One of the old traditions for this time of year was to place a candle in the window. This was to act as a beacon for the Goddess. This is the time of year when the Goddess starts her journey of return from the Underworld. She is bringing something with her.
The Goddess went to the Underworld to be with the old sun one last time. She goes into the dark to rescue the light. At Samhain she, queen of cups, joins with the dead god, the sun at the end of the cycle, the hierophant. From this union, is born the new year at winter solstice, the new star, the spark of fire in the earth. This promise of coming nobility from the earth is the rising summer sun, a knight of disks.
This is a call to remember the cycle, the wheel of the year. In the new year, she begins at Imbolc a journey from the Underworld that takes her until Ostara to complete. With her, she brings the promise of a new summer, a time of light and growth. We put a candle in the window to light her way home.
Put a candle in the window, she is coming home … (Thoughts, head)
Put a candle in the window, she is coming home … (Words, mouth)
Put a candle in the window, she is coming home … (Hearts, chest)
Just like the Irish saved western civilization from the dark ages, Brigid saves the light from the darkness. Goddess is mother of the new year. Brigid is foster-mother of our hopes and the midwife to our renewal.
We are each other’s allies in an intentional community of compassion in which we participate with each other. We participate in this community by each being the foster-mothers to our own spark of life; each of us a keeper of that flame. We are a community of lights, and together we are the light on the horizon that signals the dawn of the new year, the new God, and the return of Goddess.