About the Book
One account of the saint’s life discloses the strength of Brigid’s determination to follow her calling. After Brigid had finally persuaded her family that she would not marry, she set off with seven other young women who shared a desire to take the veil in search of a bishop to consecrate them as Brides of Christ.
Their journey was far from easy, for in those days, Ireland had few roadways, no road maps, and certainly no vocational guidebooks whatever for young women who wanted to become nuns. Nevertheless, Brigid and her companions made their way to the place where they had heard Bishop Mel was living, a small religious house on the side of Cróchán, an island of high ground surrounded on all sides by boglands. The sisters there greeted them regretfully with the news that the bishop was away visiting the churches in another area.
Brigid and her companions then asked a young man who was studying with Bishop Mel if he would lead them to the bishop, but the youth declined, saying that “the way is trackless, with marshes, deserts, bogs and pools.” Brigid was undeterred by the roughness of the unmarked terrain. She and her companions simply headed off in the direction the student had pointed. As the young man watched the women forging ahead across the marshes, “he could see afterwards a straight bridge there” (Bethu Brigte, §17).
Praise & Endorsements
The divine feminine has many faces in the great spiritual traditions of humanity. In the Christian world there is none so beautiful and so untameable as Brigid of Kildare. She is returning to us again today because we need her, perhaps like never before. She comes to lead us back into a true dance of the sacred feminine and masculine within us and between us, in our lives and in our world. Only then will we be well.
- John Philip Newell, author of Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Souls Know and Healing the World
Continuing the legacy and spirit of her Celtic patron saint, St. Brigid of Kildare, Linda McFadden serves as a modern midwife for the divine feminine that continues its insistence birthing. Writing with the passion of a prophet, the curiosity of a historian, and the eye of a depth psychologist, she challenges both women and men to attend the sacred task of incarnating the archetypal feminine. Readers will be entertained, enlightened, and filled with hope for the beleaguered soul in this threshold time. A wonderful and wonder-filled book.
- Jerry R. Wright, D.Min., Jungian Analyst, author of A Mystical Path Less Traveled: A Jungian Psychological Perspective.
AT THE EVENTS LISTED ASK LINDA TO SIGN YOUR BOOK
$24.95
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
- October 20, 2022, 7:00 PM, Linda will speak at the Asheville Jung Group meeting at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 337 Charlotte Street, Asheville, NC
FAQs
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
Q. How can I have Linda speak at our upcoming event?
A. Email Philip Wiehe pfwiehe@gmail.com
Q: Is Linda available to discuss her book with our group?
A: Yes. Send email to pfwiehe@gmail.com
Q: Is this Linda's first book?
A: No, she has co-authored a book with Philip Wiehe, Ten More Dumb Things Churches Do
Q: Where will Linda be presenting in the next year?
A. See "Upcoming Events" to the left
more information
Why I Write
My background -- a brief CV
My background -- a brief CV
Perhaps the most truthful thing I can say as a writer is that I write because I am addicted to stories. One of my fondest memories is from a time when I was five years old. My dad was out teaching his evening class and my baby brother had been tucked up for the night. Mama made a snack of fried sweet potatoes and sat with me on the couch
Perhaps the most truthful thing I can say as a writer is that I write because I am addicted to stories. One of my fondest memories is from a time when I was five years old. My dad was out teaching his evening class and my baby brother had been tucked up for the night. Mama made a snack of fried sweet potatoes and sat with me on the couch reading aloud from books from the extension course on children’s literature she was taking. The glow of parental attention and the delicious sweetness of the fried potatoes melded with the magic of the stories, so that even today hearing a story or telling a story fills me with joy.
I believe that we humans are made for stories, and that telling stories is, next to music, the most direct way of connecting with people. For me it was a long step from the delicious pleasure of savoring stories from bedtime story hours and library books to being able to tell stories that would hook others in their hearts. Perhaps the most important clue came from a beloved English teacher when I was still a sheltered 16-year-old. He told me that while my writing was technically flawless, I didn’t yet have anything to say. He sagely advised that I needed to get my heart broken.
How right he was. It is by breaking our hearts that life teaches us what is important, what is amusing, what hurts, what is inevitable. And paradoxically, a broken and mended heart is able to feel the greatest joy.
Stories are not just for fun. They are the best of all medicines for the human spirit.
My background -- a brief CV
My background -- a brief CV
My background -- a brief CV
Linda W. McFadden, M.A., M. Div.
• Hendersonville, NC • lindawmcfadden@lindamcfadden.com
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL, PilgrimQuests, Hendersonville, NC (2014 - present)
Provide spiritual direction for individual clients. Organize and lead pilgrimages focused on Celtic spirituality and Jungian psychology.
TRANSIT
Linda W. McFadden, M.A., M. Div.
• Hendersonville, NC • lindawmcfadden@lindamcfadden.com
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL, PilgrimQuests, Hendersonville, NC (2014 - present)
Provide spiritual direction for individual clients. Organize and lead pilgrimages focused on Celtic spirituality and Jungian psychology.
TRANSITIONAL PASTOR
Mediated congregational transition from pastoral departure to call of new pastor.
6 Congregations served in Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania
ENGLISH AND WRITING INSTRUCTOR
Taught college and adult education courses in topics including basic writing and research skills, creative writing, autobiography, English and American literature, fiction, and New Journalism in 6 institutions of higher learning
·
COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONAL
Wrote and edited periodicals, promotional materials, scripts, and educational curricula. Provided still photography, videography, and video editing. Produced weekly public affairs television program.
EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS
Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, CA, Master of Divinity (1980)
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Master of Arts in English (1967)
Stetson University, DeLand, FL, Bachelor of Arts in English (1966)
Haden Institute, Kanuga, NC, Certificate in Spiritual Direction (2013)
PUBLICATIONS
Co-author with Philip Wiehe, More Dumb Things Churches Do (And New Strategies for
Avoiding Them), Church Publishing Company, 2009.
Co-author with George Conklin, “Television and Theology,” in Television Awareness Training:
The Viewer’s Guide for Family and Community, edited by Ben Logan, Abingdon, 1979
Press Release
My background -- a brief CV
Press Release
Chiron Publications is pleased to announce the upcoming release of In Brigid's Footsteps: The Return of the Divine Feminine by Linda W. McFadden.
In a time when old myths are failing and new ones are still incubating in the womb of the Unconscious, we could ask for no better guide than Brigid.
She is Mistress of Thresholds, reminding
Chiron Publications is pleased to announce the upcoming release of In Brigid's Footsteps: The Return of the Divine Feminine by Linda W. McFadden.
In a time when old myths are failing and new ones are still incubating in the womb of the Unconscious, we could ask for no better guide than Brigid.
She is Mistress of Thresholds, reminding us that the Divine Feminine thrives in the liminality of the present times. She is Wise Woman, promising that the terrors of our times are not the death throes of humankind but labor pains for what is yet to be born. She is Holy Midwife, assuring those who are ready to accept this promise that she will be present to assist the birth of the Divine Child from each individual.
In Brigid’s Footsteps: The Return of the Divine Feminine focuses on the Celtic goddess and Christian saint Brigid as an archetype of the Divine Feminine. Drawing on mythology, history, and transpersonal psychology, the author traces the iconic Brigid’s evolution from incarnation as goddess of wisdom, craft, and healing to embodiment as a saint of Celtic Christianity who served as midwife to Mary at the birth of Jesus.
Part Two explores the suppression of feminine energies in mainstream western culture and the damaging consequences of living in our masculine-biased civilization. The final essays speculate on how the Divine Feminine may influence our masculine-leaning culture during the shift in consciousness Jung referred to as a “changing of the gods,” a time in which Brigid re-emerges as the spirit of liminal times and midwife to the Holy.
Order Book Praise for In Brigid's Footsteps“The divine feminine has many faces in the great spiritual traditions of humanity. In the Christian world there is none so beautiful and so untameable as Brigid of Kildare. She is returning to us again today because we need her, perhaps like never before. She comes to lead us back into a true dance of the sacred feminine and masculine within us and between us, in our lives and in our world. Only then will we be well.”
-John Philip Newell, author of Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Souls Know and Healing the World
“Continuing the legacy and spirit of her Celtic patron saint, St. Brigid of Kildare, Linda McFadden serves as a modern midwife for the divine feminine that continues its insistent birthing. Writing with the passion of a prophet, the curiosity of a historian, and the eye of a depth psychologist, she challenges both women and men to attend the sacred task of incarnating the archetypal feminine. Readers will be entertained, enlightened, and filled with hope for the beleaguered soul in this threshold time. A wonderful and wonder-filled book.”
Jerry R. Wright, D.Min., Jungian Analyst, author of A Mystical Path Less Traveled: A Jungian Psychological Perspective
“Linda McFadden invites readers to imagine ‘the energy of the Divine Feminine leading our masculine-leaning culture forward through these unsettled times.’ She chronicles the re-emergence of Brigid—goddess, saint, healer, and ever-deepening archetype in Celtic spirituality. This synergy of Divine essence can lead to an evolution of consciousness for the 21st century in which violence is replaced by generosity and mercy.”
-Dian Neu, D.Min., LGSW, psychotherapist and author, co-founder and co-director of WATER, the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual
Author
Linda W. McFadden brings to the writing of this book a life-long passion for the Divine Feminine. From childhood roots steeped in bibliocentric Southern Baptist Churches, her spiritual journey has led to the pursuit of interests in Jungian psychology, mythology, and Celtic spirituality, as well as to theological studies and ordained ministry in the United Church of Christ.
Formerly a pastor and teacher of writing, she holds an M.A. from the University of North Carolina and an M.Div. from Pacific School of Religion. She is co-author of More Dumb Things Churches Do (And New Strategies for Avoiding Them). The author met her co-author and husband, Philip Wiehe, while traveling in the Holy Land and the two have since escorted pilgrims to Taize, England, Ireland, Costa Rica, and Iona. They currently lead pilgrimages focused on Celtic spirituality and Jungian psychology.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- PART ONE Goddess Quest
- Chapter 1 Finding Brigid
- Chapter 2 The Irish Goddess
- Chapter 3 “The Saint of Their Desire”
- Chapter 4 Brigid and Mary, Co-Mothers of God
- Chapter 5 Bringer of Spring
- PART TWO The Exile of the Goddess & The Unbalancing of Western Civilization
- Chapter 6 The Dragonslayers & The Exile of the Goddess
- Chapter 7 “The Greatest People in Europe”
- Chapter 8 How the Irish Saved Celtic Mythology
- PART THREE The Return of the Goddess & The Age of Aquarius
- Chapter 9 The Return of the Divine Feminine
- Chapter 10 The Aquarian Threshold
- Epilogue Birthing the Divine Self
- Notes
- Bibliography