Mari-Danu the Witch

irish mythology | gods & goddesses | the morrigan

💀Morrigan💀 Goddess of war, death, and fate Symbols: ravens, crows, wolves

The Morrígan

Celtic goddess of war, fate, the cycle of life and death, rebirth, sovereignty, wisdom, prophecy, destruction, bloodshed, fertility, and fresh waters

The Morrígan (also called Morrigu) has her name translate from Irish as ‘Great Queen’. This name is a key to her nature, showing that sovereignty and queenship are core aspects of her identity and power. Though some scholars have given the name an alternate etymology, translating it as ‘Phantom Queen’. As one of the Celtic sovereignty Goddesses, The Morrígan has an association with the land itself, and the rulership and protection of the land and its people. A recent belief has risen from Wicca claiming that The Morrígan is a triple goddess, but this is not so and is inaccurate to her myths. The Morrígan has several goddesses who work alongside her, but none represent the stages of one’s life, and Morrigan only appears elderly when she is presenting herself as a death omen to warriors.

The Morrígan is deeply associated in her source lore with incitement of heroes toward glory in battle, with the granting of victory, and with their deaths; in her own words, she says to the great hero Cú Chulainn, “I am guarding your death”. In battle, she takes part in the action primarily through the use of sorcery, Druidic magic, shapeshifting, terrorizing the enemy, and giving aid and strategic information to her people. She shapeshifts into many forms in her tales, including crows, ravens, cows, wolves, and eels. The Morrígan also appears as a sexual figure, offering victory and prophetic aid to her chosen war-leader. She also fulfills important roles with regard to poetry and prophecy, giving poetic incitements to the heroes of the Tuatha Dé Danann to rise to their hour of need, giving prophetic pronouncements of victory or of doom on the eve of decisive battles, and announcing the victories and the tales of great deeds afterward. She was also believed to hold the power over life and death, being able to revive fallen warriors in order to allow them to fight again.

The Morrígan is part of a group of goddesses who share similar roles: Badb Catha- the Battle Crow of destruction, Némain- frenzy and terror, and Macha- the land, fertility, protection (it is theorized that Féa was included as well). It is said that The Morrígan was so terrifying in battle, that her shrieking war-cries could frighten her enemies to death. Though despite her bloodlust and terror, The Morrígan is also deeply protective and strives to teach her followers courage, independence, and enlightenment. She is passionately heroic and never backs down, causing her to seem utterly fearless in any challenge.

In my experiences with this goddess, she is very queen-like, elegant, cunning, sarcastic, and intense. She has a deep strong energy that is also sensual and her warm, shadowy presence embraces everything around her. The Morrígan speaks in a low but sometimes commanding voice that can be intimidating to some, but she means well and is immensely wise and compassionate. Though she wishes to guide her followers to their highest potential to show them their strength, she will not hold your hand since she expects independence. Although she can be more gentle depending on what each devotee needs. She is a mysterious and fiery mother who defends all who are in need, though her wrath is not to be taken lightly. Though when at peace, Morrigan enjoys wandering the forests while lost in thought, often wearing a black dress. Appearance-wise, she has come to me in the form of a woman in her early thirties with very long black hair, piercing eyes, pronounced cheekbones, and wears either dark armour or dark clothing with raven feathers attached at her shoulders. 

| Symbolism of The Morrígan |

Crows/Ravens

Cows

Wolves

Horses

Eels

Vultures

Swords

Shields

| Some of her epithets |

The Great Queen

The Phantom Queen

The Washer at the Ford

Lady of the Waters

She Who Calls to Battle

Raven Queen

Far-Seeing Sorceress 

Bringer of Courage

Protectress 

She Who Makes Armies Tremble

Forteller of Doom

Foremost in Battle

| Offerings |

*What Is It

Chile Pepper ( Capsicum )

*What Does It Do

Relieves muscle tension, stress; improves blood circulation.

*How Do You Use It

The fruit is eaten, cooked or raw, prepared as desired.

*Where Can You Find It

A common vegetable, available at the grocery or can be grown in your garden

*Magical uses

A spell to break yourself free of any binding spells that may hold you.

You Will Need:

Blue Nail Polish

Metal Nail File

Bowl of Salt

1 Black Candle

1 White Candle

Steps:

Place your candles before you, the black one to your left and the white one to your right. Light them starting with the black candle. 

Place your bowl in front of you and fill it with salt. Make sure it is between the two candles but closer to you creating a triangle like shape.

