The Badbh

The Badbh

ALSO KNOWN AS:

Badbh Catha (literally, the battle crow)

ORIGIN:

Irish

Crows on the battlefield are harbingers of doom. They await the battle’s end to feast on the fallen. Crows are also traditional psychopomps: crow spirits travel back and forth between the realms of the living and the dead. The Irish warrior goddess called the Badbh is a crow goddess.

Badbh literally means “crow,” “scald crow,” or “raven,” but it also has the added connotation of “witch.” She is a mysterious spirit. Badbh may be a title, not a name. It is used as an epithet for other Irish warrior goddesses, like Macha, the Morrigan, and Nemain. The Badbh is very closely associated with the Morrigan; some perceive Morrigan and Badbh as two names for the same spirit. The Badbh may also be the same spirit as the Gaulish deity, Cathobodua, in which case her veneration was widespread in the ancient Celtic world.

Her power on the battlefield is psychological: the Badbh doesn’t actually fight on behalf of devotees. Instead, she terrifies, intimidates, and confuses their enemies with her presence. The Badbh appears in the epic Ulster Cycle. She is closely associated with the hero, Cu Chulain, assisting and encouraging him on several occasions. In addition to her responsibilities on the battlefield, the Badbh is associated with death and the Otherworld:

• Her appearance in the form of a crow may be a harbinger of death.

• The Badbh is among those spirits who manifest as Washers at the Ford.

• She may sometimes be located at the House of Da Derga, hostel of the dead.

Manifestations:

She may manifest as a woman or crow and has been sighted as a huge crow riding a battle horse. If she manifests as a woman, she may be powerful and beautiful or haglike and terrifying. In one myth, the Badbh appears at Da Derga’s Hostel as a fierce crowlike hag in triple form (triplicate; three of her): black as a corpse or a crow and bleeding with her mouth on one side of her head and a rope around her neck. Birdlike she perches on one leg at the hostel’s threshold. She is simultaneously Death and a sacrificial victim; hag and carrion crow merged in one form.

COLOUR:

Black

BIRDS:

Crow, raven, scald crow

Husband: Neit, a battle deity about whom little more is known than his name

Sisters: Aine, Banbha, Eriu, Fotla, and Macha

SEE ALSO:

• Aine;
• Macha;
• Morrigan, the;
• Washer at the Ford

SOURCE:

Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses – Written by : Judika Illes Copyright © 2009 by Judika Illes.