Category: Pilgrimage to sacred places

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The Swan Blessings Part III

The Swan and Goddess in Uffizi, Florence, Italy

The Swan Blessings is an energetic change or transformational
shift known to those who work with their own inner Shaman,
the Christ within or The Beloved.
Subtle messages continually reach us from within, but these
are often in opposition to our conditioned mind.
In an attempt to block these messages we push down the
energies which arise from the heart and flows to the
head centres and the lower centres. 
There are many ways to push these energies down or to
try to not become aware of them.  It can be through
habitual actions, such as being busy, creating new
challenges, running from one endeavour or undertaking
to the next, depression, illness, persistent worry and many more.
What makes it even more complex is that all of the above
also has a place and a function in your life and it is
not easy to discern when it serves and when it merely
serves as justification for the ‘ego’ mind.
The best approach for me has been to consistently work with getting to
know myself, dragons and all.  It takes years
of dedication and focus to truly learn to understand
yourself and your shadows and your archetypes
and the many tricksters.  The tendence to ‘just go with the flow’
and ‘to let things go’ is only one half of the picture.  These
receptive attitudes also need a frame and a foundation 
and a firm hand which can use a sharp bladed sword of
objectivity and discernment.  Often the guiding hand and eye
of a skilled teacher, therapist or guru of spiritual knowledge
is necessary and of course the willingness to see that
which we really do not want to see.
Our Lady of Lourdes during Full Moon procession
October 2015 Lourdes, France
Inner work pushes the tidal wave of lifetimes of habits
and conditioning and fear and oppression back
until the metaphoric Red Sea parts and you are led
to Israel, the Holy Self.
The Swan Blessing is a gift of Grace – and there are many
of those available to the true dedicated pilgrim of life.
The Swan Blessing can enter through a shamanic therapist
in a therapy session or during a shamanic journey or
to those who are consciously aware of the Eternal Present
in the daily ordinary.
It is usually accompanied by a powerful spirit being
and most often by the spirit of Jeanne d’Arc.
The Swan Blessing bring a letting go and an undoing
of energy forms and manifestations over many lifetimes.
It is as though a knot in this lifetime is untied which
unfurls deep seated belief systems and thought forms
which are woven into actual mental and emotional experiences
in previous lifetimes. 
It is called the Swan Blessing for a number of reasons and maybe
even more than what I am aware of right now.
The Annunciation taken in the Uffizi, Florence, Italy
The swan is a symbol of Air, Spirit, Dreams and the Union of Oneness.
The image of the flying swan is similar to the appearance of the balance
between the left and right hemispheres of the brain when the
pineal gland is erect.  It frees the meditator or the shaman or pilgrim
from the physical body mind and the duality of this world.
You and your soul then soar through the many worlds in
absolute unity with All.
This state of being is usually attainable during very deep and skillful
meditation and once you return it fades.  Every time you return
you return with a deeper insight;  a wider vision of what is Real
and what is possible and you are challenged by the Beloved to
change your lifestyle, your actions, your outlook, your perceptions
to become more and more aligned to your Soul’s dream for this lifetime.
Thus the cloud parts and the ugly duckling becomes the beautiful
swan flying through the blue clear sky.
I wrote about the Swan Blessing previously in Part one and two and
since then I have completed two more pilgrimages to sacred sites.
I visited the walking grounds of San Francesco and Santa Chiara
and was immersed in their sacred and soulful love affair of
the pure heart.  I visited the convent, home and relics of St Therese in Lisieux
in France.  I spent a week in Lourdes participating in one of the greatest
mysteries and celebration of the Divine Mother in the West.
I visited the cloister of Fra Angelica and the musuem of San Marco and the
Uffizi in Florence and gazed upon the works of the masters and their
genius in telling the many ‘secrets’ of our world.
I visited the oldest Church dedicated to the Divine Feminine in Europe.
And the threads fell with each image, each smell, each experience.
And still the unfurling continues.
As the knot was untied by the Swan Blessing and the Light
which accompanies Jeanne d’Arc when she appeared to me
as bright as daylight, I am continued to be guided into
a completely new lifestyle.  I am continually challenged
to put down and give up many endeavours and undertakings
which did serve me and others well.
It is not easy to explain to your self and even more
difficult to explain to others.
Know that the unfolding into the sacred marriage with the Beloved
is an infinite journey.  As a pilgrim of Life one continually
travels into the Light of the One and it does not end.
The love for this life and each and every emanation
and manifestation of the Beloved merely intensifies
and with that the sensitivity and the awareness and the
compassion, also intensifies.
A strange paradox takes shape (once again) as
one becomes more energetic whilst at the same time
‘doing’ less as the striving falls away completely.
All desire is replaced with a wave which forms
and grows and washes out into manifestation
of creativity and abundance and it flows down again,
without leaving a void or an emptiness as it
never filled anything as there is nothing to be filled.
Complete fullness and absolute emptiness at all times.

