#irish goddess morrigan is not only the evil goddess of war and death
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Pagan Misconceptions Clarified: Why Morrígan, Is NOT "Only The Triple Goddess of War and Death, that is represented as Sexy and Evil; and also known, as The Phanthom Queen?!"
Okay: These one misconceptions?!... It really, pissed me off!...
The only Goddess of Irish Mythology that is mostly known in Mainstream Media, (Besides Brigid) by the stories of The King Arthur; as the most powerful leading female figure in the literary Arthurian Cycle, and she is portraited... As an Evil Sorceress! (Thank you so much for implying, that any woman that is strong; confident and powerful... Has to be Evil! [...Stupid Machists!]) Anyway!... Morrígan, is not an Evil being with three bodies; that rejoices in destruction and death in The Battlefield and War, and I will proved that she is much more than the horrible reputation she have recieved, since "The Legends of King Arthur"; started to became popular, so... Shall we begin?!
Morrígan, is too: The Goddess of Sovereignty and Battle, The Goddess of Kings and Queens and of Kingship/Queenship; The Goddess of Death, The Goddess of Life, The Goddess of Earth and its Fertility, The Goddess of Wealth of The Earth; The Goddess of Fertility, The Goddess Influencer of The Outcome of War, The Goddess of Victory, The Goddess of Prophecy; and...The Goddess of Female Power!
Morrígan, is a Irish Goddess that is a daughter of The Mother-Goddess; Erhmas, (like her sisters, Badb and Macha) which; by the passing of time, were emerged into being three manifestations of Morrígan; (called collectively, as The Morrígan: Badb, Macha... And, Morrigan) or... As Morrígan, having two more bodies; which makes her a Triple-Bodied Goddess, or... As a Triple Goddess. Morrigan, is married with The Dagda; which is the Chief Deity of The Tuatha Dé Danann. (The Deities of Today's Ireland) Her name, was translated meaning, The Phanthom Queen, but is translated too; as The Great Queen!
And now... The other aspects, of The Goddess Morrígan:
The Goddess of Sovereignty and Battle: She was represented as armed and in armour, 'cause she is a Goddess of War and Battle; but, is mostly ignored that she is a deity that is prepared to defend to The King and his sovereignty; of any enemy that challenges his authority. Also, she is a defender of all the people against foreign power; which for this too, she is the Goddess of Sovereignty
The Goddess of Warriors: For always appearing ready for battle or war, her ferocity in combat; and her relation with War and Battle... I could assume than Warriors asked to her, to gave them courage; bravery, and to get out victorious!
The Goddess of Kings and Queens and of Kingship/Queenship: As her role of defender of Sovereignty, and of Goddess of War; also her name that is translated as Queen... Is my theory, that Kings and/or Queens relied on Morrígan; not only to defended their power and get out victorious in war or battle, but too; as to governed over their subjects in times of peace, and to garantee themselves; a long reign.
The Goddess of Death: She appeared in the battlefield, as a Crow; posing over the shoulders of the ones that fell in battle.
The Goddess of Life: She can spared the life of the Warriors she favoured, or to who she wanted to be victorious, and... For The Ancient Irish and Celts, Life and Death were closed related; and for Ancient Pagans, Death is only a change of state; before souls can reenter into the world, again; which... Makes her too, into a Goddess of Life!
The Goddess of Earth and its Fertility: She was mentioned, as a Goddess that could propiciate earth's fertility; and the wealth of livestock.
The Goddess of Wealth of The Earth: She was called upon, to ensure the earth always gave its wealth to the ones that own it; or works on it.
The Goddess of Fertility: For her role as a a Goddess of The Earths Fertility, The Wealth of Livestock; and The Wealth of Earth... In my opinion, she may be a Goddess of Fertility, including in humans, because in Ancient Paganism; War and Sex, were sides of the same coin!
The Goddess Influencer of The Outcome of War: It was attested, that Morrígan appeared as a crow; to inspire fear or courage to the warriors; and to encourages to warriors to do brave deeds... And to strike fear into their enemies: In rare cases, she joined herself to the war as a warrior; to the side she favoured, directly!
The Goddess of Victory: It was said, that she can bring victory over their enemies.
The Goddess of Prophecy: She had appeared in visions, according to myth and legend; washing the bloody clothes of the ones destined to die in battle, or war. (Like happened once, during the dream of a very unnfortunate King...)
The Goddess of Female Power: She fighted for herself in battles and wars, and when she was mentioned in battles and wars; as accompanied or assisted by others... She appeared always with her sisters, Badb and Macha; or... As a Triple-Bodied Goddess: For this, and that she always appeared armed and her armour; then, she is... (At least for me) ...The Goddess of Female Power!
Morrígan, can appeared too; in any form: As a Maiden, a Mother... And, as a Lover. But... She can appeared too, as a Hag; (a old woman, very wrinkled; that in sometimes can know magic, or being a Witch; or, a Goddess in disguise, and... Not very appealing, to look at...) that could, in the late case; showed her real form, as a beautiful and young goddess; according to Irish Myths.
It was said that a group of bandits, that only behaved honorably in times of agression of foreigners; to later became respectable members of settled communities, called The Fianna... May have been dedicated to Morrígan: Today, some organizactions in Ireland, bear this name; and, this name is part of the opening line; of the Irish Language version of... The Irish National Anthem!
Curious Fact: The other written form, of the name Morrígan; is Carrigan or... Carrie. (So... If you someday meet, or crosses your path with a woman named Carrie; that is suspiciously fearless, and talks like a general that have fighted into thousands of wars, please... Don't make her angry: She could be... The Goddess Morrígan, in disguise!)
And, now... Where the bad reputation of Morrígan today, came from:
The texts about the Gaelic Gods of Ireland, were wrote in Medieval Times; by... Christians! (So... Any insulting, or denigrating way that Gods and Goddess appeared in these; or in any texts... Take it as probably, "A damaging, or irrespectful lie!")
Morrígan, appeared in those texts, practicing magic; and Christians tends to believe that magic was bad in any form, so sadly; they started to spread the idea that Morrígan, was a "Sorceress, that uses dark magic for egoistic and bad intentions": And because all Goddesses, are powerful and beautiful female beings with a great sex appeal; (And for Christians, a woman should always being a quiet creature at the services of family; home, a husband, and, about all; powerless...) Morrígan, was turned by them, as a Seductress... And, Evil! Which... Take us, to the last point of this little list...
As a result of this reputation gained by centuries of Christian's Teachings, Morrígan losed almost all her characteristics as Goddess; and was reduced to be only a powerful sorceress that uses dark magic and sex, in... Yes, you guessed it: In The Arthurian Legends. Even if was said for centuries, that Morgan Le Fay; is NOT Morrígan... Both share many important characteristics, that makes their look-alike, extremely suspicious to me. Like for example, that both of them: Has connections with The Magic and The Afterlife, both are portraited as seductresses; and in weilding power over others for gaining something in exchange. It's said that the origin of the name Morgan, is different of the name Morrígan: The first, is Welsh; and is related to the sea, while the latter; means "Terror", or "Greatness". (But, STILL... It bothers me: Most people, believes with reason; than Morgan Le Fay and Morrígan, are the same; and the malign reputation that unfairly recieves Morrígan, today... Came of centuries of indoctrination of Christians telling, "That, if a female being; is pretty, powerful, uses magic, and no male can restrain her power; or make her ashame of her body, or sexuality; then... She must be, EVIL!...")
