Rekindling the Soul Flame

OM Times is a leading voice of the Conscious Community with articles covering the full spectrum of Conscious Living. Click here to see all we share.
Rekindling the Soul Flame

by Mara Freeman, M.A.

Early spring is the season of Brigid, the Celtic goddess of the Growing Light who walks the land thawing the ice and warming the cold Earth into life with every step she takes. She was also a goddess of inspiration and creativity who breathes her warmth and energy into the hearts and minds of all those who wish to give birth to something new and wonderful in their lives. In later times she became Saint Brigid, the most beloved of Irish saints.

This was the time of year when the Celtic peoples of Scotland and Ireland looked eagerly for hibernating animals to emerge from their winter dens – a sign that winter was almost over. In Scotland this might be a badger, a hedgehog or even a bear. In an old Scottish tradition, Bridget herself emerges from the Earth in early spring, just as in the Greek myth, the goddess Persephone came out of the underworld and spring returned once more. In ancient Greece this drama was enacted in the Eleusinian mysteries at this time of year.

Such myths are not only about the return of spring to the land, but also the return of the Soul – traditionally depicted as feminine – from its dwelling-place in the obscurity of the subconscious mind. In the western world, we tend to get so caught up in material pursuits that the soul is forgotten most of the time – even though we never feel truly at home to ourselves without that connection. At the dawn of the modern age, a poet wrote that “affairs are now soul size.” His words are even truer today: with the escalating crises in the world from wars to global warming, now is the time to fully awaken into what each of us has been called to do during our time on Earth, to emerge into a life that catches fire from the soul-flame within each of us.

OM Times is a leading voice of the Conscious Community with articles covering the full spectrum of Conscious Living. Click here to see all we share.