Through the Grace and many blessings, such as the
Swan Blessing, one comes home to yourself.
The journey to the self is truly an remembering
of who you are and being completely YOU
at all times;  an undivided, unseparated being,
a Oneness with yourself.

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Blogs merging

Photograph by Hettienne Grobler – Shrine at Sancta Maria
This blog will soon be merging with
Cloister of the Heart.

The Temple of Mary blog will stay up as a living archive
of our footprints into Her mysteries in this world.

The website for the Temple of  the Mysteries of Mary is at
www.hettiennema.wix.com/sancta maria

Temple of the Mysteries of Mary
Blessed Mary painting by Hettienne Grobler

There you will be able to read about my pilgrimages to sacred sites,
my Soulcollage journeys
the Recovery of the Inner Child of the journey of awakening
share in my art making process
and the upcoming
Art Novena for Our Lady of Lourdes.
So if you have not subscribed yet, or wish to join
please go to www.path-of-divine-love.com
Cloister of the Heart.
Soulcollage card by Hettienne Grobler
Tarot Deck of the Mysteries of Mary
I also invite you to join my journey with the soon to be published
Mysteries of Mary Tarot Deck.
The blog is at www.hergracesacredart.blogspot.com
Tarot Deck of the Mysteries of Mary
Tarot Deck of the Mysteries of Mary
Our Lady of Guadalupe  from the Tarot Deck of the Mysteries of Mary
by Hettienne Grobler
Her Grace by Devata on Etsy.com
Then there is also the blog of my shop on Etsy
which showcases items as they are put up for sale.
www.hergracedevata.blogspot.com
Her Grace by Devata Blog
Namaste, Hettienne
Namaste
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Bridgit, Mary and the Sacred Marriage

SHE
Beckoning, calling
A beacon of light in the darkness.
 Winds swirling, moving white light blending with white cloth.
 A smile, a halo, hair or light?
 She is calling, walking ahead, leading, guiding, gently shining
 the Light.
I follow, one foot forward, then another,
tentatively, unsure, until finally,
breaking out in a run,
feet secure, heart pounding,
following blindly,
following Her. – Hettienne  Bhaktymayi Maria Ma – 2004

The year after I found Mary’s Well in
Glastonbury, I attended the International Goddess Conference in Glastonbury – the first of many to follow. That year the focus was on Bridie or Brigid and her swan.
If you have been following the story, you will know that Hestea/Vesta led me to St Brigit and Michael’s Tower in Glastonbury.
I stayed in the same bed n breakfast as before and this time I shared the space with Sister Mary McAleese, a Brigidine nun from Kildare!
From her I learnt that Brigit is also known as Brede or Mary of the Gael! You may remember my mention of the one book that made such an incredible impact on my life. I read ‘In this House of Brede’ by Rumer Godden when I was fourteen – I still own that copy. I have given many books away since, but never that one. I could not explain to you why the book was so important, other than that I always felt that there was a story behind the words that only I could ‘see’.
When those nuns told me that Brede was St Brigit, the key fitted the door and the following year I travelled to Kildare, Ireland to the sanctuary of St Brigit, Mary of the Gael.
The nuns are Brigidine nuns, living in Kildare in Ireland. They are part of a community known as Solas Brihde, devoted to the all-encompassing Celtic St Brigit : saint, poetess, protector and healer.
They have restored the original Brigit sacred pilgrimage site along with a small publication, guiding pilgrims in the power and symbolism of the pilgrimage to Brigit.
The original site dedicated to Brigit, Celtic Goddess, is still to be seen in the grounds of the Catholic Church
erected on the same site.

