{"id":51216050,"date":"2022-03-29T13:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T13:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=51216050"},"modified":"2022-03-29T13:00:37","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T13:00:37","slug":"the-illuminating-spark-brighid-the-traveler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=51216050","title":{"rendered":"The Illuminating Spark: Brighid the Traveler"},"content":{"rendered":"

A poem about the ways Brighid is connected to travelers. <\/h2>
<\/figure>

(Image description: A photo of a silhouetted figure standing in a dark tunnel with white light streaming through at the entrance. The figure is holding up an orange red light, casting a reflection against the blue tones of the tunnel.) Credit: Photo by Karsten Winegeart<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>

One of the less common connections with Brighid is Her patronage of travelers. Pilgrimages to one of Her holy wells or to Kildare are well-known locations, but I think Her presence in this domain stretches far beyond that. Additionally, there is a short saying in the Carmina Gadelica: \u201cThou Bride fair charming, pleasant to me the breath of thy mouth. When I would go among strangers, Thou thyself wert the hearer of my tale.\u201d These associations inspired me to write the following poem.<\/p>

Brighid the Traveler<\/h3>

A sacred name<\/p>

Of long ago and modern fame<\/p>

High and lofty,<\/p>

Your whisper echoes softly.<\/p>

In high places there<\/p>

to the far-reaches of everywhere<\/p>

Lady of the threshold<\/p>

welcoming the young and the old<\/p>

Listener of stories<\/p>

of mundane tales and fantastic glories<\/p>

Others speak of loss and sorrow,<\/p>

Your time is theirs to borrow.<\/p>

A kind and listening ear<\/p>

Your cloak holding weary hearts so dear<\/p>

Wayfarers cross Your sacred places,<\/p>

hearts full of Your healing and inspiring graces<\/p>

All fall under Your protective sway,<\/p>

as they move along Your blessed way.<\/p>

As You travel along,<\/p>

Your history is a song.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A poem about the ways Brighid is connected to travelers. <\/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-51216050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51216050","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=51216050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51216050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51216050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51216050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51216050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}