Customer Reviews

The Guises of the Morrigan - The Irish Goddess of Sex & Battle

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is a lot of material about the Morrigan. Myths, legends, attributes and influences. It is wonderful to have it all collected in one place for those who follow either the Morrigan or one of her aspects. This complex Celtic Goddess has plenty of material about her, and I am happy David Rankine and Sorita D'Este put it all together for us in this well researched book.

The book traces the path of the Morrigan and the best way is to start at the beginning with the Celtic Mythologies about her. From the "War with the Fir Bolgs" from the ancient Irish myths to the stories of Cu Chulainn, all the myths are covered and the stories examined. David and Sorita do an excellent job of looking at the stories and seeing how the Morrigan influenced the story or the situations. While not the actual stories, we are given enough of the story to see how the Morrigan had a hand in it.

I would like to have had the actual stories here. While the words which the Morrigan said are given in quotes, to allow the reader to see how She describes Herself or the situation encountered, the original stores are very lovely to read. You should augment this book with copies of the actual works and appreciate them for yourself.

There are some lovely pen and ink drawings to accompany the stories, though the topic of the piece is not always "lovely". "Cu Chulainn's Demise" is a graphic depiction of the hero's not so pretty ending, but the tales are graphic. The artist Brian Andrews adds interest with the addition of his works in this book.

The best known guises of the Morrigan are then examined in the section about Nemain, Badb and Macha. Again, the stories, the attributes and the nature of each of these Goddesses in one are examined. David and Sorita do a very good job at retelling the stories as it applies to these Goddesses.

The section called "Wise Crone: Tales of the Calleach" gives some interesting stories on the Cailleach. What would have been good here is a pronunciation key. I've heard at least two pronunciations of this word "Calleach", but none is offered here.

What is offered is a very extensive footnoting of the stories, references and locations of the stories. The bibliography in the back of the book is also quite extensive and speaks highly of the research that went into this book. What is also noteworthy is the quality of the writings, this book tells the stories, examines the stories and explains the Morrigans place and purpose in each of them. It is easy to read, does not speak above the intended readership and relates the ideas that the authors have very clearly.

The same is true for "The Queen of Battle" which examines the Warrior aspect of the Morrigan. Well told stories, footnoted, and explained with Her own words. As "The Earth Goddess" we see a side that we do not usually consider with the Morrigan. David and Sorita add to our understanding of this Goddess with a look at Her more "earthy " side. We also see the Morrigan in her aspect as "Calleach Beara" as a creation Goddess, again going back to Her more earthy side.

There is a chapter on locations which are associated with the Morrigan. The sites are located in England, Ireland and Scotland and this section would be a nice reference for anyone considering a trip to England and wanted something different from the usual tours.

While the Dagda had His cauldron, there is a short piece on the Morrigan's "Cooking Spit", an interesting bit of information.

There is a larger chapter on her aspect as "The Faery Queen", her aspect as the Scottish blood-drinking faery, a section on the "Faery Birds" "Faery Ravens" and other faery aspects. There are included stories, reference and small discussion on their meanings. Again, some pronunciation keys would have been helpful here to the novice.

As "Queen Mab" we see the Morrigan in literature, and David and Sorita explore more modern literature that discusses the Morrigan. Thomas the Rhymer and Shakespeare are covered.

We see the Morrigan as transformer, Lady of the Beasts, bestower of Sovereignty, the Lover, the witch, shapeshifter, and giant. We see Her as prophetess and magician, we see the number references to her aspects. We see some aspects such as Goddess of Fate as the washer at the ford in various traditions, how she survives in folk lore as the Banshee or the Scottish Weeper. We see Her being brought forward in the Arthurian myths. Finally, we are given even more of Her aspects in an alphabetical list of associations and brief descriptions of each, including Her familiar, the Raven.

This is a lovely book of overviews of stories. It is an excellent reference if you are looking for a particular aspect of the Morrigan, or are not sure and want to look it up. It will provide you with a resource to help you find a particular story about the Morrigan. The bibliography contains much material that you can sort through and read on your own to augment your knowledge of the Morrigan. The book is well indexed for easy reference. This would be a great addition to your library for anyone into Celtic lore, the Morrigan or any of Her aspects. boudica

While searching for information on The Morrigan, I found that there aren't a lot of books on this powerful goddess of the ancient Celts. This book came up first and foremost as being wholly about her.

