Brigid offering idea?

[Theweirdtophat]

I was wondering what others might think of this particular idea.

I have thought of seeing which deities are right for me and the Celtic pantheon is interesting, particularly the Irish pantheon and thought of looking at Brigid. I was wondering how this would go as far as offerings.

I thought of writing a poem about her in the Ogham alphabet since it'd probably be more appropriate to use than English and she's a patron of poets. I was going to put the poem under my pillow and an amethyst crystal because they usually give me more realistic and clear dreams. I thought that maybe she could appear and provide signs, or show appreciation or to see if she's the right deity for me at all.

Does anyone think it's a good offering? Has anyone worked with Brigid before? If so, what was it like?

 

[The Emperor of Mankind]

I was wondering what others might think of this particular idea.

I have thought of seeing which deities are right for me and the Celtic pantheon is interesting, particularly the Irish pantheon and thought of looking at Brigid. I was wondering how this would go as far as offerings.

I thought of writing a poem about her in the Ogham alphabet since it'd probably be more appropriate to use than English and she's a patron of poets.

Why write it in Ogham? Surely you could write much more fluidly in your native language, which I'm guessing is English?

I was going to put the poem under my pillow and an amethyst crystal because they usually give me more realistic and clear dreams. I thought that maybe she could appear and provide signs, or show appreciation or to see if she's the right deity for me at all.

Gods do not 'perform to order', nor to a schedule. The best you could do is carry out your first sentence and hope for the best. Having preconceptions of how you expect a deity to contact you will probably make you more likely to mess different attempts by the goddess to contact you.

 

[Theweirdtophat]

As I said because it'd probably be appropriate in Ogham. I could write in English and there are Ogham translators and figured they would appreciate it if I wrote in the old language and put effort into it.

One guy says the gods actually do this while the other guy says they actually do this? I have no idea. If you are a greek polytheist, they may behave differently than the Celtic Pantheon. I'm not sure. I just want to receive contact and develop a relationship with them and see if they can offer signs.

 

[Riverwolf]

I've never worked with Brigid before, nor really any of the Celtic deities except when I sing along to Miracle of Sound's song "Sirona".

In my experience, however, different Gods react differently to customized rituals. Some prefer the traditional ways, others like it when practitioners shake it up, still others like worshipers to create all new ones. I can't say where Brigid would fall on that spectrum; the bulk of my exposure to her is Damh the Bard's eponymous song dedicated to her. (Incidentally, I also know nothing of employing crystals or dreams in rituals.)

However, in terms of writing something in Ogham, or using any other writing system (other than our Latin alphabet variant) to write things in English, there's something you need to understand.

Writing systems are designed to fit the languages they're supposed to communicate. Even though Modern English and Archaic Irish are Indo-European, they're still very, very different from each other just by virtue of the former being Germanic and the latter being Celtic; nevermind the near 1500 year gap of speakers. Ogham was designed for Archaic Irish, and as such its letters were designed around its sounds. Just glancing at Omniglot's page on Ogham, it seems like you'd be short a few sounds necessary to fully render Modern English.

That doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't write something in Modern English using Ogham. It's still an alphabet, after all. However, doing so would require you to do more work than you might have originally had in mind, ESPECIALLY since this is supposed to be an offering. You'd need to decide whether or not you want to stick to Modern English spelling conventions, or write your own accent phonetically, and from there craft a new set of characters designed for whichever you choose to use. You'd want to keep a chart handy for that.

This is all on top of actually crafting the poem itself, the craft of which is no small endeavor, but I'm not an expert in that art. But unless you intend to master Archaic Irish (which would take who knows how long?) the language I assume you'll be writing in is Modern English, not any old language, regardless of which writing system you use.

I'm just saying, this is not a bad idea for a ritual, but it will probably require a good deal of time and effort on your part, just for preparation alone. I won't give an exact time estimate, since I don't know your daily schedule (and that's something you should determine yourself in any case), but this will DEFINITELY take longer than a day or two to research and prepare the ritual, let alone craft it.

