This month I have been sick and overwhelmed and battling severe fatigue, and when I went to see Na Morrigna, I asked - what would you have me to this month? Can I just rest?
No, not only rest. They wanted me to finally start a piece of devotional fiber craft, and to share a small, happy update. One of my workshop proposals was accepted to the Morrigan's Call Retreat 2024! So it looks like I'll be going back to Connecticut this coming June! Perhaps I'll have finished the shawl by then and will be able to dedicate it - or pass it along to the person it's meant for. I'm not entirely sure I'm meant to be making it for myself.
But I hope to see some of ya'll at the retreat this summer! Tickets should be live on their website soon.
My workshop is titled "Sovereignty and Otherness", and here's my abstract:
This workshop begins with a discussion of what sovereignty means, and a few examples from lore of how the Morrigan, Macha, and Badb wield their own sovereignty, and how we can strive to follow the examples they set. We’ll talk about the importance of self-sovereignty, and the ways in which our modern society attempts to undermine it, and then I’ll open up into a brief discussion of the ways in which we are othered – as pagans, as witches, as queer folx or people of color or neurodivergent or disabled people or as any other demonized minority group – and how we can use the insight those experiences give us, and turn it into power.
The second half of the workshop is then a guided journey, based on the same themes as the first half, where I will lead the attendees on a path through the woods to a clearing where we will meet Na Tri Morrigna around a fulacht fiadh, an outdoor cooking pit associated with Na Morrigna and the fianna, the warrior-bands. Each person will add one item representing their personal Otherness to the cauldron of stew, to add sustenance to the pot, and then after speaking with Na Morrigna, will be instructed to ladle out a bowl to eat, returning their Otherness to themselves as the power and strength of personal sovereignty supported by a diverse community.