LADY BRIGHID IN MY LIFE – A PERSONAL ACCOUNT
My relationship with the goddess, Brighid, wasn’t always as apparent to me as it is these days.
When I first began learning about the Celtic Gods and Goddesses, everyone seemed to love and worship Brighid, but I never really felt that calling. Brighid was the goddess of hearth and home, and my life seemed to be other-focused. I traveled a lot both physically and in otherworldly ways. I used to keep an overnight bag in my car, stocked with anything I would need if I found myself not making it home any given evening. Home was the place where I kept my stuff, and stopped in every now and then to eat, to gather mail, and other such mundane things to keep my life going, but it wasn’t where I settled. Rather, I was a member of many social groups and networks, and any given night, after working all day, would find me at some meeting or other.
One of my spheres of interest was in the realm of real estate investing, and I was attending meetings, classes, and I even ran a group for beginning investors. One of the classes I attended taught me of the importance of having a limited liability company (or maybe more than one) for all of my real estate transactions. I thought long and hard about what to call my company, and the name that kept coming back to me was HearthFire Properties, LLC. My thought was that a fireplace, or a hearth fire, would give people a feeling of comfort and warmth, a cozy, homey feeling, which is what I was going for, as I knew that I couldn’t even get involved in real estate investing unless I knew I was helping others to find good places to live. And so that’s what I call my real estate investing business.
I have owned HearthFire Properties for almost five years now. The current logo of my company is a picture of a hearth fire burning merrily. One night during a ritual, I was making some personal offerings to the goddess, Brighid, for helping me to rent one of my properties, and with gratitude for helping my new tenant to find a nice place to live. I suddenly realized that She is the patron goddess of my real estate business! How could I have not realized it sooner? In a sense, I named the company after Her!
Once I realized that, my offerings increased, and it has served me well. I’ve been fortunate in my modest investments, in that I have remained virtually unscathed through some scary challenges of the past year or two, and yet, the fire still burns in my heart to provide others with a place to call home. Several months ago, I became a flamekeeper for Ord Brighideach so that I could formalize my connection with this fiery goddess of inspiration.
Today, I look around my home, and I realize how much my life now centers around my own hearth. I have hung a Brighid cross above the mantle, and I have two perpetual lights on the mantle in Her honor. I make sure there is a Brighid cross somewhere on the property of every income property I own. I light a long burning candle in Her honor on my flame keeping days, which often burns for a week. And when I feel a special closeness with Her, I will even burn a candle in Her honor on off-shift times.
I wrote a chant which I sing to Her whenever I light a new candle. I also use this chant in public ritual.
From my hearth, to this hearth, I carry the flame
From this hearth to your hearth, the flame is the same
It’s the central fire, connecting us all
In my heart, and your heart, we tend to the flame
Of the hearth.
Just recently I was blessed with the testimony of one of my clients. Three years ago, I rented property to her with an option to buy it. I counseled her on ways to repair her credit and we set up a system where part of her rent would go towards her down payment. Now she is poised to buy the property. With tears in her eyes, my tenant thanked me for giving her the opportunity to buy a house when no one else would.
Brighid has blessed me beyond measure, and the newest venture in which we are partnering together is also in the realm of real estate. She has led me to becoming a real estate agent, and now my task is to assist others in finding and obtaining their dream homes so that they, too, can establish their hearth. It’s a mission that I am honored to hold, in Her honor.