So, there you go: Morrígan, was another Deity that fell with the campaign of "Turning The Gods of The Old Religion, into Demons for The New Religion." And... That part were suppossedly Morrígan, tried to seduces to Cú Chulainn; during a battle he have in that moment... Doesn't anyone has toughted that she wasn't trying to make him her lover, and that her real intentions were that Cú Chulainn losed that battle?! And besides, there is only two written stories; were Morrígan is shown as having intimacy with someone. (If she really is a very sexual Goddess... We should have hundreds of stories of sensual encounters of Morrígan, or... Hundreds of attestations about her many lovers, Isn't?!)
In conclusion: Morrígan, is not a Deity scantitly dressed; that her only power, is only using Magic that causes harm or doom to others, or... To became the fantasy of men that doesn't want a serious relation with a woman, and where they doesn't have to sacrifices nothing to make the relation to work; at all!
This is all, about the powerful Goddess; that her power manifest in all the shapes she uses to appear, and has power over Life; Death; Magic, War and Victory: Morrígan!
Have a nice and long life, full of Heroism, Victory and Magic... So Be It!
#pagan writings#pagan writer#pagan misconceptions clarified#paganism#irish paganism#pagan goddesses#pagan goddess morrigan#irish goddess morrigan#irish goddess morrigan is not only the evil goddess of war and death#morrigan deity#the morrigan deity#pagans#pagan#eclectic pagan#ecletic pagan#hellenic pagan#lokean#pagan from the caribbean
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The Morrígan
The Morrígan or Mórrígan, also known as Morrígu, is a figure from Irish mythology.
Her name means "Great Queen" and she is worshiped primarily in England, Ireland, Wales and Brittany. Morrigan appears in the triple form of the great goddess. On the one hand she is the goddess who unites the three goddesses Anu as the blossoming goddess of fertility, Badb as the mother who constantly brings life out of her cauldron and the old woman and goddess of death Macha. On the other hand, she is also one of the three sisters Macha, Badb and Morrigan, or Nemain, Badb and Morrigan reported. Sometimes she is also mentioned as one of nine sisters (here there is a similarity to the Muses and to the Valkyries, because these were also their nine).
In any case, she was the one of the sisters most associated with magic. She guards all spells and curses. The Old English word "glamor" for spell comes from Morrigan's cult site of Glamorgan in Wales. She is thus the protector of priestesses and witches, the night, magic and the gift of prophecy. Morrigan is very similar to the alpine goddess Holla. Long worshiped as a wise, ancient mother goddess, she was gradually banished to the subterranean realms as a fierce death goddess, appearing only when someone was about to die. The fact that Morrigan was originally a mother goddess was suppressed. She probably goes back to the ancient Celtic goddess Rigani, who is considered the mother goddess. Also related to her is the Cymric Rhiannon.
Morrigan's ability to shapeshift is an important part of her magic. She appears as a beautiful young and seductive woman as well as an ugly old woman. Or she swings into the air like her sisters in the shape of a crow or a raven. She is also often described as "old aunt", especially in her function as the mistress of the battlefield. She can also transform into a snake to view the battle from this perspective. Sometimes she was also seen as a red cow. The dark aspect of the goddess as we find strong in Morrigan may require some reflection. Of course, Morrigan is dark, but not all dark is evil. Associating evil with her is very narrow-minded, to say the least.
Morrigan also appears in the guise of the harbinger of death (the old woman) and the guise of the goddess of war (the great raven). On the other hand, she is also known as the goddess of fertility (virgin huntress) and goddess of the moon, which is constantly changing from new to full moon and back. All of these aspects are inextricably linked. Morrigan is the goddess of the night and shadows — what scares many people. But she's not evil, just a part of the whole, and not a bad one at all. Anyone who has plunged into the darkness of the night after a long hot summer day knows how good it can be. And who doesn't seek the protection of the shade in bright light. People who are in the limelight a lot enjoy the retreat. It is therefore nonsensical to classify light and dark as good and bad.
The goddess Morrigan is often associated with Morgaine le Fay, Morgane, Morgana or Modron. It may be that the goddess transformed into this mythical figure, King Arthur's sister, for some time in the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, Morgana is mentioned in the Latin Vita Merlini as the eldest of nine sisters ruling "The Happy Isles" or "The Apple Islands". Relationships, especially in their manifestation as Fata Morgana, also exist to the Roman goddess Fatua, from whom the fairies also originate (here the connection to Morgaine le Fay is also nice to note) and to the Arabian mother goddess Fatima. As the high priestess of Avalon, the holy and enraptured island of women, Morgaine le Fay, like the goddess Morrigan, is ascribed strong magical powers and prophetic gifts. She is mentioned as a healer, as well as one who could transform into different forms. Her name has been associated as a mirage with anything magical, mysterious, or misleading. Specifically as Morgaine le Fay, the goddess is also particularly associated with the element of water. She is the "Lady of the Lake", protects holy springs and the sea. Water spirits are still called morgans in Britain today. She is also said to have found the Holy Grail that everyone was so eagerly searching for. The “dark side” of the legendary character Morgain is particularly well known. She is also referred to as the "winter goddess of darkness and death" and is thus the antagonist of Arthur, the "ruler of summer". On the other hand, there is her symbol, an apple branch, a symbol of peace and abundance.
Associations
Colors: Black, Red
Moon Phases: New, Waning
Trees: Aspen, Juniper, Oak, Willow
Herbs: Dragon Blood, Rose, Cedar
Crystals: red Agate, Bloodstone, Obsidian, Onyx, Ruby
Birds: Crow, Crane, Raven
Animals: Dogs, Horse, Wolf
Intentions and Power:
action, banish, battle, courage, death, defense, destiny, hexes, magic, nightmares, power, strength, revenge
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i just read your post on bríg and I was wondering what is night whistling? or what's dark about it, I guess? I looked it up and couldnt find anything x.x
Very sorry for the belated answer! At first, I thought it would be straightforward (because, in my naivety, I thought no one had written on this), but then I had to take out an interlibrary loan, and those take a little bit of time, especially now. BUT! I got your answer!
So, first of all, let’s go back to the Old Irish used here, because it’s often in Old Irish that we get the answer to this sort of thing:
(Is sí didiu an Prích-sin roairich feit do caismeirt a n-oidci.)
Now, the key part of that sentence is “roairich feit do caismeirt a n-oidci”, or, “Whistle for signaling at night”
“Feit” (Fet in EDIL) means “Whistle”, “caismert” means “Signal” (and can also mean “conflict” or “Din”), and “oidci” is a form of “adaig” or “night”. (I suspect, though I’d have to read Gray’s notes, that the form indicates a later development, possibly a Middle Irish redactor, because as the language progresses, the vowels become less distinct, so “a” could become “o”, which, as noted by Carey, is also indicated by the univerbation of roairich, it would, in a “pure” OI form, be two distinct forms, not one…..which is literally only of interest to me, moving on.)
So. Clear as mud. Time to go to what people much smarter than me have written.
