Whilst I adore the brightly coloured manga influenced Halloween pictures I have seen recently I decided to do something which takes its influences from an older tradition.

The Morrigan was an Irish goddess of sex and death. The Winter is her time and the Iron Age peoples are said to have celebrated their new year on the prehistoric ancestor of Halloween/All Souls Day - Samhain...

More information about her:

"It is often assumed that the mother goddesses of the ancient world were large, ample, friendly, fertility figures. This is seldom true. The great goddesses of pagan religion were often terrifying and mysterious beings, and those of the Celts seem particularly fierce to the modern mind, cushioned as we are by centuries of male-dominated state religion, and then blandished by several generations of materialism. ...

Awesome goddesses like the Irish Morrigan, who often appears in triple form, are not stereotypical seekers after blood and battle, but reveal an inherent unity of life and death: the Morrigan controls both death and sexuality, and may appear as an alluring but deadly maiden or a screaming hag in early tales; hence she takes in order to give. ..."

from Celtic Gods, Celtic Goddesses by R.J. Stewart. ISBN 0-7137-2108-1

Also from fantabulous Wikipedia: [link]

edit: entered into Celebrate/Represent Your fave Goddess/God competition on Earthy beginnings Group.


edit edit: *TribeofCelts has permission to post this in their club gallery.