Morrigan, Mother of Sacred Wrath: Why Being Angry is Necessary by Iriome R. Martín Alonso

 

Art by Iriome R. Martín Alonso

In a lot of Goddess-based spiritualities they/we tend to eliminate Goddesses of War considering them “allies to the patriarchy” (i.e., Athena, Innana, Trebaruna, Morrigan Herself), based in books with little to no archaeological evidence as well as no regards for history. I do agree that re-writing herstory is necessary, imperative even, but not on the foundations of idealistic lies that do us no good; what’s most important is that we are mutilating a part of ourselves in the process when we claim Goddesses of War should be extinguished or are a corruption, depraved version of all-nurturing mothering ones. The truth is, they are normally both.

An ideal world where Goddess values are revered is something we should be inspired by and work together into manifesting on Earth, but based on real knowledge, evidence, fact. What is the difference, then, between those who claim to work with the shadow and at the same time renegade from wrath – and New Age rhetoric (or even male monotheistic faiths) that repress our darkness to pursue a fabricated ideal of “purity” that is simply not real? If we choose arbitrarily what shadows can be included in our personal and collective narrative, are we being honest with ourselves or just choosing what makes us less uncomfortable?

Violence is natural to all creatures and to Nature Herself. Have you ever witnessed a birth? That’s the first act of violence we endure, when we are taken away from the soft, warm embrace of the womb that shelters us, feeds us and protects us into a dry, stimulus-filled world that blinds us just as we open our eyes before we can ever hear our parent’s heartbeats. But being born is necessary to live, no matter how violent it is.

An excerpt from ''Morrigan, Mother of Sacred Wrath: Why Being Angry is Necessary'' in our upcoming anthology, Warrior Queen: Answering the Call of The Morrigan.

Iriome R. Martín Alonso is a Priestess of the Goddess and an anthropology and performing arts student, born in the Canary Islands (Gran Canaria, 1996). Practising over a decade now, she considers being a witch her identity, paganism her religion and being a priestess her vocational job. She works from archetypes, ritual drama, performance, symbol and emotion, with a deep background on traditional european magic as well as academic knowledge. She focuses on endemic spiritualities from her lands, the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula, as well as hellenic, celtic and avalonian deities/spirits, and offers courses, meditations, rites of passage, ceremonies and sacred theatre.