What a mythological scholar would do, and what I did, would be to look to see whether we can find anything related to this “Fet” elsewhere, specifically as it applies to Bríg, because that’s really the key. The problem is, of course, that there’s very little material on Bríg in general. But! It does, in fact, show up in a small tract called “The Tuatha Dé Miscellany” and that was given a critical edition by John Carey (which is also where that note on univerbation above comes from.) It dates from somewhere around 900-1100, most likely the last half of that (per Carey’s dating, and I’m not going to argue with the man on dating), very likely counted CMT as one of its sources, and, key to our purposes, it talks about “Brigit banfili ingen in Dagda” (Brigit the female poet, daughter of the Dagda.) Very curiously, though, we get this reference: “Is occai ro close trí gotha diabuil iarn-imarbus I nÉrinn .i. fet 7 gol 7 éigem.” (“It is with her that the three voices of the Devil were heard after transgression in Ireland: whistling and wailing and outcry.”)
Now, the term “immarbus” is interesting: It can mean “transgression”, and that’s the translation Carey went with. It can mean “sin”, which is probably how I’d have translated it, though the difference between the two of them is really minor so it isn’t really worth the change. Or, VERY specifically, it can mean “The Fall.” So, is it referring to these things being heard after a sin, possibly a murder? Or is it saying that these things only came into being after the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden (which might make sense, given that is, allegedly, when death first came to the world?) I don’t know. The answers aren’t there in the language. Carey points out, leaning into my theory about the Fall, that it could suggest that, after the Fall, the Devil and his demons were reduced to whistles and other wordless noises, or, perhaps, it could be part of that ongoing equation of the Tuatha Dé with demons and fallen angels.
Carey believes, and I’m inclined to agree with him that, in this sentence, “gol” (lamentation, keening) and “éigem” actually reflect traditional belief - These are things that were likely associated with Bríg, whether we assume that to be in the folk belief at the time this was compiled or in the pre-Christian world. Carey further notes that, in an Old Irish penitential, there is actually a condemnation of “gol”. It seems like the act of keening was, for some time, associated very much with paganism, though, as time went on, it’s very clear that this is a battle that the church lost, which further explains that kind of………dark association to it that we can see here. I feel like this quote from Kristen Mills' article really encapsulates the reasoning behind the “demonic” understanding of it: "The same view would explain why the vocal utterances with which Bríg inaugurates the Irish keening tradition are also described as gotha diabuil in TDM. The gotha are demonic not because the Túatha Dé Danann in general were thought to be fallen angels (although this is sometimes the case), but because keening and crying out over the dead were associated with a class of beings which, within the Christianizing framework of early medieval Irish learning, were easily assimilated within the category of the demonic.”
Curiously, Kristen Mills, furthermore, notes that Cath Findchorad gives those three words (fet, gol, and éigem) as being the names of three prophesying female spirits. (Given it’s late medieval, I have to wonder if we’re seeing the influence of the Fates/the Furies as opposed to native influences such as the Morrigan here.) She, further, notes that we see it AGAIN associated with Bríg, in a rare appearance in the Dindshenchas, where she mourns for Mac Gréine (and, for what it’s worth, not that anyone’s asked me, I fully believe that THIS is the older variation, given that Mac Gréine’s death is an accepted part of the narrative of the Milesian invasion while Ruadan is unattested save for Cath Maige Tuired.) Furthermore, she considers the usage in CMT to be a bit of a misreading on the part of the scribe who wrote it down, taking a gloss that ORIGINALLY would have said that “the whistle is an indication that something is happening”, and instead took it to mean “the whistling is a way of signaling.” Subtle difference, but it shows the dangers of translating. IF we accept this, then it means that that “whistling at night” was never an actual practice, rather it was, frankly, a medieval scribe fucking up.
Now, what IS fet, besides a whistle associated with grief? Well, Mills suggests it was one of the different types of vocalizations that would have been made at a funeral, which included a range of sounds that, frankly, were often considered by outside observers to be incredibly unpleasant to listen to. THIS is where Bríg’s association would have been and, indeed, given we have two independent myths discussing it, I believe there’s some evidence to suggest this is a Pre-Christian survival. (Though, of course, I say that as lightly as possible, given how difficult it can be to discern ANYTHING.)
Whatever the truth of it is, it seems like there’s some fairly strong evidence to suppose that, rather than simply being a “Sweetness and Light” goddess, as a lot of her modern portrayals suggest (borrowing strongly from the Saint...which in itself is funny given Saint Brigit is known for doing things like shriveling up fruit that pisses her off), also had a dark side, associated with death and mourning. Which, to some extent, makes sense, given that, for example, the Morrigan has an association with fertility and sovereignty on top of being a war goddess. I feel like, to some extent, we really have this tendency to put these figures into “GOOD” and “EVIL” boxes, or else “WAR, VIOLENCE, DEATH” and “MOTHERHOOD, SOFT, ANIMALS” and “LOVE, SEX, BEAUTY” when that might not have been the understanding (and understanding how they would have been understood in a Pre-Christian context is, essentially, impossible, though NOT unworthy of the attempt to try.)
Works Cited:
John Carey, “The Tuatha Dé Miscellany”
Kristen Mills, “Fet, Gol, and Éigem”
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morgana as an entity, or morgan of the faye, is linked heavily to the goddess matrona of celtic mythology, and also to a goddess specifically known for the ulster cycle as of her involvement in la morte de arthur, written in 1470. while i will have a much, much longer headcanon dealing with her link to matrona, especially being that the same deity was linked to be a protector of modron, or mordred.... i specifically wanted to talk about her similarities with the another goddess of irish mythology known as the morrigan. the goddess is more of a primordial force than a ‘god’ by conventional means, and is known more by her moniker ‘the phantom queen’. while she is linked heavily to the outcome of battle and bloody war, rather than being wholly associated with the actual fighting of a battle, she has more to do with the fate of those in and after a clash and the gruesome deaths that follow. but instead of acting as a means to transport someone to the afterlife, they were simply a symbol of death on the battlefield to some lesser extend.
A huge part of the Tuatha de Danann, the Morrigan was also known to have been made up of three distinct goddesses known mostly today as the maiden, the mother and the crone. All of which have a link to Morgana in one of the many stages of her life and to goddesses such as Ceredwen,
The morrigan would often appear in the form of a black crow, which happens to be morgana’s symbolic familiar, and upon seeing one on the battlefield it was believed to mean that death would befall that person imminently. this aspect of the morrigan made her popular for worship by those going into battle. interestingly, in most forms of media that portray morgana, this also links to her being used as an instrument of war, offering her services to the queens and kings of the north in exchange for shelter and safety, or for troops to fight of camelot and the rest of growing mercia.
but the morrigan also has in-depth protective qualities that enable her to protect her people. namely those who were worshipers of these ancestral gods and practitioners of magic, which also directly aligns with morgana’s personal interests. morgana le faye was a symbol to most practitioners of witchcraft and druidism of this time as a pariah that fought against the Anglicization of what would become albion. remember that at the time of her life (presumed to be around the timeperiods of 400-600 ad, respectively) it was when the heavy Catholicisation of what is now great britain, had begun. uther pendragon, and later the knights of the round, had pushed those that they had deemed uncivilized (magic-users) into areas in and north/west of lothian, gaelic and pictish lands.
