Morrigan

Extraordinary goddess, embodying all that is perverse and horrible among supernatural powers. The Great Queen. She was the archetypal form of the Goddess in Ireland, particularly associated with war (when she appeared in triple guise as Macha, Nemainn and Badb). She also combined with her bloodthirsty war-mongering, a lust for men. She fought on the side of the Tuatha de Danann against the Firbolgs in the first Battle of Mag Tuired, after the second battle she foretold the end of the world, when moral virtues were ignored and where the land was laid waste. She offered her love to Cuchullain and after he rejected her, fought him in the shape of an eel and a wolf-bitch. Her normal appearance was in the shape of a battle-crow. She mated with the Dagda while straddling a river. Her name is really a title and is sometimes used as a collective noun for her three aspects - the Morrigan. There are obvious overlays with both Modron and Morgan.

Phantom Queen of Death, Sexuality and Conflict. The Morrigan known in Irish legend and mythology as a red-haired goddess of battle and pro-creation, often appearing in triple form. She combined the treshold energies of life and death, sexuality and conflict in one terrifying goddess. Part of the doom of CuChulain was that he did not recognize her when in her presence. One of the forms taken by the ancient Irish war goddess Badb. In the CuChulain epic, TAIN BO CUAILNGE, in which the great war between the Fomorians and the Tuatha De Danann is celebrated, the three war goddesses in the form of crows are Neman, Macha and Morrigu, of whom Morrigu is the greatest.

The Dagda

The Good' , 'The Wise', God and supreme head of the People of Dana, father of Brigit; the Cauldron of the Dagda, one of the treasures of the Danaans; father and chief of the People of Dana; Kings MacCuill, MacCehct, and MacGrené grandsons of Dagda; portions out spiritual Ireland between the Danaans. Dagda Samildanac means: The Goodly-Wise Many-Gifted One. The greatest of the Irish gods seems to have been the Dagda. His name meant the 'Good God', and he was also known as the 'Great Father' and the 'Mighty One of Knowledge'. He seems to have been specifically associated with Druidism as the god of Wisdom, a primal father deity of tremendous power. Two of the potent Celtic magical and spiritual symbols were the special attributes of the Dagda; the cauldron and the club or staff; in Irish Druidic tradition they were primal and pagan magical implements.

A powerful chieftain of the Tuatha De Danann. Son of Ethliu; father of Angus Og. Bres ordered him to build forts but would give him little food. Together with Lugh and Ogma, he planned to attack the Fomorians. He mated with the Morrigan over a river and she prophesied his success. Attired as a rustic fool, he entered the enemy strong-hold where he discovered the disposition of the Fomorians. His harp was called 'the Oak of Two Greens' and the 'Four-Angled Music'. With it he was able to play three kinds of music: the sorrow-strain, the laugh-strain and the sleep-strain. It was with the latter that he was able to subdue those Fomorians who had abducted his harper. He was the guardian of the cauldron which satisfied all hunger, brought from Murias.

His name means 'Good God', but his other names or titles are Eochaid Ollathair (All-Father) and Ruad Rofessa (Lord of Great Knowledge) indicating his similarity to the Wild Herdsman. Dagda was the High King of the Tuatha Da Danann, the immortal fairy people of Ireland, who were conquered by the Milesians, the human invaders who forced the Danaans to take refuge under the hollow hills. Though in hiding, they were still powerful over the growth of the land, and they destroyed all the wheat and milk of the Milesians, for whom neither grass nor grain grew until they had concluded a treaty with Dagda. Dagda had four great palaces in the depths of the earth and under the hollow hills, and he made a distribution of them to his sons. To Lug son of Ethne he gave one and Ogme another, and he kept two for himself, and the chief of these was Brugh na Boinne, which was very great and full of wonders, but Angus Mac Og got this from him by the help of Manannan son of Lir. For Angus had been away when Dagda distributed his palaces, and he was angry to find himself left out. But Manannan advised him to ask for Brugh na Boinne for a day and a night, and he would work a magic so that Dagda could not refuse it. Dagda gave him the Brugh for a day and a night, but when the time was over Angus said that it had been given him for ever, for all time consisted of a day and a night following each other for ever. Dagda rendered it up to him, for though he was High King of the great race of Danu, he could be conquered by cunning. Dagda had another and greater sorrow to bear, for he had another son Aedh, who had the same mother as Angus; and this son went with his father to his other palace near Tara. It happened that a great man of Connacht, Corrgenn, came to visit him and brought his wife with him. It seemed to Corrgenn that there was more between Aedh and his wife than there should have been, and he struck Aedh down and killed him before his father's eyes. Everyone accepted that Dagda would kill Corrgenn for this, but Dagda said that if Corrgenn was not mistaken he had reason for what he did, so he would not kill him; but he put a geasa on him that was worse than death. He had to carry the body of Aedh with him until he found a stone exact size to cover him, and then he must dig a grave on the nearest hill and bury Aedh and put the stone over him. It was many a long mile that Corrgenn walked until he found a stone on the shore of Loch Feabhail. On the hill nearby he dug the grave, and laid Dagda's son there and carried the stone to cover him. The great labour was too much for him and his heart burst and he died. Dagda had a wall built round the tomb and the hill has been called the Hill of Aileac, that is, the Hill of Sighs, ever since. It is not certain whether Corrgenn was a mortal man, but it is certain that Aedh was an immortal and the son of immortals, but he could be killed in battle, and this is true of all the Tuatha.