Dark aleCrow feathersA truth spoken about a deathBread left at a boundary
Invocation Approach
Tone
Blunt and unsentimental
Address
BadbCrowBattle Crow
Relationship
The voice that names the death before it happens
Warning
She brings panic and does not steady the hand she touches
Resonance
Those who keep watch those who attend the dying those in grief
Symbols
CrowBloodied armourFordBattlefield
Mythology Summary
Badb is the battle-crow of early Irish literature: in Cath Maige Tuired and Táin Bó Cúailnge she is one of the Morrígna, named with Macha and Nemain (or Anand, depending on the text), and Cormac's Glossary glosses badb simply as 'crow'. She is a battle-fury who brings panic and confusion to armies, a prophet of the slaughter, and she haunts the fords where a woman washes the harness of those about to die. A gloss in the Yellow Book of Lecan calls Mesrad Machae, 'the mast of Macha', the heads of slaughtered men, and describes the trio as raven-women who incite battle.
Modern Practice
Worked with for protection in danger, for a clear reading of how a thing will end, and for the honesty to name a death; she is not asked for gentleness. Crow feathers and a watch kept at dusk are the usual forms.