Goddesses and Gods.wps - Welcome to Our Temple

The secrets of earth.
Let me tell how the sun
Gilded the Hero's face;
Receive from me the secret
Of my Mother's seven names.
Three times seven and then three
Were the number of her priestesses;
Two times seven and then two
Were the number of her poets.
Twelve shadows she had
And six faces;
Nine were the maidens
Who breathed above her Cauldron
To prevent it from boiling.
Five were the number
Of her skirts in heaven,
Only the God
Might raise them all.
Four kept watch
At the tower of the Winds
Two were her progeny
Except for myself.
But I am first.
The last of the poets
To sing her praise:
My tongue silvered
My brow radiant,
My throat pure,
My dreams of her."
The Morrigan is a goddess of battle, strife, and fertility. Her name translates as either
"Great Queen" or "Phantom Queen," and both epithets are entirely appropriate for
Her. The Morrigan appears as both a single goddess and a trio of goddesses. The other
deities who form the trio are Badb ("Crow"), and either Macha (also connotes "Crow")
or Nemain ("Frenzy"). The Morrigan frequently appears in the ornithological guise of
a hooded crow. She is one of the Tuatha De Danaan (Tribe of the Goddess Danu) and
She helped defeat the Firbolgs at the First Battle of Mag Tuired and the Fomorians at
the Second Battle of Mag Tuired. (C) 1996 by Danielle Ní Dhighe