John McCambridge McCambridge Location: Birmingham, United Kingdom Language(s):
English, French Member Since: October 2009 Last Updated: 7 November 2009 Portfolio Views: 2658 Chosen as Favorite: 4
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Macha Photoshop October 2009
The Morrigan is depicted as a triple goddess, usually with some combination of her sisters Macha, Nemain, or Badb. The Morrigan is a shape shifter. She can appear as a human woman, but she may also appear in the form of a crow.
Crows are associated with death, since they often hover around battlefields, the name Morrigan may translate as “Great Queen,” but it could also be “Nightmare Queen” or “Phantom Queen,” depending on which diacritical markings are used on her name. “Phantom Queen” appears to be the truest translation of the early forms of her name, suggesting that she was viewed with awe and fear in the earliest stories about her. These three paintings showing her three most common forms
The paintings form a triptych, a number associated with the Irish goddess, religious and symbolic art. I deliberately chose a format and composition that was similar.
Macha- The Celtic King Somhairle in the Forest of Breen, on his way to the battle of Glentaise crosses the path of Macha, known as part of the Triple Goddess of War & Death, the Morrigan.
Here she is in her guise of a young woman, the feathers suggest her other persona as the raven. She washes the blood off the clothes of the warrior riding off to battle, a premonition that he is about to die.