Macha - tell me more

Oh Macha...all the feels for thee.

So my first interactions or at least understanding and feeling of her presence was back when I lived on a horse ranch out behind Mt. Diablo on Morgan Territory Road (who would have thunk?). I have to say that living out in the country side, literally sharing space with domesticated and wild animals was the most connected to the spirit world, to the Gods and the Ungods, I have ever felt. I laid a lot of my foundation in that brief and turbulent year. But I digress.

For me, of the sisters of Morrigu, Macha is the easiest to connect with. Something about her holds a strong tie to civilization, society and mankind. A completely different society and understanding of civilization but you know still not completely foreign. It was easy to feel her presence watching the pair of red mares that lived in the front pasture graze, play and on several occasions escape. I did not grow up around horses, nor do I have to this day much experiences with them, but being in their presence presents and challenges all the things you think you know about them, or at least what I thought I know. In my mind I think I equated them very much as larger dogs, a reference that has been completely wiped out. They radiate power, you cannot help but feel the inadequacy of your own muscles standing next to a horse putting your hand on it's massive sleek neck. It is not hard at all to suddenly put weight and meaning behind the horse as a symbol of power, strength and royalty. A fall from a horse is no small thing, and simply the act of taking control of such a beast of might takes courage and skill. But for all that they are not untouchable, unreachable beings of another world. They are curious, mischievous, and a whole wide gambit of other things that cannot be contained in one small pen. I found getting to know Macha (as much as a mortal can hope to know anything about the Gods) what much in parallel to getting to know horses. She is power. She is conquest, strength, nobility, and she is so much more.

I remember one morning when the pair of mares had escaped. It was twilight, the sun had not yet fully risen, the Lumberjack had called me on his way out (he had to leave VERY early to get to work) that the horses were out again. We were the only tenants at the time, and it was just common curtsey to bring them back in if they got out, if we could. I had never attempted it by myself, and although I have been shown briefly how to halter a horse I was by no means confident in it. But I got up and dressed and was willing to give it my best, after all I didn't want them to get out to the road, or hurt. They were having a merry time grazing where they will, and as I walked up to them they would easily trot away. They had trotted to the hill behind the main barn and I wasn't sure how I was going to get anywhere close to them when I just felt a stillness. And with a surety that I cannot claim as my own, I felt instructed on what to do. Go slow. Don't look at them directly. Move sideways. Sure enough soon I was right up next to one and was able to haphazardly harness her and lead her and her friend (where one goes the other follows) back into the pen. From that day forward I started to make regular offerings to Macha, apples for the mares, apples for Macha.

Historically and in the lore, she is an interesting character because their are so many of her. There is the mythological tale of the Pangs of Ulster, where I believe we see her more in her goddess form thru the eyes of Christian monks. There is the fort of legend and history Emain Macha, and Mesrad Machae used to describe the heads decapitated in battle is said to be Macha's Acorns. Then there are the true historical figures that bear her name, Macha Mong Ruadh, daughter of Aedh Ruadh, who was High Queen of Ireland. Again woven in her stories are the skills of cunning, strategy, conquest and nobility. How she lured the sons of her enemies into the woods and overcame them one by one. The layers that her name invokes are many and layered.

At the time I did not fully know of her connection to the plains, the land, and the wealth of abundance. The Story Archaeology opened up and put words to a lot of that for me. But it makes sense and only fortify what I was feeling out there. The tall grasses, the hills dotted with milk thistle, the horses, the crows. It all made sense and felt in harmony. There are many sisters of the Morrighan all with so many different layers to discover and learn from. Macha is one that holds strong to the ideologies of Queenship, of sovereignty, and the protection of the land.

In my re-reading of the Pangs of Ulster, I have come to a new understanding (though perhaps a completely modern one)of the tale and thus of Macha. This post here only furthers to prod me into finishing that particular blog post so that I can talk more about it.

But what in particular are your feelings, have you been working with her lately?