The Morrigan has come into my life this last year. Sightings of giant ravens, power that I mine in my anger and hurt, potent enough to scorch a path to healing. She is known to be difficult to work with, and I shouldn't say 'she' it is they. The Morrigan is a title. As I have been studying about this Irish goddess, I've learned The Morrigan is many in one, and probably one of the most misunderstood deities in history. I am currently reading a book on The Morrigan titled, Priestess of the Morrigan by Stephanie Woodfield. I know I am fated to read this book because yesterday two things happened that showed up in the pages I would read in bed. First, I dreamt of running up and down a spiral staircase for exercise, stopping only to refresh my water bottle with ice chips. And on page 75 Woodfield writes about working with The Morrigan, channeling them in a trance saying, "It is like walking down a long spiraling staircase, each step taking you down deeper and deeper. One cannot skip from the first step to the bottom landing. Later in the day as I was running an errand, I was stopped at a traffic light. Above were hundreds of black birds. They were diving and swooping and circling as one mind, it seemed. Well, page 52 shares the dream one of her cohorts recorded, telling Stephanie, "Yes, you were singing. I told you, it's all sorts of strangeness. Macha was singing too. I wrote it down. You were singing about blackbirds– "They will help you if you let them A flock of blackbirds flying A cloak of feathers on you Bringing strength when times are trying" When I was buying this book in a Denver witch store, the cashier told me to be careful, that working with The Morrigan is no joke. That's the kind of response they illicit. Early pages of the book I'd purchased, Priestess of the Morrigan, resonated. Here's the passage; "There seems to be a general feeling that the Morrigan is angry all the time, always in battle fury mode. Always ready for blood. That this imagery must be the totality of her personality. I have been a priestess of the Morrigan for over 20 years now, and it still surprises me how often I come across these ideas, how superficially we view the gods. Still, after all this time, all we see is war in her, and even then, all we see is the romanticized ideal of war. Not the truth of it. Not the truth of her." (the author feels one of the faces of the Morrigan stir in her and speak, saying, "I am more...I am so much more...Show them." She writes, "When then reading is done, I still feel Badb's shadow upon me. Offerings are made at our makeshift hotel room altar next to the coffee maker, and I ask her why her children cannot see past this one face, one aspect of her. Badb speaks again:" "'If you want war, I will give it to you. If you wish to fight endlessly, I will give you what you want, because you have asked me. I will fill your belly so full of blood that you will beg to see my other faces. The lesson will be as easy or as difficult as you wish it. Some will destroy themselves and never see me fully. It speaks to what you are, not to what I am." Sources Priestess of the Morrigan, Stephanie Woodfield (on Amazon) https://medium.com/@jwrhoday25/the-morrigan-goddess-of-death-transformation-sovereignty-and-the-psychological-alchemy-that-59d791f9244b JW Rhoday's article on The Morrigan, Medium The Irish Morrigan, Goddess of Death and Guardian of the Dead, Druidry Send us Fan Mail If you are searching for a fresh, binge-able podcast, this might be the one for you! Support the show Support Curious Cat, an independent, human-made podcast! ***Curious Cat Podcast on Substack!*** Buy Curious Cat Podcast a Coffee!