This shrine, near Kildare, was located near an ancient Oak that was considered to be sacred by the Druids, so sacred in fact that no one was allowed to bring a weapon there.
The shrine is believed to have been an ancient college of priestesses who were committed to thirty years of service, after which they were free to leave and marry.
During their first ten years they received training, the next ten were spent tending the sacred wells, groves and hills of the goddess Brigid, and the last decade was spent in teaching others.
Nineteen priestesses were assigned to tend the perpetual flame of the sacred fire of Brigid. Each was assigned to keep the flames alive for one day. On the twentieth day, the goddess Brigid herself kept the fire burning brightly.
The goddess Brigid was also revered as the Irish goddess of poetry and song. Known for her hospitality to poets, musicians, and scholars, she is known as the Irish muse of poetry.
The Feast Day of Brigid, known as Imbolc, is celebrated at the start of February, midway through the winter. Like the goddess herself, it is meant to give us hope, to remind us that spring is on its way.
The lessons of this complex and widely beloved goddess are many.
The Celtic goddess Brigid lends us her creativity and inspiration, but also reminds us to keep our traditions alive and whole. These are gifts that can sustain us through any circumstance.
Her fire is the spark of life. – taken from local literature.
Lighting the Perpetual Flame – A Brief history
A sacred fire burned in Kildare reaching back into pre-Christian times. Scholars suggest that priestesses used to gather on the hill of Kildare to tend their ritual fires while invoking a goddess named Brigid to protect their herds and to provide a fruitful harvest.
When St. Brigid built her monastery and church in Kildare she continued the custom of keeping the fire alight. For her and her nuns the fire represented the new light of Christianity, which reached our shores early in the fifth century.
Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis) a Welsh Chronicler, visited Kildare in the twelfth century, he reported that the fire of St. Brigid was still burning in Kildare and that it was being tended by nuns of St. Brigid. Some historians record that a few attempts were made to have the fire extinguished but without success. It survived possibly up to the suppression of the monasteries in the sixteenth century.
The sacred fire/flame was re-lit in 1993, in the Market Square, Kildare, by Mary Teresa Cullen, the then leader of the Brigidine Sisters, at the opening of a justice and peace conference. The conference, entitled “Brigid: Prophetess, Earthwoman, Peacemaker” was organised by Afri, (Action from Ireland), a justice, peace and human rights organisation, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of St. Brigid’s Peace Cross Project. Since then, the Brigidine Sisters in Kildare have tended the flame in their Centre, Solas Bhride.
Kildare County Council commissioned a sculpture to house the flame in Kildare Town Square in 2005. The piece comprises a twisted column, which flourishes at the top into large-scale oak leaves, nestled into which there is a bronze, acorn cup holding the flame. The use of oak leaves symbolises both the Christian beliefs of St. Brigid and the earlier Druidic worship of the trees. Of course, the oak is also the namesake of Kildare, Cill Dara, Church of the Oak.
President Mary McAleese presided at the lighting of the Perpetual Flame in the Town Square on Feb.1st St. Brigid’s Day 2006. The flame was lit from the flame tended by the Brigidine Sisters in Solas Bhride. The flame burns as a beacon of hope, justice and peace for our country and our world. We still tend the flame in Solas Bhride. – extracted from www.solasbrihde.ie
I would like to quote from Riane Eisler’s Sacred Pleasure, Sex, Myth and the Politics – New Paths to Power and Love :
From the Sacred Marriage of the Goddess to Male Brides of God. In conformity with male dominator systems’ requirements, this tenet that woman is inferior to man pervades many mystical writings, both Eastern and Western. …inner contradictions also characterize most Judeo-Christian mystical writings. For in these monotheistic religions the female is deprived of all divine power, which is presented exclusively in male form. Yet, even despite such radical remything, there are still in the Bible many traces of both the Goddess and her sacred marriage, confirming the archeological evidence that Goddess worship (and with this sacral sex) continued to flourish in Canaan. For instance, Hebrew prophets are cosntantly exhorting their people against backsliding to the worship of the Queen of Heaven, railing against the ‘whore of Babylon’ and the sinful ‘daughters of Zion’. The Christian veneration of the Virgin Mary is a directly traceable to the ancient worship of the Goddess. And so also are a number of well-known Catholic saints, as it is to the Church’s co-option of earlier pagan deities that many Christian saints owe their origins. A well-documented example is the famous Irish Saint Brigit, who owed her great popularity to the fact that she was once the powerful Irish Goddess Brigit.
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La Feile Bride

Bridgit, Mary of the Gael, Goddess and Saint of Poetry, Crafts, Healing and Fire :
  Inpiration of poets, artists and artisans.



Brighid, excellent woman,
Sudden flame,
May the fiery, bright sun
Take us to the lasting kingdom.

