Brigit the Goddess Articles / Gods, Goddesses & Deities Posted by Makarios on Feb 02, 2010 - 08:00 AM The Romans equated Brigantia with Minerva, a goddess of war, wisdom and crafts. There is evidence of this from a statue at Birrens in Dumfriesshire which shows her with Minerva’s symbol of the Gorgon’s head on her breast, a mural crown, a spear and the globe of victory. Modern scholars accept the link between Brigit and Brigantia who was the tribal protector of the Brigantes, a powerful tribe in the north of England. She was a bringer of fertility and prosperity, a patron of the arts and associated with healing. On the continent there was a tribe known as the Brigantii near Bregenz in Austria and since we know that Minerva was honoured there it is reasonable to assume that Brigantia was also a Celtic goddess of that area and that tribe. There are seven inscriptions to Brigantia, in two of them she is referred to as ‘dea Victoria’ which possibly reflects her function as tribal protector. In another she is called ‘Nympha Brigantia’ and invoked for healing (‘pro salute’). In yet another she is described as ‘Caelestis Brigantia’ or heavenly Brigantia which evokes images of her as both exalted and wonderfully pleasing, and suggests that she has a place in the heavens perhaps as the sun which is a heavenly body. This article is from WiccanWeb.ca   http://www.wiccanweb.ca/ The URL for this story is:   http://www.wiccanweb.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=26150