Morrigan – Page 6 – Serendipities

Samhain 2018

My Samhain Season began with my transition into darkness, timed to the heliacal rise of Spica (a star or multi-star system in the constellation Virgo) on October 24th, the same day as the full moon. The timing was something I discovered by accident, as I fell down a rabbit hole of faery holidays and stellar timing following Morgan Daimler’s revelations about the Pleaides. Spica seems to be closely associated with my Faery Queen, whom I call The Starflower Queen, and she has a sort of light-in-darkness and darkness-in-light balance to her energies that reminds me of the Chinese yin yang symbol. I had noticed on previous years that her transition into darkness happened before November Eve, but this year I really dove into star charts and paid careful attention and though I believe her transition from light to darkness is somewhat gradual, the bulk of the transition seems to occur between the heliacal rise of Spica (when it rises before the sun) and when Spica is at its zenith in conjunction with the sun, which happens much closer to November Eve. (I’m still not 100% clear on whether it’s the zenith at noon or the sun conjunction that matters more, but the zenith at noon was easier to calculate: October 30th this year.)

Hallowed Homecoming, which was the subject of my previous blog post, began my ancestor work and my work with the Morrigna. For the Ancestor Altar there, I prepared a small charm box, in a repurposed Sucrets container. (I’m a huge fan of witchy upcycling.) Inside I placed a sodalite stone from an incomplete rune set carved with Othala, a fortune from a fortune cookie that bore the phrase “missing you” in English and Chinese, and a purple paper heart into which I spoke the names of some of my most beloved ancestors. It spent the weekend on that altar, among other tokens and pictures, and then it came home with me to my own ancestor shrine.

I did very little on the 31st. We passed out candy, and though I expected to pull cards for my Crow Folk, I was told I had to Wait. So, I worked on memorizing some more of the chants for the ritual I was helping plan, and I waited. I did not feel called to pull cards to speak to any of my ancestors, either – I had received the messages that were most important during the main ritual at Hallowed Homecoming.

On the 2nd of November, I attended a Memorial and solidarity Shabbat Service at a local synagogue with my husband’s family, and that was an especially poignant evening of Ancestral Communion. It was also a much needed balm for my grief, and I came away glad for the community I live in, and wishing that my own faith was better represented in it.

On the 3rd, I gathered with some friends at a friend’s house, and together the nine of us had a ritual to the Morrigna, which was powerful despite our greenness and small number. Afterwards we had a pot luck, and there was an ancestor shrine set up in one room for people to visit and take time at. My little sucrets container sat among other tokens for another evening.

Now it is the 7th, the day of the Dark Moon, and my Samhain season comes to a close. I am finishing these blogs as the sun goes down, and then I will pull cards and dream on them, seeking a message from the Morrigna. Tomorrow, I will write up a blog for the Dark Moon, and I will begin to pull cards for all the Crow Folks who have requested them.

Crow Folk: Be Daring

The Dark Moon was a few days ago, and once again I spoke to Na Morrigna. The sense of urgency is building as we get closer to Samhain, and I must once again remind you that if you are planning a celebration for the holiday, do not forget Them. Do something small if you must, but do SOMETHING. For those of you who requested I do the 9 card Morrigan Spread I shared here, or those who did it for themselves, make sure you are following through and completing the tasks in those last three cards. After Samhain I will be following up with six more cards, three to cover the time period to Yule on Dec 21st, and three for the period from then to Imbolc on Feb 2nd.

The message this Dark Moon is as follows:

The way forward will take both strength and courage: you must rise to the occasion and do what you think you cannot. Draw on your convictions, and use them to act with resolve. The race will be long, but you will persevere – and perseverance brings triumph. The Morrigna are the High Queens of your striving. They guide your every move, and if you trust in Them you will achieve more than you dream is possible. The way will not be easy, but the result will be worth the battle. You must re-balance this world, re-balance the connection between the Mundane World and the Otherworlds. There is a plan larger than you can individually conceive, larger than you can individually affect, but change starts within each of you. Find your role and play your part. Change yourself to change the world.