BECAUSE OF THIS, TOO, morgana can be seen as a protector of those who were like her, especially if we bring popular canon such as bbc’s merlin into view, which i take some inspiration from in terms of magic being ‘outlawed’ at the time through penalty of death. fighting against the oppression of pagan ritualistic practitioners all over briton, as well as the druids of the dal riata alike, she was turned into a martyr of sorts and later demonized to the point of gaining a status of ‘evil’ ... while the kings who had oppressed or slaughtered these people (particularly the druids, like uther pendragon or his son in historic canon, not in the case of bbc) were instead built of as heroes to the people of albion for ridding them of the ‘evil’ pagans that had previously (as termed by uther) ‘infested’ their lands. propoganda against them surmounted and the britons and anglo-saxons continued their territory war, until separately the battle of camlann occured [ where king arthur had lead his knights of the round table into a war that would have claimed most of the northern territory in the name of camelot against the anglo-saxons, which had currently belonged to several albic tribes including that which belonged at the time to his nephew, gwaine of loth. ]
almost ironically, this battle is what enabled the bernicians to take even more land for themselves, creating the kingdom of deira (which, in my canon is what pushed morgana even further north of lothian, into the lands of the gaels). the reason i bring up this battle is because the morrigan is famous for taking part in the battle against the fomorians. the morrigan did naught at first but speak in chant, which caused the fomorians to scatter in fear until they fell into the seas.
another story she is involved in is that of Cú Chulainn, who threatens the morrigan when she releases his cattle back into the wild, only to realize who he has angered and explain his misdeed. when the morrigan prophecies ill-tidings for him on behalf of his threat, he tells her that she has no power over him. as we would expect, Cú Chulainn is given numerous chances to mend the relationship with the morrigan and botches it every time, eventually leading him to his inevitable death with the morrigan, as a crow, standing atop his dead body as a means to confirm his death. interestingly, morgana was also present at the battle of camlann, which i mentioned earlier, when both her nephew and her half-brother (mordred and king arthur) were slain by a single blow from one another’s enchanted blades.
so why bring up the morrigan at all? in my canon/headcanon, morgana didn’t just receive simple ‘fae’ powers from becoming the high priestess of avalon. i believe she drank from the proverbial spring itself when there was nothing more to learn from merlin and nimue and was granted similar powers to the three major goddesses, including the ability to dictate fate - albeit with a price she was not ready to pay. morgana in general is almost always seen as both a victim and chooser of fate, so i felt this was a very nice way to tie these figures together.
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The Ten Most Legendary Witches
Faye Sakellaridis
If you look at some of the most legendary witches in history, from the enchantresses of ancient mythic lore to real witches that walked the earth, a pattern emerges: the invocation of the primal. They preside over the the darkness, the moon, death, and rebirth. They collude with the earth through plants and herbs, sometimes to heal and sometimes, yes, to bewitch towards a fatal path. Their dominion is the unknown, the enigmatic, the realms beyond reason and logic. And their sexuality – unbridled and unapologetic – is perhaps their most intimidating quality, one that’s long been institutionally vilified.
Despite centuries of repression, the witch has survived and thrived brilliantly in a myriad of forms. Here are ten badass witchy women, both mythical and real, throughout time.
Hecate, Mother of Darkness
Hecate is the Greek goddess of witchcraft and magic. She rules over the darkness, the moon, and the spirit realm. A guardian of thresholds and liminal spaces, it was she who guided Persephone to and from the underworld. In ancient times, she was believed to protect people from roaming evil spirits, and perform necromancy. She also has a deep knowledge of herbology. Poisons and hallucinogens, such as belladonna, hemlock, mandrake, aconite, and opium poppy, are associated with her. These plants are dangerous and mind-altering, and, like Hecate, are dark and mysterious, bringing the user’s consciousness closer to the spirit world.
Lilith, the First Feminist Goddess
According to Jewish mythology, Lilith was the first woman created by God, before Eve. She was also much maligned as a baby-stealing demon of the night whose dangerously liberated sexuality led men astray. Like Hecate, Lilith is associated with the darkness, the moon, and spirituality. Her refusal to be subservient to Adam got her kicked out of Paradise and forced to have 100 demon babies for each day she didn’t agree to return (she never did). Because of this fierce independence and unapologetic sexuality, Lilith is considered the first feminist goddess.
Morgan le Fay, Legendary Fairy Queen
This legendary fairy queen is a charming and beautiful sorceress that’s featured prominently in the legends of King Arthur. She is connected to the Irish goddess Morrigan, who is associated with war, death, and fertility. Early works featuring Morgan le Fay, such as those by 12th century French poet Chreiten de Troye, portray her as a benign witch and a powerful healer to King Arthur. It’s in the 13th century that her character expands to that of an anti-heroine. She is sent to a coven where she becomes Merlin’s apprentice and lover. She was believed to have extraordinary shapeshifting abilities, transforming into a variety of monstrous and beautiful forms like queen, fairy, crone, and mermaid. Her narrative shift into a devious and manipulative witch is likely fuelled by the Christian prejudice towards a non-religious woman healer with great powers.
Rhiannon, Goddess of Fortitude
In the Welsh myth collection Mabinogi, this beautiful, silver-haired witch riding a white horse symbolises inner fortitude and patience. In Slavic countries, Rhiannon is the goddess of death and rebirth. She is accompanied by the Adar Rhiannon, “Birds of Rhiannon.” These three birds possess magical powers, whose song is said to “wake the dead and lull the living to sleep.” Both her and her birds have an illusory power over their position in time and space. She rides her horse Epona slowly, remaining elusively out of reach, while her birds appear far closer to the eye than they really are.
According to legend, Rhiannon went against her parents wishes and turned away a fairy suitor in favour of a mortal man. After her spurned suitor steals her infant son, she is framed by her nurses for killing her own child. As punishment, she is forced to wear a horse collar and cary visitors on he back to and from the castle. Rhiannon serves her punishment with quiet grace until she is redeemed 4 years later. Her story calls to our own inner reservoirs of endurance and strength, and reminds us to trust in the balance of the universe.
Marie Laveau, the New Orleans Queen of Voodoo
In 19th century Louisiana, Marie Laveau was known as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Her skills with voodoo, magic, and medicinal herbs were highly revered and sought after by white and black clients alike, all desperate to be granted their specific wishes. After her first husband, a Haitian immigrant named Jacques Paris, passed away under mysterious circumstances, she became a hairdresser with a wealthy white clientele. They say her network of informants planted in those households granted her the illusion of omniscience, cementing the perception of her as a magical, all-knowing witch. She was also said to have a snake, named Zombi after an African god, that she would wrap around her and dance with. People still visit her grave today to pray and leave gifts in the hope that she’ll aid them from the afterlife.
Circe, the Herbal Sorceress
This powerful Greek sorceress was said to be a master specialist of magical herbs and potions, and is often depicted with a magic wand or staff. She has a penchant for turning men into animals, most infamously portrayed in Homer’s epic tale The Odyssey, where she invited Odysseus’s companions to a feast, laced their meal and turned them into pigs. Only through the help of Hermes could Odysseus evade her snares, get into her good graces, and turn his shipmates back into human form. She even has a plant named after her — Circaea, also known as the Enchanter’s nightshade — which botanists in the 16th century believe Circe used to charm and lure in her victims.
Dion Fortune, Pioneer of Modern Magic
Dion Fortune is one of the most influential figures in the birth of modern witchcraft, and a pioneer of modern magic. She was a British occultist, Christian Qabalist, theosophist, ceremonial magician, and co-founder of the mystery school Fraternity of Inner Light. She discovered occultism while working as a Freudian analyst, and joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. After becoming disillusioned with it, she went on to establish her own esoteric order. In her lifetime, Fortune completed seven occult and fantasy-themed novels which initiated readers into the occult by communicating with their subconscious. These novels, particularly “The Sea Priestess” and “Moon Magic” influenced groups like Wicca, a contemporary Pagan new religious movement.
