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CHAPTER 1
Meeting the Morrigan
She is the spirit of fury and peace, power and destruction, joy and terror. She is warrior, queen, death omen, mother, murderer, lover, spy, conspirator, faery, shape-shifter, healer, and sometimes the living earth itself. A captivating contradiction: a demonic female who both haunts and heals; benevolent in one moment, ghastly the next, and kind the moment after that.
Meet the Morrigan.
When I was a child, I broke a thermometer. Amazed, I chased the shiny pools of mercury around the bathroom floor with my fingers, becoming frustrated when they beaded and blobbed beneath my touch but escaping whatever shape I hoped to create. But after a little while, the mystery of the substance was its fun. Beautiful and fascinating but always slightly out of grasp, the mercury on the bathroom floor mirrors my journey with the Morrigan: an ever-shifting, enigmatic goddess both captivating and terrifying. Some might argue that, like trying to hold liquid mercury, fully grasping the Morrigan is dangerous. But this is where my metaphor ends: mercury is toxic, but the Morrigan is not.
Few goddesses attract as much reverence and notoriety as the Morrigan. Her earliest references describe a shrieking, cursing being who laughs at misery, one sometimes aligned with demons of the Christian hell. Medieval writers and contemporary bloggers alike describe a "treacherous" goddess. Yet, while scrolling social media or sharing mead around festival bonfires, I read and heard stories of how the goddess-with-the-warning-label changed lives for the better. I wondered how a goddess known for terror could also be restorative.
Eventually, I would understand.
To begin, who is the Morrigan?
To the best of our knowledge, the Morrigan originated in Ireland during the Celtic era, which took place from roughly 1000 BCE to 500 CE, give or take a few centuries, depending on the region. Today, the word Celtic is nearly synonymous with Ireland; but the Celtic world originally encompassed what are now the British Isles, the Iberian Peninsula, northern Italy, Switzerland, France, southern Poland, and central Turkey.
Far from being a homogeneous culture, the Celtic world was home to a variety of languages, customs, and religious practices. It is sometimes wondered whether Ireland should be included under the Celtic umbrella, its own culture too different from other Celtic countries. Others argue that although Celtic cultures were quite different, similar burial rites and weaponry imply these far-flung communities held key core values. It's beyond the scope of this book to decide the matter, but for the sake of clarity I will use the terms Celts or Celtic when discussing the overall Celtic world of this era, and Irish Celts or Celtic Ireland to describe the Irish people of the time.
To understand any deity, it is best to attempt to know the culture from which they came. Unfortunately, we know very little about the Celts. Most descriptions came from their contemporaries, who likely did not understand the Celts or were wont to sensationalize details about them. To even say we "know" anything about the Celts is an exaggeration; saying "we guess" is more accurate. Strangely enough, the mysteries surrounding the Celts may help us better accept and understand the mysteries around the Morrigan.
Like many things about the Celtic world, the Morrigan's origins are cryptic. Other cultures, such as that of the Roman Empire, carved out specific roles for their gods. The gods of the Celts, however, were shifty and ambiguous. The religion of the Celts is believed to have been based on rituals, omen interpretation, magical spells, and avoidance of unlucky actions; but to date no strong archeological evidence exists for a Morrigan cult. Mythology of the era gives us the best glimpse into the Morrigan, but even this is challenged. The Celts did not keep written texts, preferring to preserve history and myth through oral tradition. Stories of the Morrigan and other Irish deities were preserved through manuscripts penned centuries after Ireland Christianized. Christian authors likely changed aspects of the gods to suit the new religion, or simply altered details they found frightening or unimportant.
The Morrigan may have evolved from a collection of deities from different Irish Celtic tribes. These may have included prehistoric deities, adopted by the Celts from earlier Irish inhabitants. While we may never know the Morrigan's specific origins, we do know that she is primarily an Irish goddess. Myths and effigies of some Celtic deities can be found across Europe, but the Morrigan is believed to be exclusively tied to Ireland.
Her name offers more clues to her identity. Morgan Daimler writes in The Morrigan: Meeting the Great Queens that a difference is revealed through the name's spelling:
• Morrigan is Old Irish and likely means "Nightmare Queen."
• Mórrígan and Mór-Ríoghain are later Irish versions that likely mean "Great Queen."
• Other interpretations of her name include "Queen of Phantoms," "Sea Queen, or "Queen of the Slain."