The authors do a wonderful job in setting the stage and giving the reader the basics about this apparently elusive goddess. They delve into her myths, though not too deeply because of their length, and explain why she wasn't only seen as a Battle Goddess, but also as an Earth Goddess, a Liminal Goddess (one who rules over "changes of state, transformation, and boundries"), and a Bestower of Sovereignty; as well as a Faery Queen and even a Banshee after Ireland became Christianized.

The book is well laid out with specific chapters and sub-chapters dedicated to her different guises. It is a very easy read for beginners in ancient goddess studies and makes a great reference book for those more advanced. The sketch drawings throughout the book add to it's charm.

The one thing I found a bit "off" (and the reason for 4 stars) is that it seems the authors go out of their way to try to link The Morrigan with most other goddesses of the time. Many goddesses and gods had some of the same attributes, but that doesn't neccessarily mean they were all one Being. Other than that, I found it quite enjoyable.

There has been a view unfair reviews of this book, which to me seems to be based on who the authors are, rather than what the book says. Yes, the couple who wrote this are well known in Britian and Europe as Wiccans and yes they have written books on topics from Wicca through to Qabalah and on other Gods and Goddesses, but what has that got to do with anything? Surely we need to judge the book by what it actually contains and how it is presented?

If judged on the latter, this book presents a great body of well researched material from a huge body of source material (a glance at the bibliography will show you that they were not just making it all up!). The material is presented without biased opinions, as some reviewers claim. They never claim that the Morrigan is all the goddesses who ever walked on these lands (or any other for that matter) but do present arguments, based on factual research, on how the Morrigan may be connected to other Goddesses. They leave you to reach your own conclusions.

For many years I wished for more information on the Morrigan than that which I was able to find in publications available to me. For years I hoped that someone someday would create a book just like this, except I never thought someone would.

The authors should be commended for the work they are doing. There is nothing wrong with their research, but unfortunately it does challenge some established views on who the Morrigan is and what her role was within the Celtic myths. It greatly expands the information previously available and frankly I can't imagine that anyone is likely to better it anytime in the near future.

So, in brief: If you are interested in Irish mythology, Celtic myths and stories and if you have an interest in the Morrigan - buy this book - new, secondhand whatever. Its a great book.

Celtic myth and culture have been an interest of mine for countless years and I am very well read. The research they provided was not new to me, but their ideas were. They seemed to believe that essentially every Celtic Goddess was an aspect of Morrigan. This is a wiccan/ neo-pagan bias that the Celts did not share. While Nemain, Macha, and Badb, are the Morrigan's three aspects, other Goddess such as Epona and Boand are not. The authors also stated that nearly every female character in the Cattle Raid of Cooley is also the Morrigan! They even went as far as to say that Kali, a hindu goddess, was an aspect of Morrigan.

The reality is that not as much is known about The Morrigan as we, the modern scholar, would like. However, wild conjectures will not fix that situation. I worry about wiccans and neo pagans reading this book and adding more inaccuracies to their already inacurate view of celtic mythology.

And for the reviewer who wished that the authors had included the full stories and not just the parts with Morrigan in it, well, the Cattle Raid of Cooley alone is over 500 pages long.

Let me start by saying that I bought this book after reading the excellent book Artemis Virgin Goddess of the Sun & Moon by Sorita D'Este. I was so impressed I wanted to see what else this author has written. And this book, surpassed the Artemis one by some. Maybe it is because David and Sorita are a couple who work together and teach together, maybe their passion for ancient Celtic Goddesses is greater. Artemis is a great book and one I recommend highly, but this book is even better!

Firstly I wish to comment on some of the other reviewers' comments that this book somehow implies that the Morrigan was the same as pretty much every other deity of the time. It simply does not do that. Many of the Goddesses and figures mentioned are from a later period, some from the same period and some were known as being manifestations of the Morrigan in the ancient myths themselves.

The authors also never imply that they are the same. I quote "To put all the material into a clear perspective that covers the whole spectrum of her guises and disguises, this chapter covers all the different goddesses and beings that are associated with the Morrigan, as aspects or derivatives of her." (from the introduction to Chapter 15 which looks at the different Goddesses). This section provides valuable information for anyone who is serious about understanding the development of Celtic mythology and in particular, of course, the Morrigan.