Jezebel, the Ultimate Bible Bad Girl
Jezebel is the ultimate bad girl of the bible. Her name is synonymous with cunning, idolatry, and evil. She was born to Ethbaal of Tyre, king of the Phoenicians, who were said to worship many multiple gods and goddesses, particularly to the nature god Baal. When Jezebel became queen of Israel after marrying King Ahab, her polytheistic upbringing and rejection of Yahweh earned her many enemies. She is portrayed as a cruel and evil blaspheming woman that persecuted the followers of Yahweh. Most infamously, she condemned the commoner Naboth to death for not giving land to King Ahab, which he refused on the basis of Jewish law. After King Ahab died, the new king of Israel, Jehu, ordered Jezebel’s servants to throw her from a window. Her body was then trampled by Jehu’s horse and fed to stray dogs. Despite her gruesome demise, she made it a point to go out in style. Anticipating her execution, Jezebel got all dolled up, dressing in her best finery and painting her face.
Baba Yaga, the Crone of the Woods
This formidably hideous witch of Slavic folklore is a wild crone that turns the grandmother archetype on its head. She rides around on a mortar wielding a pestle, and lives deep in the forest within a hut fenced by skulls and made mobile by large spindly chicken legs. This witch is unabashedly horrifying – her frenzied, wind-rattled movement is accompanied by bloodcurdling shrieks and the howling of spirits. Despite all this, her morality is ambiguous. She’s been known to aid the valorous hero on his quest, and cook and devour a less fortunate soul.
Salem Witches, America’s Most Infamous Witch Hunt
In 1692, the daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris and two other girls began having “fits” – screaming, throwing things, contortions, and uttering strange sounds. They blamed these episodes on three women who were outcasts of society: a slave, a beggar, and a poor elderly woman. Tituba, the slave, confessed to dealings with the Devil. Mass hysteria took over — more than 200 people were accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts over the next year, and 20 were executed (14 were women). Many of the accused were women who threatened traditional Puritanical values in some way, whether they could control it or not. They included women who were outspoken or argumentative, had sex out of wedlock, were deemed too fertile (or too little), or broke any rule in the Bible. They also included the very old or very young, the very rich or very poor, unnatural physical markings on the skin, and midwives. While the colony eventually admitted the trial was a mistake, the incident has become synonymous with paranoid and unjust accusations.
Honouring our Legendary Witches
This range of incredible women resonates with historian Laurel Thatcher Urach’s keen observation that “well-behaved women seldom make history.” From the shape-shifting seductress to the pioneer of modern magic, these extraordinary ladies made their indelible mark by stepping out of the status quo. And many were, unfortunately, punished harshly for their refusal to conform to a restrictive and oppressive paradigm. Nonetheless, the witch persists throughout these cultural trials, and the witch is on the rise as women today are claiming the archetype as a symbol of empowerment more passionately than ever.
https://wisdom.thealchemistskitchen.com/the-ten-most-legendary-witches/
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Celtic Pathworking
These are the Gods/Goddesses I will include in my book. It will be a ceremonial magic grimoire dedicated to Celtic-Irish Gods and Goddesses
Celtic Pathworking-Irish
1. Brighid-Celtic (Irish). One of the triple Goddesses of the Celtic pantheon. She is the daughter of The Dagda, the All Father of the Tuatha de Danann, one of the most ancient people of Northern Europe. Some say there are actually three Brighids; one is in charge of poetry and inspiration; one is in charge of midwifery and healing, and the last is in charge of crafts and smiths.
She probably began as a sun Goddess. According to legend, she was born at sunrise and a tower of flame beamed from her head.
As Goddess of fire and water, she is immortalized by many wells and springs. Most important of her monuments, though, was a shrine at Kildare where there was a perpetual flame burning for Brighid. It was tended by nineteen virgins called the Daughters of the Flame, wearing deep crimson habits and bearing swords. They would not talk to men, nor could men come near the shrine. Her feast is St.Brighids Days in Ireland and is the Pagan Festival of Imbolc
When Christianity began its onset, so loved was Brighid that she was made a saint. However, the upkeep on her flame was considered pagan by the church and it was extinguished out of more than a thousand years of burning. St. Brigit remains one of the most popular Irish saints today, along with Saint Patrick.
Identical to Juno, Queen of Heaven. Symbolizes human potential. Also known as Brigit, Brigid, Brigindo, Bride.
Dark the bitter winter,
cutting its sharpness,
but Bride's mantle,
brings spring to Ireland.
2. Morrigan-"The Great Queen". Celtic Goddess of war and death who could take the shape of a crow or raven. Supreme warrior Goddess. She is associated with the sometimes frightening aspects of female energy. Married to the Daghda. She symbolizes the power of fertility, the dark Goddess' prowess, death, war, fate. A shapeshifting war Goddess of sensuality, magic, prophecy, revenge, war. Known as Great Queen, Supreme War Goddess, Queen of Phantoms, and Specter Queen, she kept company with Fea (hateful), Badb (fury), and Macha (battle). Also known as a Triple Goddess form Maiden, Mother and Crone. Variants: Morrigu, Morrighan, Morgan.
3. Babd Catha-Celtic (Irish) Goddess of war. Mother aspect of the triple Goddess. Symbolizes life, enlightenment, wisdom and inspiration. Sister of Macha, the Morrigan, and Anu, the name of this Goddess means "boiling," "battle raven," and "scald-crow". Known as Cath Bodva in Gaul. A Mother Goddess and Triple Goddess and part of the trio for which Ireland was named including Eriu and Fotia or Fodla, Badb's cauldron boiled with the ever-producing mixture that produced all life. Variants: Badhbh, Badb, Banba
4. Balor-Celtic. Although he was born with two good eyes, one was ruined in an accident; the eye is so hideous that he only opens it in battle so that its venom will slay whoever is unlucky enough to catch glimpse of it; his daughter marries Cian. Also known as Balor of the Evil Eye.
5. Bel-Celtic (Irish) Fire and sun God, also God of purification, science, fertility, crops and success. Symbolizes element of fire, health. A sun and fire God closely connected with the Druids and the festival of Beltaine (May 1). Variants: Belenus, Belinos, Beli Mawr (Wales).
6. Branwen-Celtic (Irish)Goddess of love and beauty. The sister of Bran the Blessed and Manannan mac Lir, daughter of Lir, and wife of the Irish king Matholwch. Died of a broken heart after Bran's death. Known as Venus of the Northern Seas
7. Cailleach-Celtic (Irish & Scottish) Goddess of disease and plague. A Destroyer, or Crone, Goddess, she was also called "Veiled One". As the Crone, she ruled with the Maiden and the Mother. Monsterous Dogs guarded the gates of her afterworld realm where she received the dead. Celtic myth has her gatekeeper dog named Dormarth "Death's Door". Irish bards who could curse with satire were often called cainte "dog".
8. Camalus-"Of the Invisible Sword", "Heaven". Celtic God of war and sky. Similar to Mars, only more vicious.
9. Cernunnos-Celtic God of virility, fertility, life, animals, forests and the underworld. The Horned or Antlered God is born at the winter solstice, marries the Goddess at Beltane, and dies at the summer solstice. He alternates with the Goddess of the moon in ruling over life and death, continuing the cycle of death, rebirth and reincarnation.
