The Morrigan, Great Queen of Ireland

By Shannon Sloan-Spice, Ph.D.

Ireland has a farming history that stretches back past 6,000 years with portal tombs, passageways, and “thin places” that honor the movement of light through the seasons. On the Celtic Wheel of the Year, there are eight sabbats, or celebrations, that help to mark the seasonal and planting cycles which fall on the solstices, equinoxes, and cross-quarters of those cosmic events. Every six weeks, there is new energy to work with. The Celtic New Year falls on Samhain because this would have been the end of the harvest season, a time to slow down, work with the ancestors, and gather to share the bounty of the harvest in celebration with the community.

Samhain is the Irish name for the month of November, so the time of year when it is believed the veils are thinnest between this and the Otherworld is not fleeting—there is time to deepen into the mysteries of life, death, and transformation.

In Ireland, October 31^st is the eve before Samhain begins, but Samhain is the Irish name for the month of November, so the time of year when it is believed the veils are thinnest between this and the Otherworld is not fleeting—there is time to deepen into the mysteries of life, death, and transformation. Samhain is the time when both the ancestors and the Sidhe—the faerie folk—move freely in our world. Folklore warns that sometimes they search for those out of right relationship to abduct to Tir Na Nog, the Land-That-Knows-No-Time. People dressed in masks and costumes to confuse the spirits and keep themselves safe as they traveled because: Beware! Traveling at dawn or dusk, the liminal times of day, were the times the Fey would surely be encountered.

Humans and the fey

In The Mythic Cycle, we learn that Ireland was populated by several races of other beings before human occupation. The Fir Bolgs were defeated by the wicked Fomorians, a race of giants, who were eventually defeated by the Tuatha de Dannan. It is these ancestors who are often credited for building the mounds of Tara, Newgrange, the various dolmens, and passageways. They ruled the island in peace for a long time until, eventually, the “Men of Mil”—humans—arrived, fought the Tuatha De Dannan, and won the island. But instead of vanquishing the magical beings who lived there, they struck an accord and agreed to share the island, with the Sidhe retreating into great castles within the mountains, invisible to the human eye. Their sea god, Manannan Mac Lir, drew a veil over the mountains and a cloak over the Sidhe so that they could see us, but we could not see their kingdoms within the hills, nor themselves, unless they chose to reveal themselves to us.

Since the beginning of human history on the island, the agreement to rule the island was not based on who was the first-born in the royal family, but rather on merit: the man who would be king must be in Right Relationship with himself, his community, and with The Land, Herself, for she was Sovereignty. The Tuatha de Dannan brought with them the Lia Fial and placed it at the Hill of Tara. When the next would-be king approached, the stone would scream to mark the choice of the Land, personified as the goddess Sovereignty, choosing her next husband. King after king, for 142 coronations, the Lia Fial acted as an intermediary between the two ruling nations that co-existed and continued to serve the Great Goddess. The Irish psyche is, therefore, attuned to the idea of right relationship, and the Sidhe act as an environmental ethics police—if you fall out of attunement, your crops could be blighted, you could suffer illness, blindness, death, or worse, be stolen away never to be seen again. The land was kept in balance through these magical interactions. Reverend Lora O’Brien writes in her book, The Morrigan, Ireland’s Goddess:

To our ancestors, the concept of sovereignty was deeply intertwined with society’s legal and mythological aspects. It wasn’t just a political construct but instead, a scared covenant between the land, the people, and its rulers. Mirrored in other Indo-European traditions, this sacred kingship saw a king or a queen as not just a political leader, but a spiritual intermediary. The well-being of the kingdom was intrinsically linked to the sovereign’s virtue and vitality, reflecting a deep belief in the land’s sentient nature and its reciprocal relationship to its guardians. (100) 

samhain and the morrigan

Samhain is associated with the oldest Sovereignty goddess, The Morrigan. Her names and forms are many, as she is a shapeshifting goddess, but her title can be translated into “Great Queen,” or “Phantom Queen.” The Morrigan is both Herself and a trinity of sisters with Badb and Macha (and several other rotating goddesses in this trinity) by her side. They were often represented as a blond, brunette, and red-headed trio, and were a terrifying force to behold on the battlefield, shrieking and screaming, and covered in blood. The Morrigan also is associated with Her Raven form, often taking the form of a crow, but descriptions of her also have her turning into an eel, wolf, cow, and crone.

Samhain is coming. And so, too, is She. Greet this darkening time, with a healthy dose of humility, Dear Wanderers. The Great Queen will soon be on the move, making Her way through the thin veils.

In the original story of Jack-O Lantern, the Morrigan falls in love with a warrior that thrice refutes Her offer of love and immortality. Jack screams, “No, no! I know who you are! You are the Great Queen of Death. I shall never go with you!” But what the fool doesn’t realize is that in refusing Her, his time is limited. She puts his life force into the flame of the candle and prophesizes that when the flame goes out, so, too, shall Jack’s life force extinguish. He carves a turnip (the precursor to our American pumpkin) and puts the candle inside, creating a lantern. He spent the rest of his days carrying that turnip and trying to protect his flame from the blowing winds of the moors.

But the Morrigan is so much more than a vengeful, jilted lover. She is the Guardian and Protector of the Land. She is strategy, foresight, prophecy, and wisdom. She is more than a battle goddess of war, She is the one that speaks the future of creation through spoken poems called satires.

The Morrigan is powerful.

She is demanding and She is life-giving and sustaining.

She maintains the balance of the realms…

Samhain is coming. And so, too, is She.

Greet this darkening time, with a healthy dose of humility, Dear Wanderers.

The Great Queen will soon be on the move, making Her way through the thin veils.

What will you give to Her?

What offering do you make?

What are you releasing?

Who are you becoming?

The Morrigan, She already knows.

Works Cited

O’Brien, Lora.The Morrigan: Ireland’s Goddess.Llewellyn Publications, Woodbury: 2025.