Get comfortable and release all your cares and concerns from the day. Hood your cloak, so it’s now covering your head. Breathe deeply, in and out. Feel your feet resting on the floor.
Gently go within. We are going on a dark moon journey with the Morrigan.
Note:Â This meditation can be enhanced with participants sitting around a simmering pot or cauldron of Mugwort. A slow drumbeat is nice too.
Now see yourself walking beside a boggy marsh on a dark moon autumn night. There are sounds of bullfrogs echoing in the distance. A mist hovers above the water. There is a chill breeze in the air that creaks through the bare branches in the woods that skirts the edge of this marsh.
You silently walk on the pathway around the water as it leads you into an unknown forest. Your feet crunch quietly on the frosty fallen leaves covering the earth. The trees in these woods are ancient and powerful as their branches twist outwards and upwards like giant, wicked fingers. Here and there you hear the lonely hoot of an owl.
You smell a slight scent of wood smoke in the air and decide to follow it. As you are walking towards this smokey scent, you feel as if someone is watching you. This sends a chill down the back of your neck. You strain your eyes to peer into the dense woods, but you cannot see anyone; only the movement of the bare branches in the chilly wind.
You are walking closer to the smoke now. Off in the distance beneath an ancient and magnificent oak tree; you see a small fire crackling with a cauldron hanging above it. You smell the strong scent of mugwort brewing from the cauldron. You walk closer to the fire and simmering cauldron with curiosity and some trepidation.
Suddenly, you see a black flash of a raven taking flight and then a figure moving stealthily from behind the oak tree in front of the fire. In a blink of an eye, it has vanished. You hear flapping of wings just above your head and you notice a raven is flying just above you from side to side as if taunting you. You walk faster towards the fire and brewing cauldron.
The raven disappears and then you see her. A tall and impressive woman shrouded in a dark hood and robes, with pale white skin and jet black long hair. She wears a silver sword tucked into her belt of bones. Her secretive dark eyes beckon you forward as she dips a ladle into the cauldron murmuring something foreign and holds a silver cup of hot liquid out to you. You come towards her and accept her drink in your hands. After taking a few sips, you realize it tastes unfamiliar.
She now speaks to you: “You have traveled far, Sister. Who are you? What is it that you seek from me on this Dark Moon night?” You answer her with your name in humility.
She removes her black hood and you see that her face now changes, from ancient hag to young and beautiful maiden again, repeatedly as she scrutinizes your face. She speaks again, with raw power and a richness that reverberates in the woods:
I am Morrigan. In legends I have been called Morgan Le Fay and Morgaine; Goddess, Sorceress, Wisewoman, Warrior Queen and High Priestess of Avalon. Like a raven in battle, I conquer any enemy or fear and use my Dark Moon magick to banish the un-useful, and the negative and to transform life!! I charge you to follow me and listen to my secret.
A few moments pass, and you suddenly feel dizzy and disoriented. Morrigan has vanished, and the fire fames grow brighter and stronger. Its firelight casts an orangey glow onto the ancient oak tree that now shows An ever-swirling triple spiral carved into its trunk..
Your legs feel weak and give out under you. Your back is cracking and twisting. You try to scream, but all that comes out is a croak. Your arms break painfully as wings shoot out from your sides! You have powerful night vision. The unseen becomes seen with your raven eyes.
You see the raven dancing on the cauldron with glowing greenish eyes, and it now takes flight. You realize that you have become a raven, and now take flight and follow whom you now know to be Morrigan the Raven. Your bird heart beats to the rhythm of the universe. See the vast forest below you, and the mist surrounding the marsh.
Above you are distant stars, planets, suns, and galaxies, as they move in a spiral forming a universal maze. Hidden somewhere in that maze is the dark moon.
Slowly, you follow Morrigan and spiral around and around into the turning starry maze high in the sky. You are now inside the centre of the turning maze, on the dark side of the moon. It is a time out of time, where all light and life are sucked out into that cauldron of darkness — the cauldron of Morrigan. In her vast womb, energy and light are gathered until she explodes, radiating birth and new life into the void. The Mother of All and Weaver of the Great Web; she has through eons poured out the contents of her cauldron only to gather it once again, in an unending pattern of birth, death and rebirth.
Suddenly, you fly out of the dark cauldron of Morrigan and fly down, down, down till you reach the surface of the misty marsh and feel yourself plunging into the cold water and jumping up again to catch some air.
You see Morrigan the raven circling above you, looking down at you from above the water her, now transforming into the face of the ancient Goddess and then beautiful Maiden again. You surrender to her magick until once again you feel yourself shapeshifting into your human body.
Gurgling and twisting in the cold, boggy water, you gasp for air and swim out onto the shore, panting as you pull up onto the sandy dirt. You lay down and feel your human arms and touch your face. You feel safe, and exhausted but powerfully charged. Something magical has taken place for you on a deep level.
The sky is lightening in the east. Morrigan is gone.
Next to you in the sand is shining black raven’s feather; a gift and reminder of your journey to the dark moon with Morrigan. Know that you are part of the infinite cycle of life, death and rebirth. You thank her for her gift and journey into her cauldron of transformation this night.
The mist creeps up around you and encircles you like a blanket. Take a few deep breaths, and when you are ready, slowly come back to present time and place. Open your eyes. Know that you have been healed and charged.
Magick is indeed afoot! Blessed be!