Symbolizes element of earth, love, fertility, death the virile male aspect and the dark half of the year. The two fold aspect of the God year with the Greenman or Jack o' the Green being his light aspect. This takes on a similarity to the Oak King and Holly King legend. Leads the wild hunt at Samhain, hence the day best associated with the Dark Lord.
Also A consort to the mother Goddess. Druids knew him as Hu Gadarn, the Honored God. Ancient Celtic images show him seated in a lotus position, naked, with antlers or horns on his head. Christians demonized this benevolent God for easy conversion and is where the image of the Christian devil comes from(Couldn't be further from facts nor truth but alas yet another tragedy of misdeed and "bearing false witness", to quote a commandment).
Animals that were sacred to him: bull, ran, stag, and horned serpents. Variants: Cerowain, Cernenus, Herne the Hunter.
10. Cyhiraeth -Celtic Goddess of streams, her scream fortells death. Coincides with the Beansidhe or Banshee
11. Dagda-Celtic (Irish) God of the Earth and All Father. He mates with his wife The Morrigan or Raven on the Celtic New Years Eve (Samhain) Also had a secret love of Boann. Also a God of death; the father of Brighid.
A formidable fighter, but a God of simple tastes who dresses in a brown tunic, hooded cape and leather boots. Dagda had a club which could slew nine men with one end, but could bring back life with the other end. He possessed two swine, one of which was perpetually roasting, the other perpetually growing. His other symbols are the bottomless cauldron of plenty and a harp with which he controls the seasons and is the harp that is seen on many Irish flags and symbolizes Ireland to this day(Hehe, Including the signature symbol for Guiness Beer). God of the arts, knowledge, magic, music, prophecy, prosperity, regeneration. Known as the "Good God" and "Lord of the Heavens," he was one of the high kings of the Tuatha De Danaan and had four great palaces under hollow hills.
12. Danu -Celtic (Irish) Goddess, the mother of The Dagda the All father, Creation Goddess, and Mother of the Tuatha de Danaan. Aspect of the Morrigan or Triple Goddess. Considered to have been an early form of Anu, the Universal Mother. Patroness of wizards. Symbolizes rivers, water, wells, prosperity, magick, and wisdom. Tuatha de Danaan literally means Children or Clan of Danu. The Tuatha de Danaan are the Fae folk of Ireland. EXTREMELY potent Goddess form I easily connect with and work very closely with, personally for most of my rituals and castings. Her celebrations were either Beltane and/or Litha (Summer Solstice)
13. Labraid
Celtic (Irish) God of the underworld. Corresponds with Gwynn Ap Nudd.
Math Mathonwy -Celtic ( Irish & Welsh) God of magick, sorcery, and enchantment. Legend has him as a king who was also a God of enchantment and magick.
14. Myrrdin-Merlin", Celtic (Britania, Irish & Welsh) Sorcerer, Druid, Wizard and Magician. Originally an ancient Welsh Druid, priest of the old religion, and great magician. He was transformed in the later Arthurian sagas. Tradition says he learned his powerful magic from the Goddess in her forms of Morrigan, Viviane, Nimue, and Lady of the Lake. Legend says he now lies sleeping in a hidden crystal cave. Variants: Merddin, Merlyn.
15. Neit-God of Battle
16. The White Lady-Celtic all Celtic countries; goddess of death and destruction. Called the Dryad of Death and Queen of the Dead, this goddess was a Crone aspect of the Goddess.
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“Lemma the Librarian - Sucker for a Good Book”
Published: January 30, 2016
http://www.mcstories.com/LemmaTheLibrarian/index.html
For a story in which the bad guy kills like fifty people (off-camera), this one is a lot more fun than its nobody-dies predecessor.
It helps that it opens with a wonderful comic setpiece, Lemma attempting to play damsel-in-distress/bait, very, very badly, followed by some nice Lemma/Iason banter. They’ve actually reached the point where they seem like a pair of (rather snarky) friends. The return of Brea (moderate squee) also helps with this: it’s a callback to where they’ve been already, of course, but also reminds us that Lemma is capable of making friends, and has been doing so rather better since the story started. Another step on her character arc.
The last two thirds of it is a straight-up dungeon crawl, always a fun fantasy trope (and one Lemma doesn’t do elsewhere). The “you can’t resist mind control” curse starts to pull its weight here, since Lemma really, really doesn’t want to be eaten by vampires*, but she loses fast anyways. Brea shows up, Lemma mind-controls her - first time for everything - and then we have a climactic fight where Iason, Brea, and Lemma all play a part in saving the day**.
Then Iason gets to explain to Lemma, for once, which is as funny as it is infuriating to Lemma, Brea takes the whole being enslaved thing surprisingly in stride once it wears off, and Lemma realizes that Brea touched the super-powerful doombook without harm***. Lemma’s theory is that Brea is an avatar of the war goddess(es), come to help them undefile her/their temple, which is great, but I like Brea’s character enough on its own terms that my theory is a little more hands-off: Brea’s Brea, just (possibly even unbeknownst to her) getting a blessing from the war goddess(es) to help her be the hero she wants to be (and undefile the temple). It’s a pretty great ending****.
*Unlike the other mc bits, where Lemma merely partially doesn’t want to be controlled. More on this, later, too.
**Given that only Iason isn’t under mind-control by the villain, that must have been a bitch to plot. It works well.
***Also threw Iason’s sword without trouble, although this is less impressive than it sounds. As in D&D, magic here apparently doesn’t leave much time for pushups: real iron swords weigh substantially less than any one of the books that Lemma’s toting around, assuming the books are parchment rather than paper. You gotta be able to swing that sucker fast, after all.
****Spoilers: yes, I know. *grinds teeth unhappily* We’ll get to... that... when we get to it, OK?
When The Fuck Are We? 🤷
We’re in the capital of Mercia, which means, I guess... (*googles around*) Tamworth, Staffordshire? Sure*.
This is the first story to really directly touch on religion: the Tin Islanders (and Sea Peoples, and Lemurians) are polytheistic, which is not really a stretch when you have documented cases of gods walking the earth. The Tin Islanders have a Triple Goddess of War, which of course suggests the Morrigan, the Irish Triple Goddess of War/heavily war-inflected Three Fates figure.
Ireland was both the longest surviving Celtic-cultured region in Britain, and the one where the pre-Christian mythology was recorded most thoroughly, so most of our knowledge of British Celtic mythology is really Irish Celtic mythology. This isn’t a huge problem - if the Irish had a Morrigan figure, then it’s not a huge stretch to imagine that the Great British Celts did too. The problem is that we’re in Mercia, ie the Anglo-Saxon half of the island, and the Anglo-Saxons had their own mythology, which was completely different***. Also, just to kick the timeline while its down, the Briton half of the island - Kyrno and Breizh, in particular - should still be Christian in 650 CE, and within a generation so will most of the Anglo-Saxon half, including Mercia.
No Fantasy Christianity is, of course, a pretty common thing, and for perfectly valid reasons (it makes it hard to have morally-neutral magic, for starters, and that’s not even getting to the list of cultural issues as long as my arm that it imports****). But it makes the Seven Kingdoms/Heptarchy equivalence a bit hard to hold on to. Mercia, until the second half of the 7th C CE, was practically defined by being the last and by far strongest pagan state on a Christianizing island; and after that was occupied with the vicious squabbling with the Church that was the birthright of every Christian state down to at least 1648.
