Overview: Pagan Portals - Raven Goddess follows on from the author’s earlier book, The Morrigan, to help the reader continue to get to know the Irish Goddess of war, battle, and prophecy with a particular focus on disentangling truth from common misconceptions.

Verdict: As the Morrigan has grown in popularity, understandings of who she was and is have shifted and become even more nebulous. Raven Goddess is intended to clarify some common points of confusion and help people go deeper in their study of the Morrigan and assist in nurturing a devotional relationship to her.

Taking it from the top, out of the many mythical characters in Irish folklore, the Morrigan is arguably one of the best known. The Morrigan is one of the many prominent figures to feature in Irish mythology and is primarily associated with war / battle, fate and death.

She is a gifted shape shifter and is known to favor changing into the crow. Furthermore, the Morrigan was one of the Tuatha De Danann, who were the folk of the Goddess Danu. Growing up, we were frequently told stories about Celtic Gods and Goddesses, however, few stories had us on the edges of our seats like the tales of the Goddess Morrigan.

The mysterious Morrigan Celtic queen as kids growing up in Ireland. Like all stories from Irish and Celtic Folklore, the tales were colorful, magical and, in this case, featured many a battle. The Phantom Queen/Morrigan mythology is one of the most popular there is, which is likely due to the incredible stories that revolve around her.

It’s said that the name ‘Morrigan’ roughly translates to ‘The Phantom Queen’. Like the Puca, she was a shapeshifter yet, unlike the Puca, she was associated with war, death and destiny. So what we get here in this follow up book from author Mercedes, is not only a dutiful, updated tag on to her prior book, but also brings forth a Celtic prose to those not wholly familiar with the warrior queen herself (although the name by which she is called tends to change depending on who is telling the story, she often referred to by several different names).

So what Mercedes does here now is not only tell more salacious tales about the Irish Goddess of war, battle, and prophecy, but strives (and succeeds) to shine a new, and defined focus on disentangling truth from common misconceptions (such as spellings and pronunciations, et al.) about the Morrigan.

For example What is the deal with the Morrigan and Cu Chulainn? and Is Nemain really one of the Morrignae? Thus, Mercedes offers both personal insight along with cautionary advice, which all comes to the fore to hopefully be useful to someone who is dedicatedly trying to put the historical facts into a contemporary way of integrating the deity into their own personal, spiritual path.

And leaving the last word to the author’s friend, Lara O’Brien (author of A Practical Guide to Irish Spirituality), who says: All in all, I know this book will become an invaluable reference book that I keep right at my desk at the Irish Pagan School HQ, alongside so many of Morgan’s other books. It is a fantastic addition to the few quality books and resources on the Goddess that I can wholeheartedly recommend.

About the Author: Morgan Daimler is a blogger, poet, teacher of esoteric subjects, witch, and priestess of the Daoine Maithe. Morgan is a prolific pagan writer, having published more than a dozen books under Moon Books alone, and she is one of the world’s foremost experts on all things Fairy.

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