Welcome Brigid by Katy Taylor

To be balanced and more fully alive, I have needed to cultivate my connection to Divine Feminine energy. One of the ways this manifests is that music comes through me—a text, a place, a thought, a person inspires music to well up within me, which becomes these songs. They are prayers to welcome and embrace the Divine Feminine energy in my life. On this CD, the Divine Feminine archetypes that I call forth are:

• Brigid, the Celtic triple-goddess of poetry, healing, and smithcraft
• The Mother, earth, goddess
• Mary, virgin, mother, comforter, queen, ...
• Sophia, goddess of wisdom
• The Moon, guiding jewel, joyful maiden, queen maiden
• The Goddess

The Artists
Katy Taylor - vocals, hurdy gurdy, shruti box, flute, concertina
Amy Fradon - vocals
Lynn Margileth - drums
Julie Last - vocals, keyboard, recording, sound engineering, mixing
Tom Desisto - mastering
Katy, Julie, and Amy - producers
The Turning Mill - graphic design
Steve Wehr - cover graphic design idea
Holly Shelowitz - portraits of Katy and Amy
Don Riso - Ireland church photo, edited

Thank You To: Amy Fradon, my singing partner and dearest friend; Julie Last for her recording skills, gentle persistence, and amazing ears; Donald MacDonald, for helping with the Scottish Gaelic (forgive my imperfection!); Jay Mankita for helping me begin this CD; Dave Hall for support, love, and inspiration; my girlfriends Amy, Che, Holly, and Catharine; my parents Jenifer and Lynn Taylor; my dog Teddy; and everyone who has encouraged me to keep listening to the music coming in.

Permissions
Carmina Gadelica Texts: Carmichael, Alexander. Carmina Gadelica: Hymns & Incantations. CJ Moore, Editor. New York: Lindisfarne Press, 1997. Texts used with permission from Lindisfarne Press.

Litany to Our Lady Text: by Anon, translated from Latin by Eugene O'Curry from Ireland's Women: Writing Past and Present by Katie Donovan, A. Norman Jeffares & Brendan Kennelly (eds.). Copyright 1994 by Katie Donovan, A Norman Jeffares & Brendan Kennelly. Selections used with permission from W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Poem to Brigit Text: Lady Gregory, A Book of Saints and Wonders, c. 1972, Colin Smythe Ltd, UK—Irish stories originally published in 1906. Public Domain.

Welcome Brigid Text: recorded by Seamus O'Cathain from Conall Eoghain Phadraig Micab Luain, Cruach Mhinan Fheannta. Na Cruacha, Co. Donegal in 1972 and was quoted in The Festival of Brigit by Seamus O'Cathain (DBA Publications, Ireland, 1995 p.42). Permission pending.

Katy performs original, medieval, and Celtic chant and song weaving Celtic ornamentation with haunting, mystical invocations and prayers. Katy has performed and toured with various ensembles over the years. Singing since she was a child, music often rises up within her to become song. Singing is her primary channel to the Divine Mystery.

katytaylor.com