Show of the Masks of the Goddess: The Morrigan Mask

In May, 2019 I will be exhibiting the entire "Masks of the Goddess" Collection, along with photos of participants, at HerChurch in San Francisco (details and announcement of opening to follow soon) as part of the closing of this 20 year project.  Giving a talk and performance, as well as donating some of the masks to the Temple of the Goddess in Glastonbury, U.K.  was the first part of my formal closing.    I have been very privileged indeed to share this work with many people:  Storytellers, Priestesses, Dancers, Actors, Communities.  No artist could ask for more.

Some of the masks, over the years, have been donated, sold, or lost, so I'm having a grand time right now making new ones.  This is the first new one, the Morrigan, Celtic Goddess of war, lamentation, and also justice.  Celtic warriors went into battle believing that She would bear their souls to the Summerland in honor if they fought well and bravely.  Her totem was the Raven.  I tried to get the expression of "battle lust"........ I hope I succeeded.  

This performance piece/poem I wrote in 1999...........I honestly sometimes think I "channelled" it because it came forth so fast and with such strength and passion.  Goddess of Justice She is, and a very, very fierce compassion.

THE CURSE OF THE MORRIGAN

You who bring suffering to children:  May you look into the sweetest, most open eyes, and howl the loss of your own innocence.

You who ridicule the poor, the grieving, the lost, the fallen, the inarticulate, the wounded children in grown-up bodies:  May you look into each face, and see a mirror.  May all your cleverness fall into the abyss of your speechless grief, your secret hunger,  may you look into that black  hole with no name, and find....the most tender touch in the darkest night, the hand that reaches out.

May you take that hand.  May you walk all your circles home at last, and coming home, know where you are.

You tree-killers, you wasters: May you breathe the bitter dust, may you thirst, may you walk hungry in the wastelands, the barren places you have made.  And when you cannot walk one step further, may you see at your foot a single blade of grass, green, defiantly green.

And may you be remade by its generosity.

And those who are greedy in a time of famine:  May you be emptied out, may your hearts break not in half, but wide open in a thousand places, and may the waters of the world pour from each crevice, washing you clean.

Those who mistake power for love:  May you know true loneliness.  And when you think your loneliness will drive you mad, when you know you cannot bear it one more hour, may a line be cast to you, one shining, light woven strand of the Great Web glistening in the dark.

And may you hold on for dear life.

Those passive ones, those ones who force others to shape them, and then complain if it's not to your liking:  May you find yourself in the hard place with your back against the wall.  And may you rage, rage until you find your will.  

And may you learn to shape yourself.

And you who delight in exploiting others, imagining that you are better than they are: May you wake up in a strange land as naked as the day you were born and thrice as raw. 

May you look into the eyes of any other soul, in your radiant need and terrible vulnerability.

May you know yourSelf.  

And may you be blessed by that communion.

And may you love well

Thrice and thrice and thrice

And again and again and again

May you find your face before you were born.

         (1999)

The Morrigan

I've always loved this poem, which seemed to erupt from me when I was creating a mask for the Celtic Goddess of battle, justice, and lamentation in 1999.  The Romans record that the Gauls (Celts) went to war with the certainty that the Morrigan, in the guise of a raven, would bear them to the Summerlands if they died in battle.  I could almost hear the ferocity of Her  voice, with an Irish lilt, spoken with a backdrop of drum and bagpipes, which were traditionally used to lament the dead, as well as a call to battle.

It's one of the few things I've written, in other words, that I really don't know where it came from, I provided the hand, Spirit provided the words. At that time I had a gallery in Berkeley, and was deeply engaged in working with the Goddesses - it was a time of flow and attunement.    I hope to open this channel again.   And this poem speaks to me still.  The message is about the entwinement of all experiences, a call to re-member that the real battle is the evolution of our souls into compassion and love, the understanding of that fundamental evolutionary truth, especially now.  I guess that's why, when I put together this collage while thinking about how I might make a new Morrigan mask, a mask that waits to be filled by a new storyteller, the threads of the Web had to be manifest in the drawing.

The CURSE OF THE MORRIGAN

You who bring suffering to children:

​May you look into the sweetest, most open eyes, and howl the loss of your innocence.

You who ridicule the poor, the grieving, the lost, the fallen, the inarticulate, the wounded children in grown-up bodies:

May you look into each face, and see a mirror. May all your cleverness fall into the abyss of your speechless grief, your secret hunger, may you look into that black hole with no name, and find....the most tender touch in the darkest night, the hand that reaches out. May you take that hand. May you walk all your circles home at last, and coming home, know where you are.

