Mythic Monday: Goddess Macha

Macha Curses the Men of Ulster
By Stephen Reid (Eleanor Hull, The Boys’ Cuchulain) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
A stimulating facet of writing paranormal romance is the chance to delve into my lifelong passion for mythology. I also get to look up information related to my characters. For my work in progress, Lord of Fire – Wytchfae 5, for example, I researched the surname MacAnna. It’s an old Celtic moniker from the Irish region of Armagh, which means Macha’s height. The town served as the capital of Ulster until the 1st century. It was here that St. Patrick built his primary church.

Worship of the goddess Macha was customary in Ireland long before the coming of the Celts, according to Barbara G. Walker in The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. Macha is an ancient transplant and shares identity with a moon goddess from Central Asia named Macha Alla, or the Mother of Life and Death.

Macha haunts battlefields and creates magic from the blood of slain warriors. Her voice is sometimes identified with that of the fearsome Banshee, who summons humans to their death. To hear that mournful, keening sound or to see Macha as she washes bloodstains from clothes along the river bank, is an omen of doom.

One of the powerful Tuatha De Danaan, Macha is the crone of the triple goddess formation known as the Morrigan. Macha is sometimes called Ana or Anat, and her sisters are Badb and Morrigu, but as Raven Woman, Macha is often considered an alternate name of Badb. Macha is also identified with the splendorous Fairy Queen Mab and is the very goddess who cast her death curse upon the great warrior, Cuchulain.

By Flossie Benton Rogers

Paranormal romance author who loves to shake the edges of reality.

4 comments

  1. I’m late to the party (I spent the holiday celebrating with a family gathering) but found this post fascinating. Macha does indeed sound somewhat like a banshee. I was also reminded of legends in reference to ravens collecting the souls of the slain from bloody battlefields…and then you mentioned her as Raven Woman as well!

Comments make my day! Please dash off a line or two.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.