Please welcome Marion Brigantia to PriestessTraining.com!
Marion is a Priestess of Avalon living in Glastonbury, UK. She is such a sweet soul, I already love her and I’ve haven’t even met her in real life yet! She’s a very dedicated Priestess, offering all kinds of priestess services and opportunities to those drawn to the Goddess. She’s both a Priestess of Avalon, following Kathy Jones’ tradition, and a Priestess of Brighde, and runs dedicated Priestess of Bridgde courses and trainings for people who just love the Goddess Bridget through her website, Priestessing For You, so go check it out y’all.
Join me as I get all nosy and ask her lots of questions about her priestess journey.
Tell us the story about how you found the Goddess.
Although I didn’t realise it then, I have been with Goddess all the time I was growing up. I knew Her as Maria then… She has always been the One I turned to with my worries, my wishes, my deepest secrets. She was ‘The Mother’ – not a replacement for my (very loving) mother, but someone I could ALWAYS turn to!
I did however find Goddess in full awareness in 2001, while I had to rest for 6 weeks with a hernia. I started to read a lot about Her and knew immediately that She was the One I had been searching for… (it was only later I realised that She always had been with me…)
In 2003 I visited the Glastonbury Goddess Conference and I came home, to Her to Avalon. I started my priestess training that year in November with a Dutch Priestess of Avalon and initiated in 2005 as Priestess of Goddess, in 2006 as Priestess of Brighde and finally in 2013 (ten years after my first visit to Glastonbury) as Priestess of Avalon.
Tell us about your training in Glastonbury – how did the experience transform you? Was it what you expected?
I started my training in The Netherlands, but working with the same set up as here in Glastonbury. After that I trained Priestesses in the Dutch Goddess temple again following the Avalon principles. And finally I finished the Priestess of Avalon training here in Glastonbury with Kathy Jones.
‘She changes everything She touches…’ Everything I was and had before has changed, my roles in life, the country I live in… It has totally transformed me and still I feel the same as 10 years ago. She helped me remember who I really am and that is not always an easy route to walk. I resisted, doubted, got challenged – all in vain – in the end I could only surrender and when I did, all was well (as it had been all the time).
It was not at all what I expected. One of my students described it very well:
(A Goddess) training is unexpectedly hard core. Her soft and gentle approach doesn’t prepare you for the transformational and challenging experience that the Priest(ess) of Brighde training can be. A quiet question, a moment of reflection, a meditation and your laboriously built defences have been swept away. (Paul Brady)
I could not have described it better, often you don’t realise how She changes you, but you do and when looking back, I often am wowed by what actually happened! J
What do you feel is the role of a Priestess is in today’s world?
Serving Goddess, spreading Her love and light, Walking our Talk. I think it is very much time for the Feminine Divine to be felt, heard and experienced again in everyday life for everybody! For me this means teaching about remembering who we are – taking responsibility for our own life and Mother Earth in words and actions!
How do you feel you serve the Goddess everyday? How do you bring Her into your life?
It is not really something I do, it is who I am. I’ve had many roles in life and except from being a mother this is the only role I say that ‘I am’, not something that I do… I serve Her in how I behave towards others AND myself. I teach of Her love and light and by that I see Healing taking place, people opening up to other ways of being. It’s the most beautiful thing to witness! I love it!
How did Brigdhe become your particular goddess?
How do you fall in love? Brighde was the manifestation of Goddess (who in my view is always The One and The Many) who spoke to me in such a physical way (I always start to cry when my soul gets touched) that I could not ignore it… After that first ‘encounter’ She just stuck out like the legendary sore thumb J – and no wonder because (as I found out soon enough) Brighid IS Goddess (not one of the many, but THE ONE!). And I do also like the fact that She is Goddess as well as Saint (so: human…)!
Tell us about your training to become a Priestess of Bridghe. Why did you feel called to offer this as a training? How do your students respond to the course?
When I did the Brighde Retreat with Kathy Jones in 2006 I felt immediately inspired to work with Her and started to do so in The Netherlands running Brigid(a) retreats in Noorbeek (a Brigida town in the very south of The Netherlands).
When Kathy invited people to take over her Brighde Retreat I stepped forward and so did Isabella. Together we facilitated the Retreat for 3 years, but the more I worked with Brighde the more I felt that there was so much more (and deeper) to experience with Her and I developed the Brighde Training. Isabella went her own way and developed an online course as I have done now as well (since people kept coming to me asking for one).
So far as I can say, my students LOVE working with Her as much as I do. Every time I am amazed about the deep experiences and healing that takes place. I see people change, getting more empowered – beautiful!
What advice would you share for those looking to live closer to Goddess?
Trust Her – She talks to you if you open yourself to Her! Find ways to (learn to) connect with Her, go into nature and feel Her in the elements, the trees, the earth… go to workshops/trainings and experience what She can do… celebrate the festivals of the Wheel of the Year – the more you ‘understand’ the Wheel, the easier it is to connect with Goddess, as She is all that is and through nature and through us She works Her wonders…