I am looking for info about The Morrigan.

[Asimis]

Greetings,

I need to do a paper for school about any diety that had it's origins before the 1500s AC. Given my growin ginterest in Wicca I have been interested in learning more about The Morrigan and have taken the oportunity to do the paper about her to get more familiar with her. First of all I would ask if she is older than the date I need to meet. I am mainly looking for historical information like sculptures, statues, her history and practices, her orgins, rituals, symbols, prayers and any other information that you think could be helful like what is her status today, is she still worshiped, how and why, etc.


Thanks in advance.
Asimis

[Morr]

hey,
first of all, I'm not on my computer so I cant give you any links or information regarding the Morrigan (at least not untill Tuesday). You should check out -

http://www.pantheon.org

and search for The Morrigan. Theres a great article about her there.

the Morrigan is acient, she came WAY before 1500AC... She comes from the Celtic Irish Myths which are at least 1000-2000BC (please correct me if im wrong - to all ye Morrigan follwers out there lol).

Personally, I worship her daily - praying to her mostly. On the dark Moon, which is her strongest time of month, I do a little ritual for her. Nothing fancy - I light a candle in her name, cinnamon incense that she likes, offer red wine & food (chocolate, strawberries, cookies) and I pray. I usually invoke her when I am reading the Tarot since she aids with the gift of prophacy.

Her corrospondences (and these are very general & quick since I gtg in a few) -

Colors - red, black.
stone - clear quartz.
herbs - dragon's blood, cinnamon, mugwort.
attributes - Strength (inner strength), banishing negativity, motivation, protection, prophacy, lust, passion. She is the Patroness of Witches & of night magick.
elements - I've seen her associated with earth and with water, sometimes with fire. It depends on how you view her and what kind of magick/ritual you work with her for. Some people dont use those elements (as they dont follow the 4 "classic" elements).

She is a triple war goddess, often believed to be 3 sisters known as The Morrigan (the three are - Nehiman, Badb & Macha). She is the Irish Goddess of war & Battle, who often shipshaftes into a Carrion Crow or a Raven. She has been associated with Horses, Black Dogs & eels as well. She is of the tuatha De Dannan, and helped the win several battles, not through physical fighting but with her magick and with the battle frenzy & motivation she instilled in the soldiers' minds & hearts. She is also associated with prophacy - being able to tell the future of soldiers who are doomed to die. She is known to appear as the "washer at the ford", who is washing the bloody uniforms of a soldier destined to die in battle.

There is a lot more to her, this is just a short overview. You should definitly look into Irish Mythology to learn more about her history & myths.

Good luck!

[Asimis]

Thanks Morr !

I found the following information in this website: http://www.celticpagan.com/celt/deities.htm

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Morrigan (pr. mor-ee-gan) Ireland, Whales, Britain Morrigan - with royal torque, two spears, celtic sword, sheild and cape. In the tradition of the Celtic warrior, she is naked, Her skin covered in tattoos. To uncover the tattoos was to activate the magic they contained, giving the warrior strength, courage, ferocity and good fortune in battle. Also given as MorRoighain (mor-ree-an), Morrigu (mor-i-goo), and later as Morgan. “Great Queen” or “Phantom Queen” The name “Great Queen” makes the most sense to me as the word for great, even in the modern Irish language is Mor, and the modern Irish word for queen is banrion (ban-ree-an). Along with Her sisters, Macha and Badb, forms a triple aspect Goddess of war. Many people, upon seeing this, may decide to write Her off as unworthy of their attention. According to Steve Blamires, in his book Glamoury, “Because She is associated with war, grief, mutilation, shapeshifting, and sexual gratification for it’s own sake, She is not a contact to be encouraged”. While I highly recommend Mr. Blamires’ book,

I cannot agree with that statement. There is far more to this Goddess than is readily apparent. I’ll attempt to give a more in depth presentation of Morrigan and Her aspects here. Once again, quoting from Glamoury, She appears in both the Mythological Cycle and the Ulster Cycle (of the old Irish tales) particularly in the Cattle Raid of Cooley, which is very heavily battle oriented. (The entirety of the Ulster cycle focused on Warriors and their feats of bravery and self-sacrifice for home and kin). Memories or her survive in modern Celtic folklore as the Washer of the Ford (not Ford as in my Ford van, but Ford as in river or stream, even though it would be pretty cool to have a Goddess washing my van), who is seen as a weeping woman washing blood stained shrouds at a ford in the river. This is obviously a bad omen, especially if you happen to be a warrior on your way to battle! ( This last statement I would also disagree with. We know that the ancient Celts held warriors in high esteem and that to die in battle was an honorable thing. In many tribal cultures, it was even desirable, for the Vikings it assured ascension to Valhalla, for many Native American Tribes, it also guaranteed entrance into their versions of paradise. For other cultures, to die bravely in battle could even turn the slain warrior into a God.

