Morrigan: the queen of the Fairies

Morrigan: the queen of the Fairies.

Morrigan She belongs to Celtic myths, where she occupies the onerous role of Celtic goddess of death and annihilation. Her figure, certainly fearsome, originated in the mists of time. Long before men learned to pray to God, they prayed to Morrigan, who would eventually become queen of the Fairies. In fact, it is believed that Morrigan He was the one who led the Fairies in the Great Exodus (see: When the fairies left our plane of existence).

The names of Morrigan There are many, and even more the variants of each name as we go back in time: MorriganMorrigu, Mór-Ríoghain, Māra Rīganī, Carrie, Carrigan, all these names derive from the Indo-European root More, which denotes terror or something monstrous – although it can also mean: “primordial water”, or “sea”; both, monstrous elements)—and which in Old English led to Sea (Nightmare), “nightmare.”

On the other hand we have the root Rígain, which is usually translated as “queen.” So the name Morrigan It means something quite similar to her epithet: “Spectral Queen”, although she is also known as the Ghost Queen, or Great Queen. If we tried to reconstruct the word Morrigan in proto-celtic we would have something like this Morrigan, literally “Ghostly Queen.” Naturally, Morrigan It has a secret, hidden name that can only be pronounced in the language of fairies.

Those who are immersed in the Arthurian Cycle will surely be able to warn Morrigan in King Arthur’s hateful half-sister: Morgana.

She is usually represented with all the trappings of war, and in fact it was normal for the Celts to believe that the old Morrigan It always appeared on the battlefield, either in the form of an extraordinarily large crow, or as an icy wind that precedes bloodshed. When these gusts were prolonged, it was referred to in its plural form: Morrígna.

But Morrigan She was not only a goddess of war, but also a goddess of fertility. In fact, on many occasions she is described as a Triple Goddess (Mother, daughter and lover). When she is seen in any of these variants she takes on the names Badb, Macha and Nemain (see: The main lineages and strains among the fairies).

The oldest literary source where Morrigan are some glosses and glossaries in Latin. In a 9th century translation of the Book of Isaiah we find the word Lamia as a translation of Lilith; and, immediately afterwards, the translator clarifies that Lilith is a morrígan. In Cormac’s Glossary, from the same century, the word is translated gudemain“spectres” or “ghosts”, from the plural Morrígna.

The Ulster Cycle is the first narrative source we have about Morrigan, where the fairy queen maintains an ambiguous relationship with the hero Cuchulain, who knows the true nature of his lover and refuses to satisfy his desires. Knowing that he will soon die in the war, she whispers these enigmatic words to him: I guard your death. (see: When a fairy falls in love with a mortal man)

Later, when Queen Medb of Connacht launches an attack on Ulster, Morrigan takes on its most terrible form. Like Alecto, the Fury of Greek myths, Morrigan assumes the form of a huge bird; and when Cuchulain, in desperation, defends the kingdom by challenging the entire enemy army to a series of single combats, Morrigan She assists him dressed as a woman with terrible features, although the hero, haughty, refuses to fight unworthily, that is, using ancient magic.

But the mythical past of Morrigan It is too prolific to be limited to a single cycle. She can be seen as one of the daughters of Emma, ​​one of the beautiful Tuatha de Danann, participating in the battle of Mag Tured, and in countless episodes and chronicles of ancient days, always as queen of all races and species of fairies. .

From her come the banshees and the entire court of fairies that swarm through Celtic mythology, eventually reduced to simple luminous entities dedicated to the fertilization of flowers and small outrages, but which hide an ominous past, a very ancient echo in which women could be Goddesses really, and, as such, act on the world of men under different faces, some terrible, others delicate, and all impregnated by the ambiguous and pluriform spirit of nature: mother and tomb of all those who walk the earth.

Mythology. I Fantastic beings of mythology.