This is a simple Irish prayer to say to the Mórrígan (the Irish Goddess Morrigan) at sunset each night, wherever you are in the world.
Our prayer to the Morrigan is adapted from a traditional Irish prayer found on Duchas.ie in the School’s Collection. The original entry is as follows:
The following prayer was generally recited in the evening at the setting of the sun, and it was regarded as being the best prayer for the ending of each day.
Night is falling, dear Mother, the long day is o’er,
And before thy loved image, I’m kneeling once more,
To thank thee for keeping me safe through the day,
To ask thee this night to keep evil away.(Continues on multiple pages…)
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0230, Page 241
The Morrigan is not my mother, so I take that bit out, and replace it with the more appropriate (and correct to her traditions) title and honorific – Great Queen.
I don’t kneel before the Irish Gods (they don’t want it from me, quite simply). In Ireland, the act of kneeling for worship has a whole load of religious baggage that, frankly, you may not fully be aware of or understand from outside the culture.
So please don’t project or presume it’s part of any toxic macho bullshit when I change that part too.
The binary of good vs evil is not a part of my spiritual belief system, so that bit goes too. Honourable Behaviour vs Dishonourable, for me, covers all of that completely.
I love this Goddess, fiercely and completely, and (due to contractual circumstances) will work with her and for her forever. The last line, in Irish (Gaeilge), is respectful to my native language, and incorporates all of that.
And thus, this is my Prayer to the Mórrígan, at sunset each evening.
Night is falling, Great Queen, the long day is o’er,
And before thy loved image, I’m showing up once more,
To thank thee for keeping me safe through this day,
To ask thee this night to keep dishonour away.
Mo ghrá thú, Mór Ríoghain Abú!
© Lora O’Brien, 2021
Pronunciation guide and audio reading of the blog post is here…
Hello, I’m just curious about the proper pronunciation of Mo ghrá thú, Mór Ríoghain Abú.
Hi Shannon, I’ve added a video to the blog post here and my YouTube Channel, for convenience.
Shannon, Moh grah who, Morrigan Ah-boo. or, Mor-REE-uh-gin. I believe that’s spelled with a fada over the letter “I”. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve taken Irish.
Thank you Lora, very very much! <3
Hello. I started the 5 day Challenge, yesterday. Thanks for doing this. I need to catch up on some of the devotional reading as I need some facts from it, in order to put the questions in context.