Morrigan may also have been a generic title for a collection of goddesses. The Morrigan is associated with several names: Badb, Macha, Anu, Danu, Nemain, and Fea — all of whom were called the "daughters of Ernmas." Little documentation exists for Ernmas, an obscure deity, although in some translations, Ernmas meant "murder." It's unclear whether these names referred to different aspects of the Morrigan or described distinctly independent characters. In earlier depictions, the Morrigan is defined as both a demonic flying creature and a member of a specific class of nasty beings. Despite these descriptions, it is unknown whether the Morrigan was feared by the Irish Celts, given that these writings were authored by Christians many centuries after the Celtic gods had been largely abandoned. Were the scribes of the new religion frightened of a divine female? Was this a misunderstanding of an older culture? Or was the Morrigan a monster both loved and feared by the people who originally knew her?
True to many aspects of the Morrigan, we will never have that answer. However, it's suspected that the Celts' relationship to their gods was not a loving one. Celtic gods were living embodiments of the natural world. Such gods could be benevolent, providing food and favorable weather; but they could also be fickle and violent, causing foul weather, disease, and famine. Worship of the gods was likely rooted in appeasement and distraction: Keep the gods happy so they will leave us in peace. If this is true, the Morrigan would not have been uniquely or even especially vile. Any goddess with the power to influence the lives of mortal people would have occasionally been viewed as a fearful entity. Given that her name likely meant some form of queen, we can assume that she was believed to be greatly influential.
THE GREAT QUEEN OF A DIVINE PEOPLE
The Morrigan is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann ("the people or tribe of the goddess Danu"). The Tuatha Dé's original role in Celtic Irish faith is unknown. Depending on the tale, they were either gods, demigods, divine people, or a faery race who periodically aided humans for their own interests or amusement.
In the myths, the Tuatha Dé arrived in Ireland on ships from the sky, granting the country great gifts of civilization. The Morrigan and her sisters Badb and Macha were among them. The Tuatha Dé completed the creation of the country before they were conquered by the sons of Mil (or Milesians), whom the myths describe as ancestors of the Celtic Irish. After this defeat, the Tuatha Dé retreated underground into the sídhe (pronounced shee) mounds, also called faery mounds. The Tuatha Dé may have been an indigenous Irish people, mythologized over the centuries, who were replaced by or assimilated into groups who later arrived in Ireland. The Church generally tolerated preservation of Irish mythology so long as it was disguised as history, so we do not know if the Tuatha Dé were meant to represent flesh-and-blood humans or if they were always considered mythical. Therefore, we do not know if the Morrigan was ever meant to describe a historical queen or if she was always considered a feature of myth.
THE MORRIGAN: ONE GODDESS OR MANY?
Is the Morrigan one goddess? Yes.
Is the Morrigan one of several goddesses, all associated with the Morrigan? Yes.
Is the Morrigan even a goddess at all, or a title for a group of goddesses? Yes and yes.
Welcome to the first great paradox of the Morrigan.
The singular-versus-multiple identity of the Morrigan incites online arguments and leaves would-be devotees scratching their heads. Which one is right? Can the Morrigan be one, or many, or both? Contemporary goddess worship is often divided into "hard" and "soft" polytheism. Hard polytheists are likely to view the Morrigan as a distinctly singular goddess — the other goddesses associated with the Morrigan (sometimes called the Morrigan sisters) are considered to be strictly separate entities. Soft polytheists might embrace the Morrigan sisters as interchangeable facets of one goddess, just as the facets of a diamond are all part of the same stone. If I had to pick a label, I would call myself a semi-hard polytheist. I approach the Morrigan sisters as individual entities, but sometimes I feel them all as one. It reminds me of my mother and her sisters. The women are very different, but being from the same family, they share strong similarities. At a family gathering, you might find them talking or laughing in such unison, they might as well be one person.
Understanding the Morrigan as a single goddess, several goddesses, or another combination is a personal experience. It's not the intention of this book to prove one over the other, nor should it be. For continuity, I will refer to the sisters as separate entities. Sometimes, the myths are unclear as to whether the Morrigan is singular or a collection and we must make our best guesses. The gods are, and always have been, enigmatic. Seeking to understand is part of human nature, but unraveling this conundrum is unnecessary. From the mystery comes the magick, and back to the mystery it returns. I would rather have mystery and the magick it provides than a solved mystery, leaving a magick-less world.
THE MORRIGAN SISTERS
The goddesses most frequently associated with the Morrigan are Badb, Macha, and Morrigu (aka Morrigan). They are famous for being warlike furies urging combatants to fight. Some writers have argued that the sisters were not so much goddesses as "three sinister and destructive female beings who prophesied carnage and haunted battlefields." However, anything in triplicate, such as three sisters, within Celtic mythology signified an exalted status. They could appear as crows, speaking to, inspiring, or contributing to the downfall of great characters and creatures, sometimes through a dark, mysterious language.
The Morrigan sisters were often a unified force, but they each possessed unique powers.
