Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Pagan
Irish-American Witchcraft: Being Dedicated to the Morrigan – Part 2 – Following Them

Irish-American Witchcraft: Being Dedicated to the Morrigan – Part 2 – Following Them

Last updated on: March 1, 2016 at 5:00 pm by Morgan Daimler

Irish-American Witchcraft: Being Dedicated to the Morrigan – Part 2 – Following Them 2016-03-01T13:25:22+00:00 Morgan Daimler

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’m going to start this out by saying that I do tend to believe that the Gods and spirits are real beings, independent of humans and with their own personalities and agendas. I say that because I know that not everyone shares this view but to understand my experiences and journey over the last decade or so as a devotee of the Morrigan you have to understand the way that I approach believing in Them – whether you share that approach or not. Quite frankly I think its less important that we all have the exact same views and understandings of the Gods as that we are able to at least try to see things from other people’s points of view, which is what I’m asking you to do here.

two ravens perched on a rock with the text "Have you heard the power of the morrigan?"

Two Common Ravens (Corvus corax) in Iceland 2004 by Sigurður Atlason, used under Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike Licensing, modified with addition of text 2014, M. Daimler

So, in my last blog where I talked about finding the Morrigans – Badb, Macha, and Morrigu, that is – I mentioned that this finding came through the medium of Shadow work. At the end of this work, or at least when the 6 months we’d planned for it was over, I had received a message during a group meditation/Journey where They, collectively, told me that what I was meant to do for Them was to be a healer. You could say I wasn’t happy to hear this and you’d be underestimating my reaction by half. You see I’d always fancied myself quite the diviner and I’d spent many years learning a variety of divination methods to a point that I thought I was very good with them. I took in pride in my skill, and while I had some small interest in healing¹ it wasn’t anything I could picture myself really focusing on.

You know that expression about assuming?

You see when I was told I needed to focus on healing I assumed that meant physical, practical healing. Like fix a broken arm healing or even the more new age re-balance someone’s energy healing. And that was just about the last thing I wanted to dedicate my life to doing, even in service to a trio of Goddesses. I wasn’t even questioning why that particular grouping would want me, of all people, to be a healer – I was too busy making faces and groaning. Ugh.

I did start learning a wide array of healing methods though and started really studying magical healing work from a traditional witchcraft and Druidic perspective. I even briefly looked into massage therapy school (really not for me by the way). I started trying to do more magical healing, at least, and it wasn’t like it was horrible but it definitely wasn’t making my soul do cart wheels of satisfaction either. I felt frustrated, more than anything, but I was trying to trust that ultimately They were taking me where I needed to be.

But, during this period an interesting thing was happening. Although very few people at that time knew I honored the Morrigans, I started running into Her followers in places I’d expect them and places I never would. And the conversations often turned to ways these people had been hurt by life or other people, ways they’d been abused, ways they felt devalued, ways they were questioning their worth. And over and over I’d end up sharing my own story, my own struggle to recover a sense of sovereignty and self after victimization and over and over they’d tell me that I’d helped them feel more whole, more empowered. I found myself opening up to strangers about my own past, my own pain, and becoming an advocate for the beauty of brokenness and the potential to heal even when we have lost all sense of personal value. I found myself speaking out against the very idea of being ashamed for being a victim, and speaking instead about the power of the survivor. The strength of knowing exactly what you can endure. Then this started to happen more generally, a push to help people see their own power, their own value, their own worth, even when they had been broken. Especially when they had been broken.

a leafy green plant struggling to live in poor conditions

Life in adverse conditions: Black nightshade growing in the crack between concrete steps. Photo M Daimler 2012

And finally – not quickly – finally I realized that healing is a layered word, and that what They wanted from me, what They’d always wanted from me, wasn’t to physically heal people but to heal people’s sense of sovereignty. Sometimes this is through encouraging words, and sometimes this is through a challenge, because They can be hard even in healing, but the result is growth and strength. I’m still fumbling to learn how to do this well, but at least now I know what I’m supposed to be doing, and now it feels right and I enjoy doing it. I joke now that She sends people to me when She needs to, but it’s only partially a joke; when my service is needed the person will find me.

