Newly Published Book by a modern Bridget Worshiper (and Bridget's Fire Blog Reader!!!)

OKAY!!!!!!! This is WAY COOL!!!

Ceri Norman, who incorporates Bridget into her spirituality AND who reads Bridget's Fire (ok, I am just too tickled pink with myself), has a NEWLY PUBLISHED book out, available from Amazon: Celtic Maidens



Here is Ceri's description of her book:


"A powerful and supernatural tale of love, lives and obsession set against the dramatic scenery of the Welsh Mountains.
Celtic Maidens tells the story of Siân Derwyn whose life holds few pleasures except for her friends, her interest in local folklore and the standing stones until the day that Ryan Ackley arrives in her remote Welsh village.
Siân and Ryan are reincarnations of Celtic lovers who were slaughtered long ago. They are unaware that obsessive love, power struggles and murder have followed them down through the ages. Thwarted in ancient times, a murderous spirit has followed them through time and now, with them all reunited in the 21st century,
he plans to fulfil his malevolent vendetta.. And yes, I have snuck a few references to Brighid into the book under her Welsh name of St. Ffraid."


Now how cool is this? I love books about Wales (having lived in Aberystwyth and Lampeter, plus many months doing research in Carmarthen, and of course ubiquitous trips to the LGBT shrine of Llangollen), and I love references to Ffraid, the Bridget so often forgotten. So gentle readers, check out Ceri's book - and let everyone know whatcha think!

The reincarnation theme also strikes home with me - again through my Welsh ancestry.

My first trip to Wales, paid for with a grant from the Unitarian Universalist Association to study Welsh Unitarian history - and yup, I can say that in Welsh! - took me to West Wales. My mom and aunt, eager to know more of their Jones' ancestry, mailed me pages of family documents all with orders to find my Jones family ancestral home.

I remember the TrawsCambria bus, my first ever excursion into the Welsh country, winding away from Carmarthen to Aber. In a gorgeous June evening, I looked about the countryside near Llandysul, feeling as if I'd never seen a land so beautiful and heartrending. I hung out the bus window soaking up this landscape, feeling pulled to the ground, the land, the road, the hedgerows, the fields, the trees. My heart flew from my body on the A487!

I ended up tracing my family to county offices in Cardigan, Carmarthen and the national library in Aber, and finally found - and visited - my great grandmother's birthplace, the farm Bwlch y Fadfa, near, you guessed it, Llandysul. Somehow, I think I had memories of that gentle farming land of Ceredigion, which is not typically the famous and gobsmacking landscape of the Brecons or north Wales. Yet the Teifi river valley remains more dear to my heart than any Snowdonia.

I have also studied immersion Welsh, in west Wales, first at the University of Aberystwyth (helo Llinos! are you reading me today??), and then at St. David's University. Now any immersion language experience can scramble your brains, but for me, Welsh - and speaking for an entire month of Welsh at a time - meant finding pieces of my soul that I buried in English.

A book on reincarnation in Wales reflects so much of what I have lived. I have the book on order, and will share when I have read more.

And THANK YOU/DIOLCH YN FAWR to Ceri, for sharing her publishing. Writing is sacred to Bridget! What an honour to share Ceri's success on this blog to Her!