I personally like to celebrate the Fire Festivals as three-day affairs, and my dates for Samhain this year are sundown on Oct 31 through sundown on Nov 3, though the ritual we are planning will be just after sundown on the 3rd. Any time in there would be appropriate to add your magic or ritual to the Work of the Morrigna. The moon will be waning, the New Year beginning, and it’s a perfect time to do magic that sweeps out the old and brings in the new.

And please – if you are in the US, don’t forget to vote the following week. It’s on the 6th, the day before the Dark Moon. I think that bodes well for the turning of the political tide.

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Crow Folk: Stand Your Ground

The dark moon was a few days ago, and I have another update to pass along from Na Morrigna, to my little patch of pagan blogosphere. This time the message itself is very short and very specific:

The Wild Hunt is riding; stand your ground. That which runs away is prey.

Although in previous years I haven’t noticed the Hunt riding in this area until about mid-September,* this year I first noticed them on the days surrounding Lughnasadh, and though the intensity was fairly light and the activity wasn’t consistent. In the past few days, however, especially with the storms rolling through and the rain we’ve been having, I’ve felt the power of the Hunt much more strongly, similar to the strength I normally feel around the equinox. So yes, they are riding. They are here. So take your usual precautions, whatever those may be: ward your homes, shield yourselves, leave out appeasements that you may be passed by. But if you encounter them directly, do not stare and Do Not Run. You do not want the Wild Hunt to consider you prey. Morgan Daimler has a good blog about the Slua Sí, which includes a few suggested charms to keep yourself safe. This is all included in the top level of the message and warning.

Beneath that, there’s another level of meaning, where the Hunt becomes a metaphor for the destructive change in our lives. Such destruction can be cleansing, but we need to know where to make our stand so that we can build up again from the ashes, stronger than we were before. We need to decide where our boundaries lie, and then we need to defend them. What is acceptable, and what can not be tolerated? How far can you bend before you lose yourself? If you have something worth keeping, “you better hang on, tooth and nail,” as the song goes, for “the wolf is always at the door.”**

Keep hanging on, Crow Folk. And brace yourselves. Things will get harder before they get easier.

*Having only lived here since 2012 I can’t comment on when they “normally” ride, as “normal” seems to have gone out the window around then.

** “New York Minute”, by The Eagles.

Crow Folk: Are You Doing the Work?

August 17, 2018
by Alexandra

Hello again, my fellow Crows: warriors, clerics, healers, and witches, we are many things but we have all been called by Na Morrigna to join their legions. You have heard the call. You have answered it. Are you doing the work?

Many of us have self-work to do in preparation for the coming months, and that is good and right. What skills are you honing? What personal revelations unfolding? Do you feel your wings grow as you live a life truer to yourself? You need to be sure of your foundations, because each of us is a stone, supporting the others in our mutual work. Find and embrace your role in the greater scheme, and embody it as fully as you can. For most of you, the training period is almost over. By the equinox, you need to be at a transition point: finishing your internal work, and ready to plan external workings.

The equinox is likely to be a more gentle shift, an ombré blending the colors of the early harvest with the late. We’ll be shifting from interior worlds to the exterior, making plans for Samhain. Some rituals and workings go well when they are done off the cuff, but this one is too big, too broad, and has too many moving parts to be done that way. To the furthest extent possible, we need to be working in concert. Trust Na Morrigna to guide you: ask what you should be doing for Samhain, be it ritual, witchcraft, mundane, or something other. They know. They will guide you. They see the whole pattern, the entire map of the battlefield, too vast and too complex for our consciousness. Trust, trust, and plan to Do.

For my part, I’ll be gathering with a few friends to have a small ritual at one of their houses. We are asking Na Morrigna for guidance every step of the way, and we are crafting a ritual that will allow us to serve the best ways we can. It is not an easy thing to craft a ritual that truly harnesses all the energy raised and sends it towards its target straight and true. Planning is needed. Rehearsal is needed. Some things will happen spontaneously during the ritual itself, yes, but the structure must already exist, so that we know, the group knows, what is expected and what our target is.

