CĂ©ad mĂle fĂ¡ilte, a hundred thousand welcomes to H A G! I’m Ali Isaac, and this email comes to you from the intersection of female senescence and Irish landscape, both mythical and natural. My book, Imperfect Bodies, will be published by HĂ©loĂ¯se Press in the spring of 2026.
So here we are at the beginning of Brigid’s season, and it’s cold with cloud down to the ground and torrential rain here in Cavan. It’s almost as if the Cailleach doesn’t quite want to let go, and Brigid isn’t quite ready to take over. Or, as I prefer to think, the Cailleach hasn’t properly settled into her deep sleep and is stirring, while Brigid herself is still sitting groggy over her coffee, not quite fully awake. I’m sure they’ll work it out. They usually do.
So, let’s warm things up a bit around here. Bringing St. Brigid’s Cloak to Life is the name of an exhibition currently on display in the County Cavan Museum. I went to see it recently, and was quite blown away by the whole concept.
I’m sure you know the story of Brigid’s Cloak. St. Brigid went to the King of Leinster and asked for some land upon which to establish her monastery, but he refused. Undeterred, she asked him if she might claim the patch of land her cloak would cover. He laughed, eyeing up her small cloak, and agreed. When she spread out her cloak, it began to expand in all four directions until it had covered a large part of the lands of Kildare. Amazed, the King was forced to concede and gifted her possession of the land her cloak covered, as agreed. This event comprises one of her many miracles.
The Bringing St. Brigid’s Cloak to Life community art project has taken a year to come to fruition, and is the brainchild of a collaboration between Bee Smith, a writer, poet and creative writing facilitator, and Morag Donald, an artist, creative workshop facilitator and Reiki practitioner, who work together as Geopark Ambassadors at the cross-border Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark.
In the true spirit of Brigid that is taking hold and spreading inexorably across Ireland of late, in much the same way as the cloak itself once expanded across Kildare, these two inspired cailleacha decided to recreate this powerful symbol for modern times. They gathered people from schools and communities across the border counties to weave together their stories and experiences of Brigid, inscribe poems, blessings and prayers into the cloak’s lining, and stitch textile symbols onto the cloak’s outer fabric.

The result is a potent symbolic garment that resonates with meaning, emotion, and female energy. This cloak is birthed from crafts traditionally thought of as female arts, such as the weaving and dying of cloth, stitching and embroidery, and has been held in women’s hands and hearts, as well as laid across women’s laps as they worked. The manifesting of this cloak was inclusive, though, as befits the times we live in, and men and boys were also invited to take part in its creation.
Still, as I gazed at the thought and expression inherent in all the tiny works of art that joined together in its making, I felt strongly that the power residing in this cloak was uniquely and resolutely feminine.

Unreserved thanks to Bee and Morag, and all those who helped the cloak to be what it has become. The project was funded by Creative Ireland and Cavan County Council through Creative Cavan, Cavan Arts, and Cuilcagh Lakelands Geopark. St. Brigid’s Cloak is still on display at the Cavan County Museum until Saturday 28th March 2025.



Images of Spring: 1. the arrival of flowers. 2. rushes woven into an elaborate Brigid’s cross. 3. embroidered symbol on the cloak featuring a four-armed Brigid’s cross.
You can find Bee on Substack:
And Morag is on Instagram @creatinghealing:
Thanks for reading! Bye for now,
Also I appreciate the shout out for my IWD workshops. đŸ˜‰
Thank you so much for your generous and insightful words about our project. When you work on something for so long it's really hard to be objective about it, so to see it through your eyes is just wonderful and a reminder of how powerful it is.