“How do I know whether or not something is a sign or omen from the Morrígan?”
A question we often hear from folks is whether or not they’ve experienced an omen for the Morrígan. It’s a great question! And like a lot of questions regarding spiritual practices that are often based in intuition and which don’t necessarily have a definitive set of guidelines, the way that more formally established religions sometimes do, the answer is going to depend a lot on personal practice and circumstance.
Defining Omens
For our purposes, we’re defining an omen as an event that occurs external to ourselves, in shared reality, and which is perceived by the viewer as carrying some kind of message from the unseen world. Pretty much anything can be utilized as an omen depending on the viewer, the context of the event such as timing and location, and other factors such as time period and the cultural and religious background of the viewer.
Some religions, such as Santería, have established guidelines for understanding what and when an event is an omen. Many contemporary, European-based pagan revivals do not, and so it is left to the viewer to decide whether or not what they witnessed is an omen.
Events which are often treated as omens by Morrígan devotees can include seeing corvids in places where they usually aren’t seen or corvids behaving in unusual ways. However, there are also Morrígan devotees who don’t perceive these events as omens in their own practice.
Many times, omens are a bit like spiritual notifications popping up to say that you have an impending message to check out. But — to stretch the metaphor a bit — not everyone uses the same kind of notification system.
Discerning an Omen
That said, a common characteristic of an event being an omen is whether or not the event is unusual. If you live in a city where crows are common, then it’s less likely that seeing three crows flying overhead is an omen, for example. But if those three crows were acting unusually (maybe all three were perched on your car when you were heading out to work, or they seemed to follow you home regardless of how many turns and side-streets you took) then you might have a stronger case of thinking of them as an omen.
There are some complicating factors when weighing the unusualness of an event. Apophenia is an umbrella term that refers to a general human tendency to see patterns where none exist. It can manifest in different ways, such as in pareidolia. Exposure to environmental hazards can also interfere with our critical thinking: carbon monoxide poisoning, for example, is a very common source of extrasensory experiences. So is the presence of black mold in one’s home. Then our psychological tendency towards confirmation bias can make it even harder to discern what’s happening!
Note: Manifestations of apophenia are normal and common. It’s just how our brains work. They are not inherently indications of mental illness or other conditions unless the symptoms are interfering with your daily life and well-being, including causing emotional distress or disrupting your ability to live your life the way you want or need to.
All of these weird psychological quirks doesn’t mean that omens aren’t real, only that our brains are hyper-complicated organic machines run by a ghost. And that’s before we even start talking about gods and spirits!
Determining an Omen’s Meaning
If you don’t belong to a religious tradition that has a defined framework for recognizing and interpreting omens, then it’s ultimately up to you to figure out. Two of the most common contemporary methods for this are as follows:
Have a more formal or focused “check-in” with your gods or spirits. People have different methods for communicating with their blessed powers. If you already have an established method for talking with them, then use that method: it’s the shared language that you, in your embodied mortal self, share with the unseen, unembodied beings that you trust.
People have different sensibilities when it comes to formality. Lean into whatever kind of formality or focus that you’ve found is most helpful for communicating with your blessed powers and being able to understand their responses clearly, without third-party spiritual or magical interference.
Enlist the support of a diviner or other spiritual service provider you trust. There are times when it’s totally appropriate to ask for third-party verification, even when we’re accomplished diviners or mediums in our own right. Maybe you don’t trust yourself to hear what’s actually being said because there’s a specific answer you really want to hear, or perhaps there’s a skill or piece of knowledge you don’t have but someone else might, and receiving it would be helpful in coming to a conclusion about your maybe-omen.
Determining if the Morrígan Is the Omen’s Source
Some considerations:
Does the omen in question seem like something that would be related to the Morrígan? (Crows, sure. Woodpeckers…well, that would be a first for us to hear, but who are we to tell the Queen what she can and can’t do?)
Corollary: Do you feel like you have a pretty good grounding in the native Irish lore about the Morrígan to be able to decide if an omen seems relevant to Her? If you don’t, that’s okay! We’ve got a reading list you can check out for more on that.
A lot of different deities have overlap in their associated symbols and imagery. What makes you think it’s the Morrígan and not, say, Odin or Apollo, who are also associated with corvids? Are there any experiential factors that tend to appear consistently with omens you confirm are associated with her, such as certain sounds, sights, smells, or internal sensations?
If you already have a relationship with other blessed powers whose advice you trust, have you asked for their opinion? They (presumably) know you well and might be able to provide some insight.
Enlist the help of a trusted spiritual service provider to help you figure out what’s going on.
Ask the Morrígan directly. (If you’re not sure how, check out our “Morrigan’s Call” page, including its more detailed FAQ, for some ideas.)
Can the Coru tell me whether or not something is an omen from the Morrígan?
For us to make this determination, you would need to sit down with a Coru member for a focused one-on-one session. We believe it would be unethical for us to hand out generalized conclusions without taking your personal situation into consideration.
At this time, we’re unfortunately unable to offer one-on-one sessions. If you don’t have contact with a spiritual service provider you know and trust, you may contact us at corupriesthood@gmail.com and we can offer the contact information of some providers whose practices and ethics we feel good about.
This page is part of our virtual Morrigan Practices Group.
Curious about the MPG? Check out our events page for more info!