Find your target. Figure out what is expected of you. Make sure that the work you are doing now will lead you to where you need to be. The autumn winds are stirring, ready to pare back anything extraneous, anything we can do without. The Wild Hunt is awakening, and change is in the air. There will be a powerful shift at Samhain, and as of now the outcome is still uncertain. We can push it. We must push it. We will do the work.

[[As a note – I am still offering these readings to anyone who wishes for a little help elucidating their role in all this.]]

Morrigan Tarot Spread

I’ve been reading John Beckett’s posts on Patheos about the Coming Storm for a while, now, and a lot of what he’s hearing from the Morrigan lines up with my own UPG from Na Morrigna and that of other people in my network (including this piece on humanity’s initiatory challenge by Gwendolyn Reece), though for a while I was personally more focused on the Faery Weather. There has been a shift, however, and this year as the wheel turned at Beltane and again at Midsummer I have really been feeling a need to reach out to my networks and acquaintances, especially those who work closely with Na Morrigna, and check in. That, it has become apparent, is part of my role in all this. Check ins, and helping others figure out what part they are to play, when they hear the call but can’t quite put their finger on the details. Later on, I’ll be providing other kinds of support – healing, holding space, providing magical back-up. As part of my work with assisting others right now, I’ve developed the tarot spread, below, to help flesh out details when someone’s path seems unclear.

morrigan 9card

The first three cards (1-3) are the querent’s role, in a nutshell. That top card ought to be an archetype of some sort: a court card or one of the major arcana. The second and third give it more depth and potentially a focus, or something for the querent to work on in order to embody that role.

The next three cards (4-6) are tasks that should be the querent’s current focus. These often repeat themes from cards 2 and 3.

The last three cards (7-9) are tasks for the future, around Samhain, when I believe there will be another large shift. I’m seeing a lot of cards in these positions that call for a change in focus or roles around this time.

I stop the spread at Samhain partly because 9 is a good number for Morrigan reading, but also because I’ve found that I’m running up against blockages when I try to divine things that happen after Samhain. The future seems very uncertain, and thus shrouded from my view in a way it often hasn’t been before. The future is never absolutely certain of course, but previously my readings have given me a number of possibilities that outline the most likely events. However, when I ask about the Storm and the Morrigan and the world events I believe are part of the pattern, after Samhain I run into a stone wall. I’ve stopped asking, for now. I will wait and see, and hopefully it will become clearer. But the wall is reason enough to focus on the here and now, and one of the things I can do now is this: reach out to my networks and contacts.

I’m offering this spread for free to Morrigan/na devotees who have heard the call, and are willing to owe Her/Them for it. If you want me to lay the cards, email me, but I recommend asking Morrigan/na in advance what She/They expect/s in return. For the most part I think the expected payment is an oath to do what the cards advise, but as in all things, it’s best to read the fine print. If you do not wish to owe Her/Them, I am offering this spread for money or barter – again, email me. If you do cartomancy, yourself, feel free to use this spread for yourself or a friend. I just ask that if you offer it for money, you also allow for the Morrigan/na to pay you and the client to owe Her/Them, as I am doing. I also encourage people to use this as a prompt to speak with Na Morrigna in their usual way, whatever that may be.

For my part, I’ll be trying to blog about things as they come up, and I’ll be pulling general advice cards around the New Moon. I have a new tag for all of this for those who want to follow along: “Crow Calls”. Don’t worry too much if you feel unprepared. Many of us are already prepared, and you’ll get there. We’re coming to this in waves, and it won’t be over quickly.

Our Samhain, and a new kind of Spellwork

We ended up spending Samhain with friends, and took part in a small group ritual, which nearly got rained out. It was still good to reconnect, though, and Baby was very entranced by the bonfire (though I took him inside as it started to rain). We burnt offerings of whiskey, acorns, and a cinnamon broom, and then huddled inside enjoying a potluck meal. I had meant to bless the crochet granny square I’d made at the request of the Morrigna, but alas by the time I was done feeding baby it was raining too hard and the fire was practically doused. Ah, well. It seems that wasn’t necessary.

