Goddesses of The Celts ~ M

Macha
(Morrigan)(Field, plain) Macha is the Powerful Woman who outran the King's Horses. This goddess of Ulster was borne in a wicker chariot, in the company of her battle-raven and her cauldron of prophecy. Irish. One of the three Valkyrie-aspects of the Morrigan. Macha feeds on the heads of slain enemies. Macha often dominates her male lovers through cunning or simple brute strength.

Matres
Celtic mother goddess of Gaul.

Matrona
(Celtic) The river Marne is named after her.

Matronae
(Celtic Triple Mother) An elaboration of the Mediterranean nursing goddess Iono Lucine, this threefold image shows the Mothers holding Baby, napkins, and bath sponge. Each of them personifies nurturance, with bared right breast prepared to suckle. Throughout Celtic Gaul, Spain, and Britain this Iono depiction was deeply revered by the peasantry.

Medb
"Drunk Woman." A goddess of war, not one of the Morrigan. Where the Morrigan use magic, Medb wields a weapon herself. The sight of Medb blinds enemies, and she runs faster than the fastest horse. A bawdy girl, Medb needs thirty men a day to satisfy her sexual appetite. Celtic.

Modron
"Divine Mother" A Welsh goddess, daughter of Avalloc, derived from the Celtic goddess Matrona. She is regarded as a prototype of Morgan (from Arthurian Legend).

Momu
(Scotland) Goddess of the hills.

Mor
(Irish) Celtic goddess of the sea and sun. She is identified with the setting sun and is depicted as sitting on a throne.

Morgan
(Morgen, Morgana, Morrigan, Mara, Fata) Death Goddess. Wells were sacred to Her, Raven Her bird, Shamrock is Her plant. The final incarnation of the Irish Valkyrie Morrigan, Morgan plays a critical but ambiguous role in the Arthurian cycle. Portrayed as a mortal female deeply learned in Magick and a close relative of Arthur's (maternal half-sister), she is always at odds with Arthur, and is responsible for any of a number of attempts to drag him down. Once he is mortally wounded though, and his cause a pyyrhic and ultimately futile victory, it is Morgan who appears at his side, nursing him and taking him off to the Isle of Avalon, to rest until his presence is needed once more. One gets the distinct impression (at least, I do...) that she somehow engineered the rise of Arthur to the status of Hero, in order to create an Eternal Champion of Britain. This notion is supported somewhat by the earlier Morrigan's ambiguous relationship with CuChulainn, in which she took him up on his desire for a short but glorious life, and violently opposed him until, at his doom, she used his blood to nourish the soil of Eire. Celtic goddess of the sea, fate, death and rebirth. (Sea-sprites in Brittany are still called "morgans"). She was a great healer and shapeshifter. Supposedly King Arthur resides with her in Avalon as he heals. She evolved into the wicked Morgan Le Fay, an evil sorceress, in later versions of the King Arthur legend.

Mór Muman
(The Great One of Munster). Érainn. A tutulary divinity among a people known as the Érainn, a Celtic folk inhabiting some parts of Ireland before the arrival the Goidelic Celts who form the basis for the Classic-age population, and who may be the basis for tales of the Fomorians and Fir Bolg. She has solar connections and sovereignty associations, and seems also to be one basis for the Morrigan triplicity. Mysterious and not well understood, most tales of Her are late accretions from the Middle Ages.

Morrigan
Morrigan is the Celtic Goddess of Destruction/Creation. Elaborated from an Epona plaque, this image depicts the Irish triple goddess: Ana, the fertility maiden; Badb ("bave"), the boiling mother cauldron, producer of life; and Macha, the death-crone symbolized by the carrion-devouring raven. Oral tradition says the Celtic dying god Cu Chulainn was met by the beautiful chariot-mounted goddess with red eyes and cloak. She cursed him to death that his blood might fertilize the earth, then transformed herself into Badb Catha, the Raven of Battle who induces panic in warriors. Morrigan evolved into Morgana Le Fay, sorceress of Arthurian legend.
A triplicity of Valkyries (see Badb, Macha, and Nemain), exalting in battle frenzy, chaos, and the gore of slaughter. She/they have a particular role in being the Choosers of the Slain; selecting, severing from the body, and guiding to the afterworld the spirits of fallen warriors. She has, however, many and diverse aspects and functions. She has been closely associated with water in general, and rivers in particular. She seems in this latter aspect to be a chooser of the slain as well, in that she is seen by those whose fate it is to die in an upcoming battle as a crone, washing their clothing beside a river.

Morrigu
Goddess of Battle. She sometimes takes the shape of a woman washing a bloodied piece of clothing at the edge of a ford. The warrior who beholds Her knows that he will soon die.

Murigen
A minor Irish lake goddess, probably another form of the Morrigan.