Morrigan

Morrigan, also known as Morrigu, is the Celtic goddess of war and destruction. She is typically depicted as being armoured and armed: wherever war occurs, there is Morrigan. She is reputed to have hovered over the battlefield in the form either of a crow or a raven. Her name is pronounced as More Ree-an.

She is first mentioned in the Mythological Cycle (see Irish mythology) of Celtic tales, where she is revered as one of the Tuatha de Danann, a race of shape-shifting magicians whom the Celts believed inhabited Ireland before them.

Morrigan has three aspects: Macha, Nemain and Badb.

Though the first part of her name appears consonant with the Old English maere, part of which still persists within the modern English word "nightmare", it is more likely to be the Old, Middle and Modern Irish word mór, meaning "great"; the second part is rigan meaning "queen" (great queen).

There have been attempts to link the Arthurian witch, Morgan le Fay, with Morrigan. Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote the first stories that describe Morgan le Fay in "Vita Merlini" ("The Life of Merlin") written during the 12th century.

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