Morrigan Academy Podcast S03E04 - What Do I Actually Offer to the Morrigan?
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[00:00:00]
Introduction
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Lora O'Brien: Welcome to the Mórrígan Academy podcast. I am Lora O'Brien. I'm an Irish draoi living and working here in Ireland, and this is where we take the myths and magic of Ireland's great battle goddess and put them to some use for us in today's world. So here's a question that I often get, and it usually arrives with a little bit of panic stuck to the side of it.
Loads of people want to know, what do I actually offer her, this scary goddess that everybody seems to be so terrified of? But there's a second half to that question that people almost never type out. I get it sometimes in face-to-face, in class, through the intensive that I run every year, and it's whether the thing that you can actually afford is going to be good enough for a goddess like this one, right?
Now, that's the half that's doing the damage. Am I good enough? Am I worthy enough? Can I afford what she needs? Is it about [00:01:00] money? Is it about effort? What's it about? And I've watched it stop people making any offering at all, which is a far worse outcome than making a small offering. I've been a priest of the Mórrígan since 2004, and I was at the Irish tradition particularly a good while before that.
So it's about 30 years of practice, of active practice all told, not counting my weird childhood in the countryside. I also hold a master's in Irish regional history, which is mostly useful here for knowing which sources will hold weight under you and which ones won't, because they're not all the same.
But offerings are one of the first things that students ask me about in the thousands and thousands of students I've taught through the Mórrígan Academy and the Irish Pagan School before that, and my own classes that I was teaching
Way before that. And it's just about the last thing that people stop worrying over. So we're gonna take our time with this one through this podcast. [00:02:00]
The Text: De Gabáil in tSíde
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Lora O'Brien: First, as usual, I would like to go to a text, and the one that I want today is De Gabáil in tSíde, The Taking of the Sidhe. And it tells you how the arrangement between the people of this island and the denizens or the people of the Otherworld, the beings of the Otherworld, came about in the first place.
And I'm gonna take it through Morgan Daimler's telling or translation from Pagan Portals' Aos Sidhe. So here's how they set it out. Quote, "When they first retreated from the world above, the humans had trouble. Their cows wouldn't give milk, and their crops wouldn't grow. An agreement is reached with the Dagda, king of the Tuatha Dé, that humans will give a tithe of their crops and milk to the Aos Sidhe, and in return, the Aos Sidhe will ensure that the land and livestock flourish".
Now, let's just look at the shape of that for a second because [00:03:00] there isn't a scrap of reverence anywhere in that. That's a contract, right? Nobody in that story is moved. Nobody is having a lovely spiritual moment about the Otherworld. Nobody is gaining great prizes or boons from, you know, their glorious praise of the gods, guides, and guardians of the Otherworld.
What's happening is the cows stop milking, the crops fail, a deal gets struck with the Dagda, and after that, both sides keep to their end of it. It's a relationship. But it's a tithe, mind you, rather than a gift or a gesture. And a tithe is a portion of what you actually have going out on a regular basis in exchange for something you badly need kept safe.
Now, in that book, which is excellent by the way, Morgan Daimler's Aos Sidhe, they point out that the very same arrangement turns up later in the folk tradition [00:04:00] between the Aos Sidhe and ordinary households. So it stuck. Here's the reading that I would take out of that, and it's my reading rather than any facts that's in the ancient lore,
but I've been doing this for a long time. An offering in our tradition sits inside the arrangement with terms rather than inside a mood or, a ritual or anything like that, right?
This is, again, a relationship. And one side brings something, the other side keeps something safe, or let's call it what it is, removes the threat. Because it's quite possible that the reason the cows weren't milking and all the rest of it is because these beings, these entities, got their nose out of joint.
And, we're basically stopping those things happen, and that's definitely how it looks in the folk tradition later on, right? So one side brings something, the other side keeps something safe, let's be generous, [00:05:00] and the whole thing holds for exactly as long as both sides keep to the arrangement.
That's a much easier thing to start with than reverence is or belief or anything like that. And I think that's good news for most of us, but especially people who are just starting out or indeed want to deepen their relationship with the Sidhe or the Tuatha Dé Danann or, as this podcast is about, the Mórrígan herself.
Devotional Acts vs. Offerings
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Lora O'Brien: So there's two different things going on under the word offering, and it helps to really keep them apart First, there's a devotional act, which is anything that you're giving of yourself. So it's intangible and it costs you effort. That could be poetry or art or music. It could be a walk or a run or a workout.
It could be acts of service like picking up litter or ringing your local representatives or doing activism work for a local women's shelter. [00:06:00] An offering I'd class as something more solid than that, though. There's plenty of crossover between the two, and I'm not precious about where the line falls, to be honest, right?
But I just wanted to kind of break it up a little bit, so there's a devotional act and an offering. They can be the same thing. They're not always the same thing, but if you want to mirror the traditional Irish offerings, the list is short and most of it is already in your kitchen. The grains are barley, wheat, and oats not corn.
