Is The Morrígan Really a Triple Goddess?

The Norse have the Norns.

The Hindus have The Tridevi.

The Greeks have Hecate and the Charites and the Erinyes and the Moirai (or Fates).

The Romans have their versions of those, namely Diana Triformis and the Graces and the Furies and the Parcae.

The Romani people have the Ursitory. 

The Romanians have the Ursitoare.

The Gaulish Celtic- and Germanic-speaking peoples of Northwestern Europe had the Matres (“mothers”) and the Matronae (“matrons”). Or at least that’s what the Romans called them.

Then we have the Gaelic/Goidelic Celtic-speakers of Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.

According to some practitioners of Irish and Celtic neopaganism and neo-druidry, The Morrígan was (or is) their triple goddess.

To quote the Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids:

“Very early [The Morrígan] is understood to be a triple goddess…She is the triple source of power needed to regenerate cycles, to take one from life to death and from death to life.”

Sooo case closed, right?

Not so fast.

Because according to the Irish Pagan School:

“She is not a triple goddess. The Morrigan does not have a ‘Maiden, Mother, and Crone’ aspect or function. This is a notion which comes from modern Wicca and is not a part of the Irish Pagan tradition. So if people could stop saying it, that would be just great.”

Ruh-roh.

Looks like we’ve stumbled (fluttered?) across a major mythological controversy.

And I intend to set the record straight.

Pssst. You can watch a video adaptation of this essay right here. Text continues below.

Who Is The Morrígan?

First things first:

The Morrígan is popularly understood to be a Celtic death goddess, but even this interpretation of the deity is contentious.

For starters, Celtic isn’t the best word to use here.

Gaelic or Irish would be better.

And while she is associated with death, The Morrígan could more accurately be described as a goddess of battle, fate, and territorial sovereignty.

Indeed, you can often find her on the battlefield, either rousing soldiers to battle, or, depending on the myth, tormenting soldiers—both physically and mentally.

In the Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley), The Morrígan infamously transforms into a crow/raven; a slippery black eel; a rough, grey-red female wolf; and a white, hornless, red-eared heifer, with fifty heifers about her and a chain of silvered bronze between each two of the heifers—you know, the usual—all so she can mess with the hero Cú Chulainn.

Across all of her appearances in Irish mythology, The Morrígan has a habit of delivering prophecies and proclamations before and after bloody battles.

She’s sort of Irish mythology’s color commentator, offering her predictions, giving the play-by-play, and then doing post-battle analyses.

And as I mentioned in my essay/video comparing the Norse and Irish pantheons, The Morrígan is a fierce warrior in her own right.

Now, how does any of this point to The Morrígan being a triple goddess?

I mean, it really doesn’t.

So where did this idea come from?

For that, we need to go all the way back to Irish mythology’s chronological beginning.

The Morrígan Begins: The Goddess’s First Mentions in Irish Mythology

The Lebor Gabála Érenn, or the Book of the Taking of Ireland, commonly known as the Book of Invasions, details the consecutive arrivals of Ireland’s six mythical races.

That fifth race is the Tuatha Dé Danann, Ireland’s divine tribe, of which The Morrígan is a part.

And here is the first reference to The Morrígan a.k.a. Morrigu in R. A. S. Macalister’s translation of the Lebor Gabála Érenn:

“Ernmas had other three daughters, Badb and Macha and Morrigu, whose name was Anand.”

Okay, so there we have The Morrígan listed as part of a trio of sisters, where she’s also given the pseudonym Anand.

And what’s interesting is that earlier in that same text we find the following line:

“Badb and Macha and Anand, of whom are the Paps of Anu in Luachar were the three daughters of Ernmas the she-farmer.”

So it seems as though the conflation of The Morrígan with Anand/Anu was a later addition.

And while some scholars consider that Anand/Anu is synonymous with the Irish goddess Dana/Danu (the possible namesake of the Tuatha Dé Danann), the Lebor Gabála Érenn has a separate entry for Danu that appears shortly after the Anand/Anu reference. And I quote:

“Donann the daughter of … Delbaeth was mother of … Brian, Iucharba and Iuchar. These were the three gods of Danu, from whom is named the Mountain of the Three gods.”

So clearly “Danu” is a separate goddess from Anand/Anu, right?

Welp, it’s a bit more complicated than that, because the name “Danu” doesn’t actually appear in the original Old Irish; it’s the hypothetical nominative form of the genitive Dannan (source: Dictionary of Celtic Mythology).

But I digress.

When we get to the second direct reference to The Morrígan in the Lebor Gabála Érenn, the Anand/Anu moniker is entirely absent.

“Badb and Macha, greatness of wealth, Morrigu–
springs of craftiness,
sources of bitter fighting
were the three daughters of Ernmas.”

What do we make of all this?

Is The Morrígan the same as Anand/Anu? Did she replace Anand/Anu?

Because it turns out the connection between these two goddesses may determine whether or not The Morrígan qualifies as a triple goddess.

How Well Does The Morrígan Fit the Maiden/Mother/Crone Triple Goddess Archetype?

