The character, qualities and traits associated with the female occupies a central and

important position in the surviving mythological stories of the Irish Celts. This essay
will attempt to shed light on the inherent complexities and ambiguities which the
early Irish people associated with the female - or female power - through its various
representations presented in the mythological stories of The Second Battle of Mag
Turied, Etain's Friere and deleggelsen av Da Derga's Gjestegrd. In these
mythological stories we are given a multitude of representations of the female,
ranging from her principle character as mother-goddess, the personification of the
fertility and life-giving aspects of the earth, to her destructive role as temptress,
source of great power as well as conflict and chaos. Although the female characters
in the Second Battle of Mag Turied and deleggelsen av Da Derga's gjestegrd
occupies a rather minor position in the overall narrative - contrasted with the central
position of Etain as temptress and source of conflict in Etain's friere - the stories
nevertheless provides significant clues concerning the Irish-Celtic associations with
the female. As the goddess Danu she is first and foremost the mother and ancestor
of the gods themselves - the motherly life-giving, nourishment and fertility aspects yet as Morrigan she is also the harbinger and prophetess of destruction, an aspect
given further attention in deleggelsen av Da Derga's gjestegrd in which she
appears as the unattractive and sinister prophetess of the hero's downfall. Her
various representations reveals the multifaceted qualities the female represents in
Irish-Celtic mythology; her intimate relationship and control over nature's fertility
and its dualistic dynamism of both life and death, as well as the object of sexual
passion and desire.
In the Second Battle of Mag Turied, the mythological origin story of Irish-Celtic
society recounting the arrival of the Tuatha De Danus to Ireland, several motifs and
clues points to the central position of the female or feminine power in Irish-Celtic
mythology. After all, the tribal name of the Irish-Celtic ancestral gods, the Tuatha De
Danaan, translates to the people of the Goddess Danu and not the people of the
god Dagda, the principle father-god, thus already ascribing a certain value and
predominance towards the female power as principle ancestor and goddess-mother.
More central to the story however is the female in her untamed, wild and powerful
aspects as the young beautiful girl who, after physically abusing the father-god
Dagda (a feat which itself proscribes a certain strength and power) sleeps with him
and assists the Tuatha De with magical incantations in the battle against the evil
race of the Foimore: hun ville synge forbannelser over dem... hun ville gjre
tryllestavens ddelige kunster over dem... hun alene ville ta en niendedel av hele
hren (28). It is clear that she possesses powers well beyond the human sphere
and her strength, dexterity and natural beauty further attributes to her connection
with the nature world. In addition to her magical powers, the fact that she belongs
to the otherworld is made explicitly clear through her statement that she would
(initially) not let Dagda return to battle before she had tilkalt snnene til Tethra fra
haugene - the name of the mystical realm of the Celtic underworld or otherworld,
thought to exist alongside, under or beyond the natural world.

The other powerful female in the story is the character Morrigan, a warrior-goddess
who shares many traits and qualities with the young wild girl previously mentioned.
The two can in fact be considered the incarnation of the same female power as
Morrigan also aids in the battle against the Foimore through magical incantations
and furthermore though at a later point, yet explicitly mentioned in the story also
has sexual intercourse with Dagda. However, whereas the wild girl only appears in
her episode with Dagda in Second Battle of Mag Turied, Morrigan is a prominent
character in the Irish-Celtic pantheon. Although primarily rendered in her role as the
warrior-goddess of victory and prophecy, she is also a fertility goddess through her
sexual activities and with Dagda and her association with cattle, and the translation
of her name as Phantom Queen further points to her principal status as a
sovereign and powerful goddess belonging to the otherworld (Celtic Godess: 45). As
such Morrigan was, as summarized by Miranda Green, a prophet of either death or
victory; an instigator of war; she interfered with combat [and] was closely
associated with destruction, fertility and sovereignty (43). The ambiguity of her role
and character is further complicated by the fact that she is often identified alongside
and interchangeably with the war-goddesses Badbh, Macha and Nemhain,
considered simultaneously one goddess and three (celtic goddesses 41)
combining sexuality, destruction and prophecy. The two latter aspects figure in the
aftermath of the Second Battle of Mag Turied where she prophesizes the end of the
world with alt det onde og alle sykdommene og all hevnen (42). It is also worthy
of mention that in the same section her name appears as both Morrigan and Badbh
giving further credence to her complex and ambiguous character. The symbolism
of the sexual relationship between Dagda and Morrigan moreover alludes to the
crucial Irish-Celtic motif of the sacral kingship.
The concept of the sacral kingship is an essential part of Irish-Celtic mythology and
its conceptions concerning the female or feminine power. Considered of absolute
necessity for a prosperous and flourishing kingdom, the general idea was that the
king would enter a ritual marriage or partnership with the land itself personified as
the female goddess legitimizing the rule as rightful and ensured the fertility of the
earth. The symbolism of her blessing is often rendered through her serving a sacred
goblet of red liquid to the king, a symbol of her ever-renewing powers. The goddess
would only accept the union with the rightful candidate, and could if the king failed
in his duty for an honorable, authentic or otherwise healthy union with the land
withdraw her support in favor of another more suitable king, even after the marriage
had taken place. As such the goddess was both spouse as well as the validator of
rulers. In deleggelsen av Da Dergas gjestegrd, where Morrigan appears as Babdh
in the shape of hideous, black, crow-like hag at the threshold the doomed King
Conaires residence to foretell (or rather confirm) the kings downfall may be
interpreted as a withdrawal of her fortunes, since the king had broken the taboos
laid upon his kingship - although the fact that Conaire is without a queen may in and
of itself denote his illegitimacy.

In Etains Friere, one can interpret Etains willingness to Conversely, a kingship

without a queen was not considered legitimate by its citizens.
As such the In the complex and fragmented stories of Etains Friere, it is the lack of
a queen which serves as the
The necessity for a kingly marriage in fact serves as the entry-point in
This sacred marriage appears to be a metaphor of the perceived need for there to
be a union between the wild, untamed earth (personified by the goddess) and the
civilized order which allows for the lands cultivation (personified by the king), a
binary opposition expressed, in ancient Greece, by the terms nomos (law, order,
civilization) and physis (wild, untamed nature, chaos, anarchy; Green 1997a, 898
911). By means of such a union, the full potential of the fertile landscape is fulfilled.

The necessity of the kingly marriage was moreover codified in early Irish-Celtic law,
operating as the initiating element

If the king failed in his duty for an honorable, authentic or otherwise healthy union
with the land symbolized by the virtues of love and generosity the fertility of the
land would also fail (Aldhouse-Green 2001: 103).
As The land or earth is often represented in the character of a mother or queen
goddess, and the king was bound by duty to honor her and thus, by extension, the
land itself.
Likewise, the goddess Morrigan who herself is a Tuatha De, aids in the battle with
While it would be quite wrong to equate their actual position in the Irish-Celtic social
hierarchy with the rerepesentations given of the female in their mythogical stories,
women nevertheless had substational rights and.

with the images and characters presented in the