Although different people argue for different views of the Morrigans, to me they are Goddesses of war, battle, death, sovereignty, prophecy, magic, and power – and to honor Them is to acknowledge those things and what they mean in our lives even when they are unpleasant things to contemplate. They push me, constantly, to live outside my comfort zone, to do things that I’m afraid to do, and most of all to speak up and speak my truth. Since I have been following Them I have found a lot more courage then I ever thought I had in me, and I have tried to help other people find that same courage. I have also learned, through an understanding of the importance of all of the worst things that They hold sway over, that being broken doesn’t devalue a person. If anything my experience with the Morrigan has shown me that She – They – seem to have an odd affinity for the broken.

My main deity of the three, the one I am actually formally dedicated to is Macha.² I find Her to be very much a Goddess of women’s rights and empowerment. In following Them, and Her, I have been led on many interesting adventures and met some wonderful people. They are not easy Goddesses though, although perhaps none of the Gods are, and the saying that you will sometimes hear that with the Morrigan there is always a cost I believe is true. I have been very blessed by Them, but I have also paid for that blessing both in the things I have done for Them and in the standards that I know I am held to. There is something relentless in Them that I admire and it pushes me to do my best for Them.

Following the Morrigan, once I set out on that path, became a series of challenges to be met, of opportunities to be seized, and often of inexplicable situations that I would never have expected. I have slowly learned how to listen to the message that come in dreams and through others in Her/Their service and how to check or verify things I am being told (discernment is always your friend). I’ve made friends with crows and grown to appreciate their song outside my window. I have faced death twice and stopped fearing living – which might be the best gift she’s given me, and the hardest won. And somewhere in all that there is daily life and family and work and writing books and teaching and general shenanigans as well.

Life would be easier if I wasn’t a follower of the Morrigan, that’s for sure, but it would also be far less interesting, and I think less fulfilling.

a flock of crows against a blue sky

A sky full of crows. Photo by M. Daimler, 2015

1. I had been a certified EMT as a career and as a volunteer at this point and also received training in some esoteric healing modalities (read: Reiki) but I don’t have the temperament in my own opinion to be a traditional healer (back).

2. That’s a funny story of its own, and involves Odin, who I am also dedicated to. I firmly believe that the Morrigan and Odin like to hang out and share war stories over a pint… or nine (back).

Click here to like
Patheos Pagan on Facebook.

Click here to like
the Agora on Facebook

Irish-American Witchcraft is published bi-monthly on Tuesdays here on the Agora. Subscribe via RSS or e-mail!

Please use the links to the right to keep on top of activities here on the Agora as well as across the entire Patheos Pagan channel.

Columns

Irish-American Witchcraft

Previous Post

February 29, 2016

Hills of the Horizon: Narrative Theology II - The Eye of the Story

Next Post

March 3, 2016 Wyrd Words: Why I'm tired of Heathenry's F.U. Debate

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Lakeside Hearth Adventures in Wortcunning Alone In Her Presence Arts, Crafts & Cooking Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft Book of Blackbirds Book Reviews Born-Again Witch Cauldron, Sword, Spear, & Stone Cermony and Liturgy Columns Community Dandelion Seeds Dear Jasmine Druid Thoughts Editor's Picks Everyday Pagan Family & Household Practice Family Traditions Full Frontal Magic Gateway Goddess Guest Articles Happily Heathen Health and Wellness Hearth of Hellenism Heathen Woman Hills of the Horizon History Holidays Horse Goddesses Interfaith Interviews Irish-American Witchcraft Jewish Witch Lamp & Labyrinth Letters from Midgard Literature, Media, Film, Music Loop of Brighid Love, Sex & Relationships Magic or Magick Making Light Naturalistic Traditions Nature News Outside The Circle Pantheisticon Politics Prayers, Poems, Blessings & Stories Queer Femme Mystic Queer of Swords Recipes Ritual and Practice Science and Research Seekers and Guides Seeking the Grail Socially Responsible Magic Spear of Athena Star Made Witch Syncretic Electric Technology The Blooming Staff The Busy Witch The Cartomancer The Crow's Nest The Dance of Pagan Recovery The Hearth of Hellenism The Lady's Quill The Other Side of the Hedge The Path of She The Rantin' Raven The Witches Next Door The Zen Pagan Theology, Ethics, Philosophy Tree City Witch Urban Earthwitch Wayfaring Woman Witch on Fire Wyrd Words

Select a Month January 2026 March 2025 December 2024 June 2024 April 2024 March 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What natural event accompanied God's descent on Sinai?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Thunder and lightning Earthquake Drought Windstorm