In the Sanas Cormaic or Cormac’s Glossary, which is popularly attributed to a 9th-century Munster bishop and king, Anu is dubbed the “mother of gods.”

Hence, it can be tempting to think: alright, here is the mother portion of the popular maiden-mother-crone triple goddess archetype.

So I guess that makes Badb, which means crow, the crone? You know, like “old crow.”

And since the name Macha is rooted in the proto-Celtic *makayā meaning plain, maybe that makes her the maiden. You know, like “fertile plain.”

Although, plains can also be barren.

What’s more, the 9th-century De origine Scoticae linguae, also known as O’Mulconry’s Glossary, defines Machæ as:

“[A] scaldcrow/hooded crow, or she is the third Morrígan, whence ‘Machæ’s mast’ i.e., the heads of people after their slaughter.”

So does that mean Macha is the crone, since she’s so closely associated with death?

Also, it’s unclear whether the “third Morrígan” label means Macha is the third aspect of the goddess, or that she is one of three Morrígan sisters.

Fortunately, other texts can shed some light on this.

In the First Battle of Mag Tuired, for example, which sees the Tuatha Dé Danann face off against the Fir Bolg, we find the following:

“It was then that Badb and Macha and Morrigan went to the Knoll of the Taking of the Hostages, and to the Hill of Summoning of Hosts at Tara, and sent forth magic showers of sorcery and compact clouds of mist and a furious rain of fire, with a downpour of red blood from the air on the warriors’ heads.”

Lovely.

Later in that same text we get this reference:

“The chiefs who went out in front of the Tuatha De on that day were Ogma, Midir, Bodb Derg, Diancecht, and Aengaba of Norway. The women, Badb, Macha, Morrigan and Danann offered to accompany them.”

Okay, so now we’ve got that fourth name thrown back into the mix as well.

Robert Graves would attempt to square this circle in his seminal 1948 work The White Goddess, in which he noted:

“The maleficent Ana was the leading person of the Fate Trinity, Ana, Badb and Macha, together known as the Morrigan, or Great Queen.”

And while “great queen” is a widely promoted etymology for The Morrígan, the idea that The Morrígan is some overarching or composite deity made up of Badb, Macha, and Ana/Anu/Dannan is not explicitly stated in the primary texts we’ve looked at so far.

I’d argue a simpler explanation is that the Great Queen title is exactly that: a title. That would explain the somewhat awkward phrasing at the beginning of the Lebor Gabála Érenn:

“Ernmas had other three daughters, Badb and Macha and Morrigu, whose name was Anand.”

Makes more sense when you read it, “Badb and Macha and the Great Queen, whose name was Anand.”

Mind you, this doesn’t imply that Anand/The Morrígan is the queen of some triune or tripartite deity, but that amongst the Tuatha Dé Danann she is a queen. 

Hence, in the text, she’s referred to interchangeably as Anand and Morrigu. It’s your classic Daenerys/Khaleesi situation.

But let’s stop obsessing over the Lebor Gabála Érenn.

Because there are other medieval Irish texts that have things to say about The Morrígan.

The Ambiguous Morrigan: A Twelfth-Century View

In the Banshenchas—Woman Lore or Lore of Women—we find the following titillating tidbit:

“Nemain, Danand, Bodb and Macha, Morrigu who brings victory, impetuous and swift Etain, Be Chuilli of the north country, were the sorceresses of the Tuatha De.”

So this passage clearly makes a distinction between The Morrígan a.k.a. Morrigu, who brings victory on the battlefield, and four other sorceresses, Nemain, Danand, Bodb, and Macha.

But given how those four names precede the name Morrigu, it’s easy to see how someone might combine them—either accidentally or intentionally—into a single entity.

And we can see such a conflation in the story Togail Bruidne Dá Derga, The Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel, which, like the Banshenchus, dates to the 12th century. Or at least that’s when the earliest extant versions of those texts were recorded.

Anyway, check out this exchange that takes place between the High King Conaire Mór and a “lone woman” in a “greyish, wooly mantle,” with “lips…on one side of her head,” “lower hair” that reaches as far as her knee,” and shins “as long as a weaver’s beam” and “as dark as the back of a stag-beetle.”

[S]aith [Conaire]: “it is not thou that always augurs for us. What is thy name, O woman?”

“Cailb,” she answers.

“That is not much of a name,” says Conaire.

“Lo, many are my names besides.”

“Which be they?” asks Conaire.

“Easy to say,” quoth she. “Samon, Sinand, Seisclend, Sodb, Caill, Coll, Díchóem, Dichiúil, Díthím, Díchuimne, Dichruidne, Dairne, Dáríne, Déruaine, Egem, Agam, Ethamne, Gním, Cluiche, Cethardam, Níth, Némain, Nóennen, Badb, Blosc, B[l]oár, Huae, óe Aife la Sruth, Mache, Médé, Mod.”

Notably absent from that list, of course, is The Morrígan or Morrigu. But given the figure’s role in the story, that of an augur or prophetess, and those familiar names—Némain, Badb, and Mache—it’s hard to ignore a potential Morrígan connection.

And for the triple goddess super fans out there, it’s also hard to ignore the figure’s crone-like appearance.

