Hello, my friends, and thank you for joining me today. I am so thrilled to be here and I’m excited to talk about one of the fiercest deities we will ever have the pleasure of getting to know and that is the Morrigan. But first I just gotta ask, how is everyone dealing with Mercury retrograde thus far? I know it’s just begun but let me tell you first thing in the morning on the first day of retrograde, I went into work and our damn phones were down.
This happens every goddamned retrograde to the point that it’s not even a cute joke anymore. I could set my watch by it. Our whole network was down in fact. And then that evening my husband came home complaining that the wifi was down where he works all day. And my dudes, that is just how it goes. When Mercury goes retrograde, technology and communication shit the bed.
I will give the same advice I always give when Mercury is acting a fool and that is avoid signing contracts if you can. If you can’t avoid it, make sure you read everything carefully. Avoid getting into arguments if you can. If you can’t, try to avoid saying anything you can’t take back. Communication in general breaks down like a goddamn 86 Pontiac Fierro. In other words, communication is unreliable at this time.
People will say things they don’t mean, and people will misinterpret things. So proofread your emails, watch what you say, and let’s just ride this out for the next few weeks. The other thing that’s happening right now is that we are in Virgo season! Happy birthday, Virgo. For the rest of us, this is a good time to lean into all of the positive attributes of Virgo.
This is an excellent time to get our affairs in order, to put a new routine in place, to clean out our metaphorical closets and just get it together. Virgo is detail oriented, Virgo appreciates organization, Virgo sees our highest potential and gives us the tools and the motivation to live up to our own promise. So, let’s not waste this opportunity to refine ourselves. Let’s not waste this chance to begin establishing some expectations for ourselves during this season when those expectations will be well supported.
If there was ever a time to put a little pressure on ourselves to start something new, something that we know will benefit us and help us, it’s Virgo season. People can talk shit all they want about how Virgo can be hypercritical, and this can be something to be mindful of, but we know when we aren’t living up to our potential, and Virgo is not going to cosign our bullshit. Virgo is going to tell us to get off our asses and do the things we should be doing.
So let’s all listen to that little nagging voice at the back of our minds that we know damn good and well has our best interests at heart and let’s stop pretending like escapism and laziness are the same thing as self-care. There’s a fine line there, but if we are honest with ourselves, we know the difference.
Alright, that’s the end of my sermon. I do have one teensy bit of housekeeping to address before we get to the main event and that is this: I have had to turn off the DMs on social media for the time being. I am still available via email at eli@middleagedwitch.com but this is because it is too hard to keep track of the messages when they’re spread across so many different platforms. So in the interest of staying organized, please email me all you want. It’s so much easier to stay on top of things through email. So I appreciate your understanding.
And now, let’s talk about the Morrigan! Now, we have done a few episodes on deities, and deity worship and we have done special episodes for Hekate and for Aphrodite, and I loved giving so much attention to those goddesses. They are two that I work with regularly and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it and I have learned more and grown more as a witch and as a woman thanks to their teachings.
But I’ve felt inclined, prompted, to talk about the Morrigan. And look, of you’re not someone who works with deities, that’s fair, but just hear me out because you might learn something, and if you’re a witch who has felt compelled to learn about the Morrigan, if you have felt like maybe she has been trying to get your attention, then hell. Maybe that’s the reason I’m feeling called to talk about her today.
I don’t always know why I pick the topics I do, but then I’ll get an email from someone who tells me that a particular subject was exactly aligned with some circumstance in their lives. Or they happened to be listening to an episode just as some situation was unfolding and it gave them some clarity. So maybe I’m talking about the Morrigan today because she wants your attention. Who knows? She’s crafty like that.
So let’s talk about her history and her background a little bit first. The Morrigan is a figure from Irish mythology, a triple goddess of war, battle, death and destruction, among other things. In fact the Morrigan is a variation of a phrase meaning great goddess or phantom goddess. As with most mythological figures, there are a lot of origin stories. The earliest appearances come from the 8th century which is like, a long time ago.
As I said a moment ago, she is considered a triple goddess, but not necessarily in the same way we consider Hekate to be a triple goddess. The Morrigan does not generally represent the maiden, mother and crone. She is almost always associated with the crone. Not because she is an old woman, but because of her associations with death and the underworld. No, when we say that the Morrigan is a triple goddess, it’s because she is three sisters. Think of it kind of like the Christian trinity.
She is three personages, but she is also one. And frankly, sometimes she is only one person. There is not a whole lot of consistency in the way she is depicted. And I frankly am of the mind that she is mostly considered a triple goddess simply because of the Celtic obsession with threeness. The number three was incredibly significant to them, and so the Morrigan became sort of wrapped up in that significance.
