About Brigid Rising

Brigid Rising was born out of a desire to help us remember our connection to the living earth, to the green and growing things, to the medicine we can find right in our own backyards.

For so long the narrative has been that humans are a destructive force, that all we know how to do is take from and harm the earth. While it is impossible to deny the negative impact we have had on this planet (climate breakdown, rapid habitat loss, unprecedented species extinction, and so much more), I believe we must try to shift our purpose and rewrite our story.

Our ancestors understood that earth is animate, a living thing worthy of love and respect. When the land is healthy, so are we; we are inextricably linked to our ecosystems, and our fates are intertwined. Deep in our bones, we know this too, and it’s time for us to remember it. We are capable of becoming a force for good on this earth.

This moment requires a radical shift in how we see ourselves, and radical, immediate action.

Herbalism, foraging our own wild foods, and learning to understand the land we live on is a pathway to this remembering.

When we know the names of the plants growing around us and the medicine they freely give, we start to see them as friends and partners. We watch them through the seasons, get to know them, observe the ecosystems they grow in, and learn what they need to thrive. We begin to care for the land, and when you care for something, you take action to protect it. You become a guardian and a steward.

Who is Brigid?

Brigid has been and is many things; she changes when she needs to, but always persists.

Today she is known widely as St. Brigid, a fixture of the Catholic faith.

But before that, long before that, she was a goddess of my ancestors. She is still honored today by those who walk the old pathways, who listen to the oaks and the deep wells of the earth.

Brigid is a goddess of the sun and the earth and the fiery life spark of all things. Of healing and herbalists, of transformation, and also of compassion.

To me Brigid embodies all of the things we need to return to and cultivate; a love of wild things, a deep trust of our intuition, and the courage to take radical action to heal ourselves and our ecosystems.

Brigid is an idea, a force of nature, a voice of the earth; it’s time for her, and us, to rise up.