The granny square itself turned out rather well, I think:

20171113_131210 It’s a sort of a knot spell, woven with intent. My role in my work with the Morrigna and their (her, for those who use the singular Morrigan) other devotees is akin to that of a battle medic – I’m playing support to the warriors, those fighting the good fight. But there’s been a bit of divisiveness in the ranks as of late, and we need to align ourselves if we’re going to achieve the Morrigna’s goals (or so they tell me). To that end, I was told to weave us together – all those who have fully committed to the cause, those whom I see growing raven wings from their backs, those whom I know or have met and also those who I have not. The Morrigna supplied the connection to the individual strands of fate, and I have begun to knit us more tightly together, in rows. Or, well. Crochet. The work is not finished – it is only beginning – but I am, as ever, heart-glad to play my part in all of this.

Knotwork isn’t new to me, but crochet spells in particular are, and I’m really happy how this one turned out, and I’m surprised how easy it was. I think I’m going to make a few more, starting with a healing charm for a friend. And if there’s interest, perhaps I’ll start offering them for sale as custom spellwork, too.

What do you think, dear reader?

As we slide into Winter…

A few months ago, I posted a blog titled “A Message for the Equinox”. In it, I described a journey I took to see the Morrigna, the three Daughters of Ernmas, and their message for me about the coming fall and winter. As they predicted, the fall has been tumultuous, even beyond what I had expected. Fierce storms raged, the veil was so thin that people who aren’t normally in tune could feel that something was amiss, wild unseen things were wandering, and the US election seems to have caught quite a few of us by surprise. Illusions are being shows for what they are, assumptions are being overturned, and we are all confronting the fact that we have painful shadow work to do in order to move forward. The unnecessary, the luxurious, and the gilded things are being stripped away. It has been a painful season of growth, but I hope you all are rising to the challenge.

As we move forward, however, remember to take time for yourself. Remember to rest, recharge and heal. Check in with people around you; give help where you can, and accept help when you need it yourself. The winter is likely to be even worse than the fall, and spring is very far away. We have much to do before then, and burn out is likely if you can’t maintain yourself.

The Morrigna have been calling me, personally, to help heal those of their warriors who are in my own circle. That, it seems, is my role in the struggles ahead. I am a healer, not a warrior, and my most important efforts include holding space for others. I will do my best to provide respite and sanctuary to all those I can, whether through reiki or spellwork or simply listening. If you need someone to help you find hope, please do not hesitate to reach out.

I’m attempting to schedule some reiki classes for January or February, so if you are interested in taking Reiki I, II, or III, do let me know. Classes are tentatively priced at $50 plus the cost of a manual (which is $15-20), and I’ll need at least three students per level to be able to schedule a class. Weekends are probably best, as each class is several hours long and I’d prefer not to go too late into the evening.

A Message for the Equinox

This is going to be a different sort of post – I’ll be sharing a piece of personal UPG, a message I received from the Morrigna (that is plural – the three Daughters of Ernmas, of the Tuatha De Dannan). I don’t usually do much of that here, but it’s a more general message, not a personal one, and the few other messages like this I’ve gotten I shared with close friends, people I worship and practice with, and many of them found it useful. I thought it might be time to share with a wider audience.