Badb
Badb [Bive], aka Bodb, may come from the Celtic bodua, which means "fighting lady." Badb signified rage, fury, or violence and was described as both goddess and witch. Badb is known for being "red-mouthed," a color that the Celts may have associated with death. She too could appear as a scald crow or carrion crow and was sometimes called Badh Catha, "the scald crow of battle," as Badb incited confusion within armies and reveled among the slain. She could inspire fear enough to cause insanity.
The names of many Celtic goddesses reflected their relationship to humanity. Badb may have been a generic name for a war goddess, an alternative title for the three sisters (in this case referred to as Morrigu, Macha, and Nemain), a term for a bad faery, or a basic title for a frightening female character who issued prophecies of doom. Badb may be connected to the bean sídhe (banshee), a faery whose appearance portends death. Like the bean sídhe, certain "Badbs" were said to be attached to certain families, appearing as fateful omens in the shape of hooded crows.
While all Morrigan sisters are known for foretelling, Badb's specific prophetic role involves warning of danger to come. She is fierce, but not evil. As a crow, Badb may take a mother-goddess form who, even through bloodshed, was ultimately recovering her progeny, her name possibly used by early authors wishing to stress the most frightening aspects of the Morrigan.
Modern manifestations of Badb may be unnerving, such as a dream of an impending death. They may also be helpful, such as a sudden urge to clutch your bag, only to discover that someone was planning to take your wallet. Badb may be a frightening Morrigan sister, but there is a role for scary goddesses. Sometimes, they're the best ones to walk us through scary times.
Macha
Like Badb, Macha is associated with the crow and is sometimes described as "a fury that riots and revels among the slain." Often described with red hair, Macha was a triple goddess in her own right, sometimes depicted as one entity with three aspects: prophet, warrior, matriarch. She represented the sovereignty and fertility of Ireland, concerning herself with its welfare. Macha could be vengeful when wronged. She fought those who underestimated her because of her gender. In several myths, heroes' horses were called "Macha's Mare" or "Horse of Macha," suggesting that these mounts were dedicated to or blessed by her. She lived several different mortal experiences. She triumphed, she lost. She held power, she was brutally used. She experienced death numerous times, reappearing in other myths. Macha is sometimes considered a deified manifestation of the physical earth.
Macha appeared as a queen of Ireland, under the title of Macha Mong Ruad or Macha Red-Mane. Macha may have been a generic title for a woman of power, a historic queen who legendarily ruled all of Ireland in 377 BCE, a pre-Celtic goddess adopted by the Irish Celts, or a sovereignty goddess of the Irish region of Ulster.
While all three sisters have a potential function in any situation, the difference is in their approach and the energy they bring to said situation. If Morrigu is the drive to move forward, and Badb the warning to pull back, Macha reminds us to observe the immediate for obstacles and opportunities. Of the three, she is the one most experienced with human interactions and is often called upon for navigating hostile situations, helping to restore one's personal sense of power. Just as one must be in right relationship with a horse before riding it, Macha helps us be in right relationship with others — but even more importantly, she helps our relationships with ourselves.
Morrigu (or Morrigan)
Morrigu, or Morrigan, was considered a queen among the gods, living in the sighi, the faery palaces of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She was known for inciting battle, strife, and deeds of valor. She was also known for her wisdom, generosity, and prophetic abilities. She summoned kings into battle, strategized with gods, and stood with the slain. Morrigu offered morbid prophecies, cursed when insulted, and showed no mercy upon her enemies. She was also connected with wealth and fertility; and with a generous and hospitable reputation, she was sometimes said to be "even greater than the Great God." Morrigu could appear as a beautiful woman, an ugly hag, or a scald crow. Her hair could be black, red, or gray.
This is the sister who devotees generally, but not always, meet first in their Morrigan journeys. The myths of Morrigu or Morrigan shape the overall understanding of the sisters. She can be sought for strength, particularly when facing opposition. Because of her sexual encounters, she is sometimes sought out for matters of intimacy. Morrigu is the voice and energy of things that begin. She is the great conjuror, of both magick and courage. She is the voice that lifts those who think they cannot go on. She is the spirit of determination and courage.
OTHER NAMES OF THE MORRIGAN
The following goddesses also appear alongside the Morrigan. It is beyond the scope of this book to delve deeply into them, but on your own Morrigan journey you may come across them.
Anu
Anu is sometimes believed to be an alternative name for Morrigu (also sometimes called Ana or Anand). Anu was a goddess of wealth and a mother of the gods, said to have nursed the other deities. She is said to be another daughter of Ernmas. It is through Anu that the Morrigan is sometimes thought to be the wife of the Dagda, the Good God of Plenty.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "The Morrigan"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Courtney Weber.
Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
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