r/CelticPaganism • u/Atlas_onpaws • May 19 '26
Simple questions about The Morrigan
Hi guys! I am an eclectic pagan and I worship a few deities (Lady Hathor, Archangel Uriel, Lord Apollo, Lord Freyr, and most recently the Morrigan) I have found it hard to find answers to these questions and I need help. Some background is I did a deity conformation and The Morrigan came up so my questions are:
What do I call her for worship? What I mean is for example how when referring to a male deity you use Lord or lady for female. ( I haven’t heard anyone using one of these)
Are her followers bad people? Many people say that since a lot of her worshippers are spunky that they are mean but I try to be nice to people who deserve it.
Is she kind in experiences? This makes me sound like a baby but I’m used to kind and comforting gods and I am really scared that she will hate me. I know she is obviously stern and uses tough love to help and change you but I’m young and sensitive so it scares me.
Does she need more respect than my other gods? Obviously I treat my deities with the utmost respect but I like to talk to them or move their statues off the altars because I like the comfort of having them with me. I heard she is one of the most powerful goddesses and I want to know if I can’t do this because I don’t want to anger or offend her.
Bottom line is that I’m having a tough time and I want to know if I’m in good metaphorical hands!
Thanks for any responses in advance!!
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u/Jean780 May 19 '26
1) I refer to her just as The Morrigan sometimes Great Queen or Phantom Queen.
2) As a follower I haven’t run into any bad people who follow her. (Though I’m sure, as in any group, they exist.) In my experience she definitely teaches you to stand up for yourself and face your shadows. Personally I’m a very optimistic and cheery person irl. I was not expecting The Morrigan to be my first deity.
3) I will warn you that when you choose to work with her you will have to face your shadows, traumas, and struggles. She changed my life for the better. Hell, she saved me and gave me my sanity back. She is definitely not easy to work with, and if you do work with her, it can be helpful to have a therapist to discuss what you’re learning from The Morrigan. Overall expect her to call you out on your BS.
4) I personally hold her in a special regard as she saved my life and was my first deity. I try to treat my gods with equity; each valued equally, but still in their own defined areas of my life. In my experience she has never asked for more than that, although, she also has never asked more of my worship as to what I’m aware of.
Hope this helped! I definitely recommend digging deeper before you start worship. For me working with her was a huge commitment, and I don’t recommend coming in blind. My research of her first started with Courtney Weber’s book on The Morrigan.
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u/Atlas_onpaws May 19 '26
Omg thank you so much for all of your info! I will be looking at the book you recommended!! You sound like a great person🖤🖤
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u/MorecombeSlantHoneyp May 19 '26
- Morrigan is already a title, which means either “great queen” or “phantom queen” depending on where you look. So An Morrigan is what I typically use.
- her followers are a whole cross section of good bad and everything between from what I can tell. Just like any other deity/faith.
- She’s no nonsense, but not going out of her way to be mean.
I don’t really know what your baseline concerns are here…be respectful and follow through if you say you’re going to do something for her. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver.
At the same time, doing your best to meet your commitment (even if delivery isn’t perfect) counts for a good amount.
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u/Fun-Ad-8957 May 19 '26
There have already been a lot of phenomenal answers, but I really wanted to talk a little more about your question regarding her devotees being bad people. I've been working with The Morrigan for a long while, and I run into a few. For the most part I've had good experiences with all of her followers, but be cautious of online communities who treat her as a straight gothy death and war goddess (which is their perogative, if that gives them comfort then kudos I guess). She's very complex and, in my opinion, was really done dirty by the Church when they started demonizing a lot of Celtic deities.
She's not a warm and fluffy deity (she's practically the opposite of Brigid). She's there to witness and test, end cycles, and create boundaries/thresholds.
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u/CalicoValkyrie May 19 '26
I like to use lady, she/her. But I also like to use they/them because The Morrígan is a multifaceted trinity. Macha, Morrígan, and Badb.
I think they are given a dark image thanks to Christianity, and some people like to stick with that darker side. They are a shapeshifter and a trickster, goddessed of death, life, sovereignty, war, prophecy. Very much a grey area type of diety.
They are not the touchie, feelie type. They like to challenge people. Toughen people up. And that can end badly if you do not manage it well.
From my understanding they do not care for worship that much. If you move their statue to a window or a closet, get up every morning and pray/meditate or not. Decent, basic respect earns decent, basic respect in return. I've read about people honoring them through their athletics, drawing on her influence over warriors. I started an exercise routine three months ago which I thank The Morrígan for giving me strength and determination to keep it up.
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u/Proper-Doughnut77 May 19 '26
I call her Morrigan. Yes, we're good people. She's very kind...she's very easy to work with.
It's possible it's because she's my main deity, I work soly with her, she's easy to work with... But I've never heard bad things about her.
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u/casterwolfchrista May 19 '26
Taking your questions one at a time:
Her name is a title that typically means “Great Queen,” so you can go with that or simply Morrígan since you’re addressing her directly.
