Pagan Portals - The Morrigan: Meeting the Great Queens

As someone who has been learning more and more about Irish deities, I found myself, like I’m sure many others, getting really confused on the Morrigan who I’ve come to learn more about in my own personal experiences with her. I especially, found myself quite confused with the many ways she presents herself and the lore in general. I needed a source that could clear up any confusion and put it in terms in a way I could understand because I’m quite new to this whole world of Ireland’s Gods and Goddesses and I certainly didn’t want to disrespect this particular Goddess because I knew based on my first encounter with her, that she wasn’t one I wanted to trifle with. This book was recommended by the High Priestess, Lora O’Brian, whom I’ve been following on YouTube and she was right to do so! “The Morrigan” was clear and very detailed with what the author was trying to explain and I especially loved the addition of the different variations of the goddesses who could also go by the same title, in particular, the inclusion of her sisters Macha and Badb. Not only does Morgan Daimler go into wonderful explanations of each of these Goddesses and their roles, she also relays how they could be interpreted and their possible appearances. She provides ways that you can begin calling out and praying/meditating to these Goddesses in what I perceive to be a very honorable way. I find many don’t do this very often as we seem to live in a world where people “work” with a deity for one moment than change it up based on how that person feels disrespecting the gods/goddesses themselves. And I especially love how she mentioned that we shouldn’t say “work” with them because let’s be honest, we tend to work FOR them. I also did love her mention of Goddess Aine whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting quite a few times now. Note, I don’t believe they are the same Goddess as some may think. My final comment and possibility my favorite part of the book is Chapter 5, The Morrigan in Mythology and reading her role in each of these stories, it really made me fully understand her as a Sovereign Goddess and cleared up A LOT of confusion in particular her very grey relationship with Cu Chulain and I loved her summary on how she met with the Dagda. So overall, this book is perfect for beginners who are just starting to understand the position of The Morrigan and is definitely worth buying. It’s an easy and small enough book that would literally take a day if you have the time to read it.

Before beginning, I'd like to note that I am an English professor and am therefore writing from the perspective of a scholar and fellow author.I ordered this book because the Pagan Portals series works as an introduction to topics one knows nothing about. Before the book, I knew nothing about The Morrigan except that she [they] is the Celtic goddess of death. I'd read two paragraphs about her [them] on Thought.co. I also knew nothing about the Celtic deities except a few names like The Dagda and Brigid, the latter of which I knew the basic facts about.With this mind, I will now first discuss the problems I found. Because of my utter lack of knowledge, I had a small bit of difficulty with PP: The Morrigan. Diamler assumes that one can recognize the names of basic Irish epics and that one already knows who the Tuatha de Danann are. I knew neither and had to google the latter so I could keep up. (To be fair, Daimler finally explains the Tuatha de Danann later in the book--roughly page 75 or so--so the issue is placement rather than a lack of explanation.)I would urge Ms. Daimler to confront Moon Books about the quality of their editors. A good editor would have caught that problem and had Daimler move the information. A good editor would have also caught the few typos and grammar mistakes in the book and fixed them. Since then, I've read 2 more Pagan Portal books by Daimler and noticed these same issues. Editors are paid to help catch these things. Moon Books needs to upgrade theirs, it would seem.Now on to the good parts. PP: The Morrigan succeeded in giving me an introduction to The Morrigan. I learned about the 3-6 goddesses who are included or excluded by various people as carrying the collective title The Morrigan. Daimler defines names, provides folktales, and explains the cultural context of ancient Ireland. The Morrigan/Anand, Macha, and Badb each get full chapters. Sample prayers are provided, offerings are discussed, and Daimler also discusses what The Morrigan is associated with (e.g., crows, horses, and wolves). One learns what holidays are associated with The Morrigan.Most of all, I respect Daimler for being upfront about when the source material contradicts itself. The Morrigan's origins are obscured by the fact the Celts didn't write down their history or myths. Also, some of the folklore tells different or even opposing stories. Daimler is clear about when the sources disagree or are confusing, and she encourages the reader to make up his/her own mind about what it means. This level of transparency and encouragement of self-agency is excellent in any such book. I wish more authors would be this upfront.As other reviewers have noted, Daimler tells short personal stories. Some readers don't like them; some do. I enjoyed them just because it gave me insight into how one worshiper experiences these goddesses.The book includes a bibliography for further reading, which is another good touch.Overall, I enjoyed reading this book--the level and type of prose made it an easy read--and felt that I received my promised introduction to The Morrigan. I know enough to know I'll read more books on The Morrigan. For this reason, I do recommend this book to beginners.Please note, however, that I truly knew nothing about The Morrigan prior to reading and therefore cannot tell if there any errors of fact in the book. Daimler clearly loves The Morrigan, though, and especially Macha. I would be surprised if I learned later that there were major, glaring errors of fact. Daimler seems too dedicated to her research to generate something terribly wrong.

A great little book. Morgan Daimler identifies herself as irish reconstructionist polytheist and as such she has put together lots of information about the Morrigan and the Goddesses associated with or connected to her. She tells us about the myths connected to her and about the historically proven information that she has collected.Besides the information from myth and history she also tells us about her own expericnces and modern beliefs and gives us a few practical tips on how to worship and connect with the Morrigan.Even though she has compiled lots of information, a book with less than 100 pages can only be an introduction and overview that gives you a starting point. And Morgan Daimler gives us a profound, well-grounded and well researched point to start from.

Great book, a little bit smaller than I thought but it is a good way to start getting into The Morrigan and a relationship with her.

This book offers a great amount of historical information about the Morrigan, it certainly worth the reading. I miss a little more kind of depth.

Perfect to home in skills and plus a great read

El contenido es bueno, pero mas que libro parece folleto y es excesivamente caro para lo que contiene que igual se encuentra con un poco de tiempo en internet.