(photo K Burke)
Do you think it shows a lack of moral fiber? Well, it was no lack of fiber anyway this popcorn for dinner. It just seemed odd really, a departure. I don’t think that it would have occurred to us if we weren’t lounging around with the Covid gnawing on the windows. But underneath it all I do cherish the dinner table and the act of everyone sitting down at it to spend some time together. But we are out of shape with real live dinning and entertainment.
It’s February first, St Bridget’s Day. She is the feminine counterpart of St Patrick of Ireland’s misty past. And it is half way to Spring! That sounds like a definite good thing to me. I just noticed some new flower shoots coming up.
So, I thought that it is time to review again the Pilgrim Beatitudes that I brought back from Spain in 2014. This might be the high point of my life’s work reviving and popularizing these ten curious and beautiful truths. So, maybe if we are lucky we can explore these for the whole month. They deserve it. We deserve it. We deserve it as we slowly rejoin each other this new year as the Covid wans.
Think about the first one: “If you discover that the Camino opens your eyes to what is not seen.” All the Beatitudes start with “Blessed are you pilgrim…” So it is “Blessed are you pilgrim if you discover that the Camino opens your eyes to what is not seen.“ Think of the different levels of that.
OK, walk time, maybe swim time, wet out. The birds will be hungry though.
popcorny loves, Felipé.
St Bridgets Day is also known as Candlemass which fell on the 1st or 2nd of February.it seems to be a Christian adaptation of the old Celtic festival of Imbolc.it was held to be when the Earth became pregnant with life and spring time would be the birth.i’m not quite sure what gods these Celts followed but people often associate them with Stonehenge, Newgrange,etc but those Neolithic sites had been abandoned thousands of years before the Celts came although I reckon that they knew about them and gave them a wide berth being afraid of whatever spirits that might indwell in such places.we have some Roman temples near here with little statues of Roman gods in them…. they’re often hooded.i don’t know if Candlemass is still practiced here my aunt was a keen Catholic and might have known but unfortunately she is no longer with us.
Kevan ~ Yea, there are numerous events on the Catholic calendar. I think St Bridget’s Day is the 1st and Candlemas is the 2nd. Of course this year hardly anything is a public celebration. Felipé.
Kevan, Candlemas is February 2nd, and often associated not with Bridget, but St. Blaise, who saved a boy from choking, and thus we bless the throats with crossed candles on Feb. 2. I have done it many times. Maybe St. Blaise could help those of us who haven’t been able to get a Covid shot yet, because he is the Patron Saint of the flu.
Phil, Here’s an interesting excerpt from p.25 of The American Book of Dying: “Brigit, the daughter of a Druid king, was perhaps the most sought-after spiritual midwife in the history of Ireland. Legend says she had the capacity to bilocate, allowing her to fulfill her vow to be an anamcara (death doula) with more than one person at a time on their deathbed.”
PS I had popcorn for dinner last night, too! Glad to know there was fiber in it. We were trying to help the local Edmonds Movie Theater from closing down completely. They had a fundraising promotion selling bags of carmel and chocolate popcorn. We had to help a good cause. Then we were too full to eat. Haha.
Henriette ~ yea, good info. The mix of all that myth and legend is fascinating. And popcorn for dinner, completely unrelated. But we went the healthy route with just plain movie popcorn 🌽. Felipé.x
Ah I mixed up my days well as it’s the 2nd Happy Candlemass!bilocating,being in 2 places at once,is a difficult one for those who believe in a spirit indwelling within us because it might superficially mean that we have more than 1 spirit!are they the same spirit, different spirits, aspects of the same,etc? it’s similar to what Victorians use to call phantasms of the living.whereby you’d see a ghost of Mr A ring think that misfortune had struck said gent only to find he’s alive and well.we have druids here and they do their rites at Stonehenge and other such sites generally during the spring and autumn Equinoxes I don’t know if they get involved with Imbolc AKA Candlemass but they probably do.
Kevan ~ I don’t know how to answer all that but wishing you the best. Felipé.