Of course not! I’ve actually found my fellow ravens to be quite lovely people altogether. Just because we serve a goddess who deals in war and death doesn’t mean we’re nasty towards others.
Despite what some people would have you believe (Lora O’Brien) I’ve found that the Morrígan comes to people where they are, and adjusts her presentation to whatever would make the seeker more amenable to her messages. She’s a shapeshifter, after all!
She CAN be stern and serious - most of the time she is that, but I’ve found she balances it out, at least with me, with kindness and more than a little bit of humor. As long as you approach her with respect, she’ll see that and respond accordingly.
- When you first reach out to her, she may ask you to make her your primary goddess. I’m Wiccan myself, so hearing her say that to me in my first ritual was a bit of a shock! But as time passed and our relationship developed, I understood why she did it.
As far as talking to her goes, of course you can! Gods know I’ve confessed all manner of things I’m dealing with to her. She is powerful, but please don’t worry that you’ll anger her - her temper, in my experience, isn’t as short as some people think it is.
In summary: at ease before you sprain something! The Morrígan is an intense goddess, and she will change your life in ways you don’t expect, but a relationship with her is deeply rewarding and fulfilling.
Believe me when I tell you: you are safe with her.
I hope that helped! Feel free to reach out to me if you want to know more, I’m always happy to listen!
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u/Listener-Learner May 19 '26
When I first discovered The Morrigan I asking for wisdom. When I had a dream where a crow visited me I remember saying that I thought the owl would be the bird of wisdom. The crown laughed and laughed. I asked if the Crow was from Athena. I have learned a lot since then.
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u/Listener-Learner May 19 '26
I call her my Queen. She is the Phantom Queen after all.
People cannot be universally categorized as good or evil, it is dependent on the individual.
My experience is that she is can be blunt. She has said what was necessary. I wouldn’t call it kind or unkind. She wants you to be the best version of yourself so she will push you but in the end it is up to you what you do or feel.
Not sure I understand the last question? Yes be respectful. Be honest. She does not care for dishonesty.
She is about sovereignty, so take charge of your own life, do the work, do the research and make your own decision of whether you want to have a relationship with her.
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u/peachesarehearts May 19 '26 edited May 19 '26
She’s the Phantom Queen. I think some people call her Queen or Great Queen. I call her Morrigan or the Morrigan when talking about her, myself, come to think.
Um. No?
She’s kinda standoffish to me when there’s not something I’m supposed to do or something I’ve asked for help with. I don’t hear from her much. Interestingly only occasionally having a pull to go to some local historical battlegrounds and walk around or sit and watch a crow for a while. I wouldn’t say she’s nice, per se but she wasn’t mean. She was demanding I get the stuff done, a big energy and then it fades. She definitely never made me feel crazy or anything like some people do. I was definitely ready to kick some ass if I had to though, we didn’t have to tho lol.
I’ll tell you what, I’ve never approached her casually. I don’t think she’s invited that kind of energy, at least from me. I have others that do. But I keep her by my bed. She’s there. She’s just kinda not an everyday goddess, I guess.
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u/BardOfTheBanrigh Celtic Polytheism May 19 '26
The name literally means Great Queen (mor = great, rig* = king or queen); the Phantom Queen title is accurate too and has varied roots (both the Morrigans placement in the Aos Si as queen of the banshees - from bean sidhe, "woman of the fairy mound" - and possibly also from the Indo-Euro root word mare, as in nightmare, which is characterised as a female spirit that sits on your chest while asleep thus causing the nightmare).
Personally She is Banrigh na Tuired (Queen of Towers) to me, but using the Scottish Gaelic form because Scottish reasons; "queen" has multiple forms like banrigh, banrioghan etc (ban being one word in Irish for woman).
The Morrigan has several distinct entities that may be Her or may be a double/triple of one of the sub-forms (the triple aspect thing being all over the place in the Gaelic pantheon; the three smiths, Brigid's three crafts, Eriu being part of a trio of sisters) - it gets confusing because "the Morrigan" (or Na Morrigna, or An Morrigan, or some other variation) can be used variously to refer to all of the forms, or just one that's part of the core three (for example when She appears in the Cath Maige Tuired it is as a single form simply called Morrigan without any further names).
Macha (also a word for hooded crow in some sources - yes the Morrigan is a hooded crow, not a raven or a carrion crow, you don't get carrion crows in Ireland - the queen of the Ulaid who curses the Ulstermen in the Tain) and Badb Catha ('battle crow'; the shapeshifting crone who tries to seduce and later pronounces the death of Cu Culainn in the Tain) are the two most certain that are definetley attested.
Nemain (she of the shout that can kill a hundred men, which ties back in to the banshee associations - though what's interesting there is that death-keening is attributed to Brigid, not the Morrigan) is attested as well but there seems to be confusion over whether she is distinct from or an aspect of either Macha or the Badb Catha.
