The Morrigan: Celtic Warrior Goddess Who Prepares You for Battle
Have you been seeing crows and ravens everywhere lately, or feeling like a fight is coming?
Scroll to the end of this article to listen to or watch the full episode.
The Morrigan is our October Goddess of the Month here at Inked Goddess Creations. If you want her origins and correspondences, our Inked Grimoire article covers all of that. Here, I'm getting into her energy: how working with the Morrigan as a goddess and an archetype can change your life.
A quick note before we start: much of her lore comes from medieval Irish texts, and I'm horrible at pronouncing Irish. So I'm telling you her stories in plain English. If you want to dig into the original names, please do your own research, because it's worth it.
My History with the Morrigan
I worked with the Morrigan for a few years, but something always felt slightly off. After learning new information and spending time in meditation, I realized Morgan Le Fay had been the one reaching out to me all along. She had shapeshifted into the Morrigan, because, at the time, I wouldn't have accepted Morgan Le Fay as a goddess to work with. The full story is in my Morgan Le Fay episode. That said, the Morrigan showed up powerfully in my life, and I'll share how below.
Before working with any deity, build a relationship with them before you start asking for things. The Morrigan is a powerful, darker goddess, so learn as much about her as you can first.
Great Queen, Phantom Queen, Nightmare Queen
Her name changes meaning depending on a tiny accent mark over the O. With it, "Mór" means great, so she's the Great Queen. Without it, "Mor" is read as phantom or terror, so she's the Phantom Queen. Some historians argue the most accurate translation might be the Nightmare Queen. Honestly, all three describe her.
The Many Faces of the Morrigan
The Morrigan is often more than one goddess, which is why you'll see "the" in front of her name. It reads more like a title. Several goddesses are linked to her, and whether they're separate goddesses or aspects of one is still debated:
- The Morrigan herself, possibly also called Anu, who some connect with the mother of the gods. She's the one we know: war, fate, death, shapeshifting, and magick.
- Badb, tied to prophecy, whose name may connect to the word for crow or battle.
- Macha, tied to sovereignty and the land itself. She decides who gets the crown.
- Nemain, who shows up in some modern sources and is usually connected to battle frenzy.
She's also a shapeshifter, appearing as a crow, a wolf, an eel, a white cow, a gorgeous young woman, or a wild old hag.
She Shows Up Before the Battle
In her stories, the Morrigan arrives first. She warns. She prepares. When an army came to steal a sacred bull, she appeared to the bull as a crow and told him to run.
She did this for me, too. One morning, I woke up to my backyard covered in ravens. We have ravens in our trees, but they never come into the yard. I went into meditation and met a warrior goddess who told me to prepare for battle. Within a month, we were in a legal fight with another company over our Magick Mail trademark. It lasted for months and cost thousands of dollars, and we still own that trademark today.
When the Morrigan prepares you, she gives you a warrior mindset:
- Courage: moving forward while you're scared shitless.
- Strategy: knowing your opponent, the terrain, and what you're walking into.
- Choosing your battles: warriors don't fight every fight.
- Commitment: once you choose the fight, you don't back down halfway through.
Your battle might be a custody fight, a confrontation at work, a health battle, standing up to your family, or leaving a toxic relationship.
Signs She May Be Reaching Out
These aren't written in stone, but watch for crows or ravens showing up in large numbers, dreams about battles, weapons, or blood, sudden clarity about who's really on your side, and old fights resurfacing because they were never settled.
Goddess of Fate
In one story, a war hero of Ireland rode out and saw a woman washing his bloody armor in a river. That was the Morrigan, and it was an omen of his death.
Most of us already know how certain situations will end. We know when a relationship is over, or a job is killing us, and we hold on anyway because of the devil we know. The Morrigan helps you face that truth, then stand on your own two feet and move forward.
She Walks Between Worlds
In one story, she leads a woman through a cave in Ireland into the Otherworld, and that cave is described as her home. While other gods live in halls and castles, the Morrigan lives at the doorway between worlds.
Around Samhain, the Dagda met her at a river, where she stood with one foot on each bank. She told him exactly when the enemy would attack and helped him win the battle. One foot in this world and one in the spirit world. If you're more at home in a cemetery than at the beach and you love this thin-veil season, she may already be part of your path.
Crows, Ravens, and Messages
In Irish lore, her bird is the crow, and modern witchcraft sees both crows and ravens as messengers between worlds. That's exactly what she does: she carries the message before the battle. Here in Tucson, we have ravens the size of fat cats, so trust me, I pay attention.
If the Morrigan shows up for you, the battle is probably worth fighting, but it will be tough. Her lessons don't come with rainbows and unicorns. They come with battle, destruction, and rebirth from the ground up.
Want the full story, including my raven morning and what the Morrigan prepared me for? Listen to or watch the full episode below, and remember that new episodes drop every Wednesday.