Badb of the Morrighan

Badb Of The Morrighan"
Celtic Fighting Knife

The Morríghan is the three faceted (including Badb) pre-eminent and most powerful of the Celtic Goddesses. Badb is the goddess who inspires warriors upon the battlefield. A shape shifter, she would often appear as a raven or crow, cawing for victory and the announcer of impending death. She also especially delights in the chaos and pain of mortal wounds.

When depicted as a crow, Badb has a scarlet-red mouth, perhaps from feasting upon the freshly slain. In this guise, she is called Badb Catha, the "battle raven". Thus Badb is also called the goddess of death. "Rage," "fury" and "violence" are all words associated with Badb, and the battlefield was called the "land of Badb."

Symbols used on this piece:

CROW - Badb. In Celt beliefs, the gods rejoice in the frenzy of battle, and Badb’s pleasure at mortal fighting is no exception.

TRISKELE- Normally three spirals raditing from a common point in the center, In this case, three comming into one, "The Power of Three acting as One" This is the Morrighan!

DOUBLE DISC Z-BAR - The disc represents the sun. there are two suns seperated by parellel lines, thus two parellel worlds. The Z-bar is a spear and represents death and the passage from this world to the next. This symbol comes from the ancient Pictish symbol stones.

CRESCENT AND V-BAR - The crescent is the moon, and as the Double disc Z-bar also denotes Death but show the "dark" world rather than the double sun which is the "light" . The V-bar is an arrow. Within the crescent ends are the celtic knots (see below for description), and in the center section is the Key and step pattern really spirals in straight lines. When connectied, they become a processional path, leading through a complex maze to the sacred omphalos (the navel) at the center - the point where Heaven and Earth are joined. This exact symbol is also found on the ancient Pictish symbol stones.

CAULDRON - Badb, A daughter of Ernmas, is called 'the one who boils', as in boiling the Otherworld cauldron of death and rebirth which she is thought by many to preside over, deciding the fate of those who have passed over into its great cosmic mix. In Celtic eschatology (end of world beliefs), it is Badb who will cause the end of earthly time by causing the great cauldron to boil over, engulfing the planet in a great wasteland. It is also thought that the contents of the " CAULDRON OF LIFE " will bestows wisdom, inspiration and re-birth, and restore the lives of slain warriors.

THE CELTIC KNOT - Symbolizes the Thread of Life. To the Celts, the human soul was thought to be a fragment of the divine, which will ultimately return to its divine source. Through successive rebirths the soul rids itself of its accumulated, inherited impurities until it finally achieves the goal of perfection.

This is a very special one of a kind knife! The only one in the World! This knife was made for a special person. YOU ?

It is completely Handmade with intricate Hand done Scrimshaw (like drawing with a needle and puting ink in the scratch) and Hand Engraving with Chisle and Hammer as they did it thousands of years ago. A true work of Art!