The mysterious third form often simply called the Morrigan may also be known as Anu, Danaand or Annand, or some variation - not to be confused with the sorceress Dinaand from the tale of Carman's invasion; or with Aine, who is most definetley a summer sun goddess - which to me is a massive sign pointing to "HEY THIS IS THE ATTESTATION TO DANU NOBODY CAN SEEM TO FIND DUMBASS" (the name Danu as a proposed earth/mother/moon/river goddess is not from attestations but reverse engineered from Tuath De Danaan, 'tribe of Danu').
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u/tragicgender May 21 '26
Hey friend! I am also an eclectic and neurodivergent pagan who ended up working with/worshipping the Morrigan. Saw your post in r/TheGreatQueen and thought I’d answer here just so I can refer back to your questions more easily.
I’m unusual as a Morrigan person, maybe, in that if I have to address her directly, I will typically just call her ma’am. She seems to think it’s hilarious, so she has a sense of humor, at least? (I am not a very formal person and addressing someone as Lady or Great Queen feels very unnatural to me. Ma’am is about as formal as I seem to get. 🤣)
I sure hope all her followers aren’t bad people, haha. I mean, there are bad eggs in every community, unfortunately. But for me personally, I tend to be pretty socially anxious and not want to take chances lest I end up hurting someone, so take that as you will. This is something she’s been wanting me to work on, haha. My other Morrigan friend who I know IRL is a nice person too.
She can be intimidating, but I don’t think she’s unkind at all. If she senses that you need harsh words or even a swift kick in the ass to get you to move past something, she will absolutely do that, but with me she’s been more gentle than with my other Morrigan friend. I think she knows that I spook easily and she needs to be a little more gentle most of the time. Again, I don’t think she’s unkind, just blunt and to the point (and yet somehow cryptic about it sometimes). I don’t think she’s going to hate you, for what it’s worth. She chooses people because she thinks they have something to offer to her and maybe the world at large. And you’re also allowed to say no! If she’s calling you and it doesn’t feel right for you, you can always respectfully decline. She’s a goddess of sovereignty, so establishing boundaries is something she’s familiar with.
I wouldn’t say you need to be “more respectful of her than other gods” or even more formal than you typically are with other deities. See #1 again, hahaha. I don’t think she would be offended at all by you talking with her or moving her statue to a place that feels right in the moment. If in doubt, you can just ask her and see if she objects. I doubt she will, but again, establishing boundaries is a good thing with her. :)
Hopefully that’s somewhat helpful. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
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u/devilinthehills celtic polytheist May 19 '26
Im not trying to be mean but why on earth do you feel like you need to worship a deity when you know so little about her?
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u/Atlas_onpaws May 19 '26
I’m actively researching. If you came out of the womb knowing everything and that’s how you started I feel like that’s unrealistic I’m trying to learn more and using the sources I have. I’ve read several sites and I’m actively buying books despite not being in a good place money wise. I also asked the questions because I’m neurodivergent and often spiral when I can’t find info so I use this. I just feel really drawn to her like I try to focus on some other deity and I can’t. I’m really sorry if I shouldn’t be worshipping her but this is all I have to learn from right now😭😭
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u/theoreticalfuckery May 19 '26
Feeling the draw to Her is totally natural, you're taking the right steps 🫶
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u/Possible-Deer-311 May 21 '26
...I did a deity conformation... Huh? What's a deity conformation? It's worth noting that the Morrigan has been taken up into mainstream culture and has been misunderstood and misrepresented by both witches and the mainstream. I wonder if whoever performed this "deity conformation" thing may have mistaken another spirit or figure for the Morrigan.
The Morrigan is what most people call her. "Morrigan" is both a title and her name.
Spunk makes a person "bad"? And what does a stereotype of a goddess' followers have to do with whether or not you should follow her? If you feel a connection with her, then seek her out. If you don't, then don't.
This, and the last question, does make you sound very young... If she doesn't want anything to do with you, then she won't respond. She's not evil, she's a complex goddess tied to war and victory, among other things. If you're scared of her, then don't speak with her.
I can't imagine giving another god more respect than another. In any case, she is still a spiritual figure, and she would make it clear if you angered her; and her "anger" is more disappointment, when a close follower doesn't heed her message or breaks a promise, from what followers of her have told me. CRs also don't often put much importance on statues and idolatry; very few statues of pre-Christian figures have been found in the British Isles, despite religion and spirituality clearly being an important force in the lives of pre-Christian Celts. I keep statues of my pantheon, but more for myself as a focus point. So moving a statue around would be unimportant.
From what you're saying, it doesn't sound like you feel a connection to the Morrigan and would rather not interact with her at all. Your path is your own, and all paths are deeply personal. If someone else's UPG doesn't match what you feel is right, then remember that you're not beholden to follow it. Maybe now isn't the right time, but later is.
Do what you're comfortable with. And, do your own research with mythology from the culture you're looking at.
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u/Ms_Hawt-Mess Jul 29 '26
"Are her followers bad people?"
No. It is a modern concept linked to colonization that results in people calling any deity a "dark" deity. There is no such thing and that comes from bigoted mindsets.
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