Paint your dominant hand with the blue nail polish. While painting visualize your nails long and sharp like razors, ready to cut through anything that may hold you.

Once painted hold your hand out before you and over the bowl of salt. “These bindings hold me tight and strong, but I shall not allow them to for long.”

With your hand slash like you are clawing at something (careful not to hit your candles). “I cut through the ropes! I cut through the ties!”

Grab your nail file and hold it in the hand you have painted and hold it above your head in a position one would do if read to stab something. “I release myself and break through the binds.” 

Stab it down into the salt (again careful not to hit your candles or to break the bowl). “I cut them away!” leave the nail file in the salt

Hover your painted nailed hand over the nail file and bowl once more. “I set myself free.” Blow out your candles starting with white then the black

Leave the bowl with the file in it over night and do not remove your blue nail polish, let it chip away on its own.

Tools:

Glass Bowl

9 Thumb Tacks/Pins

Salt

Pepper

Brown Paper Bag

Black Pen

Spicy Peppers (crushed red pepper, chili powder, cayenne pepper)

Paprika

Tobacco

Clove Powder

Optional: Black or White Candle

Mix the salt and pepper into the glass bowl to symbolize fighting and disharmony. 

On the brown paper bag write the 1st Target’s name and birthday 3 times. Turn the paper upside down counterclockwise and write the 2nd Target’s name and birthday 3 times.

Anoint the paper with any oil to promote break ups such as break up oil, cursing oils, confusion oil, etc or simply use hot sauce to promote heated arguments and discomfort when they are together.

Rip the paper in half separating both names. Place the papers on opposite sides of your working area. On each name paper add the spices. This is optional but many of these herbs can be found in your kitchen so why not use them!

Spicy Peppers/Powder - Anger, fighting, pain, discomfort being together, arguing, name calling, hostility, animosity, hate

Paprika - to add speed and energy to the spell, to promote issues and problems in their relationship

Clover Powder - for control and domination over both parties

(If one of the targets is a friend or lover you can add salt to their name paper protect them from any harm)

Speak to the name papers and tell each target exactly how they feel and what they must do. Imagine you are speaking directly to them and are in complete control of their every emotion and action.

Fold the name papers away from you, turning clockwise. (If one of the targets is a lover you are trying to get back or a friend, fold their name paper towards you). Place the name papers into the bowl of salt and pepper and place 9 pins into the bowl in a counter clockwise circle. Pray over it and envision exactly what you want to happen: The couple fighting, arguing, breaking up, cutting contact, and never speaking again.

Optional: Place a black or white candle into the bowl. On the candle you can inscribe Target 1′s name and birthday on one side, on the other side write Target 2′s name and birthday backwards

Once you believe that you have been cursed you can then start the process in order to get rid of the curse that was placed on you. You can do this by following these three steps in order to isolate yourself, fight back, and then cleanse, and heal yourself back to normal health.

Here is the post on symptoms of being cursed, and diagnostics methods:

http://wolfofantimonyoccultism.tumblr.com/post/163601502625/symptoms-of-being-cursed-and-diagnostics-methods

The first step you are going to want to do is shield yourself. This will give you time to identify what the curse is, and where it might be coming from. Along with allowing you to think about how you would like to proceed in the next step. The shielding does not have to be anything elaborate it just has to work well enough to isolate you from the negative energy of the curse, and will give you some time to think, while not being impacted by the curse.

Shielding methods that you could try, would be things such as:

Casting a circle.

Charging, and activating a Sigil for protection.

Using the psychic bubble of white light.

Wearing all black.

Wearing iron.

Remaining in some form of sacred space or holy ground.

Using protective crystals such as obsidian, onyx, black tourmaline, or smoky quartz, among many others.

Burn incense, or herbs for protection such as dragon’s blood, rosemary, basil, or clove, among many others.

Creating crystal grids of protection.

Asking a deity, spirit guide, thought-form, ancestor, or ascended master to protect you.

Asking another more experienced practitioner to shield you.

Among many other shielding methods….

The second step would be to banish, or send back the curse. In order to banish the curse you will first need to look for everything that connects you to the curse, and cleanse it, or destroy it. Once you do that you will be able to send out a spell to counter, and banish the curse, or reflects the curse back to whatever sent it. In the step it would also be helpful to identify who, or what sent the curse at you in the first place, so that you can bind it and prevent it from happening again.