In some of the older texts, you'll see it called corn, but everything that's a grain was called corn and was translated as such. But then there's also the dairy, which is milk or cream or cheese. The meat would be pork rather than beef or eel. And for a drink, you've got ale or beer or mead or red wine.
And the red wine comes in through the folk tradition for the sí or the other crowd, the fairies specifically.[00:07:00]
The Vegan Offering Story
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Lora O'Brien: Now, I will put in a little personal note here, and it's a story from a while back where two... I think they were both Canadians or a Canadian and an American, moved to a small town in County Roscommon,
where I was living for many years, and we became friends. And they started to have some happenings in their house that they were renting, and they sought my advice because they felt that it was the local other crowd the good folk, the neighbors, and not the corporeal neighbors the non-corporeal neighbors.
So I suggested, because one of them was a baker, I suggested that they offer a portion of what they were baking. The first of anything is a really good offering for the sidhe particularly. Now, after a while things got worse, and they were like we did what you said, and it didn't work." And
we were friends at this point, so I was like, "Do you [00:08:00] want me to come down, have a look? Just show me what you're doing, and I'll see if I can spot anything obvious." Now, folks, when I walked into the house, - And I should have spotted this. I don't know. It just didn't even occur to me. But
This couple were both vegan. And what they were offering was not the traditional dairy that I had been led to believe. It was plant milk, like soy milk, or some kind of spread. I'm not quite sure what it was. Some kind of vegan spread that they were calling butter. This was their butter offering.
Can I just say, don't do that. Even if you're not a drinker or not a meat eater or not somebody who consumes dairy, if you're a vegan It's very important that you give them the offerings that are traditional to them, not what suits you. So if for some reason, you want to give an offering of dairy, but you [00:09:00] don't want to contribute to the descru- destruction of the planet through the dairy or the meat-producing industry, which is absolutely your right, and fair play to you.
You don't offer them substitutes . I don't know why this didn't occur to them. But again, it just didn't even occur to me either that they would do this. Anyway, anyway, anyway. Point made, I believe. But choose something that isn't going to offend your beliefs that is also traditional, such as one of the grains,
if you happen to be vegan, don't be offering them stuff that is not what they're used to, okay? Now, Notice what every one of these choices has in common. They all come out of an agrarian society where sharing a meal was a duty of hospitality and a sacred act rather than a decoration.
Which is exactly why they're all things that you'd eat or drink yourself, and you're dividing what's already on the table rather than buying something special in. [00:10:00] Now, something that would already be on the table in the traditional culture.
I think that's important, you know? It's not that their tastes may not change over time, but as things stand this is what they're used to, if you are vegan and you don't agree with the big agriculture industry that produces most of the dairy or the meat, then, by all means, go to a traditional source.
There are plenty available in Ireland, and I'm sure in other countries, that you could actually access the good stuff, if you want to do that. Or just offer them something that doesn't offend you and also doesn't offend them, right?
If you're stuck for what to offer, make it something that costs you, and not necessarily money costs, because the currency there can be time, or it could be money, or it could be effort, or it could be energy, and any of these will carry a great deal. So it could be a single flower [00:11:00] that you grew yourself.
Could be a small candle that you made maybe or, went out of your way to source a really good quality candle. Could be a poem you wrote yourself. It could be fresh rainwater that you specifically collected. Could be a portion of your own dinner, and I would say, I don't mean to be harping on this vegan thing, but if it's a portion of your own dinner, I think that would supersede the anti-vegan rule with the Sidhe.
With offering something that is your own, you're dividing what's already on the table, so that counts for more than necessarily spending a load of money and buying something special in.
Does that make sense? 'Cause that's offering hospitality rather than just what the physical food is, and that's why I would view it as different. But the sincerity that you bring counts for far more than what it rang up on the till, right?
What Happens After an Offering
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Lora O'Brien: So I want to be specific about what happens afterwards then because that's where people kinda get stuck and can just abandon the whole business.
[00:12:00] Once an offering has been made, we take the view that the goodness has gone out of it, so nobody eats it. And it'd be a bad cess, which is like a, a bad luck for anyone or anything to consume it after that. Do be careful about that. Watch your pets too, or small children if they're at the height where everything goes in their mouth.
Or yourself while you're at it. Don't be eating or drinking whatever you've left out for the neighbors. Now, I know we're talking about the Sidhe this whole time and, gifts for the neighbors and the good neighbors, the folk tradition, the other crowd, all of that. But remember that the Mórrígan is one of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
She's outside the Tuatha Dé Danann to a certain extent, but she technically is still one of them. Once this is done you can put anything that is biodegradable into the compost bin. That's grand. If you've no garden at all, then a particular plant pot on a balcony or a window ledge will take liquid offerings once they're finished with.
You can work with what you can manage yourself. You know your life, and it's not about [00:13:00] me telling you how to live your life but don't get caught up too much in how or exactly when that happens. You're there for about 24 hours, maybe 48. I would be removing offerings after that, definitely getting rid of them.
Please don't take any of this as a reason to spend a fortune or to break yourself into elaborate daily preparation. You can, and you really should start with simple things and keep the more involved offerings for special occasions or serious magical work.
It is good to push the boat out occasionally, but your spirituality shouldn't sink your whole ship financially or energetically. What I'm pointing at underneath all of this is reciprocity. You are giving something of yourself, and I would say, give something that that costs you a little bit.
And again, it doesn't have to be money. It can be cost you in time or energy as well. That's just as important. But you begin in good faith, and you build [00:14:00] towards each of you doing something for the other. And you're the one that has to start, you know, there has to be a relationship built up before you would expect anything back because, to be blunt, you're the human, so why would they give a shit about you until, you are paying your dues, basically.
You're giving your tithe, right? And in my experience, that is the most effective way that there is to get to know the Mórrígan and to have her take notice of you for the long term.
This Week's Practice
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Lora O'Brien: the practice this week is one offering matched to what you already have. Before you go anywhere near a shop, go into your own kitchen, open the presses, or the cupboards as other people call them.
Find one thing in there that sits on the traditional list. It could be a handful of oats. It could be a drop of milk or cream, real milk or cream, real butter, or a bottle of ale, or a drop of mead or whiskey if you keep it in the house. And again, a flower that you grew yourself, that would be [00:15:00] perfect as well.
There could be anything in the kitchen. Put it into a small vessel that you're willing to hand over to this work rather than, a good mug that you drink out of every morning. An egg cup or a shot glass will do the job always has. And bring it to wherever you meet her, whether that's an altar or a windowsill or the back step or a corner of your desk or wherever it is.
And set it down deliberately don't be just dropping it on your way past or whatever. But then say out loud what it is and who it's for because that turns the bowl of oats into an offering. You say it out loud even if you feel like a bit of an eejit doing it because it's for your own benefit as much as anybody or anything that's listening at that point when you're starting, definitely.
You are making this commitment, and you wanna be doing it with your whole chest, and then leave it for a day or two if it isn't going off on you. 'Cause things start to get a bit weird after that, and that's definitely not the offering you want to be giving, right?
And then into the compost or into a plant pot or, out in your garden [00:16:00] if it's safe for the local wildlife. And nobody eats it. The wildlife is fine 'cause it's kinda dispersing it, but nobody in your household eats it, right? And this is the other question we get how often?
Once a week is plenty. You can do it every day if you want, if you can keep it up, but consistency is the key, not regularity. Okay? So one quick prompt for the week. Whenever you get 10 minutes with a notebook, maybe if you do the offering, do it before bed then that night. And the question would be: What have I actually brought to this relationship in the last month, and what have I been asking of it?
And, asking of it could be nothing, and that's fine. You don't have to be asking anything of the Mórrígan especially before you've built up your side of the relationship, right? But an offering in Irish tradition, it really sits inside an arrangement. And what makes it land is that it costs you something and that you keep on bringing [00:17:00] it, that you're consistent because a tithe is something that you're giving regularly, that you are consistent about it. I always talk about the minimum viable practice. Pick some really small thing that you absolutely know that you can commit to and do it regularly, right? And if it's not once a week, it could be once a month, but you set alarms for that. You make sure that you show up, at a particular moon phase or during a particular day of the month or whenever it is,
you show up consistently. You make a commitment, and you do it. And once a week, for most people, they can find, ten, 15 minutes in a week to make a little offering, have a little moment in front of whatever space or altar that they're making it in front of, and maybe do a bit of journaling after it.
Ten, 15 minutes out of everybody's week, honestly, you can find that. I could find that when I was a single mother of three kids under 10 years old, working full-time with an author career writing books on the side. If I could do that, you could do it, right? I promise. Also, [00:18:00] undiagnosed neurodivergence, all that going on too.
I'm not saying that to be mean, but there's a lot that can be a reason, and there's a lot that can be an excuse, and you really need to be very clear on yourself which is which, right? So don't be making excuses, especially not to the Mórrígan. I do not recommend.
Outro & Book
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Lora O'Brien: If this episode lands for you and you'd rather have your offerings built into an actual structure than left as a single exercise, that is the Five Devotional Practices course, which walks you through five of them over at morrigan.academy/practices. But before you go, the book, the Mórrígan: Ireland's Goddess, is out with Llewellyn, and it's fast becoming one of the top-selling books on the Mórrígan, apparently, on the whole market, which is amazing.
And every one of its 12 chapters closes with exercises and journaling prompts, so it works the way this podcast does. A little bit of learning and then something to actually do with it. And you'll get it in any good bookshop, wherever you get your [00:19:00] books. If they don't have it in, order it, absolutely.
But until next time, honor the Lore, respect the Mórrígan, and Slán go Foill.
