First of all, sorry for the long break in posts. I have been busy getting adjusted to school life. Taking 18 hours is basically only leaving me with time to sleep. I was inspired to write this post today when I walked under a large oak tree full of crows and sent up a silent prayer to the Morrigan for safety from harm. This led me to really think about the Morrigan and who she really is. It led me to this conclusion:
The Morrigan is often seen as one of three goddesses that make up a trinity of war deities. I do not see her as such. What I see is three goddesses, the Badb, Nemain, and Macha who together make a force known as the Morrigna, which is a plural of the word Morrigan, meaning "phantom queen" or "great queen." This leads me to believe that Morrigan is a title that the three share. There is, however, a story where the Morrigan is given a name: Anann. More on this later.
If we take into account the stories of the Lebor Gabála Érenn, the Morrigna are sisters of Ériu, Banba, and Fódla, the three goddesses for which Ireland was named. According to a 17th century book called History of Ireland, Eriu, Banba, and Fodla each worshiped an individual Morrigan, possibly meaning that these two sets are equivalent. If this is true, then these six could be seen as actually being three dual goddesses with light and dark sides. I'm going to leave off at this point, but I will be posting again later with more details about each goddess.
No comments:
Post a Comment