christianized Brigid, making her a saint. Many pagan-flavored Christian myths appeared, connecting Brigid to the life of Jesus. A cult for the veneration of "Saint" Brigid survived in parts of Ireland and Scotland as late as the 20th century. I choose Brigid to represent Cassie because many of the attributes of this Celtic Goddess were present in Cassie's life. Brigid was a goddess of poetry, an art that Cassie excelled at. Inspiration was another virtue linked to the Goddess, a virtue Cassie chose at the Hecate ceremony. She was a non-formal solar deity, and the sun was one of the powers Cassie called on in the final battle against Black John. Also as a "sister" or "virgin" goddess, she relates to Cassie's new membership into an older coven who had been together for years. But most importantly, I see Cassie through Brigid's triumph of transformation that allowed Her to survive into the 20th century. Cassie, too, come out against oppressing powers to arrive on top. |