Religion in the Dark Ages was serious business, is my point. The Tin Islanders seem to have a vastly more laid-back approach to religion (we’ll be seeing a great example of that next time), which fits the more syncretic approach of classical and pre-classical Europe. Plus, of course, before the Romans and Anglo-Saxons came, Britain was uniformly Celtic and presumably uniformly Celtic-religioned. So from the religious point of view, at least, 1200 BCE seems like it might be a more plausible date for the Tin Islands.
*Dark Ages polities tended not to have “capitals”, in favour of itinerant courts, since the infrastructure to maintain central control over large areas didn’t exist anymore, and perpetual travel was the only way to keep a handle on all the outlying parts. (Or really, every part was outlying.) Tamworth is just one of the more important Mercian royal residences, probably near the original 6th C core of proto-Mercia. They did have capitals in the relatively centralized late Bronze Age, though, so I’ll take advantage of the bouncing back-and-forth timeframe again to give it an ok**.
**Relatively centralized in the Eastern Med, not distant Britain. Damnit, I’m trying as hard as I can, OK? :P
***We don’t know a huge amount about Anglo-Saxon religion, actually, for the same reason we don’t know a lot about the religion of Celtic Great Britain (to wit: the Dark Ages lost a lot of recorded knowledge, and the fine details of pagan religion was one of the things Dark Age Christians were mostly not interested in preserving). But we do know enough that “eh, Viking stuff with Odin and Thor and whatnot” covers it to a reasonable first approximation, at least as well as “eh, Irish stuff with fairies and the Morrigan and whatnot” does for the pre-Christian Celts.
****For instance: the use of the word “soul” in this series also seems very un- or at least a-Christian. It seems to be more of a synonym for “will and personality” than “immortal essence of the person themself”. There’s never even any particular reference to an afterlife, that I can recall. Lemma and Iason are horrified about their vampiric bodies wandering around being evil without “them”, but possibly not as much about the soul being destroyed. My feeling is that in Lemma’s cosmology, after death the soul slowly unstitches itself and returns to the totality of the universe or some such new-agey thing; having one’s soul destroyed is very, very bad but not anything like what that would entail in a Christian cosmology.
~
Next time: The most sympathetic Lovecraftian cultist I have ever met. No, wait, there’s “The Litany of Earth”. Go read that while you’re waiting for the next review. You won’t regret it.
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Of Gods and Dice: Morrigan
So, once again, we continue on in our examination of the presentation of ‘Celtic’ Deities within Dungeons and Dragons, Fourth Edition. As always, this is a commentary not on the developers of the game, but on how Celtic Studies fails to make itself approachable to the general public, leaving only dodgy sources for public consumption.
Today, we are looking at Morrigan who is described as a Goddess of Battle, as being Chaotic Evil, has the War Domain, and her Holy Symbol is two crossed spears. There’s a... lot in this one, I apologize if it gets a bit long.
So, right off the bat, the Deity’s name is missing the Definite Article. Her name is The Morrigan, similarly to how The Dagda’s name has the Definite Article attached to it. It’s really interesting that they gave the article to The Dagda but not The Morrigan. It’s sort of odd, and I can’t really explain this at all. Even dodgy modern sources would give her the article. It’s part of both of their names, as their names are functionally Epithets rather than proper names. The Dagda is ‘The Good God,’ not in a morality sense, but in a ‘good at things’ sort of thing. The Morrigan is ‘The Great Queen,’ with Mor being ‘Big’ or ‘Important,’ with Rigan being the word for ‘Queen.’ Though missing a fada on the i, and an extra i in there. Anyways, so yeah. Her name is The Morrígan.
But, before we get into the details, I need to make a real quick aside about this whole situation. The name The Morrígan can mean a specific individual, or a group of individuals. As a single individual, she functions as a War Goddess totally. As a group, The Morrígan includes The Morrígan (Yeah, I know, there’s a reason this can be very confusing), Badb, and the third member is one of a number of other entities, with common ones being Macha, Nemain, and rarely Anu. In general, they are the target of the most misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or forceful reinvention. The best way to handle her is to either make a noted point that you are either talking about the Individual or the Trinity, and if you’re talking about the Trinity, either specific the members, or say that it’s a Trinity with more than three members. It’s mythology, it won’t fit a pure system.
For the rest of this discussion, I am going to be assuming that the Devs meant they were talking about The Morrígan as an individual, which might actually be why she isn’t given the article. Anyways, continuing on.
The Morrígan is totally a War Goddess, probably, most likely. It’s more evident with Badb or Nemain, but The Morrígan appears to have a War function. It is important to note however, she isn’t a fighter, she hangs around and causes fights, or patronizes fights, clashes, and violence. She is a Goddess of War, not a Warrior Goddess. So, the divine function she is given here is reasonable. One of the reasons I suspect she isn’t intended to be presented in her merged state here is because if she was merged, she would gain a bunch of other details like Ravens (Badb), Death (Badb), Battlefield Frenzy (Nemain), Horses (Macha), Sovereignty [of Ulster, Probably] (Macha). She shows up as an individual in two myths, in Cath Maige Tuired, and in the Táin Bó Cúailnge. She also shows up in various Dindshenchas myths, such as the one for the Barrow River, and I believe a few other of the larger sagas, but she is not given as much time ‘on screen’ as in these two.
Now, the weird thing is making her Chaotic Evil. Chaotic, yes, she effectively functions outside of the Tribe, has no profession, and is generally a bit spooky. Chaotic works to represent her detachment from society. Evil, however, she’s not evil. She is hostile to Cúchulainn after he refuses her sexual advances since he’s a bit busy at the time, but this isn’t exactly unique to her, it’s more of an Otherworldly Woman thing as proposed by Gregory Tower in his article Desire and Divorce in Serglige Con Culainn in Ériu Vol. 66 (2016). This is more of a function of her Chaotic function than a morality I would suggest, part of the inversion of social systems int he Otherworld where a woman is seen taking violent physical action against a desired lover to try to beat them into submission as we see with Fand and her sister. I would not argue that she is Good however, she is a bit scary, and does her own thing, but Chaotic Neutral works wonderfully to express her personality as someone who is doing what she feels like, or has been bribed into doing.
The War Domain is also totally fine, nothing much more to say on that front. Maybe add the Trickster Domain since it theoretically has a Chaos angle, and she also disguises herself a few times, taking on different shapes to cause problems. She isn’t really subtle though, she’s about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the sternum.
The Holy Symbol of two crossed spears is sort of interesting, and I think it’s further detail to the author trying to present her in a solitary state, as for a group entity, raven-related things is far more important to her than spears. Again, this is mostly a Mechanical thing over anything else. There is no iconographic depictions of the Irish or Welsh Deities that I know of to draw on for these.
Anyways, in conclusion, we can’t really see a whole ton here except that she is being presented as an individual Deity here, separated from her Trinity, and is being depicted as Chaotic Evil for some reason. It’s not super clear in my mind what’s going on here. This depiction doesn’t fit into some of the more common misunderstandings of her character either, which is somewhat interesting.
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The Morrigan: Phantom Queen and Shape-Shifter
The Morrigan (also Mórrigan or Morrigu) is one of the most mysterious figures in Irish mythology.