Song of the Virgins of Kildare
St. Brigid’s church in Kildare was built on a site sacred to Brigid. 
Where Her eternal flame had once been tended by 19 priestesses, 
19 nuns took it in turn to each tend the flame for a day and a night. 
On the 20th day, the Goddess (or the saint) tended the flame herself.


February 2 is one of the great cross-quarter days which make up
 the wheel of the year. 
In the Northern Hemisphere It falls midway between the
 winter solstice and the spring equinox and in many traditions is 
considered the beginning 
of spring and in the Southern Hemisphere it is the 
beginning of autumn.

In Western Europe, this was the time for preparing the 
fields for the first planting.
 This was an important day for grain growing communities who 
depended on the crops of the earth mother. This is the time of year, 
when the ground is first awakened and the seed placed in the 
belly of the earth. 
The fields were purified and offerings were made to the goddess.

This medieval Anglo-Saxon plowing prayer was said by the 
farmer while cutting the first furrow.

Whole be thou Earth 
Mother of men. 
In the lap of God, 
Be thous as-growing. 
Be filled with fodder 
For fare-need of men.
The farmer then took a loaf of bread, kneaded it 
with milk and holy water and 
laid it under the first furrow, saying:

Acre full fed, 
Bring forth fodder for men! 
Blossoming brightly, 
Blessed become; 
And the God who wrought the ground, 
Grant us the gifts of growing, 
That the corn, all the corn, 
may come unto our need.


 February 2 is also Imbolc, and Candlemas,
 the holy day of Brighid, 
Goddess and Saint, La Feile Bride. (pronounced Breede)  

The Sacred Well and Shrine at Kildare

Brighid is a Goddess of many names. 
In Ireland She is called Brigid, Brigit, Brighid, 
Brid. In Scotland She is called Bhrighde, 
Bride Breo-Saighit, Brede. 
The Welsh call Her Ffraid and the French call her
 Brigandu.
She is called Brigantia by the Northern English 
and Bridget in Sweden. 
Her name is pronounced Brighid or Bree-id.  
Some have said that Her name may have come 
from the word Brihati, 
which means “high” or “exalted one” in Sanskrit. 
Her name in Gaelic means “fire tipped, exalted one, high one.”



 Imbolc, also called Oimelc [‘ewe’s milk’] marked the first 
stirrings of spring when young sheep were born, and when 
ewes came into milk. 
On this day, the first of the Celtic spring, Brigid was said to 
use her white wand to “breathe life into the 
mouth of the dead winter”, 
meaning the white fire of the sun awakened the land. 
An old poem stated; “Today is the day of Bride, 
The Serpent shall come from the hole.” 
An effigy of the serpent was often honoured in the ceremonies 
of this day, making it clear that Brighid had aspects as a 
serpent goddess. As the serpent sloughed its old skin and was 
renewed, so the land shook off winter to emerge restored; 
the snake symbolised the cycle of life. 
When Brighid’s cult was suppressed, 
then St Patrick had indeed banished the snakes [Pagans] from 
Ireland. However, Brighid’s popularity was so great that the c
hurch transformed her into a saint, allegedly the midwife of 
Christ and the daughter of a Druid who was converted to Christianity
 by St. Patrick, and who went on to found the Abbey of Kildare. 
Her festival became Candlemas when church candles were blessed. 
Brighid was invited into the home by the woman of the house, 
in the form of a doll or corn dolly dressed in maiden white. 
Oracles were taken from the ashes of the hearth fire, 
which people examined for a sign that Brighid had visited, i.e.
 a mark that looked like a swan’s footprint. If found, it was
 considered a lucky omen. 
The swan was an ancient attribute of the goddess Brighid. 
Many Irish homes still have a Brighid’s cross hung up somewhere.
 This was originally a solar symbol.

A small community of Brigidine nuns are keeping the sacred light
 of Brigit burning at 
Solas Brihde in Kildare.  I spent a week in Kildare, 
walking the pilgrimage of Bridgit, visiting her sacred well


Her favourite oak tree


a candle blessing at one of the stations of the Brigid walk





prayed at the Abbey of Brede



Weaving the St Bridgit cross is traditional on this day.


