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Holy Well and Sacred Flame Monday, Feb. 03, 2003 - 3:23 am ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wow. I am awestruck. The Brigid ritual/performance was amazing. So a better explanation of what it was is in order. There is a small theatre company here in Austin called Vortex that appears to be mostly experimental. This one performance is my only experience with them and I already feel like I want to be involved somehow. In the program was a mailing list form to fill out and a box to check if you want to volunteer. I was already saying yes to this when all we had done so far was sit in the waiting area reading our programs. The name of this performance is Holy Well and Sacred Flame. "A theatre ritual for the goddess Brigid." It is definitely theatre but also a very moving pagan-ish ritual honoring Brigid. From the program: ******* Who is Brigid? Brid, Bride, Brigantia, Brigandu, etc. One of the most universal and enduring deities of the pagan Gaelic world. Goddess of Healing, Poetry, Smithcraft, Childbirth, Inspiration, and the Hearth. Keeper of the Holy Well and Sacred Flame. Patron of warriors. Bright, fiery arrow. Exhaulted one. Daughter of Dagda. Flame of Ireland. Transformed by the Catholic Church into St. Brigid, midwife of Mary, foster-mother of Jesus. Her Sacred Flame and Holy Well still exist in Kildare, Ireland and in the hearts of Pagans and Christians around the world. ******* I feel that I want to describe the whole experience in some detail. I really want to remember the whole thing. We (being my husband and I) arrive and buy our tickets and already it is interesting. Everyone is given a stone with a marking on it. The marking corresponds to one of the four elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water); both of ours were water. When the theater is finally open, a woman calls us to enter by element. Water was seated last. We were also able to "buy" gold dollars as wish tokens. As we enter the theater, a woman is standing with a basket for us to put our stones in. As I did, she said, "Welcome to where you have always been." Wow! I was so struck by that. It so reminded me of my first arrival at Burning Man in 1998, because when we drove up to the entrance, a greeter came up to our vehicle and said, "Welcome home." The theater is a small, black box style theater, with seating on 3 sides. In the very middle of the stage area is a large, rocky well, with a narrow flame shooting out the middle of it. There was also an anvil in one corner of the stage. Wow! We made our wishes, and dropped the coins in the fountain on the way to our seats. The actors were already in the theater interacting with the audience as they came in. A man on stage was cutting up apples. A woman was carrying the apple slices on a tray and offering them to everyone, along with honey. "Have a piece of the fruit of knowing." Everyone is seated, the lights go down. A woman begins singing, "Holy well and sacred flame," and the other actors join in singing. They sing it over and over, adding harmonies, dancing in a circle around the well. There were 9 actors: 6 women and 3 men. All white, except for one black man. [The program didn't indicate who was who at all so I'll just give them my own names.] The women: an older woman (compared to the other cast members) with brown hair who felt very motherly, in charge [IN CHARGE]. A slightly older woman with long red hair, very caring [RED HAIR]. A short pleasingly plump woman with short hair who my husband had a crush on (I knew before he even said anything) and who I sort of didn't like - more on that later [SHORT WOMAN]. A tall strong woman with short brown hair, sort of Joan of Arc costume (the other women all wore dresses/skirts) [JOAN OF ARC]. A small woman with long hair in braids, very friendly and wise [BRAIDS]. The woman who greeted me with long flowy brown hair, very beautiful [GREETER]. The men: an older man with a white beard, very jovial [OLDER MAN]. A balding man, youngish, very strong and simple (in a good way) [SIMPLE MAN]. A strikingly strong and handsome black man, very moving (an odd way to describe a person but he was) [BLACK MAN]. Then Joan of Arc and two other women did a simple directional invocation with a sword. Then the group did a more complicated invocation with each person naming a direction and things associated with it while the whole group moved around and acted it out or whatever. Then they all froze and each person in turn renamed their direction. It was cool! I can't remember all the directions but I do remember: North, Under, Inside?, West, East, Outside?, ?, South, Above. The rest of the first act I don't really remember the order of. We are introduced to Brigid, her parents/creation, her descent to Earth, her miracles. Why she is associated with certain things. One that is not