Brigid

Brigid was so loved by the Celtic people that she was worshipped all through the land, including Ireland, Wales and farther into Europe as well. Her name was spelled many ways: Brigit, Brighid, Brigit, or simply Brid (pronounced Bride or Bridey). She was the daughter of the Dagda, and wife to Bres, an agricultural God who was also the Fomorian king of the Tuatha de Danann for a time. Unfortunately, he was not fit to rule and was quickly deposed.

She had a sacred temple at Kildare, where 19 priestesses tended a holy flame that was never extinguished. The flame represented Brigid, as the Goddess of fire and forge. She ruled over smithcraft and other arts, poetry, divination, animals and livestock, healing and physicians. Because she is associated with 3 distinctive and unrelated fields (smithcraft, healing, poetry), Brigid is sometimes considered a form of triple Goddess. Imbolc Sabbat is particularly sacred to Brigid, as her feast day.

As Christianity swept over the Celtic lands, the people loved Brigid too much to let her go. She was converted into a Catholic saint (St. Brigid) and her temple became a Catholic convent, tended by nuns. The flame was put out in the 18th century by Bishops who became angry at the all-female convent, because they wouldn't allow men within its walls. In 1993, the flame was relit by the Brigidine sisters of Ireland.