{"id":40993766,"date":"2021-09-07T13:00:08","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T13:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=40993766"},"modified":"2021-09-07T13:00:08","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T13:00:08","slug":"the-illuminating-spark-flamekeeping-reflections-during-political-upheaval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=40993766","title":{"rendered":"The Illuminating Spark: Flamekeeping Reflections During Political Upheaval."},"content":{"rendered":"

Thoughts on Brighid and abortion. <\/h2>
<\/figure>

(Image description: A photo of sweater-clad arms and light-skinned hands grasping a light blue mug filled partially with a dark-colored beverage. Beneath the cup is a folded pink cloth and a white, blue-striped cloth on top of a wooden table.) Credit: Photo by Gaelle Marcel<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>

My shift started as it normally did with the lighting of my lantern around the local sunset time. Earlier in the day, SB 8 became effective in Texas and made most abortions after six weeks illegal. While not eliminating Roe vs. Wade, it\u2019s a significant blow to reproductive rights in the US. Given the timing of this event and my flamekeeping shift, the law\u2019s dire repercussions were on my mind.<\/p>

I recalled the Repeal the 8th movement that occurred in Ireland in 2018. Previously, the law prohibited abortions (except for serious at-risk pregnancies) and would force people needing them to go elsewhere to get a procedure. <\/p>

During the campaign, a short film titled St. Brigid,<\/em> produced by David Keeling, was released, which covered a few of St. Brighid\u2019s miracles in a cheeky, humorous manner and brought awareness to Repeal the 8th. <\/p>

At the end, the video discusses how a young woman (or a nun, depending on the story) came to St. Brighid with an unwanted pregnancy, and St. Brighid, through her faith, caused the pregnancy to vanish painlessly and without birth. The video can still be viewed here<\/a>.<\/p>

The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland passed later that year and made getting an abortion much easier. Whether Brighid had some or any influence on it, it\u2019s up to readers of this post to decide for themselves.<\/p>

I\u2019ve never had an abortion, but I feel it should be an option for pregnant people who need it for whatever reason that deems an abortion necessary. I also use the term people to be inclusive of trans and non-binary individuals who are capable of getting pregnant and face even greater medical hurdles if they need an abortion.<\/p>

Like St. Brighid\u2019s approach to the young woman, it\u2019s unkind to judge others for their choices, as you don\u2019t know what others are going through at the time. It\u2019s better to make a difficult situation easier to process and handle, instead of causing others to suffer more. In this case, that entails easier access to reproductive education, contraception, and abortion.<\/p>

Beyond the miracle mentioned above, Brighid is a healer. Sometimes, healing doesn\u2019t only involve treating wounds or offering medicine. It\u2019s helping people at odds with a law and overwhelmed by situations like pregnancy. Pregnancy isn\u2019t always meant to happen for numerous reasons. Children should be wanted and loved by parents before they\u2019re brought into the world. Pregnancy shouldn\u2019t be treated as a punishment. I can\u2019t speak for the goddess or the saint, but I\u2019m offering this prayer to Her to help those in need in a small way.<\/p>

Brighid,<\/p>

Mother, Midwife, Friend<\/p>

hear their stories,<\/p>

wrap them in Your mantle<\/p>

protect their hearts, minds, and bodies<\/p>

aid them in their plights<\/p>

each day and every day,<\/p>

each night and every night.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thoughts on Brighid and abortion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40993766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40993766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40993766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40993766\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40993766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40993766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40993766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}