The Mórrigan/The Great Goddess, 2024
Artist: True Whiting
About the Artwork: Metaphysicist, Toney Brooks writes that to conceive of the goddess as simply nurturing and creative is not willing to really know her. The Mórrígan is the Celtic goddess of war and represents the fierceness of the feminine. She is the goddess of Life and Death, Destiny and Transformation. She is a shapeshifter and takes the form of anything that serves, often associated with the raven, the deer, and all aspects of the feminine. It would be easy to interpret the Mórríagn as “bad” or “evil”. It is more accurate though to understand that the concepts she represents tend to evoke fear and yet are often gateways for transformation. In that way she brings to awareness that which often wants to be denied in our psyche or is difficult to be with. Here the Mórrígan is painted holding a spear in her right hand, a weapon for cutting through ignorance and the illusion that blinds us from Truth. A raven perches on her left arm symbolizing freedom through transformation. The Mórrígan is a slayer of illusions and ignorance and whatever constrains us from life and living. She is an invitation to hold the complexity of existence and contradictions of life. It is this energy that empowers us when fierceness and bravery are called upon in our own lives, when we face our own personal battles. Because of this, she is also a source of courage. This is the 5th work in the series Face of the Goddess: Medicine paintings through the portal of old Irish, which explores Irish language and mythology of the sacred feminine.
This series is made possible by an Artist Support Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council, the Arts Council of Greater Greensboro and the Winston Salem Arts Council.
Media: Acrylic on birch panel
Dimensions: 30” wide by 30” tall
Framed: No
