This originally appeared as a post on my Substack newsletter, Tales from a Folk Witch. I am reposting it here (with a few edits) because I do not know if keeping a separate newsletter for witchcraft and spirituality will be sustainable in the future, or if I’ll move all my writings, fiction or non-fiction, to this site. 

I haven’t as of yet talked about my relationship with the Mórrígan much. It’s not that I don’t want to, or that I’m trying to gatekeep my relationship with Her in some way; I just don’t feel very qualified to talk about Her outside of my own UPG that I have developed over the past few years. I have taken some wonderful classes with the folks over at the Irish Pagan School, and I feel like my connection to the Mórrígan is stronger than ever, but I still get a bit of impostor syndrome every time I talk about Her.

But of course, sometimes a message comes through that is so clear and so obviously not the product of your own mind that it’s hard to ignore, even with impostor syndrome.

Which is what happened to me today, sitting there minding my own business—and trying very hard not to think about the terrifying events unfolding in our nation’s capitol today (at least for my fellow Americans)—when suddenly out of nowhere I had a prayer taking shape in my head.

Now, I must confess that I am supremely bad at writing things like prayers, petitions, all the things that are very present and common in witchcraft and paganism. Despite being a writer, if I sit down to try and write out something that I want to happen magically, I clam up and can’t do it. Therefore in my craft I often use things that have already been written—prayers from other people, incantations out of books, poems, or even song lyrics—rather than try to fumble through a prayer on my own. I view praying off the cuff kind of like freestyle rap; some people can do it, and some people really, really cannot.

So it was very unusual that I would think up a prayer almost fully formed on my own. Luckily, it didn’t take me long to figure out that I hadn’t come up with it on my own; rather, it had been given to me direct from the source, with a message tacked to the end in Her voice: “Here, you’re going to need it.”

As cryptic as that may sound, I know this is the Mórrígan’s way of looking out for me in the coming weeks, months, years of this incoming administration. And in a rare show of generosity, She has given me permission to share this prayer, in the hopes that it might help someone else.

The following prayer was written in collaboration with the Mórrígan. I hope you find it useful, and I hope it brings you some comfort as we prepare to head into these dark times, together.

A Prayer to the Mórrígan in Dark Times

Án Mórrígan, Great Queen
Who incites thy warriors to victory
Grant me the sight to see my true enemies
May their words not taunt me
May their blows not reach me
May all their battles be in vain
Grant me thy clarion call
That might instill terror in the hearts of my enemies
Grant me thy sword and thy shield
That I may bravely face the battles to come
Grant me the strength to protect myself and those I love
With honor and courage
And should I stumble, grant me the wisdom to know
When to fight, and when to rest
Go raibh maith agat*

(*The last line is pronounced guh rev mah-gaht and is how one would say “thank you” in Gaeilge.)