For background, last winter I started getting weird vibes about the coming spring and a sense that things were Not Quite Right. That culminated in a journey to see the Morrigna where they showed me an image of the world outside my door blanketed in snow, and a faery host culling plants and animals, bringing death to make room for new life. That’s an important part of every winter, but I was made to know that it would be somewhat more severe, and warned to make preparations. I did as I was advised and I returned on several additional journeys where I was given additional messages. Some forecast bad weather (in both the physical sense and in the sense of psychic “bad weather” due to spirits runnng amok)and I was eventually told that things would settle down, and everything basically did settle down a little before Beltane. The turning of the seasons last year did not go as smoothly as it usually does and it seems this time isn’t going to be much better, unfortunately. When it comes to influences between the worlds, “as above so below” so to speak, and with things being a bit off kilter up here, things are off kilter Over There as well. Sensitive people have been noticing that things have been bleeding through a bit already, and a lot of people have noticed a sort of weird imbalance between the hot weather and an uptick in spirit activity that usually comes with cooler weather. Hoping for answers, I went to go talk to the Morrigna about it again, and below is what they showed me. I am sharing this here in case anyone else finds this useful, though with the usual UPG disclaimers.*

I asked the Morrigna about the “baton pass” between the local faery courts that usually signals the changing of seasons, and in their cauldron of water I was shown an image of the inside of a great hall, where the Seelie court was gathered and meeting with emissaries from the Unseelie court. However, instead of all of them being courtiers, many were the more feral or more bestial members, those more associated with the Wild Hunt than with the Unseelie court proper. As the Seelie King stretched out the sceptre in his hand, the Unseelie King reached out to take it – and as soon as his fingers grasped it, himself and all the Unseelie courtiers also became like the feral and bestial creatures that had accompanied them. (Whether they had been in disguise or whether they are merely showing a different aspect of their nature this year I am not sure – but in my experience, the local Court is usually at least nominally in charge of the local Wild Hunt, providing them with some oversight.)

The Wild Hunt left the hall like a host of bats, or perhaps of locusts, because as they reached the outside world they began stripping everything back to the roots, back to the stones, devouring and destroying nearly everything on sight. Despite the intensity of the imagery, however, I did not get the sense that this was a bad thing. The changes, though harsh and sudden, were paving way for newer, healthier growth. It was a cleansing chaos, almost fire-like it its wrath, but made instead of death and ice.

As they moved about, they created prisms of ice around the homes of the Seelie fae, isolating them and putting them into stasis, but also protecting them from the storms to come. I had a glimpse of powerfully destructive winter storms following in the wake of the tearing claws and teeth of the Hunt, but those are still far enough in the future that I will need to return again later to ask for more details. I also was given a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, and was shown the returning sun turning the ice prisms into greenhouses, sanctuaries where small plants might sprout, rousing the Seelie fae who will then shatter the ice and begin the spring. After that, I thanked the Morrigna, and returned.

Today is the equinox, so it all starts today. I recommend grounding and centering even more than usual this autumn and coming winter. And check your wards. It’s probably going to be a bit rough for sensitive people, so if that’s you, work on your personal shielding, too. Most of it will probably pass us by like it did last year, since the fae are more concerned with the natural world than they are with human society (and we have fabulous indoor heating and food flown in from all over the globe, etc), but I do somewhat wonder if the chaos will have an effect on the election. Besides that, expect heavy snows and ice storms and very probably a late spring. I’ll keep checking in with the Morrigna now and again and posting here if people are interested.

*That is, if your UPG is different from or conflicts with mine, that’s fine! But don’t try to convince me that mine is wrong. It could be we’re looking at the same truth from different angles – and I’m not going to try to convince you, either. But I will keep posting mine here, because this is my space, and this is my truth. (UPG = Unverified Personal Gnosis)

Etsy Shop Update

May 24, 2016
by Alexandra

I’ve been sick unfortunately (it’s all this rain), so not everything is up in the shop yet following Baltimore Faerie Faire, but we do have two new listings!

I made two more devotional bracelets especially for the Faeries, one for each of the two Goddesses I’ve been working with as Queens of the Fae: Morrigan and Aine. Morrigan’s is made with lapis lazuli, brecciated jasper, dark amethyst, and smoky quartz. Aine’s has green aventurine, rose quartz, light amethyst, and opalite.

Right now I have them both featured in our etsy shop, along with the Faery Oracle Card Readings!

Hopefully I’ll be done photographing and listing everything else soon – stay tuned!

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