There are many stories of Celtic warriors receiving an omen of their impending death in battle, but it never swayed them from their course. It wasn’t that they ignored the warning, simply that sometimes ‘a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do’. They would simply prepare themselves and put their affairs in order. See the tales of King Conchabar of Ulster). It was Morrigan, who attempted , unsuccessfully, to seduce the hero Cu Chullain. She tried to avenge the snub by impeding him at the most critical times of life and death struggles. After being defeated, she turned to his aid. appearing as Nemain and causing his enemies to die of terror and heartbreak. She also showed Herself to High King Cromac just before he was killed in battle. Yet she also raised the water, enabling the king and his entire army to walk across the very river in which she was seen prophetically scouring the blood from his armor. In the Arthurian legends, as Morgan le Fey (Morgan of the Fairies),

She was accused of trying to kill Her royal half brother. She is later, however, among three queens who bear him off to Avalon to be cured of his wounds. Her skill as a healer is also mentioned by Chretian de Troyes. That there were three queens inthe tale further helps to identify Morgan le Fey as the triple Morrigan. Morrigan reigned over the battlefield, helping with Her magic, but did not join in the battles directly. In Her dark aspect She is associated with ravens or crows. She is depicted fully armed and with two spears. She is the Goddess of rivers, lakes and fresh water. It may have been to Her that the weapons often found at the bottom of lakes and bogs were offered as sacrifice. Fate and prophesy are two of Her more favorable aspects.

She is said to be patroness of priestesses and witches, evidenced by Her association with ravens, crows, fairies, magic, fate and prophesy. When studying deities of ancient pantheons, it is necessary to also study the culture and lifestyle of the people that first worshipped them. These people lived a very different life than we do today. Their ideas and beliefs about humanity, the universe, life, death and sexuality were of an entirely different paradigm than what most of us in western civilization grew up with. As pagans, we often give great lip-service to being open-minded, but as soon as some of us come across ideas that deeply challenge the core beliefs of our upbringing, they are rejected wholesale.

Prime examples of this are beliefs about death, evil, nudity and sexuality. I had a short conversation with some women who were relatively new to Wicca recently. The subject of skyclad rituals came up and one woman said “Is that what we’ve degraded to?”. She was clueless to the tradition, the reasoning, and the purpose of being skyclad in ritual and simply assumed it to be of a base and sexual nature (as if there’s anything wrong with that, either). When confronted with Gods or Goddesses of death or war, many assume them to be sinister or evil. Once again, look at the origin and the people who worshipped them. Death is not sinister or evil. Death is an important part of the wheel of life. War is a reality of human history, and possibly even human nature. These deities provide comfort, wisdom and guidance through the harsh realities of life and it’s mysteries. To reject part of the mystery is to weaken it. To reject part of the wheel of life may leave you lost, alone and very afraid. Life and nature are not always gentle and nurturing, they can be very cruel and very harsh. We take power in understanding all aspects of the world we live in. Get to know deities like Morrigan, She may be of great help when life gets cruel and harsh.

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[kaosxmage]

Looks like you have enough LOL. Morrigan is one of the most popular sorts around here, a simple search through the threads will turn up much much more.

--Kaos

[Asimis]

Yeah, I just spent the morning searching for info around the web and found a couple of Yahoo clubs and websites that had a lot of pictures and information. I only need to tell the teacher tomorrow what I will be doing for the paper, let her know that I will be discussing about The Morrigan, etc. But then for next week I will have to give a draft of the actual paper.

I will share it once I finish it and will probably convert it into HTML form to put it online. it would be nice to make a little webpage with everythign about her including links, images, poems, rituals, etc.

Thanks for posting.

[Morgandria]

If you are writing a paper on Her as a historical goddess figure, most if not all of the neo-pagan information (such as correspondances) are of little use to you, I would think. Try looking at reconstructionist pages, and booklists, for a more scholarly approach to things...perhaps a small part of your project could be on the neo-pagan approach to Her, but I wouldn't think any more than that would be appropriate.

http://www.shee-eire.com/Magic&Mythology/Gods&Goddess/Celtic/Goddess/Morrigan/Factsheet1.htm
- this page has a list of the myth cycles she appears in - the Cattle Raid of Cooley, and her dealings with ChuChulainn are important.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/foireannmhorrighan
- this group is very helpful in talking about the historical aspects of The Morrigan.

That's all I can offer you as advice at this time. Also try Googling for The Morrigan; you will get some pages who offer more than the usual neo-pagan stuff if you look.

[Asimis]

Hey- Thanks a lot for those links, very informative.

[RubyRose]

I think most has been covered.

I believe other gemstones associated with The Morrigan, are:
Bloodstones, Rubies, Onyx & Obsidian
I also get the feeling that the herb Henbane is associated with her. Along with Nightshade and Yew. As with Goddesses seen in a triplicate form, 9 is sacred to her also ... as well as blood in some instances.

Bendithion,
RubyRose

[alesay]

you know, she has NEVER asked for blood from me. Once i was all hopped up and ready to roll and she's like "I don't want your blood child" and i was disappointed ;) Like Morr Said, she is great with tarot readings... Soooo good. I call on her for a lot of things. Of course, her appearance of the raven... I love seeing those beautiful birds (which i often over looked before being assosicated with her) all over the place ;) Have fun researching and writing about her... I'm sure she'll be very flattered ;) To me, she has a great sense of humor so! GOOD LUCK!! :)