The name Morrigan means 'phantom queen' (or 'great queen') and describes a Goddess from old Ireland that was very associated with war, destiny, fate and death.
She was a shape-shifter and frequently appeared as a black crow, an ominous sign for those who saw her prior to battle. Legend has it that the Morrigan was in fact a triad of sisters, often named as Badb, Macha and Nemain, while the Morrigan is also remembered as the triad of the land Goddesses Ériu, Banba and Fódla.
Such was her influence over the land of Ireland that it is from áariu that the word 'Eire' and 'land' ('Ériu-land'), developed into 'Ireland', in effect naming the country!
The most famous tales of the Morrigan always center around Cuchulainn at the time he defended Ulster from the army of Connaught, led by Queen Maeve.
This famous battle raged for months and cost countless lives. By invoking the right of single combat Cuchulainn was able to defeat warrior after warrior. It is at this point that the Morrigan attempted to seduce Cuchulainn, offering herself to him before battle.
But Cuchulainn refused Morrigan, despite her great beauty.
The Morrigan was outraged and used her shape-shifting powers to transform into an eel, tripping Cuchulainn as he traversed a fjord. The hero recovered though and lashed out at the eel, breaking its ribs. She then transformed into a wolf, scaring cattle and driving them towards Cuchulainn who responded with a sling-shot, blinding the Morrigan in one eye.
Once again the Morrigan transformed!
This time she changed into a heifer leading the stampede towards Cuchulainn. But once again the famed prowess of the greatest mythic figure in Irish history thwarted her evil ambition.
He fired away another slingshot, breaking her leg forcing the Morrigan into a humbling retreat. One that she would never forget.
After his victory in battle Cuchulainn traveled from the battle-site where he encountered an old woman milking a cow. Again the Morrigan had transformed.
The haggard woman was blind in one eye, with damaged ribs and a broken leg but despite having inflicted these wounds Cuchulainn did not recognize her new form. She tricked him by giving him three sips of milk. He blessed her on every occasion and when each had been taken the wounds inflicted on the Morrigan were healed. By Cuchulainn's own blessings!
The Morrigan would again appear before Cuchulainn shortly before his death. On his way to yet another battle he met a woman washing bloody armor, a sure and terrible portent of impending doom.
Sure enough Cuchulainn was finally conquered. Despite being mortally wounded he tied himself to a boulder with his own innards, in the hope that his upright appearance would continue to terrify his enemies. It is only when a black crow finally landed on his shoulder that his death was finally revealed.
The Morrigan also appeared in other mythic adventures.
In the Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland) of the twelfth century the Morrigan is named among the Tuatha De Danann as a daughter of daughter of Ernmas, who in turn was a granddaughter of Nuada. In the 'Battle of Mag Tuired' (The Battle of Moytura), the Morrigan is said to have mated with the Daghda, with one foot on each bank of a mighty river and later promised to summon the magicians of Ireland to aide the Tuath De Danann in their battle against the Fomorians.
In the battle itself the Morrigan recited a poem or chant that so terrified the Fomorians that they were driven back into the sea.
The incredible Morrigan! The shape-shifting Phantom Queen.
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What are the Dark Powers?
By shirleytwofeathers
The dark powers emanate from the dark aspects of the Goddess and the God. This is the power of the Crone and the Lord of the Shadows; the Hag and the Hunter. The dark powers are more than just a personification of the negative influences in life, however, and the energy raised through the dark imagery of the Divine is very potent. As such, be careful what you do.
The Dark Goddess is manifested in mythology as various kinds of death crones, wise hags, devastation, war, disease and barrenness of the land. She is the Bone Mother who collects the skulls of the dead for the ossuary. In Irish mythology, Morrigan and Nemain would be considered Dark Goddesses in that they are associated with War and Death.
The Dark God is seen in mythology as the silent host to the dead in his underground realm of grey shadows and deep sleep, knowing of secrets and wise of the universe, death, war, destruction, gatherer of souls and harbinger of chaos. He is the Hunter, whose wild hunt, or raid, ingathers the energies of the soul.
There is sense to this ancient cosmology. Cults of ancient times focused on the dark aspects of the Divine so that their followers would move past their fear of mortality to seize upon the recognition of their eternal immortality.
In Irish mythology, Crom Cruach, and Donn would be considered “Dark Gods” or “Dark Powers” because Donn was the god of the dead Milsians. At death, Mannannan Mac Lyr carried the soul to Tech Dunn or the House of Donn. In texts like the Dinsenchus there is references to Crom being considered to be a dark god, contrasting a light god, in a way that is very similar to the Slavic god Czernobog.
As a power, the Dark Lord is the Chaos from which Order must evolve. Yet there is no ending to this cycle, Order resolves again as Chaos to be reborn as New Order. The Lord of Shadows as Death becomes the process of new life by gathering the energy of dying life, and the Passage into a new material form is through the Crone.
In the aspect of light, the god dies willingly by entering the ground to bring his vitality to crops that will be harvested to feed humanity. Through this selfless act, he revitalises the earth. He does this through the Crone. The marriage of Lugh in August, celebrated as Lughnasadh, is the start of the descent into Mother Earth. Once there, he is transformed into the son within the goddess. Hence, the pagan god is both Father and Son, which is yet another concept that Christianity absorbed from the pagans. The harvest comes, the seasons change, and the Mother becomes the Crone of Autumn and Winter, only to be transformed into Mother again at Winter Solstice with the rebirth of the Sun (her son, the god). See Also: Cernunnos, Green Man and Herne.
The womb-tomb is the domain of the Crone and is a place of great power. This is where the transformation takes place, with energies of death given repose and returned to form as the energies of life. When this power is confronted and recognised, there comes a freedom from fear, a new sense of independence and a recognition of personal responsibility. We are not judged in Death by the Lady and the Lord, but we are Self-judged. From the quietude of the realm, we move through her into new life. That is the balanced, pagan theme of the cauldron, the god of self-sacrifice and the resurrecting goddess. It is this power of the goddess that significantly differentiates the old and new religions.
Thus, in an historical sense, while the Dark Lord guides the chaos of social and cultural changes through the Crone into a new life, the Crone becomes not the terror of death, but the joyful passage to new vibrant societies through the death of the outmoded and stagnant ones. She is Fata Morgana, the Huntress Diana, Minerva, Cerridwen, Sati and Kali. He is Pluto, Hades, Cerunnos, Herne the Hunter, Set and Shiva. But the names may not convey the image needed by the practitioner unless you are able to move beyond the modern association of darkness as evil.
By accepting that the dark powers are in balance with the light powers, you are able to utilise the wholeness of the Power. The dichotomy of good and evil do not apply to what simply is. Energy can be drawn to the light or to the dark; thus death provides the soul’s passage to whichever realm the soul-energy has been drawn. Energy is always in motion, and flows back and forth between light and dark. What at one time is light energy turns and becomes dark energy. Through the practice of the Craft, the witch directs this energy for beneficial purpose. To do otherwise, is to inflict Self-harm.
To face the Underworld and the power of the dark aspect of the Divine is to understand that dark is part of the necessary blend of light and not something to fear. The unifying of the dark and the light within the individual offers wholeness and peace, which may then be transferred to external contacts.
From: Green Witchcraft II
https://shirleytwofeathers.com/The_Blog/powers-that-be/tag/war/
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