Asteroid Morgan the Raven Priestess

Morgan Asteroid #3180 was discovered on the 7th September 1962 and named after the Astronomer William Morgan whose speciality was the study of Morphology – how asteroids are named according to their physical properties. This in my imagination bears some resemblance to ‘shape shifting’ – Morgan is not who I thought she was as I found out as I did some research on her!

Morgan asteroid entered my realms around Autumn Equinox 2023 as the Raven Priestess made famous in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s book ‘The Mists of Avalon’, where she is rehabilitated from being known as a demonic enchantress and dangerous sister of King Arthur. I decided to continue my investigation of her as Celtic Morgan, even though she was named after an astronomer, because of the flow of synchronicity that arrived with her. The book where I have done my research about Morgan has mostly been Ladies of the Lake by John and Caitlin Mathews where nine of these female archetypes in Celtic mythology and the Arthurian mysteries are thoroughly researched.

(I will mention in passing that this is the second time an asteroid has led from one thing to another. Asteroid Siwa named for a Water Goddess has often pointed me more towards the priestesses Siwa Oasis in Ancient Libya, which does have throusands of fountains, so a strong association with water.)

According to their research Morgan appears first in the Celtic past in Britain. What I feel we need to take into account, is a mind set in which the ‘Otherworldly’, imagination, shape shifting and prophecy were fairly normal parts of life for many people in the Celtic world. However from Medieval times and the Renaissance the increasing dominant left brained evolution of human beings means characters such as Morgan are very difficult to make sense of. Also in the wake of the witch-hunts there is a fear of these types of gifts been publicly known – many of my participants in my Venus journey have deeply entrenched fears even now.

In John and Caitlin Mathews words “In Western society we have grown used to perceiving archetypes as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, so that when we come across a divergently polarized manifestation by the same archetype, we grow confused. This is due to the dualistic philosophy of the West, which has a tendency to polarize everything in this way.” (p 67 The Ladies of the Lake)

So I invite you here as you meet Morgan to enter your feeling sense and imagination to find your own connection with her legends and archetypal being. Perhaps she will come to you as she came to me, or perhaps she will reveal something new. Perhaps she will not come at all!

In Astrology she comes to me most as an archetype who spans the worlds of life and death – a healer and walker between the worlds who can communicate with the dead. This is known as the gift of Necromancy. Another important aspect of her is having a strong sense of inner authority and I will now explore these two themes through my personal experience.

In my own life I have had an intense year (2022/23) of being in relationship with a friend who passed over on Winter Solstice 2021. After her passing she came to me on the next day as I was setting up an online Goddess Temple and we had an encounter on the inner levels. It’s not a regular experience for me, but I have had a few other encounters with people immediately after death. This was a powerful experience and I felt my friend Margaret Mary to be a fellow priestess creating and holding the temple energetically from the other side.

The tale then goes from strange to completely off the radar when I fell in love with her then husband some 9 months after her death. We had always been friends and fond of each other but there was definitely nothing like that on the cards. The feeling was mutual and we have now been together just over a year. For anyone who has had a relationship with a grieving person (or even sometimes divorced or separated if there is no resolution) there are three people in the relationship and it’s a very intense situation.

Through the challenges and the heart openings on discovering Morgan, I realise how important this almost forced connection with MM on the other side has been to actually activate the ‘Morgan’ gifts hidden deep inside me and help me realise they are even gifts as such. Morgan I discover was exactly conjunct my Sun at birth at 17 Virgo – this is Gene Key 47.1 leading from Oppression to Transmutation to Transfiguration. It is a Gene Key deeply tied up with death and I feel a perfect resonance and acceptance of certain things about my life tuning into Morgan. This is the profound insight and healing Astrology can bring.

In my previous relationship I actually had a similar dynamic arise too. This partner had lost their loved one many years ago in her early twenties, and even though it was a long time before we got together, the shock of the ending of the relationship in a tragic death meant she was not really available for a new relationship with anyone else since. Through the time we were together I could see the shock of that event transmuting in her and being able to be more present and more embodied as a result. At the time we got together another of her previous partner’s was also actually dying of cancer and she went to spend time with her in those final months. That was very challenging to find my own stability in that and the new relationship, and I recall at the time it pulling a level of selflessness out of me. That seems to be the soul benefit of being with a person for whom another is equally or perhaps even more important than you are. Once you could say is coincidence, but twice I could feel a humbling dharma at work!

I find myself contemplating Morgan also at a key time in my Father’s life. He has had Parkinson’s for around 4 years and is now in the final stages completely paralysed and in the days Iam writing losing his ability to swallow and breathe. Morgan’s appearance has helped me to realise that even though I am not physically present with him, I can walk with him into death by taking time to connect each day and communicate with his spirit. I have been writing him some poems which both my parents and brother are finding comforting.