I found this step be step instruction on the site of the Brigidine sisters :

1.     Take the first rush/reed and hold it vertically.
2.     Fold a second rush/reed in half 
at the mid point of the first.
3.     Take a third and fold it around the second parallel to the first. 
This will now form a T-shaped piece, with one arm having one strand, 
the second having two and the third having three.
4.     Fold the fourth around the third to form a cross.
5.     Fold a fifth around the fourth, parallel to the single strand. 
Make sure you hold the centre tight!
6.     Continue folding each reed around the previous reeds.
7.     Work in a circular way until you have created enough of a woven centre. 
When your centre is as large as you want, hold in the reeds tightly so 
that the centre is tight and will hold the cross without any difficulty.
8.     Tie the end of each arm carefully and trim ends.



If you would like to read more about my pilgrimage to Brigid, 
Mary of the Gael and her presence in Glastonbury, please go here :  http://pathofdivinelove.blogspot.com/2011/04/brigidbrigitbridebrede-mary-of-gael.html
Carving of Bridgit milking a cow – on Tower of Michael,
                                                                                  the Tor, Glastonbury                                                                                  



A blessed La Feile Bride to you!!
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Chapel of the Miraculous Medal ….. while in Paris

A hot steamy day in Paris,
 a cooling breeze dancing in the tree outside my balcony. 
A unique city with inhabitants who do not apologize
 for anything and who has no regard for socially polite behavior or attitude. 
Quite a challenge to the mind in the beginning until 
you realize it affords you freedom from certain behavior. 
Then the question arises, which morality is engendered by society in human behavior 
and which are inherent. 
This question is even more prominent when
 we visit the beautiful cathedrals of Paris. 
At each and every one of them tourists are turned 
away because of wearing shorts, 
short skirts and sleeveless shirts. 
The latter included cotton shirts, covering up to the neck, 
but lacking sleeves! 
 Which part of the body is offensive to whom and why? 
 I wonder whether it is offensive to the Divine that tourists, 
carrying their backpacks, are taking the time to
 integrate the spiritual with the secular? 
Is it not the nature of life that these
 two cannot be separated? 
 But then, of course, the church is 
an institution and it has it’s own backpack 
to contend with. It took me a while to
 learn to look past bureaucracy and dogma
 and to not let these exclude me from experiencing
 the Light upon which most cathedrals and Other beautiful gifts are built. 
 One such gift is the miraculous medal. 
 A young nun at the Daughters of Charity Chapel
 received a visitation from divine Mary.
 In more than one visitation she received the image
 and instruction about the miraculous medal. 
Mary made it clear that this medal can be worn by
 anyone and everyone, regardless of religion. 
The only requisite was faith in ‘when you ask, you will receive’.
 The chapel is tucked away in a busy street
 across from a large departmental store. 
 The nuns scrutinize all visitors and the
 tiny gift shop is spartan and does 
not use electronic means of payment;
 each sale is written down by hand. 
 The chapel is incredibly beautiful, and as soon as you enter you feel the incredible Presence. Soon the images seen by my eyes disappear and only a brilliant golden light is visible. The light has a silver rim to it and it is alive and palpable with wisdom and knowledge which cannot be translated into words. 
This is the Presence of Divine Mary. 
The light translates into my physical body and energetically there is 
deep movement in and through my body. 
Then my heart fills with a feeling that seems physical. 
Everything and everyone around me is bathed in this beautiful light and they all glow in love. 
 The Light becomes stronger and more powerful and I see the intense 
Light at the centre of it all and also at the centre of each and every person. 
And the quality of this Light is Good and only Good – pure and beautiful and innocent! 
And it does not matter what happens on the exterior : nothing can 
corrupt or diminish that Light which is you and me. 
 Blessings from Paris
 Hettienne
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La Feile Bride

Bridgit, Mary of the Gael, Goddess and Saint of Poetry, Crafts, Healing and Fire :  Inpiration of poets, artists and artisans.
Brighid, excellent woman,
Sudden flame,
May the fiery, bright sun
Take us to the lasting kingdom.

Song of the Virgins of Kildare

St. Brigid’s church in Kildare was built on a site sacred to Brigid. Where Her eternal flame had once been tended by 19 priestesses, 19 nuns took it in turn to each tend the flame for a day and a night. On the 20th day, the Goddess (or the saint) tended the flame herself.

February 2 is one of the great cross-quarter days which make up the wheel of the year. In the Northern Hemisphere It falls midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and in many traditions is considered the beginning of spring and in the Southern Hemisphere it is the beginning of autumn.

