In this special Imbolc episode of Journeys with the Goddess, we step into the threshold moments when winter hasn't yet released its grip, but spring is already stirring beneath the soil...

We start the episode with a continuation of the story from our last episode with the Cailleach, and then explore Brigid through the history and lore, reflecting on her as a woman of many callings, representative of many archetypes at once. Patron of poets, healers, and makers, she reminds us that we do not have to choose just one way of being. We are allowed to be many things, in many seasons.

From there, we move inward, with a guided meditation to meet Brigid as protector, guiding us at the threshold through a series of doorways and choices ...and then the episode closes with a gentle song of prayer, drawn from a traditional Scots Gaelic invocation to Brìde.

Further Reading & Sources

• Pagan Portals: Brigid - Morgan Daimler
• Brigid: History, Mystery, and Magick of the Celtic Goddess - Courtney Weber
• Goddesses in Everywoman: Powerful Archetypes in Women’s Lives - Jean Shinoda Bolen (for an accessible introduction of how the Greek goddesses can be explored and connected with the archetypes for better self-understanding).

Journal Prompts:

1. Looking back over your life, which choices feel quietly significant, even if they didn’t seem important at the time? How might those choices have been guiding you toward who you are becoming, rather than who you thought you were meant to be?
2. What would it feel like to trust that you are exactly where you need to be, based on every choice you have made so far? If you allowed yourself to be fully seen from this place, what might awaken or shift for you?
3. What is slowly forming in you right now which is not yet ready to be named, shared, or acted upon but is gently whispering to you? How are you protecting and nurturing this in-between phase, and what kind of care might it most need?
4. This episode explores divine archetypes not as fixed roles, but as living energies that coexist within us. Which archetypes feel most present in you right now, and which might be asking for more space, voice, or integration?

The Song:

The words are taken from a traditional prayer to Brigid in Scots' Gaelic, collected in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. and published by Alexander Carmichael in Carmina Gadelica, 1900.

Words:

Brìde nam Brat, Brìde nan Bruach,

Brìde nan Cleachd, Brìde na Fàisneachd.

Brìde nan Cas-Geal, Brìde na Sìth,

Brìde nan Lamh-Geal, Brìde nan Sprèidh,

Brìde, ban-chomunn. Brìde nan Bruach,

Brìde, ban-chobhair, Brìde, ban-mhìn.

Tha mi fo chomraich Mo Naoimh Moire;

’S i mo chompanach, Brìde ghràdhach.

About the Show: Journeys with the Goddess is a monthly podcast by Bronwyn Claire Asha (singer, storyteller, and sound healer). Each episode follows the turning of the seasons and explores a mythic goddess through story, meditation, and music as an invitation to meet the Divine Feminine as a living force within yourself.

New episodes released on the last Friday of every month.

Connect with Bronwyn: Website: www.bronwynclaireasha.com

Instagram: @bronwynclaireasha

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bronwynclaireashamusic