{"id":44,"date":"2012-11-02T10:35:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-02T10:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2012\/11\/making-a-deal-with-morrigan\/"},"modified":"2013-02-03T17:07:58","modified_gmt":"2013-02-03T23:07:58","slug":"making-a-deal-with-morrigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2012\/11\/making-a-deal-with-morrigan.html","title":{"rendered":"Making a Deal with Morrigan"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ew6c8zgy_GE\/UJPnaDsevpI\/AAAAAAAACCs\/vYJNyd5Fu7Q\/s1600\/candle.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ew6c8zgy_GE\/UJPnaDsevpI\/AAAAAAAACCs\/vYJNyd5Fu7Q\/s200\/candle.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"200\" border=\"0\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>This blog is here because Blogger is simple, easy and free. It doesn\u2019t have a lot of traffic analysis, but it does have some, including a list of the top 10 search phrases used to find your blog. Some of the most common phrases used to find Under the Ancient Oaks are \u201cDruid symbols,\u201d \u201cSamhain,\u201d and \u201cAthena Parthenos.\u201d If you cut down the time frame, you can see some rather odd phrases used by one or two people, including this one earlier this week:<\/p>\n<p>\u201chow to make a deal with Morrigan wicca\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I know there\u2019s a character called Morrigan in a game. I\u2019m not a gamer, so that\u2019s about all I know about that. But the fact that the searcher added \u201cwicca\u201d to the phrase tells me he or she was looking for the goddess, not the game character (it also tells me the searcher probably doesn\u2019t know much about Morrigan or Wicca, but that\u2019s another topic for another time).<\/p>\n<p>So, on the off chance this person visits this blog again, let me try to answer the question. How do you make a deal with Morrigan?<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>If you need something from Morrigan (or from most \u2013 though not all \u2013 of the old goddesses and gods), ask. Ask nicely. You don\u2019t need to debase yourself or offer lavish praise \u2013 the Battle Goddess has a strong and healthy sense of self and she doesn\u2019t need you to go on and on about how great she is. You, on the other hand, probably need to remind yourself that this is a powerful goddess you\u2019re addressing, not your next door neighbor.<\/p>\n<p>Be polite. Offer her food and drink. Not because you\u2019re trying to bribe her \u2013 as though the Lady of Sovereignty could be bought with a glass of wine \u2013 but because you\u2019re trying to be a good host.<\/p>\n<p>Ask for what you need. Remember that in prayer as well as in magic, fuzzy targets yield fuzzy results. Be as specific as you can while focusing on the ends, not the means. Remember who you\u2019re talking to: is this something that requires the attention of a goddess? Or is this something you need to take care of yourself?<\/p>\n<p>She may answer, or she may not. Every time I\u2019ve asked Morrigan for something, she\u2019s responded. Not always in the way I imagined or would have preferred, but always in a way that worked.<\/p>\n<p>And every time, Morrigan has asked something of me in return.<\/p>\n<p>Read the stories of our Celtic ancestors. The model you see over and over again isn\u2019t one of negotiation as we see it today, where two parties write out a book-length contract with every contingency specified in advance. Their deals were far more open-ended: I do something for you and you in turn will do something for me, that I will choose at some point in the future. You are honor-bound to give me what I ask even if it is far in excess of what I gave you.<\/p>\n<p>Deities in general and Morrigan in particular aren\u2019t interested in negotiating contracts. She wants what she wants. If you obligate yourself to her she will have what she wants, one way or another.<\/p>\n<p>Morrigan is neither capricious or cruel \u2013 she\u2019s never asked me for anything I couldn\u2019t give her, or that I felt like I shouldn\u2019t do. She has asked for things that were difficult and time-consuming \u2013 and she continues to do so.<\/p>\n<p>She is a goddess. I am a Druid and a priest. We fight in the same army, but she is a general and I am a junior officer. We are not equals and we do not bargain as equals.<\/p>\n<p>How do you make a deal with Morrigan? You ask for what you need \u2013 and you prepare yourself for service towards her Great Work.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This blog is here because Blogger is simple, easy and free. It doesn\u2019t have a lot of traffic analysis, but it does have some, including a list of the top 10 search phrases used to find your blog. Some of the most common phrases used to find Under the Ancient Oaks are \u201cDruid symbols,\u201d \u201cSamhain,\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-polytheism-2","tag-morrigan"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Making a Deal with Morrigan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This blog is here because Blogger is simple, easy and free. It doesn\u2019t have a lot of traffic analysis, but it does have some, including a list of the top\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2012\/11\/making-a-deal-with-morrigan.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making a Deal with Morrigan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This blog is here because Blogger is simple, easy and free. It doesn\u2019t have a lot of traffic analysis, but it does have some, including a list of the top\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2012\/11\/making-a-deal-with-morrigan.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-11-02T10:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-02-03T23:07:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-Ew6c8zgy_GE\/UJPnaDsevpI\/AAAAAAAACCs\/vYJNyd5Fu7Q\/s200\/candle.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2012\/11\/making-a-deal-with-morrigan.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2012\/11\/making-a-deal-with-morrigan.html\",\"name\":\"Making a Deal with Morrigan\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-11-02T10:35:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-03T23:07:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"This blog is here because Blogger is simple, easy and free. 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