During this past few weeks as I have been exploring asteroid Morgan, we have also been watching an Italian series on TV called ‘The Red Door’, where a character Vanessa and her mother have this unusual gift that they can see and communicate with the dead. I feel this character Vanessa is a living archetype of Morgan and further revelations have come from this, so I recommend watching the series if speaking to the dead or nearly dead is your thing too.

John and Caitlin Mathews have this to say about Morgan in her role as Raven Queen. “The raven, crow or rook is s scavenger and predator. It will prey on smaller animals and eat carrion, helping to keep infection and evidence of unsightly death at bay. This is also one of Morgan’s functions, her heritage from Morrighan. This role of the Goddess is very much overlooked, for she reprocesses all that is outworn or dying, transforming it by her subtle alchemy into something fresh.”

Another living archetype of Morgan that came to me during this exploration is the Sculptor Barbara Hepworth (1903 to 1975). In the museum to her life and work in St Ives, Cornwall there is a fascinating picture of her dressed in a Raven Morrighan cloak. Hepworth was a real pioneer for her time; there were very few female artists in that era never mind ones who worked with huge pieces of granite. She spent quite a lot of time in Greece and especially Delphi naming some of her pieces after the famous oracular temple of priestesses. Reading between the lines, and coupled with the ‘Morrighan’ photo, I feel she in some way identified with the Morgan archetype.

Morgan becomes in the Medieval texts according to the authors more of an enchantress, losing her authority as a Queen. They state the most likely origin of her name as coming from the Irish Goddess the Morrighan meaning ‘Great Queen’. I feel Morgan in this aspect can also help us regain our inner sense of authority when we are swayed by people and events outside ourselves. In particular looking to father figures and authority for permission to be ourselves, approval in some way and hoping in vain that these people will be the solution to our deep longings and problems. Morgan within helps us to know what we really desire deep down and helps to stay in our centre and stop people pleasing. The position in your chart combined with other archetypes may give you valuable clues about this.

I first felt the presence of these ‘Ladies of the Lake’ back in the summer of 2023 on holiday in Wales visiting two places associated with Merlin; Dinas Emrys where he released two dragons as a child and Bardsey Island where his consciousness in guarded by the priestess Nimue in a glass tower. I had an encounter with a Gatekeeper butterfly on an apple tree, and I felt in the subtle realms it was an invitation into a deeper level of otherworldly consciousness, specifically through the Venus Morning Star cycle of 2023/24 and these female archetypes in the Grail stories.

This passage from the Vita Merlini 1150 AD by Geoffrey of Monmouth gives us some clues to the nature of Morgan and also her otherworldly nature in relation to Avalon and apples.

“The island of apples which men call ‘The Fortunate Isle’ gets its name...because it produces all things of itself; there fields have no need of the ploughs of farmers...of its own accord it produces grain and grapes and apple trees.

There nine sisters rule by a pleasing set of laws those who come to them from our country. She who is first of them is more skilled in the healing art, and excels her sisters in the beauty of her person. Morgan is her name, and she has learnt what useful properties all the herbs contain, so she can cure sick bodies. She knows an art by which to change her shape, and to cleave the air on new wings ….”

Morgan is known to shape shift most commonly into the Raven and the Crow, the Raven being an especially potent symbol of sovereignty in Britain. She is also connected to the white cow and the eel.

She is known as a healer with plant potions, and with her Astronomical knowledge, perhaps plants gathered at the most powerful times. One of the most famous stories concerning her healing is of her half brother King Arthur, who is mortally wounded by Mordred her son. She takes Arthur into the West on a boat to her island, where he sleeps eternally in a place awaiting his rebirth when the time is right.

For those interested in the detail of the discovery of Morgan on 7th September 1962 in Indiana, these facts caught my eye

The Sun was at 15 Virgo which is Gene Key 64.4 moving from doubt to illumination. This Gene Key has much to do with overcoming duality.

Morgan was discovered at 13 Aries 31 in Gene Key GK 21.5 moving from Control to Authority to Valour. This feels very much connected to a deepening sense of security, self love and authority within and relinquishing the need to control others to try and get our needs met.

Venus was at 1 Scorpio in Gene Key 50.5 moving from Corruption to Equilibrium to Harmony

Lilith, Black Moon Lilith and Dark Moon Lilith, who I feel to be similar archetypes to Morgan in their patriarchal demonisation, were all conjunct in Libra

Uranus was at 1 Virgo in Gene Key 59.2 moving from Dishonesty to Transparency (where Morgan was the day I discovered her!)

Today 25th September 2023 Morgan is at 5 Virgo 20’ in Gene Key 59.6 so she has been moving through this Gene Key as she moved into our awareness in the Goddess Temple on Soul Tribe Online.

Reference: J and C Mathews (1992) Ladies of the Lake. The Aquarian Press