DEEPENING PRACTICE 

Module 1: Carry Brigid’s Flame to Light Your Life & Our World 
 
Greetings dear dreamer, 
 
I am so glad you joined us for our beautiful opening class. ​ We traveled deep into the realms of 
Brigid, using the map given to me in a pre-dawn visitation by an Irish priestess last week. 
Before our class, I had shared that map and the details of that visitation with only three Irish 
women who live close to the Earth and to Brigid and were able to help me confirm some of the 
paths. 
 
We journeyed to a sacred well of healing, and tasted the juice of a story from a magic apple 
orchard, and lit our candles of vision at Brigid's fire temple.  
 
We developed the elements of a Celtic blessing way and learned how to call on the great 
Goddess of the threshold to face the present challenges in our lives and our world. 
 
Brigid is an endlessly giving, nurturing and protective Mother Goddess and she is best honored 
in homely, practical ways. Like pausing before you cross a threshold to seek her blessing and 
guidance. Like treating anything you do with water - from drinking a glass or taking a bath to 
washing your hands - as a moment of connection with her healing waters. Like ligting a candle 
for her and making it your meditation to loght the candle of vision in your own head. Like 
offering a little pat of butter or cheese or a dollop of beer or mead - all gifts of this Goddess, 
and her favorites. 
 
Since quite a few of you reported serpent and dragon encounters during or after the class, I 
want to offer a few notes on... 
 
SERPENT AND GODDESS IN A LAND WITHOUT SNAKES 
 
At Imbolc, her early spring festival, Brigid ​may appear as a snake from beneath the earth, even 
in Ireland, the country without snakes. A verse says of Imbolc: 
 
This is the day of Bride​ ​the Queen will come from the mound 

 
01ShamanicDreaming01_20 Deepening Practices pg 2 
 
There is an invocation in the ​Carmina Gadelica,​ the Scottish collection of charms and 
blessings, that speaks to Brigid as if she is a serpent coming of the earth at the end of winter: 
  
On the day of Bride of the white hills, 
The noble queen will come from the knoll, 
I will not molest the noble queen, 
Nor will the noble queen molest me.   
  
I think of Brigid’s Celtic sisters who have snake connections – especially Sirona, who stands in 
a sculpture found at Hochscheid in Germany with a serpent coiled round her right arm and a 
dish with three eggs in her left hand.)see photo) 
  
One of the Irish women I consulted on last weeks's vision, shared the following thought: “As 
you look at every St Patrick's statue, you will see he always has his foot on a snake. He didn’t 
drive the snakes out of Ireland he suppressed the divine feminine though the patriarchy." 
INVOCATION OF THE GRACES 
Here are the words of the beautiful Celtic blessing I read at the end of class. Titled The 
Invocation of the Graces, it is printed as #3 in the ​Carmina Gadelica​, the great collection of 
charms and blessings from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland assembled by Alexander 
Carmichael around 1900.I have payed with his translations from Scots Gaelic to make the text 
clearer and more accessible and hopefully no less poetic:  
 
I bathe your palms 
In showers of wine, 
In fire of water 
In the seven elements, 
In berry juice, 
In the milk of honey. 
 

I place the nine pure graces 

In your beloved face: 

  
The grace of form 
The grace of voice 
The grace of fortune 
The grace of goodness 
The grace of wisdom 
The grace of charity 
The grace of beauty 
The grace of whole-souled loveliness 
01ShamanicDreaming01_20 Deepening Practices pg 3 
 
The grace of goodly speech 
  
You are shade in the heat 
You are shelter in the cold 
You are sight to the blind 
A staff to the pilgrim 
An island at sea 
A fortress on land 
A well in the desert 
  
You are the joy of all joyous things 
You are the light of the sun 
You are the guiding star 
You are the speed of the deer on the hills 
You are the grace of the swimming swan 
  
The best hour of the day be yours 
The best day of the week be yours 
The best week of the year be yours 
The best of all years be yours 
  
IF YOU ARE NEW TO MY COURSES 
you are going to want to start building your practice and getting familiar with some of the core 
techniques of Active Dreaming, my original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. 
 
You are fortunate to be in the company of many frequent flyers and gifted teachers of Active 
Dreaming who will help you along your path. You have key resources available in the Active 
Dreamers Toolkit, available on our Course Homepage under Supplemental Materials. 
In particular you want to 
* Start keeping a journey and/or deepen your practice of journaling 
* Practice sharing stories with partners and guiding each other by our fast, fun, four-step 
Lightning Dreamwork method 
* Try to spend more time in the twilight space between sleep and awake 
* See whether you can continue a journey or reenter a dream on your own,with or without using 
recorded drumming (or live drumming if you can do this yourself or have a partner who can) 
Be safe, be well, be ready to fly! We have so many extraordinary adventures ahead. 
Bright blessings, 
Robert