The Morrigan

Myth and origin

The Morrigan's name has been variously etymologised. The first element mor may be related to a Proto-Indo-European root *mer- meaning "phantom, terror, nightmare" (cognate with English "nightmare," German Mahr), giving "phantom queen"; or to Old Irish mór meaning "great," giving "great queen." Both readings are linguistically defensible and both seem mythologically true. The ríg/rígan element is straightforwardly "king/queen." Her triple form connects to widespread Indo-European mythologies of three battle-goddesses—the Norns, the Greek Erinyes, the Slavic Rozhanitsy—suggesting an ancient stratum.

The chief sources are the great Old and Middle Irish texts: the Lebor Gabála Érenn ("Book of Invasions"), the Cath Maige Tuired ("Battle of Moytura"), the Táin Bó Cúailnge ("Cattle Raid of Cooley"), the Dindshenchas (place-name lore), and various sagas. In the Cath Maige Tuired she meets the Dagda at Samhain at the river Unius, where they unite sexually, and she prophesies victory to the Tuatha Dé Danann over the Fomorians. In the Táin she attempts to seduce Cúchulainn, is rejected, takes vengeance by attacking him as a shape-shifting bird, eel, and wolf during his battles, and finally appears to him as a hag washing the bloodied clothes of the slain at a ford—a famous image of the "Washer at the Ford," the harbinger of death.

Attributes and stories

You recognise the Morrigan by her crow or raven form (sometimes hooded carrion-crow specifically), her red mantle or red eyebrows, her shape-shifting (she becomes eel, wolf, hornless red heifer, beautiful young woman, hag, and back again), her battlefield haunting, her appearance at fords washing the clothes of those about to die. Her triple sisters or aspects: Badb (the "scald-crow" or "crow"), the prophet of doom whose cry foretells slaughter; Macha, associated with horses, the harvest, and the sovereignty of the land—the great fortress Emain Macha was named for her after she raced and outran the king's horses while pregnant, dying at the finish line and laying a famous curse on the men of Ulster; Nemain ("frenzy"), who instils battle-madness.

Her central myths include her sexual union with the Dagda at the ford of Unius, where she stands astride the water with one foot on each bank—an image of cosmic threshold-power—uniting with him at Samhain to grant victory and prosperity. She prophesies the future after the Battle of Moytura in two famous poems—one of peace and plenty, one of dark apocalypse—covering both possibilities. She torments and attacks Cúchulainn during his great cattle-raid combats, finally appearing to him as a beautiful young woman whose advances he rejects (he is busy fighting), provoking her revenge. When he is finally slain, a crow lights on his shoulder—the Morrigan—signalling his death. She is the warner of the doom, the chooser of the slain, the speaker of what is to come.

Modern reception

The Morrigan has been substantially reclaimed in modern Pagan and especially feminist spirituality. Patricia Monaghan, Morgan Daimler, Stephanie Woodfield, and many others have written extensive contemporary works on her cult, exploring her ferocity, sovereignty, and shadow-work potential. She figures in literature from W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory through contemporary fantasy (Susan Cooper, Pat O'Shea's The Hounds of the Morrigan, Maggie Stiefvater, countless others), in video games (Dragon Age, Smite, Hellblade), and in graphic novels. King Arthur's sorceress-sister Morgan le Fay carries echoes of her name, possibly a partial assimilation. The Celtic Reconstructionist movement and Irish polytheism have particularly developed her contemporary worship.

In contemporary practice the Morrigan is invoked for matters of fierce sovereignty, justice, protection in adversity, shadow-integration, prophecy, and the courageous facing of death. She is particularly honoured at Samhain (31 October-1 November), when the veil between worlds thins. Crows and ravens are her sacred messengers; battlefields and crossroads are her places. Astrologically she corresponds to Mars (war-goddess), to Pluto (death, the underworld, transformation), and to Saturn in her crone-aspect. She has affinities with Scorpio (death-and-power) and with the dark moon. The mythological deity test can reveal whether her crow-shadow flies above you. Continue with Cernunnos and Brigid.

Symbolic depth

In the tarot, the Morrigan corresponds most clearly to Death (XIII) as the great chooser of those to be transformed, to Strength (XI/VIII) in her fierce sovereignty, to The Moon (XVIII) in her shape-shifting darkness and prophecy, and to Judgement (XX) as the speaker of cosmic decision. The Queen of Swords carries her sharp-cut clarity, and the Queen of Wands her sovereign fire. On the Kabbalistic Tree of Life she resonates with Geburah (severity, war, righteous force) and with Binah (the dark mother, sovereign understanding).

Jungian readings make the Morrigan a powerful image of the warrior-feminine and of the Self's dark sovereignty—what the analyst Sylvia Brinton Perera called the "descent to the goddess" in her work on Inanna and parallel figures. Her shape-shifting, her triple form, her erotic rejection by Cúchulainn (who pays for it with his life), and her appearance as the washer-at-the-ford preparing the dead model a feminine that cannot be domesticated, romanticised, or split into "good" mother versus "bad" hag. Her shadow is the temptation of vengeance, the warrior-queen whose rejected love becomes pure destruction. To work with her is to face your own anger, your own prophetic knowing, and the warrior-queen within. Return to the main glossary.

Also known as

• Morrígan
• Morrígu
• Mor-Ríoghain
• Phantom Queen
• Great Queen
• Badb
• Macha
• Nemain