Curse breaking methods, and curse sending back methods you could try, would be things such as:

Charging, and activating a sigil for curse breaking, or for sending back the curse.

Asking a deity, spirit guide, thought-form, ancestor, or ascended master to break, or to send back the curse.

Construct a decoy witches bottle in order to absorb the curse for you.

Create, and cast a personal spell to nullify the curse, or to send it back to its user.

Using crystals such as of Labradorite, obsidian, or shungite, along with many others.

Burn incense, or herbs for curse breaking.

Taking a bath with specific herbs can also remove the curse by nullifying its negative energy.

Cleanse, and destroy the source of where the curse is coming from, so that it can no longer target you.

Reading from a holy book out loud.

Strongly intending, and demanding that the curse be broken, and dissipate.

Stay in your protection until the curse runs its course, and runs out of energy.

Asking another more experienced practitioner to break the curse.

Among many other methods….

The third step would be to cleanse you and your space of negative energy that is left over from the curse, so that you can go on with your life without being disturbed by past energies. This can be done through any cleansing method of your choice, and is a very important step in order to keep you safe, and spiritually healthy. You can also in this step run diagnostics on yourself to make sure that you are healthy and all mind, body, and spirit, so that you can enter back into a normalized state.

Cleansing methods that you could try could be things such as:

Burn incense, and cleansing herbs such as Sage, Cedar, Palo Santo stick, among many other things.

Going to a Reiki professional to balance out your energetic body.

Charging, and activating a sigil for cleansing.

Noise cleansing through such methods as clap cleansing, singing bowl cleansing, or bell cleansing.

Asking a deity, spirit guide, thought-form, ancestor, or ascended master to cleanse you of negative energies.

Spray the area with salt water, holy water, or any other magically charged water.

Using the power of the violet flame.

Using your own spiritual energy to nullify the negative energy.

Sprinkling salt in the environment.

Physically cleaning the area.

Casting banishing pentagram of the Earth

Casting the Lesser banishing ritual of the pentagram

Casting the Lesser banishing ritual the hexagram

Casting the Gnostic Pentagram Ritual

Asking another more experienced practitioner to cleanse you and your environment.

LGBT Protection Sigil 🖤

This sigil has you back! It will protect you from any kind of hate and it will stay by your side as long as needed.

4 Thieves Vinegar

An old concoction used since the middle ages. Legend says that at the height of the black plague in Europe, four thieves were managing to rob the homes of those either dead or ill without contracting the plague. When found out they attributed this to an elixir they created together, each adding their own ingredient to the mixture. The original recipe varies, depending on who makes it and it likely has changed over the years passing from maker to maker.

The recipe I made is as follows

Lavender

Rosemary

Garlic

Rose Buds

 combine in a corked bottle and submerge in some Apple Cider Vinegar. Leave in a dark place for a week until ready to strain and  use, and it should keep for about 6-months to a year (again if kept in a dark area)

While rose isn’t traditional I chose it as the fourth ingredient because it’s considered a healing substance. Rose water was often used to keep away illness and miasma, and commonly found around Europe, It would make sense that this flower might be used, so into the vinegar it went. 

Here is a list of unconventional and affordable ingredients that can be used in spells and witchcraft along with their correspondences; good for witches “in the woods” and witches on a budget. Many of these can be easily found for inexpensive prices or at home.

Acorns/Acorn Caps: security, abundance, longevity, good luck, youth and brings good health

Animal toys/stickers: relates to correspondences of that animal

Artist’s Charcoal: banishing negativity, protection; cursing

Baby Powder: cleansing, beauty, youth

Baking Soda: cleansing, purification, protection

Birthday Candles: wishes, joy; color magic and number magic depending on their color and/or what number they display

Black Tea Bags (used): earth magic, grounding, strength, stability, banishing negativity; ending, death 

Bottle Caps: prosperity, luck, material gain

Bubble Bath: self-love, relaxation, emotional healing, serenity; plus whatever scent the bubble bath is affects correspondences

Bubbles/Bubble Liquid: wishes, joy, whimsy, imagination, fantasy

Buckeye Nuts: luck, sexual energies, warding

Butter: femininity, flattery, friendship, warmth, happiness; good for fae work

Candy Bars: love, romance, happiness, lust, fertility, emotional healing, healing of the heart, forgiveness, friendship

Candy Corn: courage, imagination, endurance, energy, motivation, happiness, celebration