Granted, shapeshifting is one of The Morrígan’s signature superpowers, if you will.

So if we accept that the Da Derga’s Hostel version of The Morrígan is her Crone aspect, we also have to wonder: what aspects do the eel and the wolf and the heifer represent? Because those are all forms she takes in the Táin Bó Cúailnge, in addition to appearing as a crow/raven and an old hag.

If we left it here, I think the textual evidence—or lack thereof—would speak for itself.

As we’ve just explored, a plain reading of Irish mythology’s primary sources that reference The Morrígan—namely, the Táin, the Lebor Gabála Érenn, Cormac’s Glossary, O’Mulconry’s Glossary, the Banshenchus, the First Battle of Mag Tuired, and the Destruction of Da Derga’s Hostel—don’t directly support the goddess having a triple nature.

But as I am wont to do, I’ve been saving the best evidence for last.

The Morrígan in the Second Battle of Mag Tuired

In the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, which sees the Tuatha Dé Danann face off against the marauding Fomorians, we find the following passage. And I urge you to pay close attention to the pronouns being used:

“Then after the preparation for the battle had been settled, Lug and the Dagda and Ogma went to the three gods of Danu, and they gave Lug equipment for the battle; and for seven years they had been preparing for them and making their weapons. Then she said to him, ‘Undertake a battle of overthrowing.’ The Morrígan said to Lug, ‘Awake…’”

Then there’s a gap in the text.

At first glance, it seems like the scribe is using The Morrígan (she) and the three gods of Danu (they) interchangeably. Or perhaps the switch to “she” is meant to indicate that now one of those three gods is speaking.

The only problem with such interpretations is that we already know who the “three gods of Danu” are, and The Morrígan isn’t one of them—or all of them, for that matter.

As established in the Lebor Gabála Érenn, Brian, Iucharba, and Iuchar are the three gods of Danu.

Regardless, The Morrígan has a larger role to play in the Second Battle of Mag Tuired.

Which includes getting frisky with The Dagda, the father of the Irish gods, on Samhain—or “near the All Hallows of the battle” as Elizabeth A. Gray rendered it in her translation.

This coupling has been the source of much speculation.

For example, archaeologist Barry Cunliffe has asserted that the mythical union of The Morrígan and The Dagda was believed to be an annual occurrence meant to ensure that The Morrígan would spare the Tuatha Dé Danann from death and devastation (source: Druids: A Very Short Introduction).

Even though that’s nowhere in the actual text.

There’s also the Wiccan/neopagan idea that the Triple Goddess’s male counterpart is the Horned God.

And while The Dagda is never described as having Cernunnos-like horns or antlers, he does, on one occasion, jokingly refer to himself as Fer Benn, meaning the Horned Man or Peaked Man. But to be clear, this is on account of his aroused state, not because he has actual horns sprouting from his head.

Of course, if you’re keen on squeezing mythical Irish figures into archetypal molds, these textual tidbits might be enough to convince you that The Morrígan is a triple goddess.

But you’d also have to ignore the fact that later in the Second Battle of Mag Tuired, after the battle is won and the slaughter is cleaned away, the “Morrígan, the daughter of Ernmas,” gives a big speech.

Meanwhile, “Macha the daughter of Ernmas” falls at the hands of Balor—as in Balor of the Evil Eye.

This confirms what the other primary sources have been telling us all along. The Morrígan and Macha are sisters—not aspects of a triple deity.

Hence, one sister is able to survive the battle while another kicks the bucket.

The Triple Goddess Demystified: Following the Evidence vs. Following the Archetype

Now, just to cover all of my bases, I know that in some neopagan circles the three aspects of the Triple Goddess—maiden, mother, and crone—are thought to correspond to birth, life, and death, and/or to the sky, the earth, and the underworld, and/or to the phases of the moon—waxing, full, and waning—and/or to the stages of womanhood, namely: getting reading to make babies, making babies, and being a wise old grandma after the baby-making is finished (paraphrasing).

A quick aside: if the whole maiden-mother-crone trichotomy feels a bit icky, as it essentially ties divine female power to childbearing, that’s a common and, in my mind, valid criticism.

Alternate labels for the three aspects of the Triple Goddess have been proposed, including youth, warrior, and sage.

And sure, we can cherry pick details from the medieval Irish texts to have The Morrígan fit into either of those interpretations of the archetype.

Because The Morrígan does appear as a crone. And while not described as a mother, she does knock boots with The Dagda. As for the maiden part, I mean, she was ostensibly one at some point.

Same goes for being a youth. And we know she’s a warrior, and she certainly has sage-like characteristics in some of the myths.

The problem with this approach, however, is that we’re not starting with the evidence and seeing where it leads us; we’re starting with the archetype and cramming The Morrígan into it—an exercise we could do with virtually any mythical Irish woman.

It’s the same problem I described in my essay/video on the Holly King and Oak King:

When you’re swinging around a big ole archetype axe, everything starts to look like Sir Gawain’s neck.

But what do you think?

Is The Morrígan actually a triple goddess? And if so, what evidence can you point to that supports that claim?

Drop a comment below.

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