DUMANNIOS begins as Sirius rises on the eastern horizon with the appearance of the first quarter moon and Regulus follows as the guiding star of primary magnitude of the month. Seven days after the full moon of DUMANNIOS, mid-winter centers on Brigantu, the Celtic goddess of Gaul later known as Brigantia in Britain and Brigit in Ireland.

          Brigantu, "the Exalted One," is the guardian of mid-winter light. She is responsible for kindling inspiration and igniting the well-spring of human thought like a single candle flame preventing darkness. Her territory is the human spirit as she carefully tends the fire of poetic truth and art. Moreover, she is the healer of the dark, winter night of the soul. A single flame symbolizes her enduring light in the mid-winter darkness and her holy nights are marked by burning a single candle.

          Brigantu's healing powers enrich her tapestry of abilities to invoke the human spirit to creativity by combining fire with water. Here, as goddess of the spring and wells of the earth, she endears her powers of healing upon us even more powerfully than before. She appears in her virgin aspect, often with nine nymphs who guard her sacred wells, to admonish our fears of losing the healing waters of life. Nourished by the milk of sacred white cows and born of the Father God, the Dagda, Brigantu herself is capable of merging fire with water. As small animals are brought inside to the hearth fires and ewes begin to give milk to their young, Brigantu guides us through the cold winter of earth by symbolizing the fire and water needed to nourish the human soul.         ANM