In Western Europe, this was the time for preparing the fields for the first planting. This was an important day for grain growing communities who depended on the crops of the earth mother. This is the time of year, when the ground is first awakened and the seed placed in the belly of the earth. The fields were purified and offerings were made to the goddess.

This medieval Anglo-Saxon plowing prayer was said by the farmer while cutting the first furrow.

Whole be thou Earth 
Mother of men. 
In the lap of God, 
Be thous as-growing. 
Be filled with fodder 
For fare-need of men.

The farmer then took a loaf of bread, kneaded it with milk and holy water and laid it under the first furrow, saying:

Acre full fed, 
Bring forth fodder for men! 
Blossoming brightly, 
Blessed become; 
And the God who wrought the ground, 
Grant us the gifts of growing, 
That the corn, all the corn, 
may come unto our need.

 February 2 is also Imbolc, and Candlemas, the holy day of Brighid, Goddess and Saint, La Feile Bride. (pronounced Breede)  

The Sacred Well and Shrine at Kildare

Brighid is a Goddess of many names. In Ireland She is called Brigid, Brigit, Brighid, Brid. In Scotland She is called Bhrighde, Bride Breo-Saighit, Brede. The Welsh call Her Ffraid and the French call her Brigandu.
She is called Brigantia by the Northern English and Bridget in Sweden. Her name is pronounced Brighid or Bree-id.  Some have said that Her name may have come from the word Brihati, which means “high” or “exalted one” in Sanskrit. Her name in Gaelic means “fire tipped, exalted one, high one.”


 Imbolc, also called Oimelc [‘ewe’s milk’] marked the first stirrings of spring when young sheep were born, and when ewes came into milk. On this day, the first of the Celtic spring, Brigid was said to use her white wand to “breathe life into the mouth of the dead winter”, meaning the white fire of the sun awakened the land. 


An old poem stated; “Today is the day of Bride, The Serpent shall come from the hole.” An effigy of the serpent was often honoured in the ceremonies of this day, making it clear that Brighid had aspects as a serpent goddess. As the serpent sloughed its old skin and was renewed, so the land shook off winter to emerge restored; the snake symbolised the cycle of life. When Brighid’s cult was suppressed, then St Patrick had indeed banished the snakes [Pagans] from Ireland. However, Brighid’s popularity was so great that the church transformed her into a saint, allegedly the midwife of Christ and the daughter of a Druid who was converted to Christianity by St. Patrick, and who went on to found the Abbey of Kildare. 

Her festival became Candlemas when church candles were blessed. 

My painting of Bridgit

Brighid was invited into the home by the woman of the house, in the form of a doll or corn dolly dressed in maiden white. Oracles were taken from the ashes of the hearth fire, which people examined for a sign that Brighid had visited, i.e. a mark that looked like a swan’s footprint. If found, it was considered a lucky omen. The swan was an ancient attribute of the goddess Brighid. Many Irish homes still have a Brighid’s cross hung up somewhere. This was originally a solar symbol.


A small community of Brigidine nuns are keeping the sacred light of Brigit burning at Solas Brihde in Kildare.  I spent a week in Kildare, walking the pilgrimage of Bridgit, visiting her sacred well


Her favourite oak tree
a candle blessing at one of the stations of the Brigid walk
prayed at the Abbey of Brede
Weaving the St Bridgit cross is traditional on this day.

I found this step be step instruction on the site of the Brigidine sisters :
1.     Take the first rush/reed and hold it vertically.
2.     Fold a second rush/reed in half at the mid point of the first.
3.     Take a third and fold it around the second parallel to the first. This will now form a T-shaped piece, with one arm having one strand, the second having two and the third having three.
4.     Fold the fourth around the third to form a cross.
5.     Fold a fifth around the fourth, parallel to the single strand. Make sure you hold the centre tight!
6.     Continue folding each reed around the previous reeds.
7.     Work in a circular way until you have created enough of a woven centre. When your centre is as large as you want, hold in the reeds tightly so that the centre is tight and will hold the cross without any difficulty.
8.     Tie the end of each arm carefully and trim ends.

If you would like to read more about my pilgrimage to Brigid, Mary of the Gael and her presence in Glastonbury, please go here :  http://pathofdivinelove.blogspot.com/2011/04/brigidbrigitbridebrede-mary-of-gael.html

Carving of Bridgit milking a cow – on Tower of Michael,
                                                                                  the Tor, Glastonbury                                                                                  

A blessed La Feile Bride to you!!