Brigid's Footsteps

May the Cold Tremble

May my steps leave wild flower sprouts in their wake.

For 2026, I’ve decided to pull a card from a favorite oracle deck of mine at the beginning of each month. Not predictive, and not pressured, simply something to focus on through the month.

On the eve of the New Year, I pulled a card associated with “Integrity.” So I spent January trying my best to embody my own integrity. To walk in alignment with my values, to live openly and honestly.

The last night of January, I revisited the card in my journaling and landed on a different phrase in the card description this time.

“To walk sacredly on the earth.”

This phrase reminded me of the first day of February, known as Saint Brigid’s Day. Brigid, a Celtic goddess, later termed a Saint when Christianity spread in Ireland. The first of February is Brigid’s feast day, also known as Imbolc - marking the halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Imbolc literally meaning, “in the belly.”

In this case, the reference is the seed of Spring stirring in the belly of the Earth.

In many accounts, Brigid is known for her generosity of healing. Known as the saint for inspiration and domesticity. Noted, specifically for her ministry being “a habit of the wildest bounty.¹”

A gift from a far away and beloved friend that arrived just in time for Saint Brigid’s Day. A perfect depiction of the Spring to come.

When I think of Brigid, I think of the generosity of Creator and Creation. How generous to give us Spring, despite how we may have misused the Winter we were given.

“She has made the mundane the edge of glory.”²

This speaks to the beauty we can make, and embody in the mundane. How can I walk sacredly on this earth, allowing my mundane to edge on glory?

What can be glorious about how I strip the sticky rosemary leaves from their stem?

Where is the glory in wiping the milk froth from his overgrown mustache?

Can glory direct how I plate our dinners after a long work day?

The mundane, the simple. I love the idea that it was there that Brigid appears.

She, like Creator, like Earth doesn’t want your finest place settings for her visit. Leftovers and paper plates will suit her just fine. Not because she isn’t glorious, but because she is so glorious, that the trappings no longer matter.

Something miraculous opens up when we center warmth over performance.

Walking sacredly instead of stomping through this life.

One of my favorite pieces of folklore about Brigid is the imagery that when she arrives on February 1st, to usher in the very first signs of a budding spring, that it is her feet and the hem of her dress sweeping along the frozen ground that softens and begins to thaw, leaving wild flower sprouts in her wake.

Furthermore, and more ferociously perhaps, it is said that “Brigid breathes life into the mouth of the dead Winter, to bring him to open his eyes to the tears and the smiles, the sighs and the laughter of Spring.”

“The venom of the cold is said to tremble for its safety on Brigid’s Day.”³

This is how I want to live.

Touching life with love, and the fertility of inspiration. Knowing it’s not me that thaws the frozen ground (or frozen hearts) but the love that lives in and through me.

I want the venom of cold, and cruelty, to tremble for its safety in my presence.

I want my steps to leave wild flower sprouts in their wake.

Will you join me?

A blessing from Richardson:

May the spirit of Saint Brigid,

woman of lavish hospitality,

inspire you this day.

Amid fragments, may you find wild bounty

and in every moment, a feast.

Finally, if you’d like to lean into the season even further, consider joining February’s Virtual Seasonal Self gathering this Sunday, the 8th from 5:00 - 6:15 pm MST

Our theme is “Softness as Strength: Embracing gentleness, tenderness, and vulnerability as powerful forms of resilience and self-care.”

I’ll also share on Sunday about the Spring arc of Seasonal Self.

If you haven’t been in a space where you can just receive in a while - this is your invitation.

1. From “In the Sanctuary of Women: A Companion for Reflection and Prayer” - 2010 by Richardson, Jan L.

2. A phrase from Esther De Waal. Featured in Richardson’s work.

3. From Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations Paperback – 199 by Carmichael, Alexander