listed in the program but was mentioned in the performance is Compassion. There was much more beautiful singing and ritual. Different women took turns representing her in different parts. In Charge and Older Man played her parents, Danue(?) and Dagda. Before she descended to Earth she received a special mantle (a shiny flowy robe thing) that Braids wore through most of the rest of the performance. Intermission. When it started up again, it took a darker turn. There was some talk from some of the women. Then In Charge had a long monologue. I am not exactly clear who she was supposed to be, but a Celt, recounting horrors from when the Romans invaded. At the end, chains that she was wearing on her wrists were taken off. Then Red Hair spoke as Brigid from 450 I think she said? She is who is buried in Kildare, and definitely Christian. She read a poem that she wrote. It was illuminated, too. Then Simple Man sang a very beautiful mournful song as Rierdon(?), Brigid's son, who apparently betrayed her in some way out of loyalty to his father. He held a spear the whole time. The song was to his mother, played by Joan of Arc, who sat at his feet and sometimes sang harmonizing moans. It was so moving. Then Black Man played Jesus, and he spoke to his foster-mother, played by Red Hair, who kneeled before him. He held huge nails in each hand, arms out like a crucifix. It was all so much! So sad, so moving. The whole group moved and said some stuff and eventually said things like, "How can we still have hope?" Then they all lined up before the anvil, each holding their item, which Joan of Arc took from each of them: the chains, the illuminated poem, the spear, the nails, the mantle. Then she banged on the anvil, and I assume we were suppose to see that she was taking all these things and forging them into something else: the sword. She went all around, weilding the sword. She knighted two of the men. I'll admit I didn't fully comprehend everything she was supposed to be doing. She eventually came to the center, and the whole group came to the center and they sang a song that was a version of Deep Peace. I'll post the lyrics I know in a later entry. But it's all this beautiful imagery and deep peace to you. Then they said some more stuff and said it's time to go home. Greeter said that as we leave the theatre we can take with us Brigid's blessings (and gestured to Red Hair) and her challenges (and gestured to Short Woman). Then Joan of Arc started singing a happy joyful song, with In Charge, Older Man, and Simple Man singing back up and snapping. Black Man and Braids began going around the theatre guiding people to stand and go to Red Hair, then to Short Woman, then past Greeter and out the door. So there was a kind of a line going around the stage. It was beautiful! At this point, I felt so oddly close to these performers, I was happy to have a chance to interact with them. Finally, Braids came and led us to the back of the line. We were the very last ones. She gave me a big hug! I realized that Red Hair as blessings and Short Woman as challenges made sense for me. I watched them interact with people before me, and it seemed so right. Red Hair felt so comforting, like I could curl up in her lap. And Short Woman, as I said, I sort of felt like I didn't like, but I suddenly saw that she was the only one who could have stood up strong and been the challenge and it made sense to me why I wouldn't like her then. But I know I will come to love her. It was my turn with Red Hair and she took my hands, turned them palm up, reached into the well for a little water, put it into my hands and said, "May the Sacred Water heal your pain." Tears started rolling down my face. We held hands tightly for a moment, then I moved on to Short Woman. She took my hands and said, "What is the Sacred Flame that burns within you?" I said my art (which isn't the exact right answer but I didn't have words for the exact right answer so this was close enough). She then said something like, "May Brigid's blessings go with you both" (gesturing to my husband who had gone before me). Then as I walked toward Greeter she held her hands out to me so I did to her. She took my hands and asked me my name. She then said something like, "Emerald, take your light out into the world." Then we drove around for an hour, came home, and I finished The Mists of Avalon. Wow. What a day.
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current music: Chris Whitley - Live current reading: The Mists of Avalon
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Crummy - Monday, Jul. 12, 2004 Can't Decide - Monday, Jun. 07, 2004 Letting Go - Friday, Jun. 04, 2004 Google 5 - Tuesday, May. 18, 2004 Before Tattoo - Wednesday, May. 12, 2004 older entries random entry profile * sign my guestbook* For a more complete view of my life, read these: live journal ~ gratitude journal DiaryLand |