Coracle

Cynthia Hughes, Celtic Harp

John Crockett, Cello and Whistles

Listen on MySpace

  


A coracle is a small boat, a skin stretched over the simplest of frames. For us the coracle represents that quiet, sacred emptiness, the womb of all creation, that centered stillness from which
each moment is birthed.

For Bookings, Please contact us

21 February 2009

7:30 pm

Immanuel Episcopal Church

Bellows Falls, VT

The Seal Woman's Sea Joy


Coracle returns to Immanuel Chapel to present “The Seal Woman’s Sea Joy,” a special program of Celtic and original music on harp, cello and Irish whistles. Inspired by the sea and its creatures, real and imagined, John Crockett and Cynthia Hughes weave tunes, songs and stories into a magical journey. Local musicians and naturalists, the duo brings a love of the earth into their music and creates programs that celebrate the connectedness of all life.

Tickets are $15.00 for adults and $10.00 for children under 12, and for seniors. Tickets may be purchased at Village Square Booksellers (Bellows Falls), Brattleboro Books, Misty Valley Books (Chester), Toadstool Bookshop Music Department (Keene, NH) and online at brattleborotix.com.

Call 802-463-3100 for more information.

 

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BRIGHID’S CORACLE: THE SACRED VESSEL

Imbolc - February 1, 2007

Imbolc, which means "in the belly" is a time of hope and expectation.
For those of us in the colder climes, it can be a time of waiting,
gestating the seeds of springtime and new life, a witnessing of
returning light and birdsong in this, the deepest part of winter. So,
too, it is a time for resting "in the belly," in the quiet center of
ourselves.

A light shines out in Kildare In the name of Brigid, her spirit
asking for love, justice, peace, truth, care of the earth.

- Brigidine Nuns, Kildare , Ireland

 
St. Bride’s Coracle Trad. Scottish
 
Reading - Fair Face of Bride
 Carmina Gadelica
Ave Maris Stella (Hail, Star of the Sea)
8th c. Plainsong
Ave Maria
12th c. French
The Moon’s Lovely Daughter
Hughes
 
Reading - The Art of Balance
 Crockett
Right Whale Mother’s Lament
Crockett
Sansonnette
French
 
Reading - The Old Man and the Seals
  Crockett
Dark Girl
Hughes
     
Lighting of Brighid’s Candle
 
Reading - Seal Song
 Crockett
Seal Song
Skomer Island Seals
Lament for Eoin Rua
Trad. Irish
Seal Woman’s Sea Joy
Trad. Scottish/Seal Song
Seal
Hughes
   
Reading - Columba’s Blessing
Carmina Gadelica
White Horse
Hughes
60 Horses in my Herd
 Trad. Tuvan
 
Reading - Whale Song Crockett
Evelyn and the Whale
 Hughes/ Crockett/ Humpback

 


The candle burning here tonight contains "Brigid’s Fire" brought across the ocean to Vermont from Kildare, Ireland several years ago.

This flame has a story that reaches back into pre-Christian times. Scholars suggest that priestesses kept a sacred fire lit to invoke a goddess named Brigid to protect their herds and to provide a fruitful harvest.

When St. Brigid built her monastery and church in Kildare in the 6th Century she continued the custom of keeping the fire alight. The flame was tended by nuns of St. Brigid possibly up to the suppression of the monasteries in the sixteenth century. The sacred flame was re-lit in 1993 by Mary Teresa Cullen, the then leader of the Brigidine Sisters, at the opening of a justice and peace conference. It now burns as an eternal flame in the middle of Kildare, "a beacon for justice, peace, truth and care of the earth".

If you would like to take your own flame home with you, please collect one in one of the votive candles provided. To "keep the flame within the candle", do not blow the flame out, but rather extinguish it with your fingers. The flame can be transferred to a fresh candle when the one you are using runs its course. Brigdt’s Fire has been inspirational to many for prayer or meditation. Please pass the flame on to others.

For more information about the Brigidine Order or Brigid's Flame, please visit these websites:

www.solasbhride.ie

www.brigidine.org.au

  

For a simple house blessing for spring light St. Brigid’s Candle and slowly carry the flame sunwise around the threshold, the hearth and four corners of each room while reciting this blessing, adapted from ancient Scottish-lore by storyteller Mara Freeman, which invokes Brigid of the Hearthfire:

 

May Brighid give blessing
To the house that is here.
From crest and frame,
Both stone and beam;
Both clay and wattle;
Both roof and foundation;
Both window and timber;
Both foot and head;
Both man and woman;
Both wife and children;
Both young and old;
Both maiden and youth.
Plenty of laughter
Plenty of wealth,
Plenty of people,
Plenty of health,
Be always here.

 


May you have a Joyous Journey into Springtime!

©2007