Lessons from the Morrigan, Goddess of Sovereignty

The Morrigan is a fierce goddess from Celtic tradition, which was the folk religion of the people throughout much of Europe and Anatolia from before the rise of Christianity. These people traveled widely in their heyday, often as warriors, but largely settled in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany, and the Isle of Man.

Many of the stories we retain about the Celts were written by their enemies after the Celts had been all but eradicated. But what we can glean is that the Celts were people with a rich oral culture and a belief system that was deeply connected with the land.

A Goddess Who Protects Her Warriors

The Morrigan is a mysterious character who is sometimes one entity and other times three. Her sisters (or other aspects) are Badb, a banshee who wails when death is coming, and Macha, a goddess whose great talent lies in dying and coming back to life again. The Morrigan herself can be a beautiful woman with long red hair and bright red lips, a monstrous old hag, or a crow. She is a shape-shifter, one who often played an important role in battle, according to Irish mythology. She never carried a sword or any other weapon; instead, she would find power by transforming into an eel, wrapping herself around a warrior’s leg, or a wolf, causing a stampede of cows.

Battle would have been important for the ancient Celts, as they were made up of various kingdoms that were always trying to overtake each other and steal each other’s cattle—which was, essentially, the currency of the time. The Morrigan was said to have powers over the weather and could lash opponents with rain and hail, clearing the way for a great success for her people.

A Fierce Protector of the Land

The Morrigan is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann, an ancient supernatural people who, the legends say, arrived in Ireland on great ships riding on clouds. They would fiercely battle to protect the land, until they were defeated by a human tribe and retreated into the sidh, the Otherworld. This is a place where time passes differently—a human could visit there for years and find that only a day had passed in the human realm (or the other way around). The fae, the people of the Otherworld, could bestow gifts or curses, and one had to be quite careful about how one dealt with them.

In the later Arthurian legends, the sidh played an important part in the stories of many characters, including Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay (Morgan the Faery). Some believe Morgan is a later evolution of the original Morrigan, the warlike goddess with shape-shifting powers who could help or hurt, depending on her mood. The Otherworld was also the location of the famed Holy Grail, the magical cup that many questing knights sought to cure any illness or bestow eternal life.

One way of understanding the Morrigan is as a sovereignty goddess, one whose major aim was to protect and guard the land, the most precious resource to the ancient Celtic people. There was an old belief that a king essentially married the land, and his primary oath was to be a good husband to that land. If he wasn’t—if he displeased the Morrigan in some way—he would be bested in battle … or worse.

A Tough Goddess for Tough Times

Many modern pagans work with the Morrigan when they need help with matters of a dark or difficult nature. She’s not a gentle and bright goddess, but rather a fierce one who can help us fight the battles we need to fight. She could be called on to help with the climate crisis; to right the wrongs that have been done to the land all over the world. She is also a goddess of fate, one who can see into the future and discover the outcome of a battle. In the mythology, she often still fights, even if she knows she (or her champion) is going to lose.

Think of the Morrigan when you feel lost, exhausted, or embattled. Think of her power to shift and change with the weather; to find a way to fight even when everyone else has swords and all you have is your body. She reminds us that we always have power, even if it doesn’t necessarily look like the power other people will recognize. As Courtney Weber puts it in her book The Morrigan, “Tough times call for tough goddesses.” The Morrigan might just be the one we need right now.

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