You tree-killers, you wasters:    May you breathe the bitter dust, may you thirst, may you walk hungry in the wastelands, the barren places you have made. And when you cannot walk one step further, may you see at your foot a single blade of grass, green, defiantly green. And may you be remade by it's generosity.

And those who are greedy in a time of famine:  May you be emptied out, may your hearts break not in half, but wide open in a thousand places, and may the waters of the world pour from each crevice, washing you clean.

Those who mistake power for love:  May you know true loneliness. And when you think your loneliness will drive you mad, when you know you cannot bear it one more hour, may a line be cast to you, one shining, light woven strand of the Great Web glistening in the dark. And may you hold on for dear life.

Those passive ones, those ones who force others to shape them, and then complain if it's not to your liking:

May you find yourself in the hard place with your back against the wall. And may you rage, rage until you find your will. And may you learn to shape yourself.

And you who delight in exploiting others, imagining that you are better than they are:

May you wake up in a strange land as naked as the day you were born and thrice as raw. May you look into the eyes of any other soul, in your radiant need and terrible vulnerability. May you know yourSelf. And may you be blessed by that communion.

                   And may you love well, thrice and thrice and thrice,
                   and again and again and again
                   May you find your face before you were born.

                   And may you drink from deep, deep waters.

The Curse of the Morrigan

 

I wrote this for a performance 15 or 20 years ago, and I still think it may be the finest poem I ever wrote, because I sometimes think She Herself was there with me when I wrote it.  It honestly was a moment when I felt like I was a channel for a voice greater than my own.  I never told anyone that before, but feel I should now.  It was a gift.

I love it because the Morrigan, Celtic  Goddess of Justice, and honorable Battle, and honorable Lamentation,  speaks in the poem with the circular and expanded  wisdom of a Goddess, the one who  speaks far from the limited view of  "revenge" and "consequences", but speaks rather from the wide spiral  perspective of the evolution of the soul.  

I also love the poem  because I think it's so important now to open a way for the Warrior Goddesses, for the Morrigan, to come into our hearts and into our world, before too much, far, far too much, is lost.  The next human evolution, I truly believe, is one of empathy, which to me means living within the Circle of life, feeling and sensing our connections on every level.   We see the cycles, we see the ripples, we see, and gain the  capacity to Circle, and Circle, and Circle, until, at last, we 

"find our faces before we were born,

and drink from deep, deep waters."

 

The CURSE OF THE MORRIGAN

 
You who bring suffering to children: 

May you look into the sweetest, most open eyes, and howl the loss of your own innocence.

You who ridicule the poor, the grieving, the lost, the fallen, the inarticulate, the wounded children in grown-up bodies:  

 May you look into each face, and see a mirror.  May all your cleverness fall into the abyss of your speechless grief, your secret hunger,  may you look into that black hole with no name, and find....the most tender touch in the darkest night, the hand that reaches out.  May you take that hand.  May you walk all your circles home at last, and coming home, know where you are.

You tree-killers, you  wasters:

 May you breathe the bitter dust, may you thirst, may you walk hungry in the wastelands,  the barren places you have made.  And when you cannot walk one step further,  may you see at your foot a single blade of grass, green, defiantly green.  And may you be remade by it's generosity.

And those who are greedy in a time of famine: 

 May you be emptied out, may your hearts break not in half, but wide open in a thousand places,  and may the waters of the world pour from each crevice, washing you clean.

Those who mistake power for love: 

 May you know true loneliness.  And when you think your loneliness will drive you mad, when you know you cannot bear it one more hour,  may a line be cast to you,  one shining, light woven strand of the Great Web glistening in the dark.  And may you hold on for dear life.

Those passive ones, those ones who force others to shape them, and then complain
if it's not to your liking: 

May you find yourself in the hard place with your back against the wall.  And may you rage, rage until you find your will.  And may you learn to shape yourself.

And you who delight in exploiting others, imagining that you are better than they are:

May you wake up in a strange land as naked as the day you were born and thrice as raw.  May you look into the eyes of any other soul, in your radiant need and terrible vulnerability. 

May you know your Self.  And may you be blessed by that communion.

And may you love well, thrice and thrice and thrice, 

and again and again and again, 

may you find your face before you were born.  

And may you drink from deep, deep waters.