Forfeda

My best recommendation, frankly, is to start with the myths. The Cattle Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cuailnge), The Cattle Raid of Regamna (Táin Bó Regamna), and The Second Battle of Moytura (Cath Maige Tuired) in particular are good places to start. The Morrigan plays a critical role in all three of them. Getting a foundation in what the myths do say about the Morrigan means that you can also understand what the myths don't say, which is critical for spotting misinformation.

For more analytical sources, the Story Archaeology Podcast (which is just generally excellent) has two episodes exclusively looking at the Morrigan and her mythic appearances, and Celticist John Carey has an article called Notes on the Irish War-Goddess that goes into the various Morrigans, if you're able to find it anywhere (and if you do, let me know - I've been trying to track down a copy!).

If you're approaching things from a polytheist standpoint, I've heard good things about the Coru Cathubodua Priesthood, although I haven't had any direct experience with them myself. They do, however, have an excellent reading list.

Ultimately, the Morrigan is one of the most complicated figures in Irish myth, so there's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of conflicting theories. I'd be very wary of any sources that aren't upfront about that.

Dia is Muire Duit! 

Embarrassingly, I don’t interact with all that many other people who do this sort of thing, mainly for 3 reasons: 

(1) Professional distancing -- Small field, everyone knows each other, which means that if I find anyone or anyone finds me, there’s a not-small chance that we know one another IRL. There’s a reason my palms get a little sweaty when I think about new people coming into Tumblr, and a solid portion of that’s that I don’t want....too much attention on what I do here and, especially, not on my main. (Which I know is the equivalent of holding up a meat stick to a bunch of dogs and going “DO YOU WANT THE MEAT STICK?”) I can’t really vent about my department on main anymore simply because, even though names aren’t attached to things, it’s ridiculously easy to narrow me down if you know what to do. I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong, but there’s a difference between Me On Here VS Me in a Professional Context, and it’s been difficult to try to make that sort of...shift from being a shitposting teenager to suddenly being an Academic™. (But also, I don’t want people to think I’m unapproachable, either -- rule of thumb is “Mutually Assured Destruction.” You know I’m on Tumblr, I know you’re on Tumblr, and we both never mention it.)

(2) Wanting to distance myself a little from what I do Every Day -- Posting on here and interacting with people who are willing to seek me out on here is fine, I like that, I enjoy doing it, I enjoy everyone who follows me, but it’s much more on my terms here. (Hence the inconsistent posting schedule.) When I was younger, before this was my job, I could be around it constantly, and it was a lot of fun, but now it’s like....it’s a Lot, now that it’s my actual life. I check in on the Irish Mythology tag every once in a while, but I can’t really follow it like I used to just because it’s this constant state of *engagement* for me, in a way that, say, French musicals that three people in the world like don’t have. 

Brain tired, brain needs nappy. 

(3) I’ve seen some people on here, when I’ve looked into blogs to follow be....well. Bitches. Especially re: Americans taking this on and, as an American myself who is very serious about my line of work, it does. Rather sting. (I have a lot of complex opinions on the whole business that I won’t get into now, but the tldr is that I get why people can be hesitant, especially with the borderline fetishization of Ireland in the States but, at the same time, the effect is often scaring people who have a genuine interest in this sort of thing away and, when it comes to an endangered language....the more people we have taking the time to learn it, the better.) (But also, if you imply that my degree, which I got from an *Irish* uni is worthless, the claws will come out. I made a lot of sacrifices for that....glorious....piece of poster board in Latin.)

BUT. BUT. 

I do have a few. I want to emphasize that these aren’t all the Good People who do Irish Things on Tumblr, these are just the ones, off the top of my head, I can think of. 

@trans-cuchulainn Excellent resource on the Ulster Cycle, A+ shitposts

@finnlongman Another Ulster Cycle specialist 

@ad-ciu A former colleague and friend of mine, one of the only human beings in the world I trust with Mythological Cycle content. Not on as much these days because they’re doing things like “schoolwork” and “having a life” and “getting a PhD”, but genuinely a wonderful person to follow so you can catch when they do post. 

@amylouioc Wonderful artwork inspired by medieval Irish lit, explicitly anti-racist, multicultural Tuatha Dé, Nuada is a snacc. 

@forfeda-project Another A+ art blog, am considering getting their pub shirt for Fled Bricrenn to wear at conferences. 

@bloctg4 Shitposts in the Irish language, brought to you by Ireland’s own Irish-speaking TV station (or, rather, an intern at said TV station.)

SAMHAIN

My first medieval Irish video in wayyyy too long, featuring Cú Chulainn and the Morrígan having a disagreement about a cow. Wearing, of course, my @forfeda-project shirt, because what else could I wear for this particular video?

Links etc mentioned:

Bibliography for Táin Bó Regamna

Windisch’s edition

Leahy’s translation (Search for “Tain Bo Regamna” within the page.)

Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 

Forfeda on Redbubble

Buy THE BUTTERFLY ASSASSIN!

LUGHNASA

Also called Brón Trogain, the festival of Lughnasa is one of four major Irish festivals that shaped the Gaelic year. It signaled the beginning of the harvest season and maked the date for one of Ireland's most important assemblies.

Typically observed on August 1st, Lughnasa festivities saw the people gather on hilltops for a renewal of contracts, the paying of rents, the buying and selling of goods, and the holding of great feasts in celebration of the first fruits. Games and competitions of all kinds were also held, including horse racing and feats of strength.

According to Sanas Cormaic, the name "Lughnasa" is said to mean "The Assembly of Lugh," and the god has some strong associations with the day. In the Book of Invasions, we are told that Lugh inagurated the festival as a funeral games in memory of his foster mother Tailtiu, who died clearing the plains of Ireland. A running motif of both early and late accounts also have a light figure (usually St. Patrick, but most likely Lugh originally) in conflict with a darker agricultural figure named Crom Dubh, who is defeated. Surviving tales from Ireland and Scotland suggest that a bull (associated with Crom) may have been sacrificed and, in some accounts, revived in effigy as a feature of this motif.

This design features a depiction of two horses to represent the funeral games, along with scythes and a spear imposed over a hill to illustrate the motif of Lugh's triumph over Crom. The firstfruits of Ireland are also featured, in the form of stalks of barley, a basket of billberries, and wild garlic. Two drinking horns with reliefs of Tailtiu and of Crom as the sacrificial bull flank the bottom of the piece, representing both the plenty and feasting associated with Lughnasa, as well as a reminder of its darker and more sorrowful aspects.

Yes, I've always assumed that was deliberate, based on @forfeda-project's caption on the original piece -- his short stature, beardlessness, and exclusion from the category of "men of Ulster" are all elements which can contribute to trans readings, while other aspects (i.e. his deeply homoerotic relationships with Fer Diad and, not mentioned, with Láeg) can contribute to different queer readings. Though I also appreciate the ambiguity of the scar/line being the same colour as the outline -- just as we can explore different and even contradictory readings of the texts, so we can interpret the same image differently :)

(But yes, this depiction of Cú is meant to be based specifically on a queer reading of the character, while leaving the type of queerness unspecified.)

It's Him (@forfeda-project 's Pride Cú Chulainn).

A very welcome addition to the Cú Chulainn wall above my desk: