The Morrigu (or Morrigan) represents the Crone aspect of the Goddess. She was a Celtic War Goddess who delighted in setting men at war. She fought in battles herself, and at times hovered like a crow over the warring men. She was represented as fully armed, carrying two spears in her hand, and wherever there was war, she was there. Her battle cry is said to be louder than that of a thousand men. She had a sort of Love-Hate relationship with Cuchulain, who refused her. Afterwards she fought with him and attacked him in three different forms. Cuchulain wounded her, and later she came back to him in the guise of an old woman to have him heal her wounds, for only he could do so. After that she became his friend and helped him.
The Morrigan is a Celtic Goddess who has been known as the Great Queen, Specter Queen, Supreme War Goddess and Queen of Phantoms, Great Mother, Moon Goddess, Great White Goddess, Queen of the Fairie, Patroness of Priestesses and Witches, and Goddess of Magick. She is a trifold Goddess, a Goddess in three parts, a shapeshifter, and a warrior. Yet, the Morrigan Herself seldom actually killed; rather, She used Her power and magick to stir up the warriors She favored and to weaken those She wanted to lose. It was believed that She was the washerwoman who would seen by a lake or river washing out their clothing; whoever saw Her was going to die.
Basically, She is a Goddess of battle, strife and fertility. But like all the Celtic Goddesses, She is not totally evil or good. She is a balance. Like the Greek Goddess Athena, the Morrigan often steps in to wage justifiable war. She is called upon by warriors, and if She agrees with their battle and motives, She aids them.
Remember, war was always important to the Celts; they loved nothing more than a fight, and built whole cities around schools of warfare. They were fierce warriors who even cowed the Romans for a time. Women fought with men at times, and it is reported that Celtic women, when sending their men off to war, told them "Come back carrying your shield or on it." It was the custom to carry the dead home on their shields if at all possible, so in effect the women were saying "win or die".
The Celts looked at nature, saw the fields grow cold and empty, all dead in Winter, and then saw the Earth reawaken and the fields come to life in the Spring. They knew death was necessary for rebirth and worshipped the Morrigan as the one who brought honorable death so there could be rebirth. She was the one who led the armies, the one who brought death, but also life through Her aspect as a fertility Goddess; She was a symbol of life, not never-ending death.
She is not evil, although She is dark. By bringing death, She causes new life. This death causes fertility--look at the idea of composting, if you doubt it--and so She also brings fertility.
(Celtic: Welsh) Sea goddess; Triple Goddess. Names: MORGEN/Morgana/Morgan: (mor, sea; of the sea)
Correspondences: Moon/Air/Water Morgen of the Ninefold Sisterhood rules death, rebirth, fate, and the sea. She is a shape-shifting shaman, a witch, and a healer. She and her eight sisters are expert in magic, medicine, and the arts. They are a triple version of the Triple Goddess who dwell in Avalon, the winterless Isle of Apples. It was to them that King Arthur was taken after his final battle.
Legend has it that he remains there with them, still healing. Morgen was envisioned with wings, or as a sea sprite, but she may have originated as a death and otherworld goddess. Some scholars associate her with the MORRIGAN, or with MODRON. Morgen is said to be Merlin's wife, or the Lady of the Lake, in some traditions. During the Christian Era she devolved into Morgan le Fay, the manipulative sorceress of Arthurian legends. Invoke Morgen for enchantment, shamanism, witchcraft, healing, youth, immortality, art, music, shape shifting, lunar magic, and herbal cures.