For example : Aine (the first entry) the authors describe that she is a Faery Queen who occurs in several tales. As is the case with most faeries from mythology, it is likely that she was derived from an earlier Goddess. They go on to give translations for her name and show that the translations relate to descriptions given of the Morrigan. Then they give an example from Lady Gregory showing that at least in 1904 there were associations made between the Morrigan and Aine. They then go on to compare the Morrigan with Aine - they both had associations with poetry, war, music. The Morrigan was a Faery Queen, as was Aine. Giving examples from the 17th century they then show that Aine was associated with the Banshee by Maurice Fitzgerald in 1642, the Banshee is often seen to be associated with the Morrigan in literature. So the way I see it, they are showing that for the last few hundred years (at least) other people associated Aine with the Morrigan. A study of the Morrigan would be, in my opinion, incomplete without this section!

What I really like about this book is that it does not go into long retellings of the stories, it instead encourages the readers (if they have not done so already) to go and read the original tales for themselves. In other words, although the relevant passages are recounted, the reader is assumed to be intelligent and is encouraged to go back to source. Numerous footnotes and a huge bibiography gives plenty of reading material for those who are serious about wishing to learn more.

The other benefit of this approach is that all the information in the book is relevant. There is no bulking out to make the book seem thicker and more important. The authors have done their research. They did it throroughly and well. They know their topic and as such there is no need for the needless fluffing, which is so often the case in modern pagan books.

I have now bought quite a few books by these authors, all published by Avalonia. The books are well produced and presented (sometimes with the small errors that you would expect from a new and small publishing house) but what has become obvious to me is that they are here to stay and that their work continues to impress not just me, but also a number of my friends, who are tired of reading rehashed material by authors who only work from secondary sources.

Fantastic work and a "must read" for all ye olde Pagans and students of the Celtic myths alike.

Not a bad book. It has a lot of great information and has an extensive Bibliography which is a great source. The Morrigan is a dynamic and far reaching goddess who appears in many forms.

Rankine and D'Este goes far and trying to connect the Morrigan to several goddesses.

The only issue that I have with this book is that the authors reach a bit much in some cases to link the Morrigan to many Celtic goddesses and non-Celtic goddesses, such as Andraste, Lamia and the Valkyries.

But barring this I would highly recommend this book

An excellent book. Going to any chapter will give you all the relevant quotes and links from the original sources about that aspect of The Morrigan. I disagree with the reviewer who said the authors go too far with their premise that she was the primary Goddess. For example, I was shocked to find how sources such as 'the book of Lecan' and 'the book of Leinster' describe Danu as (if not the very same deity as The Morrigan) definitely in the group of 3 or 4 individuals who were referred to by that title (Badb, Nemain, etc). They provide good evidence that The Morrigan is a much more far-reaching deity than currently thought.

This is the most user-friendly book I've found for pagans who want to know about her in more detail to enhance their practice, or for academics who want a list of primary sources for a particular lesser-known aspect.

This was the first book I bought by David Rankine, co-written with his partner, Sorita D'Este, this book is a great resource for those interested in Celtic mysteries and in particular those of the Morrigan. Since then my library of books by these authors have grown quite a bit and I still have a few more to acquire (when my ship comes in!)

This is not a "pagan" book as is claimed by some of the reviewers, this book does not display personal bias and when personal opinions are given it is clearly stated that a conclusion may be reached and the reasons are clearly stated. It is Pagan / Wiccan only as much as the authors have written books on other subjects such as Wicca, Western Mysteries and Qabalah - that however does not make this book invalid, check their credentials rather than jumping to conclusions!

So much is covered in this book, I agree that a pron. guide would have been useful - some of the words are truly strange to my tongue and I spent some of the my childhood years in Ireland. There is no other book available on the Morrigan that I know of, so this book is groundbreaking, like much of the other books being published by Avalonia at the moment.

The pen & ink illustrations by Brian Andrews add an interesting dimension to the book and I love the cover illustration by the same artist. I wonder if there are prints available? (But that is off topic in regards to this review!)

Love Her, Fear Her, Intrigued by Her - the Morrigan certainly is an interesting Goddess. Whether you are interested (like me) just in the stories and myths or - if like some others you are a present day Priestess, Priest or Magickian seeking to learn more about this powerful and enigmatic Goddess - this book is a great reference work indeed.

It is so refreshing to see a writer that does the research and homework. It is also nicely cited for you. The author also sticks to the subject, without going off on tangents of personal practices or personal beliefs, which is much appreciated. While deceptively small in physical appearance and weight, is not a skimming quick read book. It is organized by each "guise", where each guise is a name or persona.

Had several links tying up a few loose ends from other materials I have encountered. Sooooo nice when that happens..