That Lady with the Raven
To the Irish, she was The Morrigan … the locus of birth and death …
the goddess of Battles. While Romans, Greeks and Vikings assigned the position
of "Chief Troublemaker" to males, with names like Mars, Zeus Thunderer
and Thor, the Celts, perhaps wiser, assigned this role to a redheaded woman!
Although she could appear as a stunning red-haired woman, this guise could
be deceiving. Being immortal, she was a shape-shifter and could also appear
as a hag to frighten, or as a raven. In this last guise she led her "children"
to the feast in the aftermath of men's battles. If a warrior on the march
should see a red-haired woman washing clothes at a river crossing, and recognized
the clothing as his, this was destined to be his last battle. Beautiful but
terrible, it was she who was used to frighten ancient Irish children into
obedience by distraught parents!
It was she who was reputed to have given the ancient Celtic warriors their
well-deserved reputation for ferocious courage and prowess in battle, but
she sometimes exacted a terrible price for this. She saw to it that these
abilities she bestowed were seldom allowed to lie fallow. Legends describe
the fate of those who rejected her gift, such as the Irish Achilles, the Celtic
hero Cuchulain.
It is for this ancient inspirer of warrior skills that Morrigan Consulting
is named, and the striking impression of her by Prescott artist John Gonzalez
can be seen here, as well as on one of the school t-shirts. "Fear the
Morrigan!"
copyright © 2000 Morrigan Consulting