But of much greater significance to us is what the Morrigan was known to have done for those ancient Irish. She was said to go into battle with soldiers and to occasionally fight alongside those she considered to be especially worthy. She was also said to appear to those who would die on the battlefield, foretelling their deaths. This may be why she is sometimes associated with the banshee. And she was said to carry those who had fallen in battle to the other side, so that they didn’t have to make the journey alone.
But she isn’t only concerned with battle and death. She is considered a patron of the land and the animals, especially livestock. In this way, she is a guardian goddess, here to teach us how to be good stewards of the environment, and to help us make the land prosperous. And this is why she is also known to many as a fertility goddess.
We can hardly think of livestock and growing seasons without making the logical leap to fertility. She has so many facets. The Morrigan is a triple goddess, a goddess of war, battle, death, destruction, vengeance, and hexes, but she is also a goddess of courage, defense, empowerment, messages and omens, prophecy, protection, and shamanic work.
But something that we must remember when we feel her call or seek her out is this: the lessons that the Morrigan has to teach us are never gentle. To me, the Morrigan is like the Tower card in tarot. We cannot advance to the next stage, we cannot move to the next level in our relationships, in our careers, in our spiritual journey, in our lives, without first tearing down old structures and then rebuilding.
And that is not gentle work. This requires hard work and mental fortitude. It requires us to let go of false ideals and false ideas of what stability means. The Morrigan is going to get us out of our comfort zone. There is no two-ways about it. If we want to work with the Morrigan, if we want to ascend to the next level, we are going to have to be prepared to have our disillusions ripped away.
Whatever truths we cling to, whatever little white lies we tell ourselves, whatever comfortable ruts we have gotten ourselves into are going to be upended. The Morrigan promises to make us stronger throughout this process, she promises that we won’t have to walk this journey alone, but she does promise that we will have to walk it.
So, the question must be asked. What lies have you been telling yourself? What decision have you been putting off making? What big change have you been resisting? What is it that you are so afraid of, and are you ready to face it? Even if that means getting really, really uncomfortable. Even if that means making big adjustments in your life and in your routine.
Look, I can’t answer that for anyone but myself, but I can say that if you’ve been feeling pulled. If you’ve been feeling prompted to investigate the Morrigan as a patron deity. If you’ve been curious about her, if you’ve been seeing crows, black dogs, black horses, or wolves, then maybe it’s time to ask yourself what big, scary changes you’ve been resisting.
Maybe, you’re hearing this because she has put me in your ear to tell you that she sees you. And she sees that you’re not living up to your potential. And she has a plan to help to get you the hell out of your comfort zone and into your higher capacity.
I don’t typically get this intense, I know that, but the Morrigan is nothing if not intense. So now let’s talk a little about how we can make the move to introduce ourselves. Let’s talk about how we can approach her. It’s the same, essentially, as we would with any deity. Make a little space for her on your altar.
Put out some offerings or tributes in this space that are specifically for the Morrigan. Put some water on your altar for her, maybe some wine or even gin because the Morrigan is associated with juniper and as we mentioned last week when we talked about potions, gin is chock-full of juniper berries. Otherwise, some oak branches or acorns, or even just a picture of her that you’ve printed off the internet.
Create this space for her, and meditate with her. Invite her to speak to you, invite her to give you impressions. Ask point blank what it is you need to address in your life. Let’s be honest here, if you’re considering working with the Morrigan, you probably already know good and well what it is you need to change in your life. The Morrigan is not here to babysit us and coddle us. She is here to kick our asses out of the boat so that we can sink or swim.
But if we are willing to learn to swim, she will absolutely teach us. She won’t do it for us, but she will stay with us every step of the way. It will hurt, and we will probably want to quit sometimes, but whatever it is that we need to face, she will stand with us. She will walk through the fire with us, and when we come out of the other side, we will be stronger. We will be braver. We will have more confidence.
And we will be ready to take those lessons forward. This is what the Morrigan offers. Not comfort. But strength. Tough love. And this is what is so fearsome about her, and it’s also why she is so special. God.
Well. I hope this resonated, I hope I haven’t alienated anyone, but sometimes the message isn’t cute. Sometimes it’s this. So, have a lovely day, and a lovely weekend, and please stay vigilant this mercury retrograde. Let’s all get to the other side. Thank you again for being with me here today. My name is Eli Ro, and this has been the Middle-Aged Witch Podcast.
Additional Resources:
The Morrigan: Celtic Goddess of Magick and Night by Courtney Weber
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