Candy Foil: sweetness, secrets, protecting one’s emotions; color magic

Chocolate Syrup/Milk: happiness, love, lust, romance, sweetening relationships

Cocktail Swords: strength, assertiveness, competition; cursing, revenge; ending rumors

Cotton Balls: beauty, gentleness, warmth, sleep

Cotton Swabs: cleansing, purification

Dice: chance, opportunity, luck; number magic

Dirt: grounding, earth magic, growth, prosperity, patience, home and family; cursing

Dish Soap: cleansing

Duct Tape: binding, storing energy, cursing

Egg Shells: cleansing, protection, warding

Energy Drinks: energy, motivation

Envelopes: messages, communication, protection during travel

Epsom Salts: purification, cleansing, protection, pain relief, serenity, comfort, stress relief

Fake/Play Money: wealth, prosperity

Fish Sauce: prosperity, water magic, curses

Foil: glamour, protection, storing energy, binding

Glue: sealing, immobility, binding, curses

Googley Eyes: vision, divination, scrying, creativity, protection, imagination; curses, paranoia, nightmares

Grass: growth, nature, learning, healing, new beginnings, recovery from loss

Hand Soap: cleansing, curse removal

Hole Punches: good for cursing

Hot Sauce: motivation, lust, confidence; cursing, anger, revenge, emotional pain

Koolaid: youth, sweetness, happiness; color magic, corresponds with flavors as well

Lip Balm: glamour, confidence in speaking, honesty, beauty

Lollipops: sweetness, innocence, ending rumors and lies, lust and sexual energies, love

Lotion: protection, beauty

Laundry Soap: cleansing, purification

Marshmallows: friendliness, comfort, gentleness, fidelity, sleep and dreams

Metal Crafting Wire: binding

Modeling Clay: poppets, earth magic, grounding, balance, stability, creation, change

Mud: grounding, earth magic; curses

Muslin: poppets, change, creativity

Noodles: Longevity, good health

Pompoms (craft): gentleness, comfort, love, sleep, dreams

Paper Clips: balance, focus, organization; curses, binding

Pennies: luck, wealth

Pickle Juice: curses to sour things

Plastic Bags: protection; binding

Plastic Ribbon (wrapping): happiness, glamour, delight; binding; color magic

Plastic Wrap: binding

Popsicle sticks: poppets

Scissors: offensive magic, curses

Seltzer Water: purification, removing negativity; curses

Sewing Needles: curses, pain

Shaving Cream: cleansing, softness, patience, calmness

Stamps: travel, communication

Sour Cream: cursing

Soy Sauce: protection, banishment; cursing

Sticky Notes: communication, memory

Strawberry Milk: love, self-love, beauty, sweetness, friendship

Syrup: joy, sweetening one’s emotions

Taco Sauce: Focus, Energy, motivation

Taffy: joy, flexibility

Thumbtacks: curses

Tissue Paper: softness, serenity; color magic

Toothpaste: cleansing

Toothpicks: curse

Walnut Shells: protection, warding

Wasabi: Energy; curses, anger, envy

Whipped Cream: beauty, light-heartedness

Whistles: communication, attention grabbing, warding

Other Tips:

Recycle bottles, jars and medicine bottles for jar/bottle magic

Reuse tea bags (though not too long after use) in bath magic

If you do wish to use herbs, it is cheaper to order them online in bulk rather than the supermarket. Trust me, supermarkets and grocery stores really over price most herbs. You can get triple the amount for 2 dollars less online

Make up and toiletries are great for glamours

Its fine to use kitchen knives if you can’t afford am athame

Look at the ingredients in food you eat to see what is in it and determine that food’s correspondences, quick and easy kitchen magic

Crayons, colored pencils, markers and pens are good for easy sigil and color magic

eat your gods.

EAT YOUR GODS. TEAR INTO THEM DEVOUR THEM LET ECSTATIC TEARS RUN DOWN YOUR FACE AND MIX WITH THE JUICE OF THEM.

get drunk on godflesh, stumble with divinity, whoop and shriek as they hit your bloodstream, roll in the dirt, suck their remnants off your gritty fingers, float, tumble, howl, chase, ascend, obliviate, transcend, transform.

wake disoriented, sick and aching with the loss of them. wipe your face, coax out your tangles, inspect your skinned knees and palms. leave your shoes where you threw them as an offering.

cultivate the hunger that only theophagy can sate.