 

[Theweirdtophat]

I've never worked with Brigid before, nor really any of the Celtic deities except when I sing along to Miracle of Sound's song "Sirona".

In my experience, however, different Gods react differently to customized rituals. Some prefer the traditional ways, others like it when practitioners shake it up, still others like worshipers to create all new ones. I can't say where Brigid would fall on that spectrum; the bulk of my exposure to her is Damh the Bard's eponymous song dedicated to her. (Incidentally, I also know nothing of employing crystals or dreams in rituals.)

However, in terms of writing something in Ogham, or using any other writing system (other than our Latin alphabet variant) to write things in English, there's something you need to understand.

Writing systems are designed to fit the languages they're supposed to communicate. Even though Modern English and Archaic Irish are Indo-European, they're still very, very different from each other just by virtue of the former being Germanic and the latter being Celtic; nevermind the near 1500 year gap of speakers. Ogham was designed for Archaic Irish, and as such its letters were designed around its sounds. Just glancing at Omniglot's page on Ogham, it seems like you'd be short a few sounds necessary to fully render Modern English.

That doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't write something in Modern English using Ogham. It's still an alphabet, after all. However, doing so would require you to do more work than you might have originally had in mind, ESPECIALLY since this is supposed to be an offering. You'd need to decide whether or not you want to stick to Modern English spelling conventions, or write your own accent phonetically, and from there craft a new set of characters designed for whichever you choose to use. You'd want to keep a chart handy for that.

This is all on top of actually crafting the poem itself, the craft of which is no small endeavor, but I'm not an expert in that art. But unless you intend to master Archaic Irish (which would take who knows how long?) the language I assume you'll be writing in is Modern English, not any old language, regardless of which writing system you use.

I'm just saying, this is not a bad idea for a ritual, but it will probably require a good deal of time and effort on your part, just for preparation alone. I won't give an exact time estimate, since I don't know your daily schedule (and that's something you should determine yourself in any case), but this will DEFINITELY take longer than a day or two to research and prepare the ritual, let alone craft it.

That's true. I hear one can simply write English although there are Ogham translators out there and I figured she's a patron of poets and Ogham was a druidic alphabet which I thought would go hand in hand and fit well. That and she might appreciate it more that I am putting more effort to write it in Ogham. Just a thought. I don't know if it'd be a ritual, maybe an offering. It's to really get her attention and maybe she could help me in some way as I have prayed to her, letting her know I have developed in interest, studying her background and magic involving her. And than an amethyst crystal amplifies dreams and that I could see and hear her more clearly.

I think she will understand it in English and understand my intentions. I do want to know what it feels like when a deity enters into your mind and how you can tell if they approve or disapprove.

 

[Theweirdtophat]

I am an animist but I am wondering if I should look at gods also or just stick with nature spirits. It's really my first time trying to contact a celtic deity or any deity for that matter. I wonder if there will be a sign saying I should or that the gods themselves will think I should stick with my own path? How will I know? How does anyone know?

 

[The Hammer]

I tried for a while to "contact" the deities on my own terms, to no avail. I had to wait for them to present themselves to me, and when they did, had to go about figuring out which deity it was that contact me in the first place.

I am not 100% familiar with Brighid and have not worked with her before, but a poem for an offering I am sure would go appreciated. I highly recommend writing it in your native language though and not translating it into a different one. Have you ever read a translated poem? Most of the time the flow and feel of the poem is off, it has a much better rhythm when in it's native language.

 

[Quintessence]

I am an animist but I am wondering if I should look at gods also or just stick with nature spirits. It's really my first time trying to contact a celtic deity or any deity for that matter. I wonder if there will be a sign saying I should or that the gods themselves will think I should stick with my own path? How will I know? How does anyone know?

Having been where you are, I'll just say you definitely know it when it happens, or at least have a really darned strong hunch about it.

There is a good deal of trusting yourself involved. I think that's the case with these paths in general. You've got to trust yourself, and trust in your own judgement. The experiences you have are yours